People often ask me what I think are the best places to learn in our shared quest for ways to live a rich life with minimal frustrations.
But honestly, there is no best.
What I can offer, though, are some of my favorite books and sites.
I'll rely on you to send me the ones you think everyone should know about.
Let's start with a few books.
In It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys, Marilyn Paul focuses first on why, then how, to organize your life, from your keys to your life's purpose.
Building is master carpenter Mark Ellison's insightful and wry observations of himself and his clients while building both mundane and intricately extraordinary New York homes. The subtitle says it all.
How to Keep House While Drowning. K. C. Davis shares the practicalities of keeping oneself clean and organized enough while dealing with families, work, depression, ADHD, and other all-to-common life challenges.
Here are a few more irreverent and spot-on books.
It's sad but true, Nobody One Wants Your Sh*t, and Messie Condo sets you straight.
(Take my Downsizing, Rightsizing class for more. Main Line School Night, March 12, 2024.)
Unf*ck Your Habitat is both a book and a site. Read them.
In UnF*ck Your Brain, Faith Harper teaches how to stop acting and reacting in ways that make a mess of your life.
Email newsletters I subscribe to.
Before you complain about how many unread emails are in your inbox, follow these instructions:
Click on the underlined text to make a new gmail address
Call it something different from your name. ReadThisStuff@gmail.com or fiddlesnarks, or IShouldOrganizeMyLife etc.
Use the new account to sign up for newsletters, sales pitches, or other things your current inbox is clogged with. Then unsubscribe to the stuff you don't read from your regular email address. (I promise, you'll miss nothing of true importance.)
Yes, the new one is another email account to check, but you'll have more attention for the important emails in your 'regular' account, and IF you have time, you can go into the new 'read when I get time' in box.
Wirecutter is a product recommendation service from the New York Times. It combines independent research with testing so you can make quick and confident buying choices. “We’ll help you get it right the first time.” Plus they find quirky and useful things.
“Our goal is to empower you to achieve your home improvement dreams, from the aha moment to project completion. Whatever the task, The Spuce can show you how.” They teach everything from cleaning gutters to organizing everything. The small stuff adds up to big ease.
Tips, tricks, and no-fail cheat sheets to do everything better. Why wouldn't you? No one ever said, "Let me enjoy wasting my time doing this the hardest possible way."
A seriously outstanding resource for all ages and interests, all things Attention Deficit Disorder. I call ADD Attention Distributed Differently.
ADDitude offers tips, tricks, tests, insights and guides in emailed and print newsletters, webinars, assessments, forums, and product recommendations. Excellent!
A nonprofit digital journalism publication by Twin Cities PBS, they say it's public media's first and only national publication for older adults. Dedicated to covering the issues that matter most as people age, I think they have great insights for young to senior adults.
My go-to for how-tos: "Get the most out of your technology with useful product advice and expert tips from PCMag's editors." It's the place to learn how to use your expensive and exasperating phones and computers. Get their newsletters.