Do you ever have those thoughts of ‘Thank GOD I don’t have to do THAT anymore?’ Like when you sell a shit car and you realise just how awful it was to deal with it breaking down every week? Or that dreadful back pain you had for years is much better now that you do yoga regularly?
I love discovering little life hacks like that. Changing one thing and then months down the track you’re so grateful you made that change because you were so ‘in’ your misery before that you didn’t realise how awful it was until you fixed it.
Here are a few things that are saving my life right now.
1. My living situation
Mr Smaggle and I lived in a fantastic location in a one bedroom flat for six years, and we had no idea how much it was killing us. We live in a much shitter suburb now, but we have a house with actual rooms in it, we each have a desk, there’s natural light and a little garden. We waited far too long to move because moving sucks, but everything about our lives has improved with this move. If you think your house or living situation is dangerous for your health and productivity, move. No matter how annoying or painful it is.
2. F45
I’ve just come up to my two year anniversary of F45, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing it. It’s a perfect 45 minute, high-intensity workout and it’s different every day. It’s also tough work, which I love. It took almost a full year of attending classes to be able to complete a whole session without modifying any exercises or taking breaks, and I was reasonably fit when I started there. I also particularly love my new F45. It’s big and spacious and the trainers are excellent. I’m just so grateful to have a no-brainer class I can do five times a week, and it’s a 7-minute drive from my house. It’s also excellent because it’s a franchise and there’s one near my parent’s house and my in-law’s house for when I visit my hometown. It just ticks all my boxes.
3. Heat up wheat bags
This suggestion is such a weird random one, but I didn’t grow up with heat up wheat bags in my house, they just weren’t a thing but in Mr Smaggle’s home, heat up wheat bags are almost as important as coffee. Are you cold? Get yourself a heat pack. Sore neck? Pop a heat pack on it. Feeling a bit sad? Get a heat pack. Mr Smaggle’s mum makes them from old towels and fills them with rice, and we get given a few every couple of years. I thought it was weird when Mr Smaggle and I first started living together but they’ve just become such a big part of my life now, I don’t know how I lived without them before. I might do a tutorial for making them on Smaggle. Let me know if you’re keen and I’ll get my mother-in-law to teach me how to make them for a DIY.
4. Massive beeswax wraps
I’ve been using small beeswax wraps for a few years now on things like avocado and half-finished veggies, and I wanted to get some big ones, but they’re costly, so I kept avoiding it. My brother-in-law got us these enormous beeswax wraps for Christmas, and we use them every week for covering up big plates of food like curries and frittatas. You just scrub them with cold soapy water and hang them out to dry for the next use. I still occasionally use cling wrap if I’m travelling, but most of the time, I use beeswax wraps. I feel like they keep the food fresher too.
5. Chrissy from Hair Romance
If you have curly hair and you want advice for maintaining it follow Christina Butcher on Hair Romance and join her Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/hairromancecrew/. She has some fantastic videos, and she’s so incredibly patient. I’ve been having hair struggles for years, and she’s so incredibly supportive. She’s the best. I text her photos of my hair every couple of days, and she’s all ‘Try this drying method!’ or ‘Use a lighter leave in conditioner’. She introduced me The Curly Girl Method but is also great at permitting me to break the rules if it’s not working. She’s a very rad human.
I just love my group of Crochettes so much. It’s such a privilege to be able to share my favourite thing with such a gorgeous group of people. They’re so supportive and kind and enthusiastic; I honestly couldn’t have hand-picked a better community. I love them. I also love watching newbies learn and seeing them fall in love with this calming yet productive activity. It’s ace.
This week on Straight & Curly, Kelly and I are talking about all the things that are saving our lives right now.
What things are saving your life at the moment? And what things have you changed and you didn’t realise how bad things were before you changed them?
P.S Also you should totally sign up for my newsletter. It’s full of cool stuff.
P.P.S Don’t forget Crochet Coach has a free trial offer period at the moment so make sure you sign up!
18 Comments
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Yoga 3-4 times a week. I never had time when I was a full time working mum but now I am working casually I do….oh and NOT working full time if you can manage it financially. It is just a horrible thing if you are a parent, even if you only have 1 older child like I do.
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How great is regular exercise? I just can’t sing its praises enough.
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Cleaning toilets! I used to work in bars and restaurants for years, and loved it at the time, but now I work as a teacher, I’m glad I don’t have to clean toilets any more at the end of the night!
I’d LOVE to know how Mrs Smaggle-in-law makes her heat-up rice bags.
And I believe it’s easy to make your own beeswax food wraps, with beeswax and fabric – my friend makes them and gave me one and it’s so fab, and she said it’s really easy and cheap to do it yourself. Xxx
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I’ll ask her for the particulars of it and do a tutorial! Might even make it a video one! Fancy! I want to make my own beeswax wraps but I make so much of my own stuff, I’m happy buying them myself or buying them from people who make them!
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Heat packs are life! They’re so good when I have tension headaches and I need an extra bit of warm when I snuggle up on the couch.
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I literally have one on my lap right now.
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I’m always cold but grew up in a wet climate so hot water bottles were our thing. Now that I’m in Perth and understand the value of water my hot water bottles are sitting idle. I’d like Mrs. Smaggle’s DIY heat packs!
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That’s a really good point! I’d love to look up the energy efficiency between boiling water and microwaving a heat pack that would be great to know.
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Period panties, Amazon Prime, meal planning, yoga, my milk frother (it just makes me feel so fancy) and podcasts (especially Straight & Curly, Pantsuit Politics and the Nuanced Life) are all saving my life right about now. Btw, I may or may not have squealed when you mentioned my name on this episode 🙂
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Yes! I have some ModiBodis and I love them. I use a menstrual cup so it’s not absorbent so period pants are the best on heavy days. You might actually hear your name again soon… I’m pretty sure we stole 2 of your ideas! 🙂
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At the moment, painting like a mad woman is saving my life. I’ve got a degree in fine art but paint was never my ‘thing’ until a month and a half ago, now I’m 22 paintings in, all because I just needed to see some colour around me.
I’d like to add my name to the list of people who want a DIY heat pack post!
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Ha! Excellent will have to add that to my list of videos!
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Yes to wheat bags! My Dad made a couple a few years ago and they are an absolute dream. I gave one to my boyfriend last year when he was complaining of neck pain and he was so sceptical about that gift. But now it lives on the table next to his couch, ready to be heated up whenever he needs it.
For me, it’s breaking the habit of watching Netflix on my laptop in bed as I fall asleep each night. I got the idea from one of your earliest Straight and Curly podcasts and it’s been a game changer. I had convinced myself that I needed something bland to watch each night to help me drift off to sleep. What I didn’t want to admit to myself is that I would end up staying awake much later than I should and my sleep was fitful and groggy. Now having no laptop in the bedroom and reading before lights-out has made getting to sleep much easier and I”m sticking to a better sleep schedule. I can’t believe I was functioning basically as a zombie for a couple of years, and I feel more rested than I have in yonks.
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Oh I’m so pleased that’s working for you! It’s really a mind over matter thing. Although I’ve been reading too many good fiction books recently and they’ve been keeping me awake! 🙂
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Because I travel so much, my current “how did I live before this” thing is the bag bungee. Probably not so useful if you have a backpack but if you have a wheelie case and need to slip your carry on bag over the handle, the bag bungee keeps it all intact so you aren’t stopping every couple of minutes to readjust things.
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That sounds awesome I’m googling it right now but yeah I am a back pack person. I’m actually in the market for a new one as my old fell apart!
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Love a warm comforter, a word of caution (after working in insurance for many years) rotate those packs – don’t let your heat packs dry out or overheat. If the wheat is too dry and overheat, they catch fire easily especially in warm blankets or bedding!
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These ones are made of rice! Not sure if that makes a difference but we have a few of them and replace them often.
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