How to Get Your Family to Help Around the House Without Doing All the Managing Next week my son and daughter, who are twins, are turning 18. I can’t actually believe it. I feel really accomplished. Nitzavim-Vayelech are their parshiot, and when my daughter became bat mitzvah, we learned her parsha together. The idea we…
Decluttering Guilt: You Don’t Have to Find the Perfect Home for Everything I was baking challah last week and started thinking about the little olive-sized piece of dough we separate. Today, we separate it and dispose of it. But there was a time when challah was actually given to a kohen. Then I got to…
Today is my Hebrew birthday, and I’m turning 45. Apparently, my life got the memo and decided to celebrate by falling apart. Over the last few weeks, several appliances have broken or are on the fritz. Some furniture broke. My kids crashed the car. Thankfully, they’re okay, which is the only part of that story…
This past Shabbat, a guest and I were discussing an article on tzniut. I’ve always struggled with reducing tzniut strictly to what a woman wears and the classical definition of modesty. To me, tzniut is better defined as dignity. It’s how we carry ourselves, how we conduct our lives, and how we treat others. Tonight…
The Jewish people are about to enter the Land of Israel, and Moshe gives them a warning in this week’s parsha, Va’etchanan, that feels connected to Tisha B’Av. Soon, they’ll be living in cities they didn’t build, in houses filled with good things they didn’t fill, using wells they didn’t dig, and eating from vineyards…
Previously, on Parshat HaShavua… The Jewish people escaped Egypt, crossed the sea, received the Torah, built the Mishkan, complained about the food, believed the spies, wandered through the desert, fought a few wars, and spent an impressive amount of time questioning whether leaving Egypt had been a good idea. TL;DR: Everything you keep becomes something…
About a month ago, I started what is probably the biggest organizational project I’ve ever tackled. Not in someone’s house. In my business. We’re rebuilding Balagan Be Gone and Journey to Organization from the ground up, documenting every product, every policy, every workflow, and every system. It’s exciting. It’s overwhelming. My brain currently has approximately…
About 14 years ago, I listened to a parenting class that changed the way I manage my life. I wish I could tell you who gave the class because I would love to thank her. I don’t remember her name. My superpower is remembering your house and where all your stuff is. Remembering names… not…
You know that feeling when you keep trying to make something work, and reality keeps saying, “Yeah, not gonna happen.” You research, you plan, you buy the supplies, you create the spreadsheet, you watch the video, you make a list… and somehow the thing still isn’t getting done. You end up saying to yourself, why…
Around Mincha time on Shabbat, I try to start reviewing the parsha for the coming week. If all goes according to plan, I review one aliyah each day. This week, things didn’t go according to plan. I reviewed the entire parsha on Shabbat, but I never got to my daily aliyah review because I got…