This monthly Favourites list was especially satisfying to think through because October happened to be my favourite month so far in 2022! But…before I get started on my list, I want to mention a very exciting holiday event being hosted by blogger extraordinaire (and organizational guru) San. Yes, this is the same San who has organized things so wonderfully for NaBloPoMo. She is hosting her annual (this is the 7th year!) Secret Santa (Mug) Swap and is looking for participants from the US, Canada, and Germany. You do not need to be a blogger to participate; I joined the fun last year and you better believe I’m already signed up for 2022. You can check out all the details for this event and sign up here. A huge thanks to San!!
eufy
Okay, feel free to call me out on cheating. I know I listed our new robovac last month as the first entry in my September Favourites. But: my blog, my list. Eufy stays.
Last month I said – and I quote – “Several people commented that having a robovac was life-changing. I’m not sure if I’m quite to that point yet.”
Friends, I am at that point. It is life-changing.
My new routine is to run Eufy in at least TWO locations each day. MWF, this includes both bathrooms. It takes 2 minutes, but it gets all the dust and hair up off the floor which makes such a difference when you have white tile (which is aesthetically pleasing, but if I ever run into the previous homeowners, I’ll give them a piece of my mind about their colour choice because those floors show every speck of dirt and dust). While Eufy runs in one bathroom, I do a quick wipe-down of the counters and toilets in the other. There is no deep-clean needed and in about 15 minutes total cleaning time over the span of a whole week, our bathrooms are looking so much better.
One more Eufy story. Meatball, bless him, has so much fluffy fur and when we pull him out of his cage little flecks of mulch fall out of said fur onto the (dark) carpet in Abby’s room. It used to drive me NUTS. Now, I don’t bat an eye because I know Eufy will take care of it!
socks for levi
Jenny commented – back on my post about having multiples of certain items – how much she appreciated having a generous supply of socks.
Earlier this summer I bought the kids a jumbo pack of ankle socks in black and white. This would have been perfect if John and I didn’t own many ankle socks in black and white which are only marginally different in size. It was a sock-sorting nightmare.
Also a nightmare – Levi had a variety of patterned socks that were slowly wearing out. But having one sock that has brightly coloured dinosaurs and another sock that is brightly coloured basketballs don’t lend themselves to mix-and-matching.
Enter a jumbo pack of black and grey crew socks. They go with every outfit. No one else in the family owns the same style of socks. And, if one goes missing or gets a hole, since there are so many pairs of the exact same sock, I can mix-and-match.
This sounds like a small thing, but it has streamlined laundry and made mornings easier for Levi.
the weather
I love fall. Even if it rained every day, I would still find some way to love it. But this particular October outdid itself. We had fantastic weather. Clear skies. Crisp mornings. Warm afternoons. The leaves were beautiful. It was everything I hope for in a fall, but even better.
spotify
I spend a lot of time listening to music (and my kids happen to approve of my playlists, which does feel validating) and having Spotify elevates the experience. We don’t have subscriptions for many things and at first I felt guilty about spending money each month to access music that was freely available on YouTube…but it’s so worth it to me.
our front lights
For almost five years our house was a renovation zone. For someone who thrives on order, this was very, very hard. I dreaded driving up the street and seeing things that were so clearly in need of repair. I knew it was all going to get done, but waiting was tough. Five years can feel like a very long time!
As part of our exterior upgrades, we had pot lighting installed around the front of the house. Flipping the switch each evening always makes me happy, and pulling up the street now I smile instead of wincing – especially if it’s at night and there is the warm glow of lights leading me back to our cheerful little home. Those final details can make a big difference in a “house” feeling like a “home” and outside lighting was one such detail.
a minimalist wallet
John is a connoisseur of slim wallets. A few years ago he discovered – and loved – the one pictured above. Recently, he bought a new one (it had a slot to hold an AirTag) and I inherited his old wallet (FIDELO brand).
This thing is wonderful. It has a little lever that pushes cards up and out out of the main case. It has a slot for additional cards on the front and back, and an elastic to hold cash. It is very small and easily slips right into my pocket.
The downside – it can hold about 1/3 of the cards of my regular wallet, but I almost never use them anyway. Once a month (?) I go fish out a rewards card for this or that but, for the most part, everything I need will fit in this tiny wallet. I carry my health card (and the kid’s), a debit and credit card, and my driver’s license. That’s it! I’ve started using the rewards apps for points programs and just about everything else I need so infrequently (i.e. a small business card for mailing business packages), I know in advance that I should bring them along.
hair stopper
This might be a bit gross, but I shed an insane amount of hair. I have thick, wavy hair and no matter how much comes out when I brush (and it’s a lot) there is a limitless supply.
It is annoying for keeping floors clean, and it’s downright terrible for our plumbing.
I have a silicone hair stopper that suctions right over the drain and I put it down whenever I wash my hair. I clean it out at the end of every shower and put it back up on the ledge. I bought it at a Great Canadian DollarStore years ago and it still works like a charm (there are lots of similar options at hardware stores, too).
It’s easy to use, effective, and it always makes me feel virtuous to put the hair into the garbage at the end of the shower instead of clogging up our drains.
Your turn. Any favourite items or memories from October?
Header photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION!! The robot-vacuum revolution. I’m so glad you love it! But WHO puts white tiles on a FLOOR? That’s aggressive!
Your leaves are gorgeous. We are in full-on winter. It’s going to be in the minus 20s this week and we have a ton of snow. I’m hoping this cold snap will ease up a bit so the guys can decorate the yard for Christmas.
As for the minimalist wallet…I do not have this. Remember George Costanza’s wallet in Seinfeld? That’s me. I’ve gotten better but I could be MUCH better.
I know – white tile in a bathroom is…not ideal!
I see you pictures of all the snow and I’m very happy to be experiencing +25C right now!
George’s wallet – this is too funny!
I love a minimal wallet! My 10 year old purposely wears mismatched socks. That has been the last year or two and it makes laundry so much easier. I don’t bother putting pairs together as she will just take them apart to “mismatch” them anyway.
We have had some nice fall weather. The first few weeks of October were lovely and Halloween was clear and 11 degrees which is good for us! That is a highlight – I was able to walk outside many days.
I made it to a coffee shop a few times. Mostly to have a change of scenery for marking but it was still lovely.
For my next several months my new Tucson will be my favourite. It has all wheel drive which I have missed having for winter. I won’t worry about getting stuck as much and it uses less gas than my van. It has heated seats and a heated steering wheel. Luxurious for prairie winters.
Yes, Abby sometimes wears mis-matched socks, but Levi’s are all mid-calf and he doesn’t like them mismatched. Black and grey socks across the board has been so helpful.
AWD – oh how I’ve missed that since we’ve gone down to one vehicle. It always made me feel so much safer in the winter. Heated seats are wonderful, but a heater steering wheel would be incredible. Next vehicle? I also really miss having an automatic car starter. Pushing a button instead of having to trudge out through the snow (especially since we had to tear down the carport at our house – it was very old and rotten, but I LOVED having a space that stayed dry/snow free in the winter.
Ha, well I’m going to sound like a nutcase who’s obsessed with socks, but I can totally see how the purchase of Levi’s socks changed your life. When my daughter was little her socks were all different- like one had cats on it, another had hearts, one had rainbows, ETC. I never even realized what a pain that was until a friend of mine mentioned that she just gets her girls a big package of white socks, and that’s it! No sorting or matching. Now that my daughter is older, she requests plain black socks. And I’m the one who has all different socks now, ha ha, thanks to the birthday gift of Harry Potter socks from my sister last year. The good thing is, if I have to I can mix and match because you can’t tell from the tops which ones say “Deathly Hallows” or “Mischief Managed”, etc.
One of these days I have to get a robo-vac. I’m still working on getting the mop you mentioned in a recent post!
Socks are a staple item in any wardrobe, and a good pair of socks is such a luxury as an adult!
The robo-vac has been great for me (and I love the mop, too!).
I’ll admit that my October just whipped by me, leaves swirling, semi-retired husband in the way, weather not being normal. We’re going to have highs in the 70s this week so I’m still in summer clothes mode, which contributed to me not really tuning into October like the month it should be. I’m fascinated by your experience with the robot-vacuum and love that wallet. Less is more, I get that.
I have loved the robo-vac and like it more and more the longer we have it. It just makes cleaning floors a lot simpler.
And I highly recommend this wallet – it has been used daily for several years now and is still in excellent condition. And it’s just so, so small. I love that I can slip the whole thing into the pocket of my coat – no big, bulky purse required.
I don’t think I’ve said this before, but Meatball is SO CUTE. Those little ears and whiskers! Too adorable for words.
In October we got our second boosters and went to a wedding and I’m going to date that as the time we loosened our own COVID restrictions. We still mask in a lot of public places, but we do leave the house and Do The Things instead of turning down invitations. Hopefully we can maintain this and stay healthy.
He really is pretty adorable, eh!
I’m so glad you’ve been able to fit in some different activities. I’m very much hoping between having the booster and taking precautions as needed that you both stay healthy!
Ah that sock thing. I think when I first moved out and had to do my own laundry that was my hack. I always bought a huge pack of socks that lasted for years and I could mix and match and best of all doing laundry just take two and bundle them. I’ve continued this practice ever since. Only lately did k feel I wanted polka dot socks. Best thing ever.
It is so, so handy for the kid’s socks. The main pain point was Levi; the rest of us have various patterns and colours, but they’re pretty easy to match up.
i love the pic of fall… looks so cozy. I miss that from our time in the US.
i haven’t been writing down consistently what I love/enjoy per month given all the changes, hopefully I get back to that soon as things settle down.
At this point of the game, I’d trade my weird, always filthy looking (even after being freshly cleaned) tiles on the kitchen floor for your white tiles. I hate those tiles with every fiber of my being.
Who knew that much of adulthood would be having very strong feelings about floor tiles?
I can relate to this, Gigi. I have strong feelings about our kitchen tiles too. They’re filthy looking, bad quality, they’re cracking and the grout is falling out .When do you think is the point when our landlord HAS to do something about that?
Ugh. Hope your landlord provides an upgrade soon!
Oh Gigi – those tiles don’t sound ideal. We had an weird beige-brown-orangey tile in our entryway (which had to be demoed because of rot – the joys of a 1970’s house); it wasn’t my favourite colour, but it didn’t show ANY dirt. White on the other hand…it just shows EVERYTHING (mostly dust and hair, which accumulate and then “stick” to surfaces because of the humiditity).
I’ve gone back and forth so many times on a robovac. One the one hand it doesn’t take THAT long to vac with a non-robotic vac and I only do it once a week but on the other hand sheesh I hate doing it. I really should just get one to try out and return it if I don’t like it.
Having only one kind of sock is the world’s best time saver. Once I started down that path I never looked back.
I don’t have a special gizmo to catch hair in the drain but I’m Team Shed A Lot as well;-) Where does it all come from and there’s no way that I’m growing it back as fast as its coming off but somehow it all balances out.
I was skeptical about the robovac, but really do love it!!
I lived with my brother one summer when I was in college and he told me he was finding hair around his apartment for MONTHS after I left.
I don’t really feel like my house is conducive to a robo vacuum. I feel like it would just spend time running into stuff. haha.
Our weather has been exceptionally warm for much of fall, too. Ethan has still been wearing shorts to school almost every day except for a few colder days! I heard on the news tonight though that the “coldest weather of the season so far” is coming up this weekend. It’s quite chilly out today, too already.
We have a pretty open concept upstairs and not much furniture/stuff – even still, there is some prep work to do in certain rooms (especially with a cheaper robovac because they don’t have sophisticated house mapping features. Our Eufy is very “dumb” and cleans in a fully random pattern – but it still works great).
My kids have been wearing T-shirts and shorts, too. But the weather got much colder today and when I was waiting for the bus, I saw my first snow flurry of Fall 2022. Sigh…
The best thing about October was that my sister in-law and her family were visiting. They have a two year old and it was so fun to have a little one in the house for a couple of days. They meant to come earlier to safe on flight tickets, but then covid restrictions happened. Another fun thing was my daughter’s first jazz concert with the school band.
Yay for family visits and concerts. Very fun!
I love a minimal wallet too. I bought one for when I travel overseas, but now I often use it here. It has my essentials and is smaller than a phone. Although to be honest, most of the time I just go out with my phone and use my apple wallet to pay for things, or I can use my Garmin. We don’t have to carry ID, so that’s usually all I need.
Yes, white floor tiles in the bathroom would not be good. We are moving into a new apartment soon, and the tiles are a kind of sandy stone type, so I’m thinking they should be pretty good for hiding mess.
I don’t have anything set up on my phone/watch for paying; I really should, because it would be very convenient sometimes.
We had a brown-pink-orange (I don’t even know how to describe them) tile in our pre-renovation entryway (there were rot issues so everything had to be demoed)…while I would never have picked the colour myself, it didn’t show a thing and I grew to love them!
Thanks so much for drumming up support for the mug swap 🙂 I am so glad you’re participating again and that others have expressed interest too. I hope it’s going to be a lot of fun!!
I can relate so much to the ‘joy’ of having a hair stopper in the bathtub! We live in an old apartment and had some plumbing issues when we first moved in and had a plumber come out twice. Who knew that you could “fix the problem” with just the right hair stopper (a tub shroom) that collects all my long hair. We haven’t had plumbing issues since.
I love your front entrance. It looks so cozy and inviting. I can imagine it’s been hard to wait for things to be upgraded but it was well worth it.
The mug swap was so much fun last year – I’m very excited to participate again. Hope you gets lots of applicants!
I should see if I could get Phil on board with a Eufy. Seems like it would solve our excessive crumb problem? But we’ll see if I can convince him!
I think it’s great that you love October so much despite having your surgery canceled! You have had such a great attitude about that whole thing.
October wasn’t my favorite month… Will was pretty sick w/ RSV and then I was pretty miserable and had to cancel my business trip. But the highlight was definitely halloween. Paul had the time of his life! And the pumpkin event we went to was so so awesome, too!
Oh, Lisa. I think you’d love it! It’s just so, so easy!!! Even if it didn’t get things perfectly clean, you’d notice a big difference, I bet. And I find crumbs end up tracking everywhere, too, so you’ll likely notice the impact household wide? Highly recommend. I know you don’t do gift exchanges at Christmas, but it’s an idea of what you could buy with the Christmas money you receive?
Then again, I always feel wary of recommending anything too heartily because experiences can vary. For us, it has been wonderful, but I’m sure there are many people who haven’t been impressed?!
Ugh. You had a tough October, but hopefully things are looking up in November and everyone stays extra healthy – especially with your exciting trip with Phil coming up!!!
We have white tile on our bathroom floor – which I have to sweep almost every day because you can see everything! On the bright side at least it forces me to keep it clean. That is a great idea about the socks. My mom bought both of my kids multi-packs of colored socks, only one size different. I CANNOT wash their laundry together because of this. And even so, I routinely hear “This sock is too big/small!”.
You understand! It shows everything, doesn’t it?!
It is a great investment to get the big batch of socks!
I still can’t say that my robovac is life-changing, but I do appreciate it a lot! I still find that I need to do some spot-cleaning here and there, and I wish it vacuumed in a more efficient manner, but alas! It does help with all the cat hair and litter particles and that’s what mainly drives me crazy.
I’m glad the weather is cooperating for you! Our weather hasn’t been TOO bad, still hotter than normal but even weather in the 80s feels better than 100 degrees with high humidity.
Yes, we definitely sometimes need to do some spot-cleaning, too (there is a spot in the kitchen it can’t get under the cupboards properly).
The weather has been great, but we’re going to get the hurricane coming for Florida over the weekend as a tropical storm. I hope you remain unscathed!!
I’m so glad that the Eufy, despite its occasional issues reaching every corner, is helping you stay on top of the cleaning. What a lovely benefit that it gives you time back!
The weather was so nice earlier this fall, but I always have in the back of my mind the nagging thought that it *should* be colder. Sigh. Wish I could turn off my doom voice periodically and just enjoy!
Socks! Yes! All the same kind – particularly for athletics, or (for me) summer wear, are critical. Makes life sooo much easier. Kind of like a capsule wardrobe – but with socks. 😉
I need to get something similar to your minimalist wallet – San posted about one a few months ago and it’s only $10 on Amazon. Hm…. So appealing. Big wallets do not do it for me!
And, I’m glad October was a win for you despite the surgery cancellation. I don’t know what the day-to-day is like for you, but from what you’ve shared here, you seem to be doing well dealing with that. I still hope hope hope, though, that they can sneak you in on short notice so you have it done before May. <3