Odds + Ends
As I was making a list of odd little thoughtful things that I do for my family and my community, there was a little apprehension in sharing them. I decided that even though some of the things I do may rub some people the wrong way, sharing the list would be worth it.
My list of thoughtful odds + ends:
I put toothpaste on my family’s tooth brushes for them. Yes, you read that correctly. For my son, who is fourteen years old, I put toothpaste on his toothbrush when we travel because that step of brushing teeth can be the hardest when we are away from home. My son is often preoccupied, off routine and then falls asleep without brushing his teeth. This thoughtful act actually keeps me on top of his brushing twice a day - if the toothpaste is still on the brush, it means he didn’t brush. As for my hub, when the tube of toothpaste is down to only 20 or so applications remaining, he pulls out a new tube and starts using it. A new tube takes less time to get paste onto the brush compared to trying to squeeze out toothpaste from an almost finished tube; my hub is always short on time. Sometimes, he uses a different toothpaste than me so then what am I going to do with a tube that still has 20 more applications? At night, I thoughtfully put the toothpaste on the brush and leave it for my hub to use in the morning. It saves time, money, frustration, the earth and space in the bathroom drawer.
When putting away clothes, whether at home or traveling, I thoughtfully keep my hub’s clothes in drawers or spaces that are higher rather than lower. He has knee issues so bending to get stuff is tougher on him than it is on me so I gladly take lower spaces for my stuff.
I thoughtfully reserve a shelf/space in the fridge for items that are vegetarian so that when my daughter looks for something to eat, she doesn’t bother to look thru the other spaces because almost all of her “safe” food is in one spot.
Some tags that come attached to new clothes items are made out of recyclable materials. However the tags are often attached with non-recyclable material. In those cases, I thoughtfully rip the tag and put the pieces in the appropriate bins.
When packing afternoon snacks for my kids, I thoughtfully include something sweet, savory, crunchy, soft - it’s a smorgasbord - since I am not sure what would satisfy their hunger on any given day.
When restocking the beer fridge, I thoughtfully pull out any remaining cold ones. Next, I place the room temperature bottles in the back and then put the cold ones back inside but in the front.
The hub is barely home and so when he reaches for a snack, I thoughtfully make it easy for him (and everyone). First, I use jars with easy removable tops - nothing that requires work like twist-off lids. Then I leave these jars on the kitchen counter stocked with: 1. banana chips 2. trail mix (a 50/50 combo of Trader Joe’s Omega Trek Mix + Simply Almonds, Cashews and Chocolate) and 3. anything gummy - bears, Sour Patch kids etc. (see first photo above).
I’d love to toss this entire clothes tag into the recycling bin but the metal ring that the string goes thru would not be easy to remove and recycle. Nowadays, I rip the parts of the price tag separating the non-recyclable from the recyclable. In the photo, one can see that there is a good portion of this tag that can be recycled. If I was really anal, I’d put the string in the recycling bin after removing the plastic disc but I don’t have time for that.
The reason I feel like this list would make some people cringe is because in this day and age, thoughtfulness can be misconstrued or thought of as subservient behavior. Or perhaps in the case of my kids, I would be labeled as an enabler. Screw that! If we stop being thoughtful because we’re afraid of being labeled or being thought of as weak, then the world is in for some big trouble. My hope is that we all do something along these same odd lines for our loved ones. My hope is that reading this list makes you want to share what you do at home so that I can learn about ways to be thoughtful from you.
I’ve come to realize that letting someone know we’re thinking of them while in the moment may also be considered odd or unnatural. It took me awhile but I have come to the conclusion that the majority of people do not stop to do this. My sister-in-law Heather and my bestie Allison sent me separate texts this weekend. The texts took 2 minutes (or less) to write. Allison’s text thanked me from her husband for the tortilla warmer and Heather’s text thanked me for the Bronco’s blanket because she keeps warm in it when she studies. Both texts made my heart full because these are every day items, used for every day purposes but the value of those moments that they took to text me are precious and thoughtful. When I give thoughtful pinches to friends and family and they text me randomly to let me know that they are thinking of me because of the pinch, it’s joy coming back to me.
A photo of the tortilla warmer with a nice, simple message of gratitude for this birthday gift.
Now this kind of odd thoughtfulness doesn’t relate to my worry about being labeled subservient or an enabler. In fact, the only parallel between my list of thoughtful odds + ends and these texts is that regardless of how we show it, thoughtfulness makes room for joy. Doing odd things for our loved ones, making life easier for them, should be celebrated, admired and shared. The ROI (return on investment) for being thoughtful in odd ways allows for time and energy to move forward which is an investment that we all can benefit from.
I like being festive and another odd thing that I do for my family is that I have holiday color coordinated M&M’s in this big glass jar in the basement.
Speaking of moving forward, the timing of this post in regards to odds and ends of thoughtful things is very fitting. My eighth year of blogging is coming up and there will be a shift in my posts to be more of an “odds and ends” approach - highlighting thoughtful gestures. The format will change but the premise will not. Stay tuned.
Pinches,
Barb
