Margaret Arnold • January 11, 2025
Everyday Life Hacks from Mom

After last week's longer “Year of Wisdom” post, I’m returning to quick and inspirational ideas on living simply by sharing a few ERW Life Hacks. ERW, my tiny and determined mother, lived a remarkable 93 years. Throughout her life, she quietly exemplified resourceful living, teaching our family through her daily example.


With family providing daily caregiving during her at-home 18-month hospice journey in the pandemic years, I observed some of her clever shortcuts and methods that made her daily living and efforts easier. While I’m sure she was using her life hacks through her life, watching more closely (and sometimes gently directed) during that time in her home helped me see and admire her practices and rituals. 



... I observed some of her clever shortcuts and methods that made her daily living and efforts easier ...


Safety pin on blanket

I smile whenever I use one of her clever life hacks in my daily life. Though I drew the line at some of her more frugal practices – like washing and reusing her Kirkland Signature gray multipurpose gloves during the pandemic – her gentle wisdom lives on in these everyday moments.


  • Grapefruit Spoons as Combined Fork/Spoon/Knife – A grapefruit spoon is the perfect combination of a fork/spoon/knife.  As my mother’s daily living tasks became more difficult, rather than retrieving three utensils she retrieved one – a grapefruit spoon! It was her favorite multipurpose meal tool and she had more than a dozen of them in her drawer.


  • Blanket Corner Small Safety Pins –Keep and reuse those small safety pins to mark the corners of comforters, quilts, spreads or blankets to easily orient yourself when making the bed. Nearly invisible, I learned from my mother that marking the corners saves time when figuring out which direction the bedding goes.


  • Pots and Pans Paper Towel Separators – Use a few pieces of paper towel as separators between pots and pans to quiet the stacking when putting away and to protect them from scratching against each other. I originally questioned why the paper sections remained in my mother’s cupboard or drawers and soon learned how nice it was to have a soft landing when returning the pots and pans to her cupboards.


  • Small Container Leftover Prep – To prepare for the next meal whether to heat up food or prepare a small dessert portion, breakdown leftovers into small, covered containers (microwave safe glass rather than plastic). As we were cleaning up, I observed how my mother’s daily ritual of using small containers to keep the perfect portion for the next few days saved time. I use a hack upgrade by adding a labeling system and freezing some of the containers. 



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Past Blogs

Maple syrup bottles on the counter with holiday decor.

The Wisdom and Challenge of Simplicity

By Margaret Arnold • January 1, 2026
As I go about my Silverish Simplicity days, I've started mentally categorizing my activities and intentions. Is this a lightbulb moment? Is this extreme? Is this an add-on to an existing idea? Since this is the time of year to look back while looking ahead, I'm sharing a few ideas in the categories below with the warning, dear readers, that they aren't for everyone—but no doubt there is wisdom and a challenge in each of them. Epiphanies After more than five years of downsizing and living more simply, I continue to have epiphanies as I go about my day. They come suddenly and are ideas I can't wait to try. Most challenge me to reduce, reuse, or repurpose and lean towards quality. One recent example: splitting and gifting a gallon of Saint John's Abbey Maple Syrup (one of 24 gallons bottled last season) won in a silent auction. With handmade tags added to glass bottles I had been collecting, this small-batch, limited production liquid gold became perfect gifts for my children (all who have visited the sugar shack) and a few hostesses. Extremes Some things I do to help the environment or save money would make my own family roll their eyes. Toilet paper, for instance. I save dryer lint in empty toilet paper rolls to create fire starters for outdoor bonfires. Saving dryer lint was a trick I learned from a friend way before I was Silverish Simplicity. I added the empty toilet paper roll for a more contained starter (and to keep the lint out of sight). An extra: I challenge myself to use only three perforated squares rather than grabbing half the roll. The cost savings and septic system benefits are real. I won’t go into any greater detail! ... I continue to have epiphanies as i go about my day ...
Christmas tree with white lights in front of a window, indoors.

A Season of Foraging, Layering and Reflection

By Margaret Arnold • December 6, 2025
Five years ago, during the Covid season, my children came home to find tables of sorted items, empty storage closets, and the beginning of a life of simplicity and repurposing. Today, that simplicity—downsizing, repurposing, purchasing quality—continues. It's my go-to, my reset, my happy place. This fall and winter seasons have been busy, so here are some Silverish Simplicity insights: Foraging – For several years now, I've foraged for my own fall and winter outdoor planter decorations: pines, dogwood, sumac, birch. This year was especially fun with the discovery of hard-to-find bittersweet and cutting down our own small balsam fir for the holidays. Best of all, I shared the love of foraging with my daughter and her husband. Layering – I heard about "layering" Christmas décor rather than completely switching out your home, and it matched my intentions perfectly. This year I added touches of the holidays here and there without removing any existing décor. In the process, more than two totes of Christmas decorations moved on to family or Goodwill. With three children purchasing new homes this year, it was the perfect time to pass along items that matched their interests—from prints and books to snowmen and ornaments. It's fun to visit their homes and see these items being used, so it wasn't a complete farewell. ... A perfect time to pass along items that matched their interests ...
Laura Ingalls Wilder Book Collection

Stories in Small Moments: Essays and Simple Living

By Margaret Arnold • October 11, 2025
After nearly 30 blog posts about simple living, I continue to find enjoyment in downsizing and being intentional. This summer reinforced my commitment to simplicity in two ways: first, letting things move on—including my 55-year collection of Laura Ingalls Wilder books to my son's fiancée, a teacher, with whom I discovered a shared love of the series; and secondly, using groceries wisely, experimenting with what's on hand and increasing freezing techniques rather than waste (more on that later). This intentional approach extends to reading, one of life's simplest pleasures. Some of my best memories and connections to people are through reading. Laura Ingalls Wilder's books read in the early 1970s remind me of home upstairs in the girls’ “dormitory” bedroom. The Sound of Music on a family road trip in a GMC motorhome in 1976 gave me moments of escape alongside five siblings. Kate DiCamillo, Gary Paulsen and the Harry Potter series remind me of my children as emerging readers and their well-worn books. Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig and Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner connect me to an early book club of serious readers and friends I still cherish today. This intentional approach extends to reading ...