Jessica's Friday Five: great browser extension, FSA spend ideas, 2 new freebies
Published 16 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader,
This week started off with the sad passing of my 1o-year-old's hamster. She was pretty shaken up by it, but many of you gave great advice on social media when I solicited your suggestions for supporting her through the loss. Thank you. It's also been so fun to see some of you say hi in FLOWN sessions this week! Over here in my home, we're looking forward to a weekend full of friends and the start of a new basketball season for my 8-year-old. I hope you've got something you're really looking forward to this weekend as well. Let's get to your Friday Five!
Great free browser extension: This week, a fellow Fair Play facilitator, Tara, shared with me about an excellent free browser extension called Agenda Hero. It takes random text from emails, PDFs, images, etc. related to events and creates a calendar invitation for you. This week, I used it to turn an email about kid basketball practice and another image I was texted about a birthday party into calendar events, and it did both brilliantly.
Winter kid suggestions: For those of you with kids in your life, here are two suggestions for the fall/winter season if you're in the Northern Hemisphere. First, it can be so great to get outside with kids after dinner time, but it's so dark at this time of year. Go on a flashlight walk with them - hand out a few flashlights and go for a brief walk. It somehow changes the whole experience and makes it more fun. Second - on a rainy day, go to a pet store if you feel cooped up. As long as you set clear boundaries at the start of the adventure (today is not the day we get a pet), it's a free but entertaining way to spend half an hour checking out birds and fish and cute small furry things while getting out of your house.
Two ways to spend FSA $: It's flexible spending account sign-up season in many companies (and time to spend down your current year balance if you have any remaining). My first tip is to consider LASIK eye surgery in 2025 if you've been curious about it - it's FSA-eligible. Here's my experience with that surgery. Second - FSAStore.com is a great place to spend your balance before December 31st because everything on the site is eligible. Consider flu/COVID tests, sunscreen, an Oura ring to track your health, or even a massaging heat pad to gift someone.
Two new freebies: I recently put up a few new free resources on my site - the first is a set of 30 bite-sized actions for small business owners. They're delivered in a daily email for 30ish days. Sign up yourself or send it to a friend who might benefit - jessicaeastmanstewart.ck.page/bite-sized-business-boosts. The second is a template + tips for delegating better and capturing standard operating procedures in your company using a playbook system. Get that one at jessicaeastmanstewart.com/playbooks. I hope they help you!
Holiday season permission slips: I want to give you three permission slips for this holiday season - please use any of these you need: ❄️ The permission to skip sending holiday cards unless you enjoy it. This is such a huge project that it should only be undertaken by folks who have a great time with the whole process. ❄️ The permission to not say yes to all social invitations. A lot is going on this season. If you need to veg out on the couch with a movie instead of dressing up for an event, here's your permission slip to do that. ❄️ The permission to be totally extra on things you love. Do you love making holiday desserts from scratch? Or matching pajamas? Putting up way too many inflatable decorations in your yard? Go all out if you love it, and don't apologize.
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