Acknowledgments
acknowledgments a huge thanks to all those who made this book possible. To Kimberly Witherspoon, Jessica Mileo, and everyone else at InkWell Management who believed in me, to Leah Trouwborst and the team at Simon & Schuster who supported my vision from the beginning, and to all the friends and family who let me run […]
Appendix 2
appendix 2 The key to finding a system that works for you is (1) understanding the function of the care task, (2) realizing there is no “right” way, only the right way for your family, and (3) creating a system around your habits (not habits around your system). For those reasons, the only person who […]
Appendix 1
appendix 1 My examples for finding the function of my care tasks: Floors 1. Health and Safety: I need to remove tripping hazards and prevent bugs, mold, and bacteria from spreading or growing. 2. Comfort: I want room for kids to play; I don’t like bits of dirt sticking to my feet when I am […]
Chapter no 41
chapter 41 you deserve a beautiful sunday i recently got a comment from a follower that said: “Thank you! I’m spending the day outside enjoying our beautiful weather and getting a pumpkin coffee instead of doing my usual 8-hour Sunday clean. It’s so not necessary. I will instead do a 2-hour clean when I get […]
Chapter no 40
chapter 40 getting back into rhythm even as my journey to hack the house started making care tasks easier for me, I still had days when I just… couldn’t. After a particularly long stretch of no preschool, one of my kids got sick and I woke up feeling completely fatigued and unable to motivate. We […]
Chapter no 39
chapter 39 food is morally neutral you deserve to eat. Nothing you ate yesterday, said today, or have left undone for tomorrow can take away your right to be fed. Your inability to create a nutritiously perfect meal today does not mean your body is better off not eating. All calories are good calories when […]
Chapter no 38
chapter 38 your weight is morally neutral feeding your body is a care task. Resting your body is a care task. Taking medication to control health symptoms is a care task. Moving your body is a care task. Physical therapy and other healing activities are care tasks. It’s a wonderful thing to investigate what foods […]
Chapter no 37
chapter 37 exercise sucks i blame PE class as the first offender. I really do. At such an early age kids who love to play active games are made to run laps instead. Okay, maybe that isn’t every school, but it was certainly the first time I remember someone divorcing physical activity from fun and […]
Chapter no 36
chapter 36 outsourcing care tasks is morally neutral if you can afford a housekeeper, even once a month, and you do not have one, you must ask yourself why. Do you think you deserve one? Why not? Housekeepers are not moral and therefore are not something to be deserved. If you are in a season […]
Chapter no 35
chapter 35 skill deficit versus support deficit quit beating yourself up for having a skill deficit when what you really have is a support deficit. Self-care was never meant to be a replacement for community care.9 Striving to “be better” will exhaust the little energy you have, and it’s probably time better spent letting yourself […]