#practical tips

As someone whose capsule wardrobe is 95% white and cares about ethical and sustainable fashion (so many of my pieces are investments) it’s important to keep my pieces maintained.

Over the years I’ve earned myself the title Queen of Stains by friends and family. I will be updating this list as I go on, remember, and discover more.

What to have in your arsenal:

Many of these things are so multi-useful they’re just good to have anyway!

Baking soda

Vinegar (i don't think it matters but white is best if you have lighter colored clothes)

Dawn dish soap

Rubbing alcohol

Hydrogen peroxide

Pink Stuff (linked here)

Old toothbrush for scrubbin'

Basics of stains:

If you have more lemons than you can use at once, here’s what you can do before they go bad:

grate the outer skin of the lemons, put in a bag, freeze! Now you have grated lemon anytime you need it for desserts or cakes.

squeeze the lemon juice out, pour it into ice-cube containers, freeze. Once they’re frozen, take them out and put them in a plastic bag and into the freezer. You can stash unlimited lemon juice this way, and whenever you want a lemonade, just take few cubes and put into a glass of water

seeds can be peeled and planted, for a nice little lemon tree! It’s not gonna make good lemons unless you graft it, but the leaves are very beneficial for clearing up your air, and can be used for tea making! They’re also very beautiful to have on windowsills

Instead of grating, you can also make sugared lemon or orange peels! It only takes cutting them up in stripes, boiling for half hour, to take out the sourness, then boiling in a mix of sugar and water! You dry them afterwards and you made candy.

Other citruses

You can use orange peels for sweetening and adding taste to all your tomato-based sauces

If you have oranges or a similar citrus, and you want to use the peels for a project, but can’t eat all that citrus at once, you can peel it away, then wrap it tightly with a plastic bag, or any airtight wrap. I tried this with a tangerine and an orange and after 3 days in the fridge, they were exactly same as if I had only peeled them that second

You can use citrus peels to infuse any liquid with their scent! You can make citrus-smelling infusion of vinegar and use it as a cleaning liquid, just leave the peels submerged for a few months

As an adult, people assume that you’re already equipped to do so many things. Folks expect you to be a responsible member of society. But it is obvious that many if not most of adults turn out to be scared and clueless about plenty of stuff. Not everyone managed to grow up in an environment that is very informative. Even if you had the resources for learning, you might not have had the inclination to study much when you were younger. That’s okay, though, because life is like that and you only need to respond better when faced with issues. That is to say, when you feel like you’re inadequate, you only need to improve. Just find out the things you’ve missed out on, study them, and live your life better.

Here are some of the things that I believe you should have been well-versed when you were younger but can work on anyway as a grown-up.

Meal Preparation

A lot of children had their parents and even nannies while they were growing up to take care of their nutritional needs. They weren’t taught about how to cook food and plan meals. When they grow up, these individuals usually end up depending on food services and processed food for their nutrition. As we all know, continuously consuming these could lead to serious health problems. That’s why, while a person is young, it’s important to know how, what, and when to eat. That is to say, knowing how to time meals and your pace should be when you have your fill. Aside from that, you should also be picky with what you supply yourself with.

For this one, you need to make yourself familiar with a few things:

The kinds of food available. As much as possible, go for fresh and organic ones rather than processed food.

Learn to figure out which are macronutrients and micronutrients. Macros are proteins, carbs, and fats. Micros are the vitamins and minerals. Do some research to find out how much of these that you need.

Always read the food labels to see the ingredients, calories, and nutrients. You won’t always have nutritional information on the food, though. So do some research online or buy books about nutrition to get the right data about food.

Set when and what you’re going to eat per day. Have a weekly schedule for your convenience.

Mental Health

Schools usually have guidance counselors and nurses who can provide social and emotional education and assistance to young students. But, as proven time and time again, not every kid is able to speak up about the things that are going on in his or her life. That is even if the said people would inquire or even pry. Now, the key here is the awareness of mental health. The facts and issues about it and how you relate to it, that is. Once a person knows that he or she has emotional needs then he or she should do something about it for his or her health and wellness.

This is to say, a person should know that it’s fine to explore one’s self to know why he or she thinks that way. If there is a need for medical intervention then there should be no problem at all about consulting a psychologist or psychiatrist. Everyone gets faced with problems as an adult and some issues turn out to be overwhelming sometimes. Besides, you may learn a lot from consulting the experts. Either of them may teach you how to cope better.

My advice here is to:

Learn how to check up on yourself.

Get help when you think you need to.

Be more receptive and accommodating to reality.

Navigate The Healthcare Process

You might have known at an early age that a person who is sick goes to a hospital for short or long-term treatment. But what you might not have been aware of was how the process of that happens. As a grown-up, you should know what happens during emergencies. That’s so you could not only help others but yourself as well.

Usually, when someone is sick or in need of immediate treatment:

The patient or the person’s significant others contact healthcare professionals for help.

Patients have a walk-in consultation, set appointments, or get rushed in the emergency room for various medical concerns.

When in a hospital, a person with health problem gets examined using different diagnostic techniques and machines that may be non-invasive or invasive. It’s only after that when treatment is performed.

Once admitted in a medical facility, a patient needs a “runner” to attend to his or her personal and medical needs inside and outside of the hospital. Although nurses, nursing assistants, and even doctors could help, they are mostly busy focusing on medical treatments.

Of course, there are bills to be paid by the one seeking therapy. It would cover the services, medication, supplies, and use of facility. People get medical insurance to have assistance for these things.

After hospitalization, usually, aftercare is done. That is so a person wouldn’t need to be hospitalized again or to address some long-term health concerns.

Running a Household

Good for you if you’ve been exposed to an environment where your parents or guardians are able to teach you how to run a household. If otherwise, then make an effort to study the things below. After all, as an adult, you should be responsible enough to learn how to take care of yourself. Whether you’ve got a family or otherwise, you should know about these things.

Settle Bills To Pay

For this one, you need a job or run a business to get the finances to pay for utility, food, and other bills. Other people work for money and you should do the same too. For your comfort and survival, you should be employed or run your own company. You can be a freelancer, business owner, or employee. Either way, give it your best to have the funds to pay your bills and have some extra money for yourself.

Know when exactly you’re going to pay your invoices. Usually, they come at the same time each month. But it’s not even enough to just keep paying. Rather, you may want to keep track of your payments. That’s so you won’t end up paying more than you should. Also, check because you might be paying less and end up being in debt. So do things right. Set a time when you’re going to make computations to have everything work.

Delegate Tasks or Be Systematic At Least

It’s difficult to run a household on your own when you have people who are living with you. Even living alone can be quite challenging too. But you can get help when it’s available. If not that, you could always do something about how you do things. That is to say, you can manage your time better and organize your work. Whether you’re going to get help or doing things on your own, try to have a schedule to follow. Also, don’t overwhelm yourself and others with tasks to do. Organize everything.

You can manage your home well when you would:

Establish a place for your belongings.

Get rid of clutter.