Jessica's Friday Five: I wash my armpits with acne wash
Published about 6 hours ago • 3 min read • Friday Five
Hi Reader,
I'm currently on a "team retreat" with my team at work (I'm the only one on the team). I like to do this 2-4 times a year where I get out of my day-to-day life and get to focus on projects and planning for my business while also enjoying the heck out of some extra sleep. Almost every time I do this, it's by finding a housesit on Trusted Housesitters so that I can stay for free and usually have a cute pet or two to cuddle. An adorable cat named Turtle and I are hanging out right now while Turtle's owner is traveling for work. We also travel as a family this way (last spring break in a gorgeous house in Washington, DC).
Oh, and I have a favor to ask - can you send me your favorite memes? Just hit reply with a link or attachment. I love sharing them in Friday Funnies over on Insta and Facebook!
Get Shit Done Day to Support Someone: I loved this article so much: it's about a group of friends coming together to support their pregnant friend who was going through cancer treatment. What a lovely idea for everyone involved. Do you have someone in your life who could benefit from a group of their people coming together to get them through a moment of need with a day of just doing what needs doing? If yes, text this article to someone to get the idea marinating...
PanOxyl for the win: I follow a bunch of dermatologists on social media, and one of my favorite things I've learned from them is how helpful PanOxyl is for cleaning your armpits! It's normally an acne face wash, but it also kills the bacteria that make you stinky, so we're daily users in my house (all of us, including my kids). It really does make a huge difference. I get it here with our grocery deliveries, but Amazon has it too.
Speaking of grocery delivery, hurry on this: I mentioned in the tip above that we get groceries delivered through Walmart because we have a Walmart+ membership. We have been doing this for years now, and it's such a huge time-saver. Normally, the grocery delivery costs $98 a year, but right now it's just $49 a year (they do this sale only once a year, as far as I can tell). It also has other benefits like getting prescriptions delivered and 10 cents off per gallon of gas, plus random fun freebies like free Whoppers at Burger King, and a free pet service where you can chat with a vet that we've used multiple times to save money on trips to the vet for our cats. In my opinion, if you've got a Walmart near you, Walmart+ is an excellent $49 to spend each year, but get it now before it's up to $98 again.
Free guide for parents on loving LGBTQIA+ kids well: Happy Pride Month! Love this guide from one of my favorite authors, Jen Hatmaker. It's a free resource for parents, guardians, teachers, faith leaders, and anyone who loves a queer kid and wants to show up with more care, courage, and confidence. I was just catching up with a friend of mine from my childhood about what it was like for him to grow up queer in our small Alabama hometown, and I wish the adults around him had access to helpful resources like this back then.
Hiding self-view on Zoom: I don't know why I haven't been doing this, but earlier this week on a call with a friend and client (hi Jennie!), she talked about how much she prefers Zoom meetings where she hides her own self-view. I started changing my settings (the little 9-square icon at the top right of your screen is where you do this), and it's so much better not to have to see my own face on the screen during meetings, and it definitely feels more like an IRL meeting than a video meeting. Try it out if you haven't in a while!
Bonus Sponsor Resource: Home Chef is one of my favorite ways to help kids build responsibility and learn to cook. It's not billed that way (it does happen to be a great meal kit service), but because you can pick the meals and they come with all the ingredients + the recipes, it's a great way to help young folks make dinner for the family. Some of the meals are so simple that I think a 6- or 7-year-old could pull them together, and certainly kids 10+ could do most of them. Summer is a great time to try out "you're gonna cook one dinner each week" to help kids build those skills. My link gets you 15 free meals (across 5 orders), free shipping on your 1st box, and free dessert for life. The meals are often cheaper than $5 per person. This resource is from one of our Friday Five sponsors - thank you to them for keeping this newsletter free for readers!
Last Friday's Most-Clicked Link:The spreadsheet I made for you with a list of places that treat kids with free stuff on their birthday.