Tidy Hacks, Tulip Talk & Grocery Lists | Relaxed Reflections Before Sleep

In Tidy Hacks, Tulip Talk & Grocery Lists, Marco and Amanda settle into a softly meandering conversation about the small systems that keep life running smoothly. They begin with gentle tidying strategies and time-saving hacks, including their discovery of the app Tody — not a sponsor, just a curious find. From there, the discussion drifts into creative ways to upcycle leftover coffee grounds, lingering on the simple satisfaction of making use of what’s already at hand.
As often happens, the conversation blooms into tulip talk, reflecting on their surprising height variations and the quiet joy of noticing small details in the garden. The episode rounds out with grocery list habits, fridge magnets, and the lighthearted debate over what truly makes a thoughtful gift.
Like every episode of this calming podcast, the tone is unhurried and companionable — a relaxing conversation designed to help you fall asleep, ease anxiety, or quiet racing thoughts. It’s perfect for background listening at bedtime or during a middle-of-the-night wake-up. Let these tidy reflections and everyday musings guide you gently toward rest.

​Tidy Hacks, Tulip Talk & Grocery Lists
(Original airdate April 21, 2024)

Marco:  Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a calm and mundane conversation that is meant to help you find your way to sleep. Thank you for joining us. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Amanda:Who you calling mundane?

Marco:  Well, you're very loud there for people trying to sleep.

Amanda:Well, I'm sorry, that's the loudest I'll be today, I promise. I'm Amanda Barker.

Marco:  And I'm Marco Tympano. I don't know if I mentioned my

Amanda:name, but you did. But it's so nice. Say it twice.


Amanda: We have some listener requests for show topics

Marco:  Hey, so Amanda, I've been sort of. We have some listener requests for show topics, but they're going to require some research, so I'm not doing one today.

Amanda:Okay.

Marco:  But I couldn't think of a show topic, so I said, let me type into an AI platform.

Amanda:Marco, you're feeding the bees.

Marco:  I know, but this is a, just to ask for topics.

Amanda:This is where it helps, not hurts. This is where careers.

Marco:  I hope. Anyways, I just asked it to give me topics that we haven't covered on the Insomnia project, and I figured let it look up all the episodes we've done.

Amanda:Oh, wow. Oh.

Marco:  I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing.

Amanda:Is that a good thing? I don't know. So it can a. You can AI this show.

Marco:  I, I, I don't know. There's so much you can do, but I can't worry about that right now. But I can tell you that it came up with five ideas.

Amanda:Oh, no, it's so helpful.

Marco:  It's so helpful.


Let's talk about the neverending chore debate. Chore hacks are great ideas

So let's talk about the neverending chore debate.

Amanda:Oh, that doesn't feel peaceful.

Marco:  You sure it does?

Amanda:The never ending chore debate.

Marco:  Like, are there any hacks or any funny little things that you do?

Amanda:Chore hacks.

Marco:  Okay. Chore hacks.

Amanda:I don't know if I have any, but it's a great topic.

Marco:  Certainly. We've been using an app that's proven to be quite interesting to help us keep on top of.

Amanda:yeah, let's start with that. So there's a few out there. The one should we name the one we've been using?

Marco:  Sure, we can name it.

Amanda:It's called Toady. And we don't, don't really get the name today.

Marco:  Tidy. I think they've combined those two.

Amanda:Two together to make Toady. Yeah.

Marco:  but we're not recommending it. It's just happening. They're not paying us to.

Amanda:I mean, I think you could almost make your own program. I mean, really what it does is it you, you program sort of all the rooms in your home or, or not even rooms, but spaces.

Marco:  Yes, your spaces. Because even the garden or the outside.

Amanda:Yeah. Or, you know, if you had like a one bedroom apartment, you might divide it up. main entrance, living area, that kind of thing. So whatever. However you see your home, you could

Marco:  put your car in there too, if you wanted to.

Amanda:It's actually not a bad idea.

Marco:  It's actually not a bad idea.

Amanda:There's a hack number one. Put your car in the cleaning App, because it's a forgotten piece if you have one. so for us. and actually, you know what else I'd like to put in that cleaning app, like tidying, sorting of receipts and sorting of papers, because that really, you know, it's a lifestyle thing, but it's also a tidying tool because we, you and I have a lot of receipts. But even people that don't have to keep their receipts need or want to keep their receipts, which I understand. Sure. having a place to sort them and, and allowing yourself the time each week, month, whatever it is to them in the right places, I think is a great choice.

Marco:  So this app that we use basically dedicates what area of the house, home, apartment, you name it. Space that you live needs to be cleaned in a certain monthly, weekly, daily basis.

Marco:  And it will remind you, wipe the counters in your kitchen, clean the inside of your fridge every month or so. Like, it'll give you a little friendly reminder of what needs to be done and prioritize that list for you.

Amanda:And we're both on. So we can see when a room is in need of something, it's red. When it's going to be in need of something, it's orange, which is weird. I would think yellow would be the right.

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:and then when it's all up to date in its cleaning, then it's clear.

Marco:  Right. Or green.

Amanda:I don't think it's green.

Marco:  I think the task turns green. But you're right, it should be red, yellow and green.

Amanda:I mean, at the end, I mean it's, it's when you see a red room, red room that you kind of go, okay, what is it that needs to be done? And that was me last week. I thought the kitchen was perfectly clean. And then I looked and, and we had not cleaned the fridge, which, yes, on, on an intellectual level, I knew that the fridge, you know, had some milk spillage, hadn't been wiped down in a while. I knew all that. But then seeing it on an app, whether fortunately or unfortunately, kind of triggered my brain to go, okay, you know what? I'd like to do that tonight so I can have a little clear circle. Silly as it sounds, I almost wish, and I don't know if you wish this too, that there was some kind of reward system to the app, whether it was a gift card when your house was all clear, or if you had five days clear or something that you would get a dollar to something like something very small. But that for me would be a big motivator I see. You know, which basically means I'm a 10 year old. That would like chore money.

Marco:  Yeah. But that is an allowance, if you will.

Amanda:An allowance. Okay, if I will and I will. So maybe we can devise something for ourselves or I don't know.

Marco:  But here's a hack that I have.

Amanda:Give it.

Marco:  Okay, so you know your bathroom garbage? If you have a garbage in your bathroom, which I recommend.

Amanda:Yeah. You should probably. For those toilet paper rolls, etc.

Marco:  Exactly. Well, you know how the garbage in the bathroom garbage should have a. What do you call it? Liner. So that you can take it out and throw it away. What would you call that? It's not a liner but a bag. A bag.

Amanda:A liner or a bag, sure.

Marco:  So you know, sometimes your bathroom's not in the most conveniently located spot for you to get bags and bring them up. So I get a roll of bags. And I put it at the bottom of the garbage pail. So when I remove that garbage bag full of toilet paper rolls, makeup casings or whatever, I throw that away and the bag's there already ready to go.

Amanda:You know what's funny?


You never told me that you did that. And when did you realize that's what it was for

You never told me that you did that. And for years I was like, why are all these. Where's this role here? I just didn't. It didn't compute to my brain.

Marco:  And when did you realize that's what it was for?

Amanda:Right now.

Marco:  Okay, well, there you go.


Baking soda and vinegar can clean just about anything

Honestly, now the next thing on the list of us to talk about is the art of the perfect.

Amanda:Wait, we're not done. Shore hacks.

Marco:  Okay, what's your next?

Amanda:We can do a whole hour on Shore hacks.

Marco:  Okay, give me a chore hack. It didn't seem like you had any.

Amanda:I had. What did. Who decided that? You. Okay, I was going to say when I was in working in yoga studios, one of the things that they would say is that baking soda and vinegar can clean just about anything.

Marco:  Oh.

Amanda:And it's true. Baking soda and vinegar can honestly clean just about anything.

Marco:  But if you put baking soda and vinegar, doesn't it like foam? yeah. Like doesn't it become an eruption of.

Amanda:I mean, maybe, but you don't need them together. But in terms of like having a bit of grit to something versus a cleaning solvent, baking soda will do most of that work. And vinegar cleans like a vinegar water solution in a spray bottle, which is probably the majority of what you and I use. It's what I use to clean that fridge last week. is really great. I mean, I mean a Huge bottle of vinegar. Like a liter or gallon bottle, depending on where you buy liquids.

Marco:  They come in four little four liter jugs.

Amanda:Okay. Which would be four liters is a gallon?

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:No, four liters would be two gallons, I think, or just about.

Marco:  Anyway, I don't, I don't work in

Amanda:gallons, so I couldn't tell you in any event. a, ah, regular sized spray bottle and I would say like, what would you say? Like a half cup, fourth cup of vinegar to water.

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:works wonders and costs pennies. so I honestly think like for cleaning windows, for cleaning mirrors, for cleaning any glass surfaces, for cleaning the fridge, for cleaning the kitchen, obviously you don't have to worry about kids eating off of it. There's been a real movement in the last 10, 20 years for buying cleaning products that are all natural or mostly natural and not using things with, with heavy, solvents. Solvents or you know, you, you want a child to be able to eat off that surface right away. Vinegar and water will do most of the work for you. You don't have to pay a lot of money to get an all natural cleaner.

Marco:  If you have a volcano model and you want it to erupt. Vinegar and water does the trick too.

Amanda:Vinegar and water or vinegar and vinegar.

Marco:  and baking soda. Sorry, Vinegar. Baking soda in the, in the cylinder

Amanda:of the, of the baking soda is great for toilets, for tubs. Getting tub grime off.

Marco:  Oh, really?

Amanda:Yeah, it's really, really great.

Marco:  And do you have to make a little paste?

Amanda:Yeah, you can. I mean, the thing about tubs and toilets is they're usually naturally a little bit wet anyway, so you don't need much.

Marco:  I see.

Amanda:But like a toothbrush and some baking soda or a nice scrubby brush and some baking soda will do a lot of the work.

Marco:  You can brush your teeth with baking soda too.

Amanda:Yeah, you can. And they used to all the time.

Marco:  I know, I don't know if, I

Amanda:don't know if I want to, but

Marco:  I don't know if it's dental dentist recommended.

Amanda:Yeah, that's fair. another hack I would say is you and I do this now. This is for people who drink espresso is use the coffee grinds to cut grease.

Marco:  So I've never done this in a.

Amanda:I do this every day.

Marco:  I'm really curious to find out.

Amanda:You. Instead of just dumping your coffee grinds. But again, a fine grind.

Marco:  An espresso grind.

Amanda:Sure, an espresso grind. And we have espresso daily. So that's. And, and when I say we have espresso daily. Please do not picture, and I know most of you know this already, please do not picture a big fancy coffee, shop grade machine. We're using the little twenty dollar, what you would call a machina or bialetti, the brand name.

Marco:  It's called the mocha as well.

Amanda:Yeah, just a little, stove top coffee maker.

Marco:  By the way, they haven't been $20 since 1982. But we'll, we'll, we'll, we bought one for $20. A three person one maybe.

Amanda:Okay, fine, 40$.

Marco:  Okay. Still though, we're not fancy. I will. We are not fancy.

Amanda:We had one of those. We didn't, it didn't work for us.

Marco:  Yeah, a friend of us gave us one of those ones where you kind of first of all took up a lot of room. And we have a very, we have a small kitchen, folks. Maybe that's another hack. Have a small kitchen. and so we have just the stovetop and we love it and we have it every day.

Amanda:So dumping those coffee grinds, you know, I think a lot of people think, oh, they can't go down the drain. They'll clog up the drain.

Marco:  Clog that drain.

Amanda:No. Oh, sorry, no.

Marco:  That's where I thought you were going.


Use coffee grinds to cut through residual oil or grease in frying pans

Amanda:Not quite. I mean, a little bit. Basically, if you have anything greasy, if you fried any kind of anything, a saute or a fry, you're gonna have pans with a bit of residual oil or grease. That's just part of cooking. So a great little hack to cut into that grease is to use those coffee grinds. Just dump them in, let it soak there. the acid from the coffee is gonna cut the grease and then in your pan.

Marco:  Yeah. Oh, okay.

Amanda:And you, can use it as abrasive because it's not gonna scratch.

Marco:  That's true.

Amanda:A slightly abrasive thing, to just cut through that grease. Like I use soap too, so I'm not saying I don't, but it just helps the process along. And it's actually not bad if it's finely ground to kind of get some of those down the drain because it'll cut any of the oils, grease, fats that make their way down the drain.

Marco:  We also use coffee grinds in our plants. Sometimes we'll put them m in in our front garden. They add, I believe, acidity to the soil. So if you need acidity for your plants.


Coffee grinds and coconut oil make great exfoliating masks

Speaking of plants, our tulips came up.

Amanda:I know.

Marco:  And you were talking about how lovely long they are. Do you want to explain that to our listeners.

Amanda:Yeah. But I also wanted to say coffee grinds and coconut oil, make a great mask, like, for your square. It's like a nice exfoliating mask. Especially as the seasons are turning and you want a little refresh. if you. The. Honestly, The. The caffeine on your face kind of, gets the blood flowing and it moisturizes and it exfoliates nature.

Marco:  Can you use it if you have dry shoulders or dry.

Amanda:Yeah.

Marco:  Or dry knees.

Amanda:Yeah. Just do it in the bath. So that can go down the. The tub and same with the tub. Those. Those grinds going down the tub are great for, you know, helping out any of the dirt or grease that might be down there.

Marco:  From your. Really? Okay.

Amanda:Yeah. From your own body.

Marco:  Amanda's not a plumber, but she.

Amanda:I'm not a plumber, so don't take

Marco:  it with a grain of salt.

Amanda:I mean, I don't think you should dump them routinely. Daily. I think once or twice a week is plenty.

Marco:  Fair enough. Do we need a, espresso grind app that tells us when we can, dump that down the drain?

Amanda:Put it in the thing.


If you're after those nice, elegant, long tulips,

what was I going to say about the tulips? It seems, like, so off topic.

Marco:  Well, because our tulips just came up and you said how tall they are, and they didn't start off tall.

Amanda:Right. bulbed plants, which has really nothing to do with what we're talking about, except for that we use coffee grinds in a garden. Sometimes bulbed plants. I've noticed this is just. I am not a gardener. Has just. I've noticed that when you first plant them that first year, they're much shorter, and every year they get a little longer. So if you're after those nice, elegant, long tulips and you're in a climate that can grow tulips, which not everyone is, you know, a tulip that is a climate, rather, that's seasonal. Then you have to wait a few years for them to get long, and they seem to get longer every year because I noticed the ones you planted last year are nice and short.

Marco:  Well, they're stubby.

Amanda:They're squat. In our garden, the ones that I planted the first year we got married, and we're on year 14, I think, now. they, they're nice and long and elegant the way I wanted them to look when I planted them all those years ago. So there you go.

Marco:  All right. Any more hacks?


Let us know what cleaning hacks you use to keep your house tidy

Back to hacks.

Amanda:Cleaning hacks.

Marco:  Speaking of hacks, if you haven't Seen the television series Hacks? I really recommend it.

Marco:  strong language in that series.

Amanda:Yeah. Not in this one.

Marco:  I'm just giving Amanda time to think of hacks.

Amanda:I'm actually thinking about our circular vacuum and our robotic vacuum and why that hasn't been operated at all.

Marco:  I'll look at it. I think it needs a new battery.

Amanda:Okay.

Marco:  Because. Yeah, it was.

Amanda:Because our number one red thing on this app is vacuuming. And I'm like, well, that would be eliminated if I could just hit that little button and let it zip around. But I notice it's. It's been hibernating.

Marco:  Okay, I'll look into that vacuum.

Amanda:I think the other thing is, remember to clean up your entranceway. And I'm saying this mostly for myself. You know, the entranceway can take a lot of dirt coming in and out, people coming in and out of the house.

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:And so you want to really stay on top of that almost daily. Like, let that be a daily task, which most people kind of forget about it or. And by most people, I mean myself.

Marco:  Well, the app tells us to do it.

Amanda:I know often we're behind. It's red, orange.

Marco:  Oh, is it red? Okay, so we'll get to that.

Amanda:I think that's good for hacks for now. I mean, there wasn't much, but I'm sure I have other ones. And I'd love it if people who are still awake, if they want to, add theirs, that would be.

Marco:  Yeah. Let us know what hacks you use to keep your house tidy. And any hacks you share with us on Instagram or, you know, any other method you want to get, reach out to us. We will share with our listeners.


Make a personalized grocery list for your mom for Mother's Day

Amanda:Uh-huh.

Marco:  The art of the perfect grocery list. Or grocery list, depending on how you say it.

Amanda:Have we not talked about that before? Sort of a tidying habit.

Marco:  I don't know. Have we? Amanda, you're asking me like I have a running order of everything we've talked about. Have we? I don't know. Okay.

Amanda:My mother, Valerie Barker, who does not

Marco:  listen to the program, nor will she appear on it.

Amanda:She always had a list on the fridge going, and I do the same. She was much more on top of it than I was, but. Or that I am. But for basic things or things I know we want to get. Next time, I write it down. As soon as we're running low or out. In my mother's case, she'd be half done something, and then she'd put it

Marco:  on the fridge when we're at your mom's house, I'll often write gator meat on her. I'll often write. So if you have. If you see a grocery list on someone's fridge, I recommend writing gator meat on it in their. In their handwriting.

Amanda:Unless they're vegan.

Marco:  Unless they're vegan, then definitely write Gatorade.

Amanda:but for basic things I like.

Marco:  She lives in Florida, by the way. For any new listeners who are like, why would you.

Amanda:Why would you write gator meat?

Marco:  Nor does she eat gator meat.

Amanda:Exactly. Well, she may have, but, so things like. For us, basics would be oil, tuna, mayo, sugar, salt. Are things that have been on that list.

Marco:  Coffee.

Amanda:Coffee.

Marco:  that's what we eat, folks.

Amanda:That's. Yeah, it's pretty much so boring. but other things. Milk.

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:or whatever you use in that world. for us, we, drink probably too much soda. So I'll put. When we're out of certain pop or soda.

Marco:  Sure. I don't think we need to list what we put on our grocery list, but just if there's a.

Amanda:Those are basics. Yeah.

Marco:  now, do you. Do you write it on a particular type of paper?

Amanda:Well, my, My mother also likes to give us magnetic pads to put on our fridge for that reason. For her, that's a very useful gift. We should really be giving them to her, I realize.

Marco:  Well, that's a great idea. Mother's Day is coming up.

Amanda:Yeah. make a personalized grocery list. That's actually a good Mother's Day present for anyone who has. Doesn't know what to get their mom.

Marco:  Do you have hacks for avoiding impulse buys when you're grocery shopping?

Amanda:People always say, don't grocery shop hungry. And I think it's a really good titch. You know, other, people say shop the periphery aisles. I don't pay attention to that one because some of those things that I just listed, in fact, all of them would not be in the periphery aisles. And I don't think it's sensible to have cupboards, cabinets, or a fridge full of things that are going to spoil in a week or week and a half. Food waste is something I'm really passionate about in terms of eliminating it. And certainly in our own lives, I try really hard to not have any food waste or very little. So with that in mind, how

Marco:  are we on the mushroom train?


Stormy: My favorite place to go in the grocery store is the book section

We had a bunch of mushrooms.

Amanda:We have two fresh packs of mushrooms ready to go.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:But I haven't opened them up. We used one.

Marco:  Great.

Amanda:They were a dollar mushrooms For a dollar. I mean, I couldn't believe it. I had to buy three.

Marco:  My thing is to shop the, bargain bin area of your grocery store, if you have one. It's my favorite place to go in the grocery store. We used to have a grocery store really close to our home. That is now condo, sadly. But it would have a book section. I know it doesn't make sense. Why would a grocery store have a small discounted book section? But it did. And nothing gave me more delight than to go to the book section. And I got some amazing books that I would never would have heard of in the grocery discount book section. It would have books and, like, pastry items and, like, chocolates and things from all over the world that were discounted. And nothing made me want.

Amanda:Was it on a cart?

Marco:  It had a permanent cart, so it looked like, you know, how oranges and grapefruit come on a wooden, station. It had a small station that was on wheels, but after a certain point, the wheels were no more because the book, the discount book slash international suite station was just too wonderful.

Amanda:Why did they get away? Do away with it? I don't understand. I remember when you and I first dated, started dating. You said, come to my grocery store. And then you said, first I go to the library.

Marco:  What did you think?

Amanda:And then we went back and what did you think when I discounted cookbooks? And I was like, okay, it wasn't just cookbooks. Okay, yes, but there were cookbooks there.

Marco:  Of course. I mean, it is a grocery store.

Amanda:It was a melange of all. It would be a foreign war correspondent, a cookbook, you know, cookies. It was a, an interesting catchall cart.

Marco:  I think more bookstores should have that kind of, feel to it.

Amanda:This is a chain grocery store, too. It wasn't an independent grocery store.

Marco:  No, no. This was a. A national chain grocery store. It had a library book section. What did you think when I said, let me take you to my grocery store library?

Amanda:I don't know. I was just following because you and I, and we've talked about this a lot, are different with our shopping. We grew up with different.

Marco:  Different philosophies.

Amanda:Yeah. Different cultural philosophies with food. Honestly? Truly.

Marco:  Sure, sure.

Amanda:And so I was not a grocery shop every. Every other day person. I'm still not. I. I need to know that the house has lots of food in it at all times and lots of options for food. I also shop like a thunders. Like. Like a snowstorm is imminent even in July.

Marco:  So like a thunderstorm too.

Amanda:Or thunderstorm or any kind of storm

Marco:  so that you actually shop like you are a storm in the. In the grocery store.

Amanda:A shop. Like, my name is Stormy.

Marco:  Yeah, okay, fair enough. and I flitter in and out of grocery stores as needed.

Amanda:Oh, a brick of coffee. I could use that. Or a nice baguette. These are nice. Ooh, these Dunkaroos are on sale. Or this. These vitamins are on sale. I think that's a good price. They don't expire yet. And an orange. That'll be a grocery shop for you.

Marco:  Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with that.

Amanda:some chocolates. or you'll be like, this is on sale. Or I picked up this.

Marco:  Don't forget, I al. Often will buy exotic things.

Amanda:Yes. Dragon fruit. Yes, please.

Marco:  Yeah. If it's something that I've never encountered before or something different, I'll bring it home.

Amanda:Whereas I'm like, get the. Get the grocery cart. Where's my list?


Marco Timpano: Let us know your grocery or cleaning hacks

All right, let's do a shop. Although I have to be honest, I don't do that like I used to.

Marco:  It's true.

Amanda:We have a different system now. I use a lot of food boxes because I actually find. And I wrote I don't have one that I'm loyal to. I rotate in between three different companies usually. And, obviously, I don't have them coming in when we're away or whatever, but I usually get one of those if I know we're going to be home and working from home all week or whatever. And, so I get one of those. And then every six weeks or so, we do a big shop at a big. At a Costco. I can say it, for things like oil. Wow.

Marco:  We're running an oil. Oil bender.

Amanda:Well, we. We needed oil. We were down on oil this week. We got some. We're fine now.

Marco:  You can listen to our olive oil episode. A few. Few episodes back, we needed olive oil, and we mentioned the brand that we like.

Amanda:We got it.

Marco:  So.

Amanda:Yeah. Anyway, I know I keep saying oil. It's been a lot of. It's been an oily episode.

Marco:  It's true. It's true. yeah, and. And that's. That's basically how we.

Amanda:Grocery hacks.

Marco:  Grocery hacks, if you will.

Amanda:Buy that baking soda, buy that vinegar.

Marco:  And there you go. And that brings us to the end of this particular episode. Amanda, thank you so much. Amanda's going to scoot off to work in just a moment. I'm going to edit this episode and put it up and then I'm off to work a little bit later on today. Wherever you are, we hope this episode has helped you in some way, shape or form. Let us know your grocery or cleaning hacks and we'll mention on the show. Until next time, I'm Marco Timpano.

Amanda:I'm Amanda Barker.

Marco:  And we hope you were able to listen and of course, sleep.