What if this school year, and this season of our lives, didn’t have to be about doing more? What if it could simply be… good enough? In this episode I talk with Amil Niazi, the author of Life After Ambition: A Good Enough Memoir, about ambition, parenting, back-to-school pressure, and what happens when we stop believing that more is always better. Maybe instead of constantly asking, “What’s next?” we can occasionally look around at the life we already have and say: “This is good enough.”

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Substack.

Take Five: The Shift from Summer to School

1. Tech Decisions: Our oldest is starting middle school this fall! At the end of 5th grade she read Jonathan Haidt’s graphic novel titled The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World. The book helped to reinforce our decision to delay a smart phone for the foreseeable future and sparked some great conversations as a family about tech and phones. For now, we’ve landed on an Apple Watch that she can use when she is out of the home, plus a Tin Can phone (a WiFi landline for kids!) that she can use to talk to family and friends when she’s at home.

How are you navigating your own family tech decisions? Tell me in the comments!

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2. The Great Bedding Refresh: When’s the last time you changed out your pillows, your linens, or your duvets? Experts recommend that pillows generally need replacing more frequently than the rest of your bedding, often every couple of years. “The Great Bedding Refresh” is a good time to assess everything that you use to fall asleep. Want to refresh things? Wash the sheets and duvet inserts, vacuum and rotate the mattress, and assess whether your pillows have reached the end of their useful life. Look for pilling or stains, and listen to your body about that crick in your neck. We recently got new bedding for our apartment (a ventilated blanket, and a fresh sheet set, and new pillows), and I’m very ready for a blissful night’s sleep. How’s your sleep these days?

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3. Backpacks We Actually Use: We love a good backpack, from duffel bag backpacks for travel to everyday bags for school and adventures around the city. The best ones are thoughtfully designed, well constructed, and make it easy for everyone to carry their OWN stuff. On our recent trip to Bermuda, Emily and I each packed in a 45L Tobiq bag and we also elevated our backpack game with new everyday backpacks. Check out Tobiq and use code TIDYDAD for a discount. Here’s to backpack season!

4. A Game You Can Take Anywhere: Emily and I are chess novices, but we brought a mini chess travel set on our Bermuda trip and quickly realized how handy it is to have a game you can pull out anywhere. Waiting for dinner, sitting on the sidelines at an after-school activity, date nights without the kids, there are so many little pockets of waiting in family life. I love something portable you can throw in a bag, play for a few minutes, and pack up. Now to learn a bit more strategy. Do you know how to play?

Bonus: We also packed a set of “conversation cards for couples” and I would randomly choose a few, say “may the odds be ever in our favor” and flip them over at dinner.

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5. Planning for Reentry: Transitioning from summer life to school year life is always a BIG shift. It’s a mental mind FUNK, (I was very careful with my wording there) so we like to make a reentry plan. What friends do we want to see? Where do we want to go? What good food do we want to eat? And how can we keep a little bit of summer going? September is often just as hot as August, so the beginning of school doesn’t have to mean the end of summer. We’re thinking beaches, parks, friends, and ways to carry those summer vibes into this next season. In many ways this is a version of joy plotting. It’s nice to have things to look forward to! Have you joy plotted September?

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Book List

What our family is reading this week:

• Tyler: Siren Says, up next The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

• Emily: The Midnight Train, up next Theo of Golden

• 6th grader: The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, up next The Midwife’s Apprentice

• 4th grader: Matilda Bone, up next The House at the Edge of Magic

• 1st grader: See The Cat, up next See The Dog

The People We Meet on Vacation

In Bermuda, Emily and I were looking for a movie to watch when People We Meet on Vacation popped up. It’s adapted from the Emily Henry novel, which Emily had already read and she was excited to watch the movie.

Fun fact about me. I have a difficult time with movies. I fall asleep 99% of the time. And while it may have taken us three nights to finish this one, the premise got me thinking about the people we meet on vacation. I guess that was the point.

In the movie, Poppy‘s friend Alex is a routine-oriented guy who wears khakis, prefers to stay home with a book and avoid risks. Vacation Alex is the version of himself that emerges only during his annual summer trips with Poppy. It’s where he sheds his armor, lets his guard down, goes camping, dances, and more. In one scene Poppy says something like, “Regular Alex wouldn’t do this but Vacation Alex would.”

I can relate.

Regular Tyler and Vacation Tyler are two VERY different people.

Read more

Butterflies had always been a symbol for Dolly, and for my 40th birthday, my sisters had given me a Dolly “Cup of Ambition” mug, a nod to her iconic song “9 to 5.”

There was something especially poignant about learning of Dolly’s death the same week I’m sharing my conversation with Amil Niazi, author of Life After Ambition: A Good Enough Memoir. Ambition can have such a hold on us.

But what if this school year, and this season of our lives, didn’t have to be about doing more? What if it could simply be… good enough?

In this episode I talk with Amil about ambition, parenting, back-to-school pressure, and what happens when we stop believing that more is always better. Dolly had her own definition of ambition. Amil is asking us to reconsider ours.

Maybe instead of constantly asking, “What’s next?” we can occasionally look around at the life we already have and say: “This is good enough.”

FREE Download: My Teacher’s Favorites - to inspire small gift giving opportunities

More from Amil Niazi:
📚 Order Life After Ambition: A Good Enough Memoir
🗞️ Amil’s Column for The Cut and on Substack
📸 Follow along with Amil on IG

More from Tidy Dad:
📚 Order Tidy Up Your Life (available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook)
🗞️ Subscribe to The Tidy Times on Substack
📸 Follow along on IG: Tidy Dad

What does tidying up your life have to do with becoming a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Apparently, more than you might think.

Tyler Moore (Tidy Dad) shares how a childhood tradition of watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Kentucky eventually led to attending the parade with his own kids in New York City, becoming a Ronald McDonald balloon handler, touring Macy’s Studio, and now applying to become a clown in the 100th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. And The New York Times broke the news before he did.

Tyler takes you behind the scenes of his experience as a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon handler, including a 3:30 a.m. call time, wrangling Ronald McDonald through Manhattan, crouching underneath the Bluey balloon, and learning how the floats, balloons, costumes, and props are handmade at Macy’s Studio.

Tidying up your life isn’t only about decluttering your home, creating better routines, or getting everyone out the door on time. Sometimes it’s about making space for something that serves absolutely no practical purpose, except that it brings you joy.

The question is, “Are we leaving enough room in our ordinary lives for the extraordinary?” Maybe even becoming a clown.

Read Tyler’s SIX features in The New York Times (in the episode I mentioned four articles, but while I was grabbing the links, I realized there were a couple more!)

• 2017: In Queens, a Rent-Stabilized Family Compound

• 2024: Crowds Turn Out for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Despite Rain

• 2025: The Easiest Way to Feel More Organized

• 2025: 5 Organizing Books to Bring Order to Chaos

• 2026: In This Housing Market, the Second Home Comes First

• 2026: The Influencers’ Thanksgiving

More from Tidy Dad:
📚 Order Tidy Up Your Life (available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook)
🗞️ Subscribe to The Tidy Times on Substack
📸 Follow along on IG: Tidy Dad

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Back to School, But Make It Easier: 12 Things That Actually Help

My friend and fabulous bestselling author Jo Piazza, who somehow manages to write the book of the summer every summer (check out her latest book The Parisian Heist, and the delightful Yesteryear alternative Everyone Is Lying to You), also writes the incredible Substack Over the Influence. She recently asked me to share some of my best tips for making the back-to-school season a little easier, and I’m excited to share my list of “12 things that actually help” here with you too!

I saw a post on Threads that asked, “Why do teachers all say year X completed?” I’m not sure there’s one definitive answer, but the replies were as wild as what you’d expect from Threads.

Maybe teachers count the years because the job is difficult. Maybe it’s because every August and September feels like a fresh start. Or maybe it’s because, despite how essential teachers are, the profession is still too often undervalued.

Whatever the reason, as a teacher, I know I’m on “year 18 completed”.

I’m also a dad to three daughters, so back-to-school season isn’t just something I experience at work. This year my oldest daughter is starting middle school, my middle daughter is entering fourth grade, and my youngest daughter is beginning first grade.

Over the years, between teaching in New York City, raising three kids, and writing as “Tidy Dad” online, I’ve learned a few things about not just surviving this season, but surthriving it.

So, how can you “tidy up” the back-to-school season? Here are 12 things to consider.

1. Remember: Back to school isn’t a day, it’s a season.

The first six to eight weeks of a new school year are an adjustment for everyone. Everything feels new, because it is new. Even if your child isn’t starting school for the first time, they likely have a new teacher, new classmates, new expectations, and a new routine. Give yourself and your family permission to transition. October almost always feels better. (I share more about this “season” mindset in Tidy Tidbits Episode #70)

2. Pay off your child’s teacher.

I say this jokingly, but only partly. My own children attend the school where I teach, so technically I’m paying off my coworkers. A little appreciation goes a very long way. It doesn’t need to be expensive. A $5 coffee gift card. A pack of nice pens. A candy bar.

Teachers appreciate knowing that someone sees them as human beings.

Straight from the Tidy Toolkit as a free download: Use this “My Teacher’s Favorites” list to inspire small gift giving opportunities throughout the year!

3. Expect to know nothing at first.

At the beginning of the school year, everyone is figuring things out. Schools are getting back up and running after summer break. Teachers are building out new classroom routines. Your child is likely exhausted and may not be interested in telling you all the little details of what happened.

That doesn’t mean you should ask the teacher instead. Try not to overwhelm the teacher with questions those first couple of weeks. If you pick your child up, do not expect a personal update each day. Give everyone a little grace. By week two or three, things usually become clearer.

4. Let them watch a show.

After spending all day learning, listening, making decisions, and navigating friendships, your kids may not have the emotional energy for deep conversations or imaginative playtime.

We often watch something together in the evening, like a baking competition show, American Ninja Warrior, or another family favorite. It’s less about the screen and more about creating a shared moment that helps everyone decompress. The conversations usually happen later.

5. Make Friday pizza and movie night non-negotiable.

By Friday, adults and kids are tired. I don’t want to cook. My kids don’t want to try a new recipe. Pizza and a movie become something everyone can count on. Bonus points: we walk from our NYC apartment to the pizza shop and eat there so that we have to literally do ZERO dishes.

6. Cancel some plans.

Personally, I don’t want to do much socially during September or early October unless it’s something I’m genuinely excited about. Ask yourself: What can wait? This season doesn’t need more commitments. It needs more margin. Especially those first few weekends.

7. Suspend judgment.

It’s easy to criticize the teacher. The school. The other parents. The classmates. Even your own kid. Instead, stay curious before becoming critical. You can ask questions, but try to assume good intentions. Everyone is adjusting and is generally trying to do their best.

8. Focus on one routine: Getting out the door.

If I could pick one routine to focus on during the back-to-school season, this would be it. Ask your family, “How can we make mornings a little smoother?” For us, that was moving socks to a basket by the door. Once you’re out the door on time, the entire day feels more manageable. More on how to problem solve this routine in Tidy Tidbits Episode #72)

9. Let some things go.

Make a list of things you don’t care about right now. Maybe it’s that the house isn’t spotless. Maybe dinner comes from the freezer or a delivery person. Maybe you skip a few activities. Declutter your expectations for yourself and the people you live with. You cannot do everything.

10. Remember: You can only control yourself.

Your kids will probably tantrum. They’ll complain. They’ll argue. They’ve spent all day holding it together at school. Home is often where those emotions finally come out. Expect it.

As adults, we’re not that different. We hold ourselves together all day too and deal with cranky coworkers who are also navigating back to school season or don’t understand it.

You can’t control your child’s emotions. You can only control how you respond to them.

11. Buy secret snacks… for yourself.

When you’re buying school lunch supplies and after-school snacks, grab a treat for yourself too. Put them somewhere where your kids can’t find them, and then enjoy them once they’re asleep.

12. Remember: School isn’t everything.

School is important, but school won’t solve every problem or teach every life skill.

Take your kids to museums. Travel when you can. Teach them to cook. Invite them into household chores. Let them see you read, create, exercise, rest, and pursue hobbies too.

So there you have it: twelve back-to-school ideas that may feel a little unconventional.

It’s about lowering expectations in healthy ways, accepting that things are going to feel chaotic, extending a little more grace, and trusting that your family will find its rhythm.

Remember to keep calm and tidy on.

The Monthly Sort

Links Worth a Click:

-NYT Feature: In This Housing Market, The Second Home Comes First

-I’ve been using these rhinestones to bedazzle anything and everything.

-I drink this every morning before I workout!

-A backpack with pockets in all the right places. (We’ve also been using their duffel bag backpacks for travel for years. Use code TIDYDAD for 15% off an order of bags!)

-Our family’s favorite new game of the summer!

-Not just a game for kids: learn-to-play Chess and a mini travel size magnetic board

The Latest from Tidy Tidbits

Tidy Tidbits is my weekly micro-podcast with short, practical episodes you can listen to while walking the block, making coffee, folding laundry, or doing school drop-off. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or Substack!

Here are the episodes that dropped last month:

I’m taking you into bath-time chaos and sharing why our family created Shower School, a simple system for teaching kids how to actually get themselves clean!

I’m joined by bestselling author Jo Piazza to celebrate the release of her newest novel, The Parisian Heist. Our conversation starts with a simple question: Is it ever okay to steal?

I’m joined by host of the Second Home First podcast, Katie Cline. We talk about the realities of owning and managing short-term rental properties.

I’m joined by Dean Pohlman, founder of Man Flow Yoga, to talk about the benefits of morning yoga, improving mobility, building strength, and creating a sustainable fitness routine.

Podcasts Worth A Listen

A few new podcast interviews featuring yours truly:

Second Home First (Katie Cline): The Email That Landed Second Home First in The New York Times

Declutter Your Chaos (Amber Cammidge): Conversation with Tyler Moore, The Tidy Dad

Minimalist Moms (Diane Boden): What Living Small Has Taught Me About Living Well

Reading With Your Kids (Jed Doherty): Just Enough: The Tidy Dad’s Philosophy for Stuff, Space, and Sanity

Tidy Dad in the News

Some articles in Real Simple, Martha Stewart, and The Spruce, with tips from me!

-Why Your Home Always Feels More Cluttered in Summer—and 7 Easy Ways to Fix It

-6 Quick Home Refreshes You Can Do Today for a Brighter, More Inviting Space

-Want a More Organized Fridge? A Pro Organizer Says Start With These 3 Tricks

-Books, Records, and DVDs Are Cool Again—Here’s How to Store Your Collection Without Creating Clutter

-Martha Stewart: 6 Ways to End Food Container Chaos (and Lost Lids) for Good

-The Spruce: 5 Things You Should Declutter From Your Car Before the End of Summer, Organizing Pros Say

3 Things to Declutter this Month

This month, as we transition from summer to fall routines, we’re tackling three clutter zones that fill up fast: fall clothing, seasonal gear, and school supplies. These 10-minute decluttering tasks are inspired by my decluttering calendar, which is straight from my book Tidy Up Your Life. You don’t need a full home overhaul to make a big impact. Just a timer, a category, and a little momentum.

Want to make your own? Download a blank Decluttering Calendar PDF HERE.

1. FALL CLOTHING

It’s almost layering season, which means it’s time to make space before the sweaters come out.

🕒 10-Minute Tasks:

• Closet Check-In: Go through each child’s (and your own!) fall and winter clothing. Toss anything with holes, set aside what’s too small, and note what needs replacing.

• “Try-On” Stack: Create a pile for kids to try on, like jackets, pants, or shoes. Make it a mini fashion show if it helps!

• Bins + Labels: Pull out cold-weather bins. Label by size, season, or kid. Make swaps easy so you’re not digging later.

2. FALL GEAR

Umbrellas, boots, lunchboxes, oh my! Fall gear tends to explode near entryways. Time to zone it out.

🕒 10-Minute Tasks:

• Entryway Sweep: Clear out sandals, sunscreen, and beach gear. Replace with boots, hats, and umbrellas.

• Backpack + Bag Refresh: Check zippers and straps. Wipe down lunch bags and restock water bottles. Replenish hand sanitizer and tissues.

• Zone + Contain: Set up a fall gear zone near the door: a hook for each backpack, a bin for hats and gloves, and a tray for wet shoes.

3. SCHOOL SUPPLIES

Back-to-school doesn’t mean you have to buy it all again. A quick supply check can save you time and money.

🕒 10-Minute Tasks:

• The Great Pencil Roundup: Gather writing supplies and art supplies from drawers, backpacks, and under the couch. Sharpen what’s good. Toss what’s not.

• Restock Essentials: Check folders, notebooks, glue sticks, scissors, and headphones. Do you have enough? Too much? Are there things you could donate to a teacher in your life? What actually needs to go on the shopping list?

• Create a Homework Station: Set up a small bin or caddy with basic supplies. Keep it portable and easy to access, especially if space is tight.

• Label Now, Not Later: Use a label maker, painter’s tape, or permanent marker to label lunchboxes, water bottles, and anything else that likes to disappear.

Maintenance Department

Happy Quarter 3 (July–September)! Whether you live in an apartment, a house, a castle, or somewhere in between, these maintenance tasks are a great place to start. Bonus: they spell out Tidy Dad! 🤣

• Tidy up summer supplies (sunscreen, bug spray, beach towels, etc.)

• Inspect air-conditioning units, clean or replace filters, check airflow

• Dust and deep clean your grill, outdoor cooking spaces, outdoor furniture

• Yearly deck or balcony maintenance, check for wear, clean, and reseal

• Deep clean your water heater to remove sediment buildup

• Assess plantings, check for dead branches or over-growth, and trim

• Declutter summer gear and consider storing extra summer items in your car

Tidy Dad’s Reading Stack

What To Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking: Make it Fast - Figuring out what to cook when you don’t feel like cooking is a universal conundrum. Caro Chambers’ first cookbook was wonderful and this one is too. The meals are organized into 15-minute, 30-minute, and “walk away” recipes and every one we’ve tried has been a winner. Our family favorite so far is the chicken parm meatballs with broccoli pasta.

Special note: A friend recommended a book with some combination of the words “house” and “guest” in the title, but I couldn’t remember the exact name. So naturally, I ended up reading two books with very similar titles. I’m still not sure which one they actually recommended!

The House Guests - A young woman grapples with the death of her mother while being stranded by her boyfriend at a lake house in the Catskills with his friends for the week. When a series of weird and mysterious things start happening, she becomes convinced there’s an uninvited house guest just waiting to kill. Twisted, delusional, and increasingly unsettling, this one had me saying, “Are you serious?” at the ending.

The House Guest - Mystery meets deception meets love triangle with a culinary twist. This haunting, fast-paced read is filled with psychological twists and turns, and a very satisfying murder. It’s a great beach read. I liked this one best of the two.

Lessons in Chemistry - This was a delightful read with characters you actually want to root for! How refreshing. The main character, Elizabeth Zott, is a chemist who unexpectedly finds herself in a television studio as a TV chef, speaking directly into the lives of the 1960s housewives watching her program each day. The book explores deeply rooted ideas about masculinity and femininity, and what happens when we dare to challenge societal norms. Smart, funny, and heartfelt. I loved this book.

Wondering what else I’ve read this year? Here’s the full list!

August Joy Plotting

In Tidy Up Your Life, I talk about joy plotting, taking a few minutes to anticipate moments of joy in the week or month ahead. It’s a simple practice worth trying!

Here’s what’s on my joy plotting list for August:

Bermuda - Emily and I are off to Bermuda for a kid-free trip to celebrate her 40th birthday! We’re looking forward to a few days of sun and time together. It’s our first trip to Bermuda, and we can’t wait to explore the island and see what it has to offer.

Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip - Judge away. I am absolutely loving the 20th anniversary celebration of all things Real Housewives. The show follows a group of Housewives OGs across the country as they revisit the people, places, and moments that made the franchise so iconic.

From the Cottage to NYC - We’re wrapping up our summer at our cottage in Pennsylvania and looking ahead to the start of a new school year in NYC. We made a quick trip home earlier this month, and it reminded us just how much we love the city. The quiet of the cottage, the energy of NYC, we truly get the best of both worlds.

Marathon Training - Triathlon and open-water swimming season are officially behind me, and training for the Philadelphia Marathon has begun! I’ve been working with my trainer to strengthen my knee after my April marathon, and I’m feeling ready to build back up. I’m excited to see how this training season unfolds and where all those miles take me.

🧺 If you enjoyed this free newsletter and want MORE, order my book Tidy Up Your Life, and consider becoming a paid subscriber to “The Tidy Times” on Substack! You’ll get full access to my exclusive Behind the Stories articles and the Tidy Toolkit resources. It’s $5/month or $50/year and helps keep the tidying (and storytelling) going.

Building on Episode #70, “Back-to-School Isn’t a Day, It’s a Season,” this episode is focused on the routine I’d address first. It’s small but surprisingly complicated: getting out the door and then getting everything put away when you come home.

Using strategies from my experience as a teacher, school administrator, and dad of three, I’m sharing my simple routine framework that actually works.

The goal isn’t a picture-perfect entryway or a flawless morning routine. It’s to design a routine that makes an ordinary part of your day a little smoother. Notice the moments when your family gets stuck and ask: What is making this more difficult than it needs to be? Sometimes the solution is as simple as moving the socks.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Episode #60: What to Do With All the School Papers

• Episode #70: Back-to-School Isn’t a Day, It’s a Season

• Large backpack hooks with adhesive strips

• 5-tier file organizer for incoming school papers

More from Tidy Dad:
📚 Order Tidy Up Your Life (available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook)
🗞️ Subscribe to The Tidy Times on Substack
📸 Follow along on IG: Tidy Dad

In episode #55 of Tidy Tidbits, I asked, “When was the last time you actually used a cookbook? Not your phone. Not a blog post. A real, physical cookbook with a spine, pages, and a table of contents.”

Ever since then, my family has been cooking from Caro Chambers’ cookbook, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking, almost every day. Her brand new cookbook, Make It Fast, is filled with simple 15-minute, 30-minute or “walk away” recipes that make getting dinner on the table feel a whole lot more manageable. We’ve been trying out an early copy, and this is the cookbook you need for back-to-school season!!

In this special episode, my middle daughter, Matilda (age 9), joins me as my podcast co-host for a conversation with Caro about favorite recipes from her cookbook, strategies for the pickiest of eaters, and creating simple routines that help take the stress out of dinnertime.

Sometimes tidying up your life starts with making mealtimes just a little bit simpler.

More from Caro Chambers:
📚 Order What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking and Make It Fast
🗞️ Subscribe to Caro on Substack
📸 Follow along on IG: Caro Chambers

More from Tidy Dad:
📚 Order Tidy Up Your Life (available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook)
🗞️ Subscribe to The Tidy Times on Substack
📸 Follow along on IG: Tidy Dad

This is Part 4 of a 4-part series about our cottage. In this part, I’ll share the bigger real estate questions Emily and I have been asking ourselves lately and the projects we’re planning next. If you are new to the series, here’s Part 1: An apartment in NYC and a cottage in the Pocono Mountains?, Part 2: Why We Bought That Cottage, and Part 3: The Cottage Numbers Everyone Wants to Know.

Over the years, we’ve enjoyed pouring our time, energy, and sweat equity into our cottage. Looking back at the original listing photos and comparing them with what it looks like today is pretty remarkable. We started with what was essentially a beautifully renovated blank, bland canvas and, little by little, turned it into a home with warmth, charm, and character. Check out the before and after photo below!

From the beginning, we were drawn to a cozy English-country-cottage aesthetic. That meant layering fabrics and patterns, embracing collected pieces, and thinking intentionally about color.

We wanted the color palette to include shades that were naturally occurring to the landscape surrounding the cottage: deep greens, cool blues, warm whites, and soft tans inspired by the forests, lakes, and changing seasons outside our windows.

We also wanted the interior to feel vibrant in the long winter months when everything feels dark and brown outside. We also knew we would eventually rent the cottage on Airbnb, so we wanted the home to feel broadly welcoming. If you want to learn more about our very early cottage design projects, you can check them out HERE!

Blue became the anchor color throughout the house. It’s calming, timeless, and, perhaps not coincidentally, one of the most universally loved colors. Surveys consistently find that roughly one-third of adults in the United States and many European countries identify blue as their favorite color, making it one of the most appealing color choices for a shared space. The psychology of color is fascinating.

A few summers ago, we even painted the exterior of the cottage blue. It was a dramatic change from the original tan siding and immediately made the house feel brighter, happier, and more inviting. It’s another dramatic before and after!

Those smaller projects have given us the confidence and inspiration to think a bit bigger in terms of our cottage’s future and how we’d like to see the space continue to evolve. It’s time to share the bigger real estate questions Emily and I have been asking ourselves lately and the projects we’re planning next.

Remember: The paperback edition of Tidy Up Your Life is out NOW!

Simply enter your order details HERE to claim your free subscription.

Read more

The hardcover, ebook, and audiobook were released in January 2025, timed for all of that new year, new you energy. The publisher planned for the paperback edition to come out 1 to 2 years later, and this time we intentionally timed it for back-to-school season, a time that can feel particularly overwhelming.

In many ways, we get two fresh starts every calendar year. One is in January, when we’re all setting resolutions and brainstorming new things we want to try. The other is back-to-school season. Whether you have children or not, there’s something about this time of year that naturally invites us to rethink our systems, rhythms, and routines as we transition from the slower pace of summer mode back into more structured schedules.

That’s something that Tidy Up Your Life can help with.

There’s something in this book for everyone. It’s not just a book for parents or families (which, insider scoop, is one of the reasons why the publisher reworked the cover design for the paperback release!). It’s about tidying your mind just as much as it is about tidying your spaces.

The book is divided into two parts: Tidy Up Your Mind, and Tidy Up Your Space.

I like to think of the first half of the book as a guide for clearing mental clutter. It’s about navigating the overwhelm that comes from trying to balance work, home, family, relationships, and all of the invisible responsibilities we all carry every day. Whether you’re struggling with dinnertime routines, getting everyone out the door in the morning, feeling overscheduled, or simply wondering how to make life feel a little less messy, that first half is designed to help you create more mental breathing room. Life is challenging, but tidying up your mind can help.

The second half is where the practical side really comes in. It’s filled with organizing strategies, cleaning routines, room-by-room guides, “declutter this” checklists, and my “dirty dozen” lists. I wanted it to be the kind of book that doesn’t just get read once and then sit on a shelf (that’s very Tidy Dad of me). Instead, it’s a reference you can come back to whenever you’re feeling stuck, uninspired, or simply wondering, Where do I even begin?

One of my favorite pieces of feedback has been hearing from readers who listened to the audiobook while they decluttered or deep cleaned their homes and then ordered the print edition because they wanted a copy they could return to again and again. That was exactly the hope.

A year and a half after the book first launched, I still deeply believe in the power of tidying up your life. Not because every closet has to be perfectly organized or every counter has to be spotless, but because we can create more space for the people and things that matter most.

I also believe books have a funny way of finding people exactly when they need them. Maybe this is your season. Or maybe someone came to mind while you were reading this today.

If that’s the case, I hope you’ll consider picking up a copy for yourself or giving one as a gift. It’s a wonderful back-to-school gift for a teacher, a thoughtful present for a friend navigating a season of transition, or an encouraging read for a fellow parent who could use a reminder that life doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautifully lived.

I hope Tidy Up Your Life becomes a source of encouragement and practical support along your tidying journey. My greatest hope is that it helps you create a home and a life with a little more space for what matters most.

In this episode of Tidy Tidbits, Tidy Dad (Tyler Moore) shares a simple mindset shift that’s helped him navigate nearly two decades in education, as both a teacher, an administrator and a parent. Whether you have school-age children or you simply feel the shift that comes with a new season, this episode offers a calmer approach to one of the busiest times of the year.

Instead of adding more back-to-school hacks to your to-do list, focus on a simple reminder: back-to-school isn’t a day, it’s a season, and a practical exercise that helps families prepare for change without feeling overwhelmed.

Whether you’re packing lunches, shopping for school supplies, adjusting to new schedules and routines, or simply preparing for the transition from summer to fall, this episode will give yourself and your family permission to ease into it.

Tidy Takeaway: Back-to-school isn’t a day, it’s a season.

More from Tidy Dad:
📚 Order Tidy Up Your Life (available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook)
🗞️ Subscribe to The Tidy Times on Substack
📸 Follow along on IG: Tidy Dad

This episode is sponsored by TOBIQ. Our family has used their duffel bag backpacks for years, and now we’re adding their everyday backpacks to our collection. With thoughtful compartments, durable materials, and comfortable straps, TOBIQ bags are built for school, everyday life, travel, and weekend adventures. If you’re looking for quality bags that will last, check out Tobiq. Use the code TIDYDAD for 15% off.

This is Part 3 of a 4-part series about our cottage. In this part, I’ll share the financials of running the cottage as a short term rental, including how much we’ve made in rental income over the years, and also what the cottage is estimated to be worth now. If you are new to the series, here’s Part 1: An apartment in NYC and a cottage in the Pocono Mountains? and Part 2: Why We Bought That Cottage

Have you ever been invited to someone’s house and immediately typed their address into Zillow? I have. Sometimes curiosity gets the best of me, and there’s something irresistible about wanting to know the story (and the price) behind a home.

Whether it’s a house in the suburbs or an apartment in the city, there’s something about seeing a “Zestimate” that makes us feel like we understand a little more about the property, the people who live there, and what we’re potentially walking into.

Last school year I was invited to two book events. One celebrated Jo Piazza ahead of the release of The Parisian Heist. The other was for Darby Saxbe’s Dad Brain. Both events were in private apartments, and before I arrived, I looked them up on Zillow. I knew immediately these were not rent-stabilized railroad apartments, like ours.

One property was on Central Park West and was valued at more than $30 million. It was a four-story townhouse with hidden doors for the staff. The other, just steps from Union Square, was worth $20 million. It even had a hammock hanging in the middle of the living room.

When the owner of the $20 million apartment found out I was “Tidy Dad”, she immediately opened the doors to show me the hidden storage contents of her floor-to-ceiling living room organization system. Just so you know, the wealthy live lives that are just as cluttered as the rest of us, and they also think they need more space.

All of this to say, we all think about space and it’s inherent constraints, and we’re probably also all curious about numbers, from square footage to home value.

Which leads me to part three of this series and what I promised to share about the cottage: how much we paid when we bought it, what it’s estimated to be worth now, and the financials of running the cottage as a short-term rental property.

Remember: The paperback edition of Tidy Up Your Life comes out on August 4th!

Simply enter your order details HERE to claim your free subscription.

Read more

What began as an experiment has become a daily routine that helps me feel calmer, stronger, and more intentional before the day even begins.

In this episode, I’m joined by Dean Pohlman, founder of Man Flow Yoga, to talk about the benefits of morning yoga, improving mobility, building strength, and creating a sustainable fitness routine. We also discuss why yoga isn’t just for flexible people, how men can benefit from yoga, and simple ways to build a practice you’ll actually stick with.

If you’ve been looking for an easy morning routine, beginner yoga tips, or practical ways to improve your mobility and flexibility, this conversation is a great place to start.

Connect with Dean from Man Flow Yoga

• Instagram: @manflowyoga

• Podcast: The Better Man

• Website: manflowyoga.com

• Membership: Man Flow Yoga Membership - Use this link to get $20 off an annual plan (the equivalent of getting 50% off the monthly plan over the course of a year) and a free 7-day trial to test the Members' Area & App before committing to a year.

• My morning workout video on YouTube

More from Tidy Dad:

📚 Tidy Up Your Life - If you preorder the paperback edition of Tidy Up Your Life, you can also receive one FREE year of paid access to The Tidy Times Substack, including every resource, essay, and “Behind the Stories” post. Register your order here!

📸 Follow along on IG: Tidy Dad

This is Part 2 of a 4-part series about our cottage. In this part, I’ll share our house hunting process, and why we picked this particular house. If you are new to the series, start with Part 1: An apartment in NYC and a cottage in the Pocono Mountains?

Tidy Tidbits #68 - What if the traditional path to homeownership isn’t the only path? This week I’m joined by my friend, fellow Astoria Queens neighbor, and host of the Second Home First podcast, Katie Cline. Listen here: Apple, Spotify, Substack

New York City real estate has always been wild and lately it’s been making headlines again. The Mayor’s Office has issued new rules about broker fees, rent-stabilized apartments, and taxes on luxury second homes. With these new rules, who wins? It’s so hard to know. But long before any of those changes, Emily and I learned firsthand just how intense the New York City housing market could be.

Our move to NYC took place nearly 15 years ago, but by Jennifer Lopez standards, we still aren’t true New Yorkers. We’d planned an August 1st move to NYC yet waited until July 15th to fly from Kentucky to look for places, because apartments moved so quickly that looking any earlier would have been a waste of time. The market moves fast, and you have to be ready to sign, and basically move in, immediately.

Our apartment search took place before smartphones, before Zillow, and before Apartments.com. We carried a handheld GPS, one of those devices you'd normally use for hiking but could also enter full addresses into, and a laptop that, wait for it, could finally connect to Wi-Fi without an Ethernet cable. We'd duck into coffee shops, connect to the internet, and refresh Craigslist to see what new apartments had been listed.

When we found an apartment that looked promising, we’d call the broker, type the address into the GPS, and then shuffle in with other prospective renters waiting behind us to view the apartment. We’d have a matter of minutes to decide whether it would work or not. If we hesitated, it’d be gone. I’m not speaking figuratively here.

After seeing several apartments, we found one that could work.

$1250. One bedroom. First floor. Small building. Walkable to the subway. Close to the school where I’d be teaching.

We raced to the broker’s office to file our application.

Back then, renting an apartment meant paying the broker’s fee, first month’s rent, and a security deposit, all by certified check. We walked to the bank, got cashier’s checks for thousands of dollars, hurried back to the broker’s office, and handed everything over, hoping we’d gotten there in time.

That experience wasn’t unique to us. That’s just what renting in New York City felt like at the time. You learned to make life-changing decisions in minutes.

Which is why buying our cottage in the Poconos felt so... strange.

Remember: The paperback edition of Tidy Up Your Life comes out on August 4th!

Simply enter your order details HERE to claim your free subscription.

Read more

What if the traditional path to homeownership isn’t the only path?

This week I’m joined by my friend, fellow Astoria Queens neighbor, and host of the Second Home First podcast, Katie Cline. Katie and I both rent our apartments in New York City as our primary homes, while owning vacation properties outside the city.

We talk about the realities of owning and managing short-term rental properties, and our conversation also explores what “home” really means. Is it the home you “own”? Where your family gathers? Where your stuff is? Or simply where your life unfolds?

If you’ve ever wondered whether you have to follow the traditional financial roadmap, or if you’ve ever dreamed of creating a different kind of life for your family, this episode is a refreshing reminder that there’s more than one way to build a home.

Connect with Katie Cline

• Instagram: @bykatiecline

• Podcast: Second Home First

• Substack: Second Home First

• NY Times Article: In This Housing Market, The Second Home Comes First

More from Tidy Dad:
📚 Tidy Up Your Life - If you preorder the paperback edition of Tidy Up Your Life, you can also receive one FREE year of paid access to The Tidy Times Substack, including every resource, essay, and “Behind the Stories” post. Register your order here!
📸 Follow along on IG: Tidy Dad

This week our cottage in Pennsylvania was featured in The New York Times. The article explores how “City dwellers priced out of owning locally look to vacation and weekend homes as a path to home ownership.” Our story was featured along with several other renters who also own their second home first.

During a thirty-minute interview over my school lunch break, I explained why we bought our cottage, how we were able to afford it, and why we still happily rent our apartment in New York City. Some of what I shared made the final article.

“Tyler Moore, an Astoria schoolteacher who bought his first home near Lake Naomi in the Poconos with his wife, Emily Moore, in October 2019, lamented being unable to store any possessions in the house, to keep it empty for short-term rentals.” - From The New York Times

While it’s true that we don’t use the cottage as a storage unit, that has never really been an issue for us. I’ve certainly never “lamented” it, I’m Tidy Dad after all. Our NYC apartment is our home, and our cottage is set up for short-term renters.

Another small detail made me laugh. The article described our cottage as “double the size” of our apartment. In reality it’s about 1,100 square feet, compared to our 750-square-foot apartment. The extra square footage is one extra bedroom and bathroom, which we use to host friends or family when we’re there. It’s definitely not double the size, although it does feel spacious to us, especially after years of living in New York.

And if you’re counting, that’s 1850 square feet total, still significantly smaller than the average size of a newly built single-family home in the United States: 2,300 square feet.

In all my years as “Tidy Dad,” I’ve learned that the story can never fully get covered in a single article or in a super short television segment. There isn’t enough time or space. But that’s why I started writing a “Behind the Stories” series on Substack.

Over the next few weeks, I'm sharing the full story: how we afford both our apartment and our cottage, our house hunting process and why we picked this particular house, what we ending up paying for the cottage, how much we’ve made in rental income over the years, what the cottage is estimated to be worth now, and how we're thinking about real estate investments in the years ahead.

So how did a public school teacher and an occupational therapist build a life that includes a rent-stabilized apartment in New York City and a cottage in the Pocono Mountains?

That’s where this story begins.

Remember: The paperback edition of Tidy Up Your Life comes out on August 4th!

As a thank you to anyone who preorders the paperback, I’m gifting a FREE one-year subscription to The Tidy Times on Substack. You’ll get full access to all of my exclusive Behind the Stories articles (including this story!) and all of the Tidy Toolkit resources.

Simply enter your order details HERE to claim your free subscription.

Read more

This week I’m joined by bestselling author Jo Piazza to celebrate the release of her newest novel, The Parisian Heist. Our conversation starts with a simple question: Is it ever okay to steal? From there, we dive into the real-life story of Jo Van Gogh, the woman responsible for transforming Vincent van Gogh from an overlooked artist into one of the most celebrated painters in history. We also explore how storytelling, branding, and preserving someone’s legacy can become a kind of heist of their own.

If you enjoy strong female characters, fascinating historical details, and page-turning suspense, The Parisian Heist is for you! Add this one to your summer reading list.

Connect with Jo Piazza:

• Instagram: @jopiazzaauthor

• Podcast: Under the Influence

• Substack: Over the Influence

• Learn more about The Parisian Heist and tour dates at theparisianheist.com.

• Also read Jo’s books The Sicilian Inheritance and Everyone is Lying to You

More from Tidy Dad:
📚 Preorder the paperback version of Tidy Up Your Life
🗞️ Subscribe to The Tidy Times: tidydad.substack.com
📸 Follow along on IG: Tidy Dad

Question of the Week:
What’s one mess you’ve made peace with?

Leave a comment

I’d love to hear your answer. Send me a message on Instagram or leave a comment here! I might share a few of my favorite responses in a future episode.

It has a gorgeous new cover design and is the perfect size to toss in your beach bag, pack for vacation, keep in the car, or carry along while you’re out running errands.

If everyone reading this email picked up a copy, we just might surprise the bestseller lists all over again. If you’ve already read the hardcover version, you could order the paperback (or maybe even 3–4) to share with friends! It makes a great gift.

No Offense to the Nonnas of the World

I was originally planning to use this section of the email to announce our family’s new theme for the summer. Last year we tried to embrace the idea of a “90s summer”. This year I considered embracing the “Nonna Summer” vibes. I liked the idea of focusing on good food, good drinks, gardening, afternoon walks, like a nostalgic Italian grandma.

But now, neither really fit my present state of mind and body.

What actually seems to resonate is this idea of “just being”. Being present in nature, relationships, quiet, and good food. Focusing on little things each day that bring joy. I’m excited to simply embrace “downtime,” sunsets, and quiet mornings.

Summer is a time to restore and just BE.

The Monthly Sort

Links Worth a Click:

This fashion design dress kit has been getting a lot of love this summer.

I’ve been trying this “longevity coffee alternative” as part of my morning routine.

For my 40th birthday, I got this multimaker waffle maker. A breakfast treat!

This is the cordless vacuum I used to clean the filters behind our refrigerator.

The Latest from Tidy Tidbits

Tidy Tidbits is my weekly micro-podcast with short, practical episodes you can listen to while walking the block, making coffee, folding laundry, or doing school drop-off. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or Substack!

Here are the episodes that dropped last month:

Sharing four simple conversation structures, little rituals that help everyone talk, laugh, reflect, and know one another a little better.

Walking the Camino was a 40th birthday gift to myself. I’m sharing audio recordings with my personal reflections, complete with the sound of footsteps, birds, wind, and the quiet that made the walk so meaningful.

I celebrated a MAJOR birthday, and I’m reflecting on this season of life, and revisiting the idea of Surthrival, the space between surviving and thriving.

I chat with Darby Saxbe, PhD, the author of the new book Dad Brain, about the science and psychology of modern fatherhood.

Podcasts Worth A Listen

A new podcast interview featuring yours truly:

The Better Man Podcast (Dean Pohlman): Tidying Up Your Life with The Tidy Dad

Tidy Dad’s Reading Stack

Murder By Cheesecake: A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery by Rachel Ekstrom Courage - I’m a huge Golden Girls fan, and this book perfectly captures the nostalgia of the show. As the four women work together to solve a mystery threatening to derail Rose’s cousin’s elaborate St. Olaf–inspired wedding, the story delivers all the charm you’d hope for. It captures the heart of the series, the sharp humor, and the hilarious group dynamics that made the characters so memorable. It’s a fun, lighthearted summer read that doesn’t ask you to think too hard, ala Rose Nyland. Next: Death on the Lanai

The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs - This book is about three women who become jealous when their friend is suddenly widowed and receives a substantial life insurance payout. They hatch a plan to hire a hitman to take out all three of their husbands so they can collect money too. It's undeniably dark, incredibly funny, and full of twists. If you're looking for a light, irreverent palate cleanser, this one is fun!

The Parisian Heist by Jo Piazza - This book was on last month’s Reading Stack list, but it officially releases July 11th! If you enjoy strong female characters, fascinating historical details, and page-turning suspense, add this one to your summer reading list. It’s filled with art theft, deception, and a quest to reclaim what was once lost.

Wondering what else I’ve read this year? Here’s the full list!

And a bonus shoutout to the superhero bookend my mom got me for my birthday!

July Joy Plotting

In Tidy Up Your Life, I talk about joy plotting, taking a few minutes to anticipate moments of joy in the week or month ahead. It’s a simple practice worth trying!

Here’s what’s on my joy plotting list for July:

Riding bikes – We got new bikes for the girls and are trying to embrace a “could we bike there?” mindset this summer. We’re thinking the library, the pool, and gradually increasing distances from there. The girls and I are all competing in triathlons later this month, so we’re working on becoming stronger, more confident riders together.

The 20th season of RHOC – The 20th season of the franchise premieres later this month. I’ve been rewatching old seasons, and they make me laugh so much. It’s the perfect escape while I’m cooking dinner or doing chores. Oranges never hurt anyone.

Project Runway – I’m looking forward to watching the new season as a family. It’ll be the first full season that we’ve watched together, but we love competition shows that celebrate creativity, craftsmanship, and people doing what they do best.

Recording new Tidy Tidbits podcast episodes – I’ve been recording interviews with fabulous guests for upcoming Tidy Tidbits podcast episodes, including Jo Piazza, author of The Parisian Heist; Caroline Chambers, whose incredible new cookbook Make It Fast is coming in August; Jennifer Anderson MSPH RDN whose book Feed Them Well comes out in September; and Eric Athas whose book Saying No to New also comes out in September. One of my favorite parts of this job is getting to read incredible books and then sit down with the authors to hear the stories behind them.

🧺 If you enjoyed this free newsletter and want MORE, order my book Tidy Up Your Life, and consider becoming a paid subscriber to “The Tidy Times” on Substack! You’ll get full access to my exclusive Behind the Stories articles and the Tidy Toolkit resources. It’s $5/month or $50/year and helps keep the tidying (and storytelling) going.

Tidy Up Your Life is about more than organizing your home. It’s about building routines and systems that help you navigate the inevitable messes of everyday life.

Today’s episode is about one of those messes: teaching kids how to actually get clean.

This is a Tidy Tidbits Replay that I originally shared last summer, and it’s just as relevant today. Our New York City bathtub may be tiny, but the parenting lesson it inspired is anything but.

In this episode, I’m taking you into bath-time chaos and sharing why our family created Shower School, a simple system for teaching kids how to wash themselves well, build independence, and make one small part of parenting a whole lot easier.

We’ll cover:

• 🚿 The difference between relaxing and really cleaning your body

• 🧼 Why just saying “Take a shower!” might not mean much

• Our official “Shower School Steps”!

🛁 Download the Shower School Steps checklist, a visual guide you can laminate and hang in the shower! Perfect for kids learning how to actually get clean (not just wet).

More from Tidy Dad:
📚 Preorder the paperback version of Tidy Up Your Life
🗞️ Subscribe to The Tidy Times: tidydad.substack.com
📸 Follow along on IG: Tidy Dad

Our family started our summer break this week! Whenever life changes and transitions happen, I think it’s worth asking: How do we stay connected?

This spring I took twelve graduate credits to move up to the final salary step as a teacher. One of my courses focused on building classroom culture, and it made me realize something. Teachers spend a lot of time thinking about how to help students talk to one another, reflect together, solve problems, and build community.

Why wouldn’t we think about our families and friend groups the same way?

I’m talking about simple conversation structures, little rituals that help everyone talk, laugh, reflect, and know one another a little better.

Today I want to share four simple family meeting ideas that have become part of our family’s rhythm. We need opportunities to listen, reflect, laugh, disagree, practice taking turns, and keep getting to know the people we’re living life alongside.

Because families aren’t built through one big conversation.

They’re built through hundreds of little ones.

Mentioned in this episode: We love this pack of Conversation Cards for Kids

For your next listen: Episode #60: What to Do With All the School Papers

More from Tidy Dad:
📚 Order my book: Tidy Up Your Life
🗞️ Subscribe to The Tidy Times: tidydad.substack.com
📸 Follow along on IG: Tidy Dad

In Episode #64, I’m sharing audio recordings I captured while walking the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain, along with personal reflections from the journey. It’s a different kind of episode. Slower. Simpler. Maybe exactly what you need today.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Substack.

This time of year marks the one-year anniversary of my first “10 Things I’m Normalizing (for the sake of myself and my daughters)” essay going viral. One simple mention of a Speedo, a swimsuit I occasionally wear to the beach for open-water swims and during triathlon competitions, sent my writing and story around the globe.

It's become an annual practice for me to reflect on the things I'm normalizing for the sake of myself and my daughters. Masculinity is nuanced. Fatherhood is nuanced. Being human is nuanced. So why do so many of the rules about how we're supposed to live, parent, work, and show up in the world still feel so fixed?

So in the spirit of reflection, growth, and a little curiosity, here’s my 2026 list.

Will any of these spark the same viral reaction as last year’s swimsuit?

Only time will tell.

1. Always Having a Book Going

My TBR pile is thriving. I’ve realized that when I always have a book going, my daughters usually do too. We talk about books more. My wife and I recommend titles to one another. Reading becomes part of the rhythm of our home.

Lately I’ve been reading primarily books by female authors, and it’s fascinating. My taste is pretty eclectic. One minute I’m reading about tradwives, the next I’m deep into a murder mystery, and then I’m listening to research about the dad brain. I love how books allow me to step into experiences and viewpoints that aren’t my own.

You can check out the books I’ve read so far this year HERE!

2. Experimenting with Fashion

Last year I lost more than 30 pounds and began to rethink what I wanted my wardrobe to look like. Around the same time, I worked with a stylist and had my color palette analyzed. I found out I’m a “bright winter”. It’s impacted what I choose to purchase.

Someone recently asked on Instagram if I’d abandoned the capsule wardrobe. Not at all. What I’ve learned is that a capsule wardrobe doesn’t mean you’re stuck with the same pieces forever. Sometimes it’s simply time to upgrade.

A few weeks ago I got to participate in a “dad style makeover”. The biggest lesson wasn’t that I needed an entirely new wardrobe. It was that small changes can make a big difference. You don’t have to turn the dial from 0 to 180 degrees overnight. Sometimes it’s enough to move it from 45 degrees to 60 degrees and see how it feels.

I’ve been adding some of my clothing pieces to a ShopMy store. Check it out!

3. Experimenting with My Hair

I’ve been growing my hair longer.

Someone recently sent me a DM that said, “Please can you cut your hair or style it. It looks messy quite a lot now.” That message made me laugh because it’s wild how much other people care about my hair!

For forty years I never knew my hair had this much wave or curl in it. Women are encouraged to experiment with their appearance all the time. New colors. New cuts. New styles. Somewhere along the way, many men stop giving themselves permission to try something new.

I’ve been learning about washing, conditioning, styling, and what my hair naturally wants to do. I don’t know how long I will keep the longer length, but for now, I’m enjoying the process of trying something new and seeing where it leads.

Here are some of the hair products I’m currently loving!

4. Embracing Arts and Crafts

This spring we introduced quiet hour in our house. I learned about the concept from Tired Dad, and while my daughters worked on crafts, friendship bracelets, yarn projects, and coloring, I started wondering what it would look like to make something too. That’s how I ended up bedazzling books.

There’s something incredibly calming about it. The repetition. The focus. The way time seems to disappear. I love taking a book I’ve enjoyed and transforming the cover into something unique.

I’ve become invested enough that I recently bought a second kit because I discovered some book covers require different shapes and sizes of gems. I didn’t see that hobby coming, but that’s part of the fun.

If you want to give bedazzling a go, here’s my favorite kit! It has 3 sizes in each color.

5. Trying New Foods More Than Once

For years I convinced myself I didn’t like certain foods. Shrimp. Tuna. Various types of fish. Notice a theme? I’ve always had a complicated relationship with seafood.

The problem is that I often decided I didn’t like them after trying them only once.

As I’ve focused on eating more protein and adding variety to my meals, I’ve started revisiting foods I previously thought I disliked. Some have remained a no. Others have become staples. Tuna might be the biggest surprise.

I want my daughters to see that not liking something the first time doesn’t mean you never try it again. Tastes change. We change. Sometimes growth looks as simple as taking another bite.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this cookbook.

6. Having Meaningful Friendships

This one is still a work in progress. I have wonderful friends. Some in Pennsylvania. Some through triathlon. Some here in New York. Some that exist in fun text chains.

But maintaining friendships as an adult with three kids is difficult. Schedules collide. Life gets busy. Months pass quickly.

I’m including this one on the list because I want to hold myself accountable. Meaningful friendships don’t just happen. They require intention. I want to keep making space for the people who matter to me. I want my daughters to see that friendships are important.

7. Spending Time with My Parents as an Adult

Earlier this year I flew home to Kentucky by myself after my grandmother passed away. It was my first trip home alone in years. In February we went on a cruise in the Caribbean and brought my mom along. In April I walked the Camino in Spain with my dad and sister and it was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.

I don’t subscribe to the “18 summers” mindset. Of course childhood is precious, but if I’m lucky, I’ll know my daughters far longer as adults than I will as children. I want them to see that relationships continue to matter across generations. I want them to see me making time for my parents, just as I hope they’ll someday make time for me.

8. Being More Than My Job

Last week I appeared on CBS Mornings to talk about the dad brain and how fatherhood changed my relationship with work.

None of us can have it all at the same time. Not moms. Not dads.

Work matters. I love teaching. I love writing. I love creating. I love Tidy Dad.

But my job isn’t my identity.

Even now, I still catch myself tying my worth to productivity. The reminder I keep coming back to is simple: I am more than what I produce.

You can watch my CBS Mornings segment HERE!

9. Knowing When to Ask for Help

I’ve worked with my virtual person trainer Martin for almost a year and a half.

Recently I messaged him with questions about everything from training adjustments to bloating to the strange mental shift that comes with turning forty.

His response was simple: “That’s what I’m here for.”

He’s right.

We all need people we can ask for help. Coaches. Therapists. Friends. Mentors. Family members.

Asking for help isn’t weakness. It’s one of the most practical skills we can learn.

I followed Martin online for years before I finally scheduled a free consultation with him, and I’m so glad I did. Our work together has changed my health and my life.

You can book a FREE call with Martin here!

10. Admitting When I Need Rest

Six weeks ago I ran a marathon.

After the marathon I developed a painful case of runner’s knee. My recovery has required patience, humility, and a willingness to start over.

I started by running intervals of thirty seconds, followed by walking intervals of thirty seconds, until I could repeat that five times. Today I’m proudly running intervals of three and a half minutes, followed by two minutes of walking. It’s been a slow process.

But the process has also reminded me that rest isn’t the absence of progress. Sometimes rest is the thing that makes progress possible.

I’m learning to listen to my body, and accept that growth isn’t always measured by how hard we push. Sometimes it’s measured by how wisely we recover.

There you have it, this year’s list of “10 Things I’m Normalizing (for the sake of myself and my daughters).” If you’re interested in reading last year’s list, you can read it here.

As with last year’s list, I know this will be a growing list. Because if I normalize these things now, maybe my daughters won’t have to spend years unlearning shame, undoing double standards, or shrinking to fit into someone else’s idea of who they should be. And maybe I’ll learn a thing or two about myself in the process.

Have you thought about the things that you’re normalizing for the sake of yourself (and maybe others that you care about?) I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Leave a comment

While walking the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain I occasionally pulled out my phone and recorded voice memos. This week on Tidy Tidbits, I’m sharing some of those audio recordings with my personal reflections, complete with the sound of footsteps, birds, wind, and the quiet that made the walk so meaningful.

If you want to learn more about the Camino:
📚 The book that inspired my Camino journey: A Week to Remember: Three strangers, the Camino, One Week to Change Everything by Ruth O’Leary

🎙️ My interview with author Ruth O’Leary, who wrote the book A Week to Remember: Tidy Tidbits Episode #53 - Start Small, Start Messy, Just Start

More from Tidy Dad:
📚 Order my book: Tidy Up Your Life
🗞️ Subscribe to The Tidy Times: tidydad.substack.com
📸 Follow along on IG: Tidy Dad