Stephany Writes

Categories: Life

10 Little Things That Make My Life Better

Last month, San wrote a wonderful post listing out 10 inexpensive things that make her life better, and I was inspired to do the same! Here are some of my favorite little things:

1) Bubble wand curler

Back in 2019, I went to Boston with friends and one friend had a bubble curling wand that she said made curling your hair nearly foolproof while also using hair extensions ri to make it look better. I’ve never had much luck with using traditional curling irons (or even curling wands) so I tried it out on the vacation and I was so impressed with it! It made the cutest curls and even as the day went on and the curls started falling out, my hair still looked cute! Upon returning home, I immediately bought my own and have loved using it ever since. It’s my favorite way to curl my hair – if I want tight curls, I simply loop my hair around the indentations between each “bubble.” For more relaxed curls, I loop my hair loosely around the bubbles. So easy!

2) Squeeze bottle for sour cream

I love sour cream on nachos, tacos, chili, and baked potatoes, but I hate that it usually comes out in globs. I don’t want globs of sour cream! So, I bought this squeeze bottle. I pour the sour cream into the bottle and then I can easily squeeze on the perfect amount of sour cream onto my nachos, tacos, potatoes, etc. A simple pleasure, indeed.

3) Fake plants/flowers

Before I had cats, I loved getting a near-weekly bouquet of flowers at the grocery store. Dogs (or my dog, at least) do not mess with flowers the way cats do. I’d just put the flowers on a counter and he couldn’t get to them. And then I got cats. Who love gnawing on flowers. And who can also jump high on counters. So I had to say goodbye to fresh flowers (there are a few spots in my apartment I could keep them, but it just doesn’t feel worth the effort), and instead embraced fake flowers and plants. TJ Maxx is usually my go-to place for great options at affordable prices and I’ve also been pretty lucky at Target. I love decorating with fake flowers/plants – I think it just adds that perfect little finishing touch to bookshelves and counters.

4) madesmart divided storage containers

I have four of these containers and I could stand to have a few more. I love them. They are pricey ($25 per container) but I love that they can hold so much and the dividers make it easy to keep things organized. I have two under my kitchen sink where I keep cleaning products stocked and two in my bathroom (one under the counter for overflow, and one on the counter where I keep my most-used bathroom items), but these are important for spring cleaning, as there are many spring cleaning benefits so having these products help a lot. The dividers can be removed if you want more room (I removed them for the containers that hold my cleaning products, but let them in for my bathroom containers).

5) Mr. Coffee coffeemaker

You guys can keep your Keurigs and your Nespressos. I bought this Mr. Coffee 12-cup coffeemaker for $20 nearly 7 years ago and it’s still going strong. It may not have all the bells and whistles of new coffeepots, but it does the job I need it to do.

6) Dip-in nail polish remover

I love doing my nails, but taking off nail polish can be a process. I use regular nail polish, nothing fancy, but it still felt like it took so much time to remove it when I was using a cotton ball and nail polish remover bottle. Enter: the dip-in nail polish remover. It makes removing nail polish so much easier! The jar is filled with acetone remover and encircled with soft bristles. I just dip my finger into the jar and rub my nail against the bristles – it just takes a few swipes and I’m good!

7) Plentiful iPhone chargers

There was a time when I had one sole iPhone charger at home, so if my phone was running out of battery, I had to plug it into the charger in my bedroom. Not a huge problem, more of an annoyance that could be easily solved. Now, I keep iPhone chargers everywhere. There’s the one in my bedroom, the one next to my laptop (that usually sits on my dining room table at all times), the one in my living room, the one next to my desk. I hate when I have a low phone battery, and iPhone chargers are so cheap these days that I just have multiple options everywhere around my apartment. If you’re considering buying a new phone, upgrading from an older model to a iPhone 13 Pro Max refurbished allows you to experience improved performance and features without paying full price.

8) Sharpie ultra-fine point markers

When I worked in an office, I had a whole cup filled with colorful Sharpie markers and every week, I would choose a new color to write out my to-do lists. Choosing the new color was one of my greatest delights! Of course, I left the Sharpies at work when we left in March 2020 since I thought we would all be back to normal within a few weeks. I was so happy to be reunited with my Sharpie collection a few months later when we were allowed to come back to the office and pack up our desks! I still love choosing a new color every week. It’s such a small, satisfying joy.

9) Lined Post-It notes

I have been using these lined Post-It notes for years and years. I love that they are the perfect size to create a daily to-do list for work. I typically keep a running to-do list in a notebook and then I draw from that list to create a few daily to-dos every morning. Once everything on the Post-It is done, so is my day. (And the girls love when I crumple up the Post-It and leave it on my desk, so they can bat it around the apartment!)

10) Microfiber hair towel wrap

I think it was Suzanne who originally gave me the inspiration for this. Towel wraps for your hair! Instead of trying to tie my hair up in a towel that will inevitably fall out and frustrate me, these towel wraps are the perfect solution. They have a loop on one end of the wrap and a button at the other, and all I have to do is gather my hair into the wrap, twist the wrap, and then fit the loop around the button. Voila! Perfectly tied-up hair. It’s so comfortable that sometimes I keep my hair wrapped up for hours after my shower, oops.

What are some of your little pleasures?

Categories: Life

My Laundry Habits

I love talking about those little routine parts of our lives that we all do so differently. That’s why I wrote a two-part series on sleep. And have discussed my showering routine. Today, we’re going to talk about laundry.

The way I do laundry is going to be vastly, vastly different from the way other people do laundry because I am a single lady with no kids so I only have to worry about my own laundry. Which is very, very nice! So let’s dig into this topic.

How often I do laundry

In the past, my “tell” for when it was time to do laundry was when I was down to just a few pairs of underwear. But things changed when I moved into my current apartment because of my washer. The basin is so very tiny that I cannot do a regular load of clothes anymore. It was hard for me to gauge when I had enough laundry for a full load (usually, I had too much laundry) so now I use the basin as my laundry basket. Yep! Rather than sticking dirty clothes into a regular laundry basket that I keep in my bedroom or bathroom, everything goes right into the washer. Once the basin is nearly full, I will add in some other items – like my current pajamas, the lounge clothes I’ve been wearing around, etc. – and then pop in a Tide pod and go. Typically, I do one load of laundry every 7-10 days.

Separating laundry

Want to know one of my controversial opinions? I don’t believe in separating laundry by color. White shorts, black shirts, bright pink sports bras? It all goes into one load! And everything washes just fine! I have been doing my laundry this way for years and have never had an issue. So I do not do separate loads for my whites and my darks.

The types of laundry I do

There are five types of laundry I do regularly:

  • Clothes – Like I said above, I do not separate my clothing into whites and darks. I do one full load of clothing every 7-10 days.
  • Towels/washcloths – I do a separate load of towels, washcloths, and reusable cotton rounds. (I use washcloths + cotton rounds twice/daily for my skincare routine.) During this cycle, I will also throw in the hand towel I use in the bathroom, any kitchen towels I’ve been using, the towel wrap I use for my hair after a shower, and sometimes the mopping pad I used when cleaning my floors.
  • Bedding – I wash my pillowcases and fitted sheet.
  • Bras – I have two nice bras that I wash separately from the other clothes, on a delicate cycle.
  • Quilt – My apartment washer/dryer is not big enough to wash my quilt effectively, so I bring it to my mom’s to wash.

My laundry system

Here’s how my laundry process works:

Washing

  • Once I have filled up the washer basin with clothes that need to be washed, I will start a load.
  • After the clothes are done and transferred to the dryer, I’ll either do a load of towels/washcloths or bedding. I usually alternate which one I do. If I’m running low on washcloths, then I do towels/washcloths. If not, I’ll do my bedding. (I’m usually only washing my bedding on a monthly basis. IT SHOULD BE MORE OFTEN. I know that. I just can’t get into the habit of doing so.)
  • If it’s time to wash my bras, I’ll do a delicate cycle for them after my second load of laundry and then let them air dry.

Drying

  • I am particular about what clothes I allow into the dryer. All of my underwear, jeans/pants/shorts, sports bras, bralettes, and socks go into the dryer. For shirts, most get hung up to air dry (even some of my workout shirts if they are on the smaller side). I have a lot of cotton tees that will go in the dryer, especially if they are big on me. I take care of my dryer by hiring dryer vent cleaning services regularly. Dresses are air-dried. (To airdry, I just hang up the shirt/dress on a hanger and hang it on a shelf in my closet. I have wire shelving in my walk-in closet, so it’s easy to hang things from there.)
  • All towels, washcloths, cotton rounds, mopping pads, and bedding goes straight into the dryer.

Folding/Putting Away

I am okay at folding/putting away my laundry in a timely manner. There are some days when the last load will be in the dryer overnight if I’m tired. But usually, I put on a podcast and fold laundry on my kitchen table and it’s not a huge deal. It helps that it’s only my laundry I’m dealing with!

Laundry products I use

I’m not fancy with my laundry and I suppose I could look into more eco-friendly products than what I currently use, but it’s not something I have researched. Currently, I use Tide pods (I get the really big container that usually lasts me 8-10 months). I use the Tide 4-in-1 Ultra Oxi pods for cleaning my clothes and Tide Hygienic Clean Power Pods for towels and bedding. For my bras, I use Woolite Delicates laundry detergent. I buy a small bottle, which lasts a pretty long time for me. I don’t use any sort of dryer sheets or dryer balls in the dryer. My mom swears by them, but I guess I don’t really understand what they do, other than making my clothes smell nice. It doesn’t seem necessary.

And that’s my laundry routine! I’d love to hear about what yours looks like, but please don’t tell me if you’re appalled at how many weeks I go between washing my bedding. I’m a work in progress, okay?!

Categories: Life

What Is a Writing Date?

Tobia asked if I could talk more about my writing dates, which is something I talk about a lot, but I don’t think I’ve ever fully explained it. I thought it was a great idea for a blog post!

I looked through my blog archives to see if I could find out when we started our writing dates. I don’t know when the official start date was, but I do have a blog post from February 2013 where I talked about our writing dates, and I believe that’s the first time I mentioned it. So, we have been doing our writing dates for A FULL DECADE now! That’s crazy to think about.

(And slightly despairing. A full decade of near-weekly writing dates and not a single finished manuscript to speak of. Sigh.)

Our writing dates have gone through a whole lot of changes over these past 10 years. There have been pauses here and there, like when Mikaela had her babies and when Olive was going through cancer treatment. There was a shift from in-person writing dates to Zoom writing dates during the pandemic. We’ve tried many different Starbucks and Paneras, quitting one Starbucks because they kept their store way too cold and quitting another because Mikaela could never connect to their wifi. When we returned to in-person writing dates during the pandemic, we had to shift from Starbucks to Panera since Starbucks was only doing drive-thru and pickup options at that time.

Being flexible has been key for us to keep our writing dates sacred. For a while, we were doing Friday night writing dates and then that changed to Sunday morning and then to Saturday mornings and at some point last year, Mikaela needed Saturday midafternoon writing dates so she could help with naptime at home. Some weekends are busy, though, and we may not be able to meet for a writing date. Or we may have to try to squeeze it into a Friday night during dinnertime at Mikaela’s house.

We value this time together, though, both to have a set aside number of hours to work on our creative projects, and to have time for each other. So we make it a priority.

What do we do during our writing dates? Well, that has changed a lot over the years.

Originally, I was writing a novel, so I would spend my writing dates working on my novel. We’d get settled into our seats, chat for a little bit, and then work silently next to each other writing. At this time, Mikaela was also writing a novel (which she finished and was in the middle of editing when her daughter got sick). So, we would write, sometimes asking a question to the other if we needed feedback on something we just wrote, and then at the end of the writing date, we would read out loud what we wrote during the last hour to one another. This way, we could offer advice or give encouragement.

My problem with writing, however, is that I can never stay with one story. Or I’ll write 10,000 words of a story and suddenly feel like I need to change everything about it. It’s frustrating for Mikaela because she just wants me to write my novel and I am not great about being consistent. She knew something bad was coming when I’d start off a writing date with, “So I was thinking about my novel and…”

A few years ago, I finally came to terms with myself and set my novel-writing goal aside. Maybe one day I will come back to it and finally write that novel that is inside me, but I’m just not in the right headspace for it right now. Instead, I use our writing dates to work on blog posts, tackle my blog categorization project, and outline podcast episodes. Usually, I’ll come to our writing date with a specific idea of what I want to work on. (For example, during our most recent writing date over the weekend, my goal was to finish recategorizing all of my 2011 blog posts.)

Mikaela is working on her own creative project right now, which I won’t get into since she may not want me to talk about it! But we keep ourselves very busy with our own work. We’ll start the writing date by asking each other what we intend to work on and we’ll chit-chat with each other throughout the writing date.

Our writing dates last around 1.5 to 2 hours, and we probably devote half of that time to catching up with each other and the other half to working on our creative projects. Lately, we’ve been going to Panera (we used to have a fave Starbucks where all of the baristas knew our names, but her laptop couldn’t connect to their wifi for some reason). Since we live about 30 minutes from each other, we switch off which Panera we go to (there is one that is less than 10 minutes from her house, and one that is less than 10 minutes from mine).

These writing dates are a great touchpoint for me. I get to have some time with my best friend while also making progress on my creative projects. It’s truly become one of my favorite parts of the weekend, and I am so grateful I have a friend like Mikaela to have these dates with!

Any other questions about my writing dates? I’m happy to answer them!

Categories: Life

NaBloPoMo 2022: Let’s Get Started!

Hi, friends! It’s NaBloPoMo 2022 tiiiime.

I have been looking forward to starting NaBloPoMo for such a long time, like just the anticipation of it was enough to boost my mood immensely. I don’t know why I’ve been so excited! Maybe it’s the community aspect of this challenge and knowing I’m doing it with a lot of other bloggers? Or maybe I’m just excited for all of the blog posts I have planned and I’m looking forward to sharing it all with you guys. Well, for whatever reason, I am just so stinking excited for NaBloPoMo and I hope you guys are as well.

An Introduction of Sorts

I’m not sure if I’ll have some new readers popping by this month but, if so, I thought I could give you a quick introduction, bullet-list style:

  • My name is Stephany and I’m a mid-thirties single lady living on the West Coast of Florida (the Tampa Bay area, to be exact!)
  • I’m a content marketing manager for a company I’ve been with for over 9 years and I love, love, love what I do. A large part of my job involves mentoring writers, managing our contractor program, and overseeing our content assignments (we have 2,000+ pieces to assign out every month!).
  • I have two cats who have my whole heart: Eloise is my tuxedo kitty who is very social and chatty and Lila is my sweet calico who is an expert snuggler but very shy. They are both 4.5 years old and have turned me into a crazy cat lady. (Before them, I’d only ever had dogs!)
  • I recently launched a podcast with my best friend, Bri, called The Friendship Paradox where we explore the world of personality typing and how our personalities show up so differently in our lives.
  • My favorite hobby of all-time is reading. I regularly read 130+ books a year, although this year I’m averaging slightly below that. My favorite genres are romance, contemporary fiction, thrillers, social justice nonfiction, and YA.
  • My mom is my best friend and favorite person in the world, and I spend a lot of time with her. In fact, in just a few weeks, we’re leaving on a cruise together! I’m also very close with my brother who lives nearby.
  • Other things to know about my: I’m a fat lady and have grown to appreciate my body no matter that it doesn’t hold up to the societal ideal, I’m a baby queer and came out “late” in life, and I could talk politics with people all the live-long day.

What to Expect This Month

I have a lot of fun blog posts planned this month. My entire editorial calendar for November is planned out, but of course, nothing is set in stone. I’m leaving myself the option to switch things around if needed. Here is some of what I’m looking forward to writing:

  • Week in the Life – I’ll start this next week and I’m really looking forward to doing this series again. I’ve done it 5 times: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2020. I’ve missed a few years here and there, but it’s one of my favorite series to do.
  • Thank God It’s Sunday – I’m planning on switching my TGIF posts to Sunday. Last year, I did a “stream of consciousness” post every Sunday, which was fun to do, but I like the idea of doing TGIS instead.
  • School Days – I’m going to continue my “School Days” posts by documenting my middle school years. Middle school was TOUGH for me, so I’m not exactly looking forward to reliving it but I will do it for the blog.
  • My annual birthday post – I turn 35 (!) at the end of the month and I’ll celebrate with my annual birthday post. This past year has had a lot of growth in it, both professionally and personally, and I’m looking forward to sitting down and talking about it.
  • Ask Me Anything – It’s baaaack. More below!

Ask Me Anything!

Last year, I reserved every Saturday for an “Ask Me Anything” blog post, and I’d love to bring it back this year! You can either fill out my form to answer your question (if you’d like to remain anonymous!) or you can ask a question (or questions!) on this post in the comment section. Depending on how many questions I receive, I’ll spend a few Saturdays this month answering your most curious quandaries. 🙂

Are you doing NaBloPoMo this year? Leave any questions you have for me below!

Categories: Life

Why I Don’t Want to Own a Home

When I posted my 2022 Goals update post last week, I received a few comments from lovely readers who wanted to know more about my decision to continue renting rather than buying a home in the (very distant) future. While I have talked about my decision to rent in other posts (like this one, from 2020), I liked the idea of talking through some of the reasons why I don’t want to be a homeowner:

1) Saving up for a down payment on a house feels impossible.

Let’s talk about the biggest roadblock to buying a home: saving for the down payment. It was my goal this year to save $4,000 to start my down payment fund, amounting to $333 a month. It was nearly impossible to hit that goal even once this year. It was an aggressive goal, but I’m estimating that I’d need to save at least $10,000 for a down payment (which is probably well below what I should be saving). Saving for a down payment when it’s just me and I can’t rely on another person’s income feels insurmountable. There are programs to help, of course, but it would depend on my income. I think I would be disqualified for many of them because my income is too high. (Which is laughable, but whatever.) Could I just start throwing a hundred dollars into a down payment fund every month and see where I am in a few years? I suppose so, but there are other reasons I don’t want to own a home.

2) The idea of every home repair being my responsibility fills me with anxiety.

You know what I love? Every time I need something repaired in my apartment, I call maintenance and it’s fixed within a few days. Water not draining from my tub as fast as it used to? Maintenance. The heating unit in my oven broke? Maintenance. The black furnace filter clogged up and caused the furnace to break down? Maintenance. Furnace maintenance.  My washer suddenly stopped working? Maintenance. My mom just had to replace her air conditioner. NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS later, she has a new air conditioner. My friend has some troublesome trees in her yard that need to be removed (lest they fall on her house). She was quoted TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS for the removal. These are extreme examples, but they are relevant. Being a homeowner can be very stressful and very expensive.

I am not a handy person by nature. House repairs are something that has to be added to the budget when you buy a home because things are going to break and you are responsible for fixing them. And being a single person, I don’t have a handy partner to share the burden with. It’s all on me, and that fills me with anxiety.

I’ve also been very lucky to have a reliable maintenance team anywhere I’ve lived (it helps that I usually rent from a leasing agency, not from a private owner). You know who’s not always reliable? Repairmen.

3) A house comes with so many more responsibilities.

I’m always shocked by the number of responsibilities that are involved in owning a home. If I owned a home, I’d need to pay for a lawn care service since I have no desire to take care of that on my own. I’d need to pay for pest control—something that’s already built into my rental price. I’d need homeowner’s insurance and flood insurance and property taxes, and probably other bills I’m forgetting about. None of these things are cheap. All of them cost money.

Plus, I know I would want to upgrade my home in the future. Ideally, I’d buy a home that wouldn’t require a ton of work upfront, but over the years, I’d want to upgrade it like any normal homeowner. A new kitchen or bathroom, new windows or flooring. All of that costs money.

It would be easier if I had a partner, but it’s just me. And all of that responsibility being on my shoulders feels overwhelming.

(A disclaimer here: Yes, I could buy a condo or townhome and things like lawn care service and pest control wouldn’t be necessary. But that would also come with an HOA fee, so there’s that to worry about.)

4) I have never desired homeownership.

I was listening to a podcast episode yesterday and the host asked the guest this question, “What are the things that, even if they are a smart decision, aren’t the right choice for you?” Bing, bang, boom. Yes. Buying property is a smart decision in many ways. Mortgage payments go toward building credit in a way that rent payments do not. Homeownership is one of the only ways to build generational wealth. But even if it is a smart decision for many people, it is not the right one for me. I have never desired homeownership. I do not want the responsibility of it. Perhaps if I had children, a partner, or heck, even big dogs, it would make sense. But in my little life, where it’s just me and my two cats, this is what feels good for me. And that’s really all that matters, at the end of the day.

If you’re a homeowner, what do you love about owning a home? If you’re a renter, what do you love about not owning a home?!