Before I transition from one room to another I try to grab 10 things that I can put away and clean up. If you have kids and want to get the whole family to participate check out this Apartment Therapy article for tips on how to implement it. When I read this ridiculously simple rule for keeping your house clean it was both an aha moment and a duh moment. — CD

I finally decided to pay for YouTube. Now with YouTube Premium I see no ads of any kind. Given the many hours I spend every day on YouTube this upgrade has been life changing. I already had an adblocker on my browser, but that did not work 100% of the time, and I also watch a lot of YouTube on my TV via Roku, which can’t block ads. For $12 per month all that nonsense is gone, and I get YouTube music as well, which can stream in the background if wanted, and download videos for offline (airplane) viewing. Thanks to my friend Hugh, who kept insisting I needed Premium; you were right. — KK

My mother-in-law got a new bed and the headboard was squashing the extension cord plugged into the wall. I bought this SlimLine Flat Plug extension cord with a right-angled plug and it solved the problem. It has a low-profile and the cord comes out parallel to the wall. Just what we needed! — MF

I’ve been using this Divergent Association Task to measure my verbal creativity. It takes less than 2 minutes and involves thinking of 10 words that are as different from each other as possible. The test was designed by a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, and according to the study — which involved 9,000 participants all over the world — people who are more creative generate words that have greater distances between them. You can choose to participate in the study anonymously or not. I’ve been taking the test everyday to try to beat my own score. — CD

To find a list of all the Netflix titles in a specific genre, zero in on a movie genre using the codes listed here. Add the code to this URL: https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/CODE. For example https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/10398 shows you Netflix’s Japanese movies, and https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/7687 shows you film noir titles. — MF

Wayfinder is a soothing online game that involves traversing a vast landscape collecting fragments of seasonal-inspired poetry to restore balance to the natural world. The game itself is short but uses machine learning to create thousands of combinations of verses and visuals so that you have a completely new experience each time you play. It’s very lovely. — CD

Here is some great advice on how to find the right therapist. One of the first steps is to figure out what kind of therapeutic framework you need. When I first started therapy I had anxiety that sometimes resulted in panic attacks. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy taught me how to redirect a thought so that it doesn’t create overwhelming feelings that would affect my behavior. Now, 8 years later, I have a person-centered therapist that I talk to about all aspects of my life. Each session feels like I’m catching up with my very insightful and intelligent friend who I can vent to and ask for advice. I always tell my friends that you are allowed to break up with your therapist if the fit isn’t right. I saw three therapists before I found my most recent one, who I’ve been seeing for three years now. Finding the “right therapist” feels like you’ve acquired a super power. — CD

I’ve ceased all subscriptions to the paper version of newspapers or magazines — except one. I subscribe to Uppercase, a paper-based magazine celebrating art and crafts. Each issue is overflowing with exuberant examples of creativity from non-famous artists. Painting, textiles, ceramics, patterns, vintage, printmaking, etc. It’s a hand-made quarterly, with no ads, unabashedly analog, and basically the work of one woman, who tends to feature art that is invigorating, positive, and joyous. The periodical itself is a work of art that reflects the passion of an artisan, and I derive immense pleasure from its curated pages. — KK

An Arduino is a small easy-to-program device that lets you add interactivity to your projects. Because Arduino is open source, you can buy inexpensive clones. My favorite is the Keyestudio Plus. An Arduino Uno is about $25, and this clone is half the price. The best thing about Keyestudio Plus is that it has a USB-C jack instead of the bulky USB-A jack found on the Uno. It has a lot of other useful features like additional pins for power and a switch to change the voltage from 5V to 3.3V. Here’s a photo of one next to an Arduino Uno. (If you want to learn how to use an Arduino, I have a class on Skillshare you can take using this link for a one-month free trial). — MF

The simplest toys are the best. Our favorite family social puzzle is a tangram, an old classic from China made of 7 geometric pieces that you arrange to fulfill a required silhouette. With two sets you can race to finish. It is much harder than it looks, yet doable and fun for small folk. You can make a tangram from cardboard, or 3D print one yourself, but the version we grab is Tangoes, a tidy travel case with two sets of pieces, plus cards (with solutions) for all the target images. We own 3 or 4 Tangoes ($12), enough for larger groups. — KK

I love these colorful food savers by Hutzler. I first bought the grapefruit saver ($7) because I can never finish a whole grapefruit, but then I had to get the yellow onion ($5), because I often cut in to new onions forgetting that I previously saved half of one. These are the perfect shape for each vegetable/fruit and super easy to spot in the fridge. I plan on expanding my collection! — CD

When we recently had an all-day power outage in my Los Angeles neighborhood, I used my Westinghouse WH2200iXLT Super Quiet Portable Inverter Generator to power our computers, cable modem, Wifi system, refrigerator, coffee grinder, and fan. True to its name, this gas generator purrs. It ran quietly in the backyard from 7am until 5pm with temperatures reaching 90 degrees. — MF

I use Dropbox for work and personal stuff so I was very happy to discover that Dropbox has added a new file conversion feature that can speed up my workflow. You can convert most file types into PDFs, JPEGs, or PNG files by accessing the file through Dropbox.com and then clicking on three dots next to the file and choosing “Save as…”. Here is a list of all the file types this works with. Unfortunately, this feature is not available in your desktop app, but still very helpful! Especially since I often have to convert those pesky WebP files into JPEGs. If you want more tips, here’s a list of 12 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Dropbox. — CD

Native Lands is an interactive web map that shows the location of all the indigenous peoples of the world — primarily in North and South America — before they were displaced or eliminated. What is unusual with Native Lands is the high resolution, mapping the resident locations almost to the current county level. You can click on the specific tribe and get links to further information, often from the tribe itself. I was shamefully not aware of the local tribe in our neighborhood before this. — KK

I haven’t slept in an airport in years, but I can imagine there will be a time when I have to do it again. Sleeping in Airports offers tips for making a night at the airport (intentional or not) as pleasant as possible. The site even provides a list of the best airports to sleep in (Changi Airport, Singapore) and the worst airports to sleep in (Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport, Saudi Arabia). — MF

I’ve been making art every day this year. I don’t care whether it is good or bad, I just enjoy doing it. One of my favorite artists, Grayson Perry, has a BBC TV series called Grayson’s Art Club, where he invites celebs and ordinary people in England to join him in making everyday art. His enthusiasm for all kinds of art, no matter its source, and his low-rent approach to creativity is a total joy and inspiration to watch. The show is warm and utterly brilliant, and makes me want to keep making more. It’s the best thing I’ve seen on making your own art. (While you can stream both seasons of this BBC4 show, you need to do it either in England or with a VPN set to England, and with your ad-blocker off.) — KK

After last weekend’s favorite note app recomendo. Multiple readers replied and recommended Simplenote as an alternative to Apple Notes and as a universal note-taking app. Reader Titus said, “I really like Simplenote. It provides a web interface as well as iOS and Android apps.” — CD

Often the best way to secure one object to another is with heavy duty double-sided tape. The bond may be as strong as screws or nails, without the need for holes. And unlike a glue joint, its tidy, and kinda removable. Put the two-sided tape on, zip off second coating, and squeeze together. Fast. I use this tape for mounting gear, electrical devices on walls and tables where I don’t want screws. The best brand is 3M Heavy Duty Mounting Tape. I am always surprised by how much weight it will hold. — KK

I use a lot of stock photo images on the various websites I work on. I recently discovered Scopio, which is offering a lifetime subscription for $29. I like the selection of photos, and the fact that they don’t look as generic as a lot of stock photos. Here’s a sample for a search for “red and white books.” — MF

I am enjoying Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh’s Mindfulness Essentials series of small “How to” books. How to Love is one I revisit often. Right now I am reading How to Eat — short meditations on connecting with the Earth, enjoying your food and eating with others. Below are three excerpts. — CD

• Wait without waiting — Standing in line at grocery store or a restaurant, or waiting for the time to eat, we don’t need to waste our time. We don’t need to “wait” for one second. Instead, we can enjoy breathing in and out for our nourishment and healing. We can use that time to notice that we will soon be able to have food, and we can be happy and grateful during that time. Instead of waiting, we can generate joy.

• Our ancestors are in the soil — In the soil are many people who have died, have been transformed, and have become part of the soil. Maybe in this mouthful of rice are also the bones of hundreds of generations as well as many leaves, worms and animal’s bones. Maybe in a previous life you had been there and died there, and your own bones have disintegrated in that land. During the time of eating, your practice is to look deeply into that grain of rice and enjoy all that has gone into its creation. There are so many things to enjoy and to discover in each bite.

• Eating and smiling — Sitting at the table and eating with other people is a chance to offer an authentic smile of friendship and understanding. The most important part of the practice is to look at each person and smile. Upon finishing your meal, take a few moments to notice that you have finished, that your bowl is now empty, and your hunger is satisfied. This is another opportunity to smile and be grateful that you have had this nourishing food to eat, supporting you on the path of love and understanding.