Some Saturday Thoughts - Clearing The Decks, Closet Project, and Phone Thoughts

I had a bit of a "clearing the decks" Friday, and got 3 annoying things done

• Called ASDA because the booster seat I bought sent had a small hole.  We received the carseat in February and "complain about hole" has been on my to do list for a long time.  A really helpful customer service rep was able to refund me for the seat. I did not want to spend 45 minutes returning a £9 booster seat but didn't think it fair to spend £9 on a booster seat with a hole.
• Wrote to grocery delivery store about two rotten items in last delivery. I know it's probably less than £2 but I resent paying for delivery if they pick things that are already rotten.  I haven't heard back on whether I'll get any refund but at least it's not on my to-do list anymore.
• Wrote to another shop that sent me a broken travel bottle.  Again, it was a £2 bottle, but I don't want to pay even £2 for broken things

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On Friday my company published their 2024 Gender Pay Gap Report.  I emailed the global head of human resources to thank her for the report, and to ask whether they might include Parental Pay Gap reporting next year.  I have decided that maybe global heads of HR / EDI might appreciate a thank you from random people in the company.  I had a goal this year to reach out to 5 potentially career building people. Although this probably won't be anything career building I do want to get more comfortable contacting big important people.  I'm pretty sure big important people are still just people and if I wait for them to reach out to me I'll be waiting for a long time (there are 3,000 other people in the company so the odds are not good that anyone will notice me!).

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Today (Saturday) I tackled this really annoying project - CLOSET PROJECT

We have one closet in the whole house, and it's in the baby room.  I use it to store all kids coats/jackets and shoes.  It had become a nightmare:

Anytime a kid grew out of a coat or jacket or shoes I just chucked it in the closet.  Mostly because I can't actually get into the closet when the twins are around because they really love a pile of shoes and coats. However, I couldn't find anything, and the twins probably need their next size up shoes soon.  The top box of shoes was supposed to be Lily's future shoes (that Ezra had grown out of) and the bottom box was Aubrey and Clara's shoes (that Lily had grown out of)

I decided to mix it up a bit, and seperate shoes into type: Crocs, Slippers, Wellies, and trainers.  Now I have the following:

The bottom box is all welly boots.  We have enough boots for the twins since Ezra and Lily had to have 2 of each size, one for nursery and one for home.  For some reason I don't seem to have any shoes in between the size 4.5 Aubrey and Clara are in now, and size 6.  That seems like quite a jump, unless I have thrown some shoes away.  I pulled out all size 6 and below and stuck it in the twins drawers (baby sandals! So cute!).  I also found Lily a pair of summer keens sandals from Ezra, and a new pair of hand-me-down boots (no idea where her old pair went). The jackets are all ordered by size again. Mostly, it just doesn't look crazy.

On a clothing note, I always wondered why people dress twins the same.  I realized that it helps when we are at a park, because often one twin is doing something mildly dangerous while the other twin is doing something super dangerous, and I'll be watching the super dangerous twin while other people stare at the mildly dangerous one wondering where the parents are.  If the twins are dressed the same then people usually figure out its twins and not a very neglectful parent.  I have been looking for a matching coat on vinted to keep everyone dressed the same. 

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I've been thinking about phone use again recently, and whether I want to try to go smartphone free (or smartphone lite) again.  Although my time use isn't high (still about 1.25 - 1.5 hours a day), I am so aware most of my use is me starting into it willing it to "show me a thing to avoid what is happening".  I am also mildly put off by the number of times I pick it up in a day.  

Are there no hours in a day that I don't need to look at my phone? I'm not looking at texts, or making phone calls.  I'm googling something, or checking my email.  I would probably be happier with my numbers if I picked it up 20 times at 8am and 20 times at 6pm.  Do I really want to be touching my phone every 20 minutes all day long? No I do not.  I would like to have a different "get me out of this moment" habit.  I'm not sure what that habit would be.  Smoking? Just kidding.

Also, I blocked BBC and WalesOnline and most news sources from my phone.  I don't have social media, and so I really have to get creative when I want to waste time on the phone because there isn't much easily there.  But I still do it.  I read blogs on the phone (which is not as fun as on the computer because on the computer I can think and comment). I read some Peloton subreddits sometimes. I look at Rightmove to see local houses for sale.  All of these things are fine but none of these things add value to my life when doing them in 5 minute chunks on a smartphone. 

Have you tackled anything annoying lately? Organization Projects? Would you complain about receiving rotten fruit or a carseat with a hole in the fabric?