Jessica’s Friday Five: 11 uses for hand sanitizer (whiteboard included)

Hi Reader,

Welp, what a week for those of us here in America. I'm really proud of all the hard work that went into shifting our politics back toward more care and humanity. Two quick things before we get into Friday Five: if you're celebrating Diwali ✨ this weekend, I hope you enjoy! If you're a mom, my very wise friend Sweta is hosting a workshop next week for moms ready to reconnect with themselves.

Let's get to your Friday Five:

1. Hit Snooze (in Gmail or Outlook): I've shared this one before, and I'm sharing it again because I keep hearing from folks that it's so helpful. I recently taught a five-week project management series, and on the feedback form, a bunch of people wrote "email snooze." Of everything we covered, the email feature I mentioned in passing is what stuck. :) In fairness, it's a great feature! Hover over an email, click the little clock, and it comes back when you actually need it (like concert tickets snoozed until the day of the concert, or email newsletters you want to read but not until your busy next few days have passed). Here are some other use cases.
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2. The Joyfully Managed Life Society is so fun right now! It's a crew of us who are focused on making life easier at work and at home. Members are loving the how-I'm-using-AI replay, looking forward to Deena's workshop next month on family food systems and connection, and we're currently voting on the December resource drop. I've also answered Qs lately on decision-making in teams, software switching, shared email addresses for couples to share the load, what to do about an overwhelming meeting calendar, and even the best cat supplies. We've got a Get it Done Week coming up next week with prizes for making progress on your weekly planning system! If you've been considering joining us, now's a great time. Join us here for immediate access to everything.
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3. 11 Secret Uses for Hand Sanitizer: Earlier this week in a volunteer role I had to figure out how to erase a whiteboard that had writing from sometime before 2019 on it (no one remembers, but it was at least that old). It was a struggle, and I tried all of my old classroom teacher tricks, but what worked best was hand sanitizer. That reminded me of this article - who knew hand sanitizer could be a dry shampoo alternative or help with bug bites? Not me (until this article, that is).​
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4. For kids who celebrate Christmas in your life: I’m going to put these letter-to-Santa printables (modified from one I found online and converted into a Canva template you can modify and use, or just print the PDF) in our Little Free Library this year for families to grab. I printed pages 2-4, folded them, and paperclipped them in an envelope to make it easy. You could share them at a church, give them to every kid who comes to a Christmas-related gathering you're at, or share them anywhere those who might enjoy Christmas are gathered (be careful not to assume all kids celebrate Christmas!). If kids mail these letters to the listed address (if they're US-based) by December 5th, a USPS volunteer will write back and sometimes even send a gift from their list!
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5. 'Tis the season for Costco and Great Wolf Lodge: Weird to put those together, am I right? But listen - if you've got a Costco near you, it's SO good. It's honestly my favorite place to shop for clothing these days. If that seems silly it's because you haven't shopped for clothes at Costco recently. You gotta try it. And the best way to get a Costco membership is on Groupon (it's $65, but then you get a $45 gift card, so that makes it like a whole year of membership for just $20). AND Groupon also has really good deals for Great Wolf Lodge (if your local GWL doesn't come up, just type the actual city name in the Groupon search, and I bet you'll find it). With lots of time off work and school coming up, it could be a fun way to get away for a night at an indoor water park. I'm seeing suites for like $115 a night (which includes the water park passes for each day you're there for everyone in the room). Not bad!

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Last Friday's Most-Clicked Link: This fun sweatshirt!