The Secret to Prolonging the Lifespan of Your Vehicle's Suspension System

 Key Takeaways

• Regular maintenance significantly extends the lifespan of your vehicle's suspension system.
• Recognizing and addressing early signs of suspension problems will save you money in the long run.
• Upgrading components like springs and shocks can vastly improve your driving experience.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Why Suspension System Maintenance is Crucial
3. Common Signs of Suspension Problems
4. Routine Maintenance Tips for Your Suspension System
5. When and Why to Upgrade Your Suspension Components
6. Conclusion

The suspension system is your vehicle's unsung hero, responsible for a smooth and safe drive. It ensures stability by absorbing shocks and maintaining tire contact with the road. Over time, however, components wear out. That's why regular maintenance and occasional upgrades are vital. Car inspection services Fort Worth, TX, can help spot issues early and keep your suspension in shape. If you notice any changes in your vehicle's performance, getting a professional inspection can reveal problems before they become costly. Remember, a vehicle's suspension system ensures a comfortable ride and enhances safety by maintaining optimal tire-road contact. Hence, it is imperative to give it the attention it deserves.

Smart Ways to Get Back Some of Your Precious Time

 There are only so many hours in a day, and it's common to feel like it's just not enough. There's so much to do between various kinds of commitments, and that's before you even think about the time required to take care of yourself. However, rather than try to do everything at once, the best thing to do is often to rethink how you use your time. By working smarter and not harder, you can gain back some of your precious time and use it however you see fit.

Whether you want to save time at work, at home, or in other areas of your life, there are plenty of ways to use your time more smartly. Take a look at these suggestions to see if you can start getting some of your time back.

Image from Pexels - CC0 License

Delegate Tasks

No one can do everything on their own. You need the help and support of others to get things done. That's why knowing how to delegate tasks is so important, and it's something you can do in every area of your life. At home, you can make sure everyone has their chores to do. If you still feel like you don't have enough time, you should consider booking scheduled cleaning from a cleaner to help you out. If you're a leader at work, you can delegate tasks too. Of course, you shouldn't always need to delegate. There are times when others should be expected to take the initiative and work out what needs to be done.

Google Calendar Organizes Your Family's Time #lifehacks

This is what a typical Wednesday might look like, just from 7-4:30. I did not put in the rest of my kids' coop schedules nor my own because this is just a sample.

One of my biggest challenges in life (and maybe this is true for you as well) is realizing that I can't do everything all in one day. I try so hard to make myself understand that I don't have unlimited time.

Nothing helps me realize this better than when I stick with using Google Calendar for my business (five different areas), homeschooling (four kids plus coaching my oldest through a personal trainer certification, then figuring out what he wants to do after that but before police academy), and life as a married stay-at-home mom of five kids.

"What Do You Do All Day?" Time Diary Results for Six Weeks #168 Hours #TimeMakeover

Why am I Telling You How I Spend My Time?

I'm sharing this post today because I am often asked how I fit everything in by people who are amazed that I can homeschool, work, keep my house looking decent, pray with my family, eat dinner with them, and all that other jazz that makes you seem like an upstanding member of society. 

On the flip side of that, sometimes I encounter those who think I have loads of free time and why can't I just take on ONE MORE PROJECT? or why am I so selfish that I can't check in with them every day? They don't realize that caring for/educating/feeding children is a full-time job in itself and them some (63.75 hours a week average, as you'll see below)! 

Then you toss in my average work week of 12 hours for "extras" (braces, my own dental work, glasses and contact lenses, maybe a vacation with the family), plus an average of 15 hours a week spent on either being at the homeschool co-op or handling things related to it (Committee, Student Council, Yearbook), plus sleep, and I am left with 25.25 hours in my week. Sorry if I left you on "read" on that text last week; I really meant to write you back immediately but I got interrupted!

Affordable Planner Option: Office Depot Stellar Notebook Planner with Slash Pockets

 

I've tried a lot of different systems for life and work planning, including Passion Planner, bullet journaling, Panda Planner, the Ashley Shelly planner, DayTimer pages, DayRunner pages with a briefcase-sized carrier system they came in, and more. No, I have not tried Erin Condren. 

I've tried a lot of different systems for homeschool planning, too, including A Simple Plan, The Well-Planned Day, and a cheap homeschooling lesson plan book.

Ultimately, I've ended up with the simplest and cheapest of systems since my ADHD causes me to rebel against any system I try to set up anyway. Turns out the simpler the better when it comes to planners for me. I use a spiral notebook for keeping track of homeschooling and a fancy spiral notebook for keeping track of my life (errands, chores, appointments like dentist, doctor, appliance repair, etc.). Here are some photos:

What I love about this simple Office Depot Stellar Notebook Planner are these things:

(1) It's affordable.

(2) It has slash pockets! These are pockets that are cut at the diagonal in a divider page so things are held in better. This is where backup goes, such as bills that need immediate attention, invitations for things that are coming up, etc.

(3) It's light and portable.

(4) It's customizable! Usually I'll write times of the day down the left page of the spiral and to do items on the right side, as well as any notes (like what vitamins I took). I could probably also use this as a homeschool tracker if we had a light day.

Here are photos of a very bare day. The first photo is of a rough schedule on the left of the spiral. The second photo is of to-do items and an attempt at keeping track of both homeschooling and business daily items.

I'd love to hear about your favorite planner and how you keep yourself consistent in using it!

Organizational Tip: Buy Lots of Blank Greeting Cards

I have a friend who thinks I am the Most Organized and Prepared Woman on the Planet.

Okay, maybe not on the PLANET, but like in the Midwest, maybe.

I send birthday cards (mostly) on time. I send a graduation card with cash with my kids when they attend parties or I send grad cards in the mail. I send thank you notes. I come to Baptisms and baby parties with card in hand. I mail a sympathy card when someone dies (I'm always crying when I write those, so I do procrastinate).

Panda Planner Classic Review #PandaPlanner with Update

I'm kind of in love right now and it was a total accident. (oh man, I hit "publish" on this post I started last spring and did not mean to, so you get what you get today, friends, with an update at the end)

I was proofreading for a client on Fiverr and in her nonfiction book she mentioned using her Panda Planner.

I stopped proofreading and said, "What the heck is that? I saw the word PLANNER. I love planners but I have not found the perfect one for me yet. I tried bullet journaling and that was the closest I got to moving to the town of Crap Togetherville, but then of course I quit because I suck at consistency."

Then I hit the Google.

Cue the sappy love music as I gazed upon the planner.

Wait, no. Not yet.

First, I had to hit the YouTube to find a review that would show me EVERY INCH of this thing before I committed. And I still did not commit. I was intrigued but thought maybe it would be too much work to come up with an affirmation for each day and figure out my wins and do-betters and tasks and priorities. But dang, THREE ribbons to keep track of your MONTH, WEEK and DAY? I really had no excuse to not get my crap together.

There was a 25% off deal the day I bought mine. And I got free shipping. And could pay using PayPal. So bam. $20ish and I committed. True, there are 6 months of monthly pages but only 90 days of daily pages. You can skip a day or two if you go on vacation or just take a day off where you don't have much happening. For me, I won't be skipping any days, that's for sure. I saw a vision of my future and it looked like this:

It's the year 2050 and I have been using 4 Panda Planners per year since 2019 and they are all lined up on my lovely built-in bookshelf my husband finally built for me.

Except my future will be more colorful because they have fantastic colors of Panda Planners and also my own books I will have written will be mixed in as well because I will be so uber-productive that I will have no choice but to publish 10 books a year on extremely helpful and awesome topics such as Homeschooling With Less Stress and More Fun and Learn to Relax by a Swimming Pool.

I got the Classic because I wanted to be able to carry it around with me. I liked the idea of the 8 1/2 x 11 size but dang, that's huge. I will have to learn to write tiny. I will survive.

Another cool thing about Panda Planner is that they send you emails with useful information. Like this post of 10 books about procrastination!

UPDATE A COUPLE OF MONTHS IN

CONS
I'm not really doing the GRATEFUL or EXCITED parts. Not doing the AFFIRMATION, FOCUS or EXERCISE parts. Sometimes I might log my Fitbit steps on EXERCISE but not usually. The FOCUS usually remains the same every day: SURVIVE.

The cost is a little prohibitive for me most of the time. Still I am torn because it's kept me the most organized I've ever been. A simple medium-sized spiral notebook would work okay and be 1/10 of the cost, but I'd have to write everything out in the format I want it to be in.

I'm not using the planner for all it could be used for. I really just need a spot to put the day's events (10:30 Mass, 2:30 dental appointment, 6 p.m. movie, 4:30 Joel goes to work) plus a place for daily tasks and a quick spot to write down vitamins and supplements I've taken. I could use a cheap spiral for this and carry it around but it could easily fall apart.

I'm not using the WEEKLY section at all. I tried, but I write down things I just can't seem to ever fit in. I'm not realistic. There is a PROJECTS section and someday I'll put things in there like CHICKENS, RAISED-BED GARDEN, PLAYHOUSE FOR GRANDKIDS, MEMOIR. At this point in my life, projects are things like slowly working on getting Michael his driver's license, getting Joel his Eagle Scout award, getting a kid reading fluently, getting a kid to understand place value. The WEEKLY section is overwhelming to me.

PROS
I do enjoy the TODAY'S PRIORITIES part since there are 5 spots and I have 5 kids and they are my priorities.

I love the pocket in the back.

I love the band that keeps it all closed up.

I love the monthly view; it has come in handy many times when I've been out and someone has told me about an event that I needed to write down.

Instead of having random pieces of paper in my purse or a notebook I never look at again, I generally WORK THIS PLANNER ... I move things from day to day that aren't getting done, try to get more realistic with my time, etc.

UPDATE as of January 2, 2020 and I am not using this anymore. I can't justify the cost! Shocker: as someone who probably has  ADD, I bounce from planning system to planning system and find it hard to stick with anything. Bullet journal is what I'm doing now. Sometimes a huge DayTimer. Sometimes I ignore it all and just type things on my computer in Word day to day. Google Calendar also rocks and gets me realistic with my time. Sometimes I'm gung-ho about planners and sometimes I rebel and ignore them for weeks on end and still somehow manage to get things done.

Tell me about your relationship with planners!

As of March 2020, I had to start a new Category on the side of the blog for PLANNING because I love it so much. I'm about to receive my large Passion Planner in the mail and use it alongside a cheap composition notebook for daily things. I'll keep you posted!

Sleigh All Day and Kerrie On: How do You Set Goals?

Yes, that's me over on the left on the morning of Christmas 2020 (super-fun top from Old Navy). I'm standing in front of a family tradition my kids instituted: the present wall that their dad has to get through after waking. My husband is always the last one up on Christmas Day—what's it like at your house?

But now Christmas has come and gone, and it's time to start thinking about how you're going to slay this year in all areas of your life.

I'm obsessed with planning, productivity and goal-setting. So tell me, how do you go about setting goals for work, marriage, family, mind, body, soul, household, finances?

One way I succeed in reaching some of my goals is to keep binders for pretty much everything. I've got a post coming up on that one because my binders keep me sane and come in varieties such as: Homeschooling, Household Reference, Christmas, Self-Ker, Business Finances, then separate binders for specific classes I teach at the homeschool co-op (Grammar/Comp and Modern World History one year; Literature and Personal Finance another year), as well as a general co-op binder since I'm on the committee and have many things to keep straight.