Tidy Tidbits with Tyler Moore | Tidy Up Your Life with Home Organization & Daily Routines

What if the goal isn’t to finally finish your to-do list, but to accept that you never will?
In this episode, I’m talking with Jess Ekstrom, author of Making It Without Losing It, about the never-ending to-do list, why accomplishment rarely gives us the feeling we expect it to, and how to decide what actually deserves our time and attention.
I also share my word for the year and ask Jess: Is that selfish?
If you’ve ever thought, “Once I get through this, then I can relax,” this conversation is for you.
More from Jess Ekstrom:
📚 Read Making It Without Losing It
📸 More from Jess: jessekstrom.com
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 a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tidydad.substack.com/subscribe

The planning. The decision-making. The meals. The work. The parenting. The exercise. The endless list of things you’re somehow supposed to fit into one day.
In this solo episode, I’m taking my own advice from Tidy Up Your Life and revisiting one of my favorite ideas: Stop Doing All the Work.
When life feels like too much, there are three ways to lighten the load: eliminate it, share it, or outsource it. I’m sharing examples of how I’m doing all three right now, from school lunches and household chores to meal planning and marathon training.
If life feels like A LOT right now, this episode is your reminder: tidying up your life doesn’t always mean figuring out how to do everything more efficiently.
Sometimes it means realizing you don’t have to do it all.
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 a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tidydad.substack.com/subscribe

Tidy Tidbits #77 - How to Stop Buying Things You Don’t Need
In this episode, I’m talking with Eric Atlas, the author of Saying No to New: Why New Things Are Stealing Your Time, Money, and Happiness―and How to Take Back Your Life.
His book is about the psychology of understanding why we want new things and how to make better informed decisions about the things that we bring into our home.
It’s not about never getting anything new again, but Eric shares about the idea of “adding friction”, which is some sort of delay between seeing the item that you think you need and actually buying it. We need to consider how purchases of things align with our personal values and remember that while businesses aren’t necessarily our enemies, they aren’t necessarily our friends either. Businesses have a bottom line.
If you want to take a more intentional approach to the flow of new things into your life, this conversation is your reminder that you don’t have to stop buying new things completely, but you can simply get better at deciding what’s worth bringing home.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Substack.
Read the book:
📚 Saying No to New: Why New Things Are Stealing Your Time, Money, and Happiness―and How to Take Back Your Life
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 a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tidydad.substack.com/subscribe

It’s been a messy week. We made the switch from Pennsylvania back to NYC, I officially started year 19 of teaching, and our three kids started back to school.
In this episode, I’m sharing three simple things I’m doing to make the transition feel more manageable: tidying what I can control, putting on my own oxygen mask first, and asking what actually matters to our family right now.
When life feels messy, the answer doesn’t always have to be a massive reset and getting back into a rhythm doesn’t have to mean getting everything back in order.
Sometimes you just need to make sense of the mess, tackle a few things, and move on.
This episode is sponsored by TOBIQ. Our family loves their organized, compartment-style bags for travel, school, and everyday adventures. Save 15% with code TIDYDAD.
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 a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tidydad.substack.com/subscribe

This episode is sponsored by Plantifique. Emily and I both turned 40 years old this summer, so quality skincare has been on the mind. Plantifique is a female-founded, Korean-developed skincare brand built on one idea: feed your skin barrier, don’t fight it. You can head to plantifique.com/tidydad and use code TIDYDAD20 for 20% off an order + a FREE gift.
What should our kids be eating? Should we be adding more protein? Should every meal be perfectly balanced? Should we sneak vegetables into foods they already love?
And is there even such thing as a should?
Today I’m joined by Jennifer Anderson, nutritionist, mom, and the creator behind Kids Eat in Color, to talk about her new book, Feed Them Well.
Jennifer shares one of the most important lessons she’s learned: stop “shoulding” yourself when it comes to food. Because all that pressure, anxiety, fear, and guilt can make feeding ourselves and our kids feel a whole lot more difficult than it needs to be.
We talk about Jennifer’s simple formula for building a balanced meal: protein + fat, carbohydrate, and color, and why she thinks of protein + fat foods as “sanity foods” that can help keep kids full and fueled.
If feeding your family has started to feel like one more thing you’re supposed to be doing perfectly, this conversation is your reminder: you don’t have to.
More from Jennifer Anderson:
📚 Order Feed Them Well: A Guide to Raising Healthy, Confident Eaters for Life
📸 Follow along with Jennifer on IG: Kids Eat in Color
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 a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tidydad.substack.com/subscribe