I’m Jane's Brother And I’m Here To Help: Easy DIY Solutions To Bring Harmony To Your Household

Plus: Jane's Made-Up Insomnia Cure

Happy Friday, Lovely People!

It’s Jane here writing this little intro to you at 2:15 AM, which is pretty standard for my schedule. Whereas Charlie will get up early in the morning to get something written for that day’s AJPT, I can't go to sleep until I have finished whatever is due. Which means the work takes me a lot longer, because I'm often being put to sleep by my own writing, so I end up with nonsensical keyboard taps as I drift off, and then have to go back and correct all that and resume writing. This happens 1,000,000 times. (When I used to take Ambien back in my Jane magazine days, I would write coworkers these lengthy emails I had no recollection of the next day, but they were always more eloquent than my waking ones, and sometimes even contained good ideas!)

So when I'm done with the middle-of-the-night work, I want to get to sleep as soon as possible. Which brings me to a trick I made up years ago to more quickly get your wound-up self to sleep. I've learned since a tiny bit about Vagus Nerve Stimulation, and I think that might have something to do with why this works. But this method is purely my discovery. What I was doing that led me to discover it is anybody's guess. Here it is if it's helpful to you at all. Let me know if you try it!

Lie there. Close your eyes. Now with your eyes staying closed the whole time, look upwards with your eyeballs, then downwards, then to the right and then to the left. You might need to repeat that a couple of times. You should feel your whole body relaxing and your breathing change as you do it. And if you want to go hard-core like I do, as a final move after that sequence, cross your eyes, but with your eyelids still closed. That one puts me out like a light.

And speaking of lights, my little brother has some really good advice today about how new lights can help save your marriage. But I'll let him take over and tell you. Have the wonderful Friday you totally deserve, and let's not take anything too seriously for the day. I'll do that if you will.

Love love, Jane

Do you get annoyed by the bad habits of the people you live with? Do they never learn despite having been reminded thousands of times? Here are a few ways to fix the problems when you can’t fix the person—and avoid a divorce or a parenting breakdown in the process.

1. Leaving lights on. When my kids were growing up, I replaced all the light bulbs with LED ones. They use 25 to 30% of the energy of standard ones, so I decided to be 70 to 75% less annoyed : ) However, for zero percent annoyance you can get the lights to turn themselves off. Where it makes sense, install motion-sensing bulbs. They are perfect for locations you only enter briefly, like closets, halls, and porches. They are also great for laundry rooms, since when you carry a load, you might not have a free hand for the light switch. If you live in an old home, with pull chain lights, they are also very useful. Maybe you have a scary basement. You can install one to light the way so you can find the chains for the other lights.

   

   Look for one with the right brightness for your location.

   The only catch with these bulbs is they need to be exposed, as they don’t sense motion through glass. If your existing light fixture doesn’t allow this, you can change the shade to one that does expose the sensor. It’s easy to find one that will work. Just measure the opening of your old one and find a new shade with the same measurement.

   

   A closed shade can be replaced with an open one, as long as the opening measures the same.

   Another option is to use a plug-in lamp with a motion sensor at the wall outlet. You can opt for fixtures and wall switches that have built-in sensors, but most people don’t feel comfortable doing electrical work and I don’t want to be liable if you hurt yourself or burn your house down…

   

   There are several options for motion-sensor receptacles.

2. Leaving doors open. Do they leave doors open that need to be kept shut? In my house it's the doors to the entryways–to keep the heated or conditioned air from escaping, and the door to the basement-–to keep the dog from going down there. In these cases, you can install a spring hinge. Make sure you buy the one that matches your old hinge. It needs the same number of screw holes, the correct corners (round or square) and a finish that matches your old one as closely as possible. To install, open the door to more than 90 degrees and put something under it, like a book or wedge, to hold it up and in place. Then it is just a matter of removing six or eight screws and screwing in the new hinge. Afterward, tighten the spring just enough to close and latch the door. If you tighten it too much, it will slam the door loudly.

   

   You only need to replace one of the door hinges, but if you want them to match, you should replace both.

3. Remember there’s an app for that! Are you tired of constantly having to remind your family members about stuff? Get ahold of their phone for a few minutes! Apps like iCal, Google Calendar, Reminders, and Google Keep can send them weekly reminders that it’s garbage night. You can also remind them based on location, so they get an alert when they get home to pull the car all the way into the driveway or pick up milk when they go to Target. Additionally, there are shopping list apps that they can keep updated and view when they go to the store.

   Finally, there are more difficult and expensive options I have not employed, such as toilets that flush themselves. I also dream of a toilet seat that would put itself down, a toothpaste tube that puts its own cap back on, and milk that will put itself back in the fridge, but at least the three tips above will help your overall frustration level.

Again, I love likes and try to respond to all comments. So keep them coming! See you next week :)