Back when Sarah and I did our fall retreat, we came up with a bunch of concept episodes, and today’s is one of them. In this week’s episode of Best of Both Worlds, we’re talking upgrades. What, in life, is worth upgrading? What areas are perfectly fine just the way they are?
Sometimes solving small problems can lead to major life upgrades, so in this episode we also discuss “pebbles in our shoes” — little annoyances that we’re aiming to change. In my case, I committed to putting a desk and chair in my podcasting closet so I didn’t have to sit on the floor (which I’d been doing for…a year).
I’m happy to report that’s now happened! (Check out @lvanderkam on Instagram for a photo). It’s a makeshift desk (piece of wood on top of some filing boxes) but whatever. It works.
In the Q&A a listener asks how to handle her company’s new “unlimited vacation” policy. As someone with significant seniority, she’d accrued many weeks of vacation time, and now she’s not sure how to take time off when it’s not officially “earned.” We offer some suggestions, both practical and in terms of how she thinks about vacation in a new environment.
Please give the episode a listen, and please consider leaving us a rating or a review. If you listen to podcasts through Apple podcasts on your iPhone, just go to the show page and scroll down through recent episodes. You’ll see a heading called “Ratings & Reviews.” You could just quickly tap the stars to give us a 5-star rating (thank you!). Or if you’re so inclined, you can tap the “Write a Review” link right below the highlighted review to say what you like about the show. One or two sentences is totally fine. Thanks for considering it!
I’m probably an underbuyer by personality but I have learnt to spend to make my life slightly easier – I have an extra laptop charger so I don’t need to bring it back and forth, have chargers everywhere, etc.
I need to deal with the pebble in my shoe of ratty leggings. I’m always looking for the “good” pair, a problem that could be solved by having more than 1 “good” pair.
@Coree – yep, I kept looking for sweat pants for one of my kids without the holes, and then I’m like hmm, maybe time to buy enough so that none of the ones he is wearing have holes…
I just ordered myself a nice laundry hamper, because the sack on the floor was awkward to use for putting clothes in it and it made me reluctant to do laundry. (I’m an under buyer, too.)
@Caitlin – it really is the little things! And laundry is bad enough as it is.
I’m the person SHU mentioned who has been trying to buy a Rav-4 Prime for about 1.5 years now. We are working with a car broker so he has us on waiting lists in multiple states but there is so little supply! We have debated if we should just give up and get a different hybrid but we really like that this is a plug in hybrid that runs off the battery for trips under 50 minutes which is 90% of our driving!
I’m definitely an underbuyer but I do see a stylist to get my hair colored. I’ve never attempted to do it at home. I wish I was like SHU and didn’t have many grays but I started to go gray in my 20s. I only go 2-3 times/year so it’s not a huge expense and I’ve been seeing this stylist for probably 15 years? So it’s like seeing a very very good friend! I also splurge and get Rothy’s. They are not cheap but they last forever and I like that they are machine washable. I only wear flats for the most part as I try to be extra kind of to my foot joints since I have RA. But I think their shoes are so cute!
We also pretty much only own Ikea or Wayfair furniture. With young kids, I can’t justify buying really nice furniture and home decor is just not my forte/something I want to spend a lot of money/time on. I would like to work with a wardrobe consultant at some point but have held off on hiring someone. I know it will be kind of expensive but it will be a good investment as I wouldn’t buy things that are trendy so they *should* stay in fashion for many years. But I’m far too left-brained to look at my closet and come up with outfit combinations. I love how pulled together LavLiv looks so I’d like to feel similarly without spending too much money!
What a fun episode! I would urge you to re-think giving your soon to be new driver the oldest car available. It seems like a good idea, however, older cars have fewer safety features and are more likely to break down…. Neither of these is good for an inexperienced driver. We had the same thought in my family, until about a month before my oldest got his permit, and then we bought a new, small Jeep Renegade. It is easy to drive, not flashy, and has very good safety reviews. It has held up very well, now currently on the 4th driver in 5 years, and I have one less worry when the teenagers are out and about!