Jessica's Friday Five: don't throw away that peanut butter jar

Hi Reader,

Life continues to be life-y around here. A friend of mine has been missing for over a week, and we don't have any updates on her whereabouts or whether she's safe. It's wrenching. A pipe burst under our yard and cost thousands to fix; at the same time, we had to spend thousands on an unexpected (and unusually painful) root canal for me. Oh, and my bad - if you're a Jessica's Monthly Management Memo subscriber, there was a broken link in the issue I sent earlier this week (to Miriam's article about hiring well). I fixed it here. And none of these situations even touch the broader issues happening in the world at large, which continue to make us all wish for more precedented times. "The Case for Hope in an Exhausted America" gave me some solace this week, and maybe it will for you, too.

Let's get to your Friday Five, okay?

1. Before you toss that peanut butter jar: I saw the idea a few years back and have done it several times since then to a delicious result: if you have the last sticky bits of a nut butter left in your jar, drop in some additional ingredients to create a delicious peanut sauce for noodles. Here's one example.
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2. Considering a money workshop collab - which topic should we do? I am a personal finance enthusiast, but far from an expert. But my friend Autumn? She is an actual finance expert. She can also surf much better than I (we met at a surf camp in Portugal a few summers back). We brainstormed some possible workshops for the Friday Five community, and we wanted to see which of these two ideas you like best for a workshop in the next month or two. What do you think? Should we do "10 Steps on the Road To Your First Million" or "Know Your Numbers Audit: From Dumpster Fire to Organized, Getting Your Money Organized"? Let us know here. If there's interest, we'll make a workshop happen.
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3. Paula can save you tons of time. Do you love doing your bookkeeping? Me neither. 😅 If you want to save +35 monthly hours on your admin, you have to try bookeeping.ai. It’s a smart AI assistant that automatically syncs your banks and categorizes expenses while you sleep. It’s the easiest way to put your business finances on autopilot and finally get organized. Try Bookeeping.ai here.
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4. Try this for an overwhelming inbox: I'm headed on a trip with some friends and our kids this week. One of the friends joining the trip, Greg, was put in charge of our mutual friend's email account for a brief period to help them get it under control. Here's what Greg suggested, and I think it's brilliant: "Invite a trusted person into your email inbox and let them decide what to unsubscribe. they are way more likely to be "brutal" in their unsubscribing, helping you focus, and after a few weeks, if you feel like you're missing something, you can always go back and resubscribe."
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5. $50 of free sunscreen: Ok, so right now, if you join Rakuten using someone's friend link (here's mine), you'll get $50 when you spend $50. This means that whatever you buy from a Rakuten partner brand up to $50 is essentially free. My recommendation would be to get some great sunscreen from Ulta for the season. My two faves are the Unseen Sunscreen from Supergoop (a really great traditional sunscreen that legit feels like it's not even on) and CC+ cream, which is basically foundation + sunscreen in one. Here are the steps: get your Rakuten account, then go through Rakuten's website ot Ulta's website, and then spend $50. Easy peasy. And then be sure to use the Rakuten browser extension for tons of savings over time - I get at least $100 - $200 in cash back every few months for years now.

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Last Friday's Most-Clicked Link: Family Easter activities ideas from me. Have fun this weekend if you're celebrating!