I am a creature of habit — until I accept/realize that something is no longer working for me. The items on this page will undoubtedly change with the seasons of my life. Here are my current go-to’s in my quest to live free. Note: Many of these links will give me some form of compensation (cash, credits, etc.) for the recommendation.
Journaling
The Artist’s Way – establish a morning practice that helps you clear a path for more creativity. The London Writer’s Salon Writers Hour is a great resource for those looking for structured time to get their morning pages (or other writing) done.
Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life – Ann Lamott offers some great tips for the writer in you.
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within – another good writing tool.
Lifestyle
Imperfect Foods * – Imperfect is a weekly grocery delivery service on a mission to build a better, less wasteful food system. Each week you have a 24hr shopping window to select from a full lineup of sustainable, affordable groceries that are delivered to your front door. They make it easy to skip any time before your shopping window closes!
Instacart * – I HATE grocery shopping. When I need something in a rush, I use Instacart. You can shop from your phone and have your purchases delivered to your front door within a few hours. While many stores have grocery delivery or pickup options their turnaround time are longer.
Mindfulness
Insight Timer, Calm, and Headspace – apps for mobile devices
Joy+ – app for gratitude journaling, creating vision boards, etc.
Libbie – Libbie is a mental wellness chatbot and self-care app that introduces BIPOC women toEFT-Tapping, a wellness technique that engages your mind and body to release difficult emotions. Tapping helps to rewrite negative thought patterns and limiting beliefs from microaggressions, gaslighting, and other forms of stress happening in your daily life.
The Mindful Way Guided Meditations
Misc
AmazonPrime – my busy life makes it hard for me to visit four different stores to get all our household needs me. So, I use AmazonPrime to order things online. I (mostly) broke up with Amazon in 2020. I now use a variety of shops to get products. I haven’t found an efficient solution but I feel much better not defaulting to supporting harmful leaders. #endrant
Bookshop – I now order books online via this non-Amazone site. Via my account, I support a local Black-woman-owned bookstore in Houston (Kindred Stories) every time I make a purchase. I have also set up my own online bookstore as a baby step toward my vision of one day owning a brick-and-mortar bookstore wineshop. If you order from my Bookshop store, 10% of the purchase goes toward SemiColon and 10% goes to me.
Organization
I am a follower of many organizers who blog and offer courses. I like to follow people who teach me how to put my own systems in place and who make suggestions that are free or low-cost. My current favs are:
Simplify Days (I took her Go Digital. Go Paperless. Live Organized course) – think aiming for a paperless life
A Bowl Full of Lemons – If you love organizing that is visually appealing, this is the site for you. There is no room or space ABFOL hasn’t done a blog post on.
I Heart Planners (she offers some pretty cool classes and Facebook Lives. I used their system to create my household emergency binder.)
Lime Fruit Trees (check out her artsy pages to make you feel all the love as you journal/plan your heart out)
Boho Berry (They seem to be on hiatus but no worries. Thanks to their cult following, you can easily find Boho Berry content online.)
Evernote – Evernote helped me stay on top of tasks for work, home, and business. I also used Evernote to go paperless in my home office via the Go Digital course mentioned above. While I still really like Evernote, it did not work for my to-do lists. I tend to use a simple listmaking system in conjunction with my phone. I also use Evernote to organize my genealogy research and blog posts.
Personal Development
Happy Black Woman – Allow Rosetta Thurman to lead you down the path of growth as a woman through her website and podcast.
The Miracle Morning – Hal Elrod developed a seven-step system (S.A.V.E.R.S.) that help you start your morning off right.
Productivity
Caveday * – This is a 7-day-a-week version of my Freestyle Tuesdays. You work, in silence, via Zoom. For a fee. As a solopreneur, I find Caveday to be a perfect way to keep myself on task. You can try it for free for $1 or 3 months for $40.
Curated Background Noise – sometimes you just need some good background noise to help you stay focused. Here are a few of my favorite YouTube channels to help you get that to-do list done:
- https://www.youtube.com/@TheSherryFormula
- https://www.youtube.com/@LofiGirl
- https://www.youtube.com/@hazheerstudies
Grammarly – an online grammar editor for people like me who forgot everything they learned in Language Arts. I especially love that Grammarly has a plug-in that offers edits my emails and blog posts while I type
Wellness
I am a Young Living Essential Oils distributor *. I primarily use essential oils for emotional support. You are welcome to
**@ia******.com
” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>ask me how and why I use EOs and/or how to place an order.
One of my biggest accomplishments health accomplishments has been conquering my battle with insomnia. For many years stress manifested itself in my body via my sleep patterns. Every night I woke up in the middle of the night and so I struggled to arise for work in the morning. In 2016, I took a sleep workshop based on the Sounder Sleep System that CHANGED. MY. LIFE. Now, I know that my sleep is an indication of when I need to scan my body and mind for distress. When things get out of wack, I have practical tools to get my sleep back on track (sleep tracker, CBD, etc.)
Business
Asana * –
Dubsado * – this is the system I used for client management (contracts, invoices, payments). You can get 20% off your first month or year using this code.