{"id":916,"date":"2025-02-13T20:26:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T01:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/?p=916"},"modified":"2025-01-18T20:31:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T01:31:42","slug":"stacys-life-hacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/stacys-life-hacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Stacy\u2019s Life Hacks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When the going gets tough, the tough get organized. (That\u2019s an original quote\u2014LOL.) A lot of people say to me, “I don’t know how you do it all!” Well, genetics have played a huge part (have you met my mother or did you know her mother?), but I’m also OCD. I’ve been keeping a running list of life hacks I’d love to share with you. Some of these won’t be helpful to you, but maybe others will!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Schedule send text messages\u2014if this wasn\u2019t the greatest invention of 2020, then I don\u2019t know what was. I get an insane amount of text messages, and this has been the most efficient way for me to keep up. I usually do this first thing in the morning when I have great clarity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Hire a cleaning person\u2014she does our kitchen,\u00a0bathrooms,\u00a0and floors once a month. This is a gift to\u00a0myself. Confession: I\u2019m not a great housekeeper. I don\u2019t mind\u00a0dust\u00a0and I always clean my toilets before guests come over, but having someone go deep on those three areas is very helpful. Having them come once a month is a little more economical.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Simplify dinner\u2014I keep a list of super simple dinners. I usually have all the ingredients on hand and ready to go for those nights when I\u2019m just not feeling it but the children are hungry! (They are always hungry. LOL.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Prepay yourselves for ongoing, upcoming expenses\u2014Every month, we pay 1\/12th<\/sup>\u00a0of our Christmas budget into an account. That way, when Christmas rolls around, we\u2019re not scrambling to figure out how we\u2019re going to afford gifts. And, if we find something in June, we\u00a0have the ability to\u00a0buy it. We also pay a car payment to ourselves every month. That way, when a car bites the dust or needs a massive repair, we\u2019re ready for it. (Props to our small group in 2013 that took Dave Ramsey\u2019s Financial Peace class together!)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Schedule all annual home service appointments in January\u2014This helps to ensure they get done, and if you’re paying a vendor, allows you to budget for what’s coming: HVAC fall\/spring tune up, window washing, cleaning out gutters, cleaning inside gas fireplace (this is possible and amazing!), duct cleaning, power-washing exterior. (See previous post about that here<\/a>.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Use a credit card that accumulates airline mileage for NECESSARY\u00a0spends\u2014This includes gas in your car, groceries, utilities, etc. These are things you\u2019ll be spending money on (and ideally budgeted for) every month. Then, you get a free flight somewhere! The key: Discipline. You have to pay it off in full or you’ll quickly bury yourself.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Keep a running “gift list” on your phone\u2014When it’s time for a birthday or Christmas, I have a list of ideas that the gift recipient has previously mentioned they’d like to have!<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Use your Alexa \u201clist\u201d feature\u2014OK, if y’all aren’t using your Alexa “list” feature, you’re missing out. We have a grocery list, Sam\u2019s Club list, dinner ideas list, packing for vacation list, etc. They’re all in real time, which is especially helpful when grocery shopping.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Have a Sunday morning planning session\u2014On most Sunday mornings, usually before anyone else is awake, I sit down with a blank piece of paper and map out the next seven days. (Of course, I have this on my Google calendar but there’s something about putting ink to paper that helps my brain understand what we’re doing.) I’m not writing all of my daily appointments, but usually it’s evening activities, meal plan, weather, and to-dos. This helps me to figure out carpool for kids, etc. Then, we press go knowing the week has been scrutinized.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Use your Crockpot\u2014Last but not least, God bless my Crockpot\u2014when the evening is looking insane, I try and give myself a few extra morning minutes to get something in the Crockpot so we’re not surfing the drive through.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What about you? Any great life hacks I’m missing?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When the going gets tough, the tough get organized. (That\u2019s an original quote\u2014LOL.) A lot of people say to me, “I don’t know how you do it all!” Well, genetics have played a huge part (have you met my mother or did you know her mother?), but I’m also OCD. I’ve been keeping a running […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-real-estate-business","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20201206_095004-rotated.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":918,"href":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions\/918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stacygrove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}