When I was teaching elementary, we were encouraged to create a “cool-down corner” for students who needed to de-escalate from intense feelings, exhaustion, anger, or any other responses to stress and trauma that could result in negative consequences. This cool-down corner was one of the best things that ever happened to me personally, because not only did it reframe how I saw behaviors commonly perceived as unwanted (it’s just stress response, y’all), but it helped me learn to support the people around me by providing tools and resources and then stepping away with trust. Early on in my cool-down corner trial days, though, I forgot a student was over there—and the student drew all over the desk in pencil. Not exactly the best structure. I didn’t want to interrupt the entire class’s learning to manage one student, so I ordered a highly durable plastic hourglass for five minutes. Students set the timer when they got to the cool-down corner, worked an activity while there, and then raised their hand when the timer was completed. I had two students who calmed down by simply staring at the sand passing through the hourglass and just breathing. This little green hourglass was a beloved classroom tool, and worked exceptionally well for children. If you have kids in your life, five-minutes is often a long enough break for both of you if things start to feel big. Setting up a child with a five-minute hourglass to self-regulate some breathing can also give you the opportunity to breathe and approach the situation with those mad parenting (or aunting) skills you know to use when your brain isn’t raw from child screams. The trick is to teach the child to use the timer in a moment of calm and give them a chance to practice.
I’ve also found that when my anxiety gets really bad and I’m starting to spin out, five minutes of guided meditation is the absolute best tool. I use the Headspace app on my phone which has built in meditation timers. Five minutes isn’t too long to be in the bathroom if you need to get away from a group of people, or to step out to your car for a little SELF de-escalation. In fact, it might be the best amount of time to help you feel a little more like yourself.
How can you use five minutes to re-center yourself emotionally? Let me know on Instagram @nowthatimnotyourteacher.

Hey, I’m Taylor Vogel and this is Now That I’m Not Your Teacher. [cue music] Each week we’ll explore an aspect of adulting that you might have missed in school. Since I used to be a teacher, I’ll structure it in ways that are proven to help you retain information. But since I’m not your teacher anymore, I can approach it in a way that’s honest and sometimes inappropriate for a classroom.
In this week’s unit, we’re talking timers and how using them can make a HUGE difference in the success you feel. We’ll work this week in time increments, with twenty minutes today.
At the beginning of 2020, I set a goal to read 20 books. That’s a lot of twenties, and while I would like to say it was all intentionally linked, I just wanted to finally hit that goal. I had aimed to read twenty books in a year for four years, and hadn’t yet gotten there, until last year when I took the advice of Laura Tremaine, host of the podcast 10 Things to Tell You (sidebar, and this isn’t sponsored, but Laura is one of my favorite people on the internet and her book, Share Your Stuff, I’ll Go First, comes out on February 2, it’s the farthest in advance I’ve ever pre-ordered a copy of a book). Laura talks books and reading a LOT, and I know that she’s a busy human. She’s a mom of two, runs her own business, and is pretty engaged in the Hollywood scene when things are normal. So when she mentioned setting a twenty-minute reading timer on her podcast’s very first episode, “When do you read?” I decided this would be what I try—and I had NO idea how much of an impact doing something for twenty minutes a day could make!
In 2020, I not only met my goal, but I met it in October by setting a timer for twenty minutes, and that includes not reading for the first month and a half of lockdown. Twenty minutes a day makes a HUGE difference, and is the perfect amount of time to devote daily to a new habit you want to form. I am comfortable having my phone on Do Not Disturb for twenty minutes while I snuggle my pets, sip my coffee, and enjoy a good book. It’s the right amount of time for a chapter of most books, and if I need to extend it a few minutes to finish the chapter I’m in, going to thirty never seems like a big deal, even in the busy morning.
My other twenty-minute activity is yoga. On my days off from elliptical or hiking, I hop on YouTube and search for twenty-minute yoga sessions. I don’t like to do longer by myself at home (by the way I really miss studios and can’t wait to grab a membership this summer), but twenty minutes of stretch is satisfying. Also, I don’t mind trying out a new online teacher for twenty minutes. If we don’t click, then I don’t feel like I’ve sacrificed too much of my time to work with them.
Twenty minutes is my favorite amount of time for trying something new. What can you learn to do in twenty minutes? Let me know on Instagram @nowthatimnotyourteacher and be sure to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcasting app.

Hey, I’m Taylor Vogel and this is Now That I’m Not Your Teacher. [cue music] Each week we’ll explore an aspect of adulting that you might have missed in school. Since I used to be a teacher, I’ll structure it in ways that are proven to help you retain information. But since I’m not your teacher anymore, I can approach it in a way that’s honest and sometimes inappropriate for a classroom.
In this week’s unit, we’re talking timers and how using them can make a HUGE difference in the success you feel. We’ll work this week in time increments, with twenty minutes today.
At the beginning of 2020, I set a goal to read 20 books. That’s a lot of twenties, and while I would like to say it was all intentionally linked, I just wanted to finally hit that goal. I had aimed to read twenty books in a year for four years, and hadn’t yet gotten there, until last year when I took the advice of Laura Tremaine, host of the podcast 10 Things to Tell You (sidebar, and this isn’t sponsored, but Laura is one of my favorite people on the internet and her book, Share Your Stuff, I’ll Go First, comes out on February 2, it’s the farthest in advance I’ve ever pre-ordered a copy of a book). Laura talks books and reading a LOT, and I know that she’s a busy human. She’s a mom of two, runs her own business, and is pretty engaged in the Hollywood scene when things are normal. So when she mentioned setting a twenty-minute reading timer on her podcast’s very first episode, “When do you read?” I decided this would be what I try—and I had NO idea how much of an impact doing something for twenty minutes a day could make!
In 2020, I not only met my goal, but I met it in October by setting a timer for twenty minutes, and that includes not reading for the first month and a half of lockdown. Twenty minutes a day makes a HUGE difference, and is the perfect amount of time to devote daily to a new habit you want to form. I am comfortable having my phone on Do Not Disturb for twenty minutes while I snuggle my pets, sip my coffee, and enjoy a good book. It’s the right amount of time for a chapter of most books, and if I need to extend it a few minutes to finish the chapter I’m in, going to thirty never seems like a big deal, even in the busy morning.
My other twenty-minute activity is yoga. On my days off from elliptical or hiking, I hop on YouTube and search for twenty-minute yoga sessions. I don’t like to do longer by myself at home (by the way I really miss studios and can’t wait to grab a membership this summer), but twenty minutes of stretch is satisfying. Also, I don’t mind trying out a new online teacher for twenty minutes. If we don’t click, then I don’t feel like I’ve sacrificed too much of my time to work with them.
Twenty minutes is my favorite amount of time for trying something new. What can you learn to do in twenty minutes? Let me know on Instagram @nowthatimnotyourteacher and be sure to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcasting app.

Hey, I’m Taylor Vogel and this is Now That I’m Not Your Teacher. [cue music] Each week we’ll explore an aspect of adulting that you might have missed in school. Since I used to be a teacher, I’ll structure it in ways that are proven to help you retain information. But since I’m not your teacher anymore, I can approach it in a way that’s honest and sometimes inappropriate for a classroom.
In this week’s unit, we’re talking timers and how using them can make a HUGE difference in the success you feel. We’ll work this week in time increments, starting today with how a forty minute timer can make you more productive with focused work.
Working from home, I’ve had my fair share of days staring blankly at a computer screen and not being able to wrap my head around all of the things that need to be done. I had worked really hard before the pandemic to create strict boundaries around work and home, setting a lot of my work cues up to be environmental. But even when I was in the office, I knew that if I could schedule out and set timers for forty minute chunks of time, I could get a LOT done.
I’m taking forty minutes from my days teaching PreK and Kindergarten music. All of my other classes were fifty minutes and those two were often shortened to forty. These young ones needed a more focused and more consolidated chunk of time or else they would grow tired, distracted, and often a little emotional. Sweet babies. What I learned is HOW MUCH can be accomplished in forty minutes if you narrow in on the objective at hand. If in forty minutes a kindergartener could learn a new melody, lyrics, and accompanying game, play it to completion, and still have time to reiterate what they learned to their neighbor, I can certainly use forty minutes to make moves on a work project if I know what needs to be accomplished.
I’ve used forty minute blocks to create and send out schedules to up to ten people, zero out my email inbox (and this includes replying to those avoidance emails), or market a product via phone to my network. Once the timer goes off, I stop and assess what I’ve done, even if it hasn’t been completed. If I can get the project wrapped up in ten minutes, I do, and then take a ten minute break. If not, I spend those next ten minutes planning out my next forty minute block to be as productive as I can, tagging on incomplete tasks. So, next time you need to focus in, set a timer for forty minutes, close your door, and go.
While working out, I often exercise for forty minutes. Thirty minutes feels a little too short, and an hour means that I’ll have to spend more than an hour on exercise daily if I count putting on my shoes or stretching after (which I do). While on the elliptical at home, I watch Fixer Upper, which serves as my forty minute timer—you don’t always have to literally set a timer.
Finally, a forty minute timer is what I use to segment my weekly “deep clean” of our home. Though I’m trying to get back into a ten minute daily tidy (more on that later this week) forty minutes on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning can right a lot of the week’s overlooked wrongs. I pop on a long form podcast to serve as this timer and work through the flow chart I keep on my fridge. What can you get done in forty minutes? Let us know on Instagram @nowthatimnotyourteacher, and be sure to subscribe to the rest of this week’s timer tips. 

​Hey, I’m Taylor Vogel and this is Now That I’m Not Your Teacher. [cue music] Each week we’ll explore an aspect of adulting that you might have missed in school. Since I used to be a teacher, I’ll structure it in ways that are proven to help you retain information. But since I’m not your teacher anymore, I can approach it in a way that’s honest and sometimes inappropriate for a classroom.
In this week’s unit, we’re gently acknowledging that tax time will be approaching soon and preparing accordingly. In today’s episode, I’ll give a little grace to those of you who don’t want to do taxes yourself and we’ll explore the value of outsourcing the things we hate doing.
For years and years, I thought, “If I can bake cakes that are worthy of Pinterest, I will be beloved by many.” So, I kept trying and trying. And failing and failing. I would get stressed about them being perfect, I would leave out an ingredient, or not allow them to cool properly before frosting and boom, the whole thing was melted. Sticky, messy, unattractive carbs. I heard someone mention something about outsourcing their laundry because they hated doing it, and I realized I hated baking cakes. Cookies were great, but cakes were not my jam. So, I decided that I should follow suit and outsource baking cakes. I found a bakery that I loved, and went there for my few and far between cake needs. I now spend less time doing something I hate doing, and don’t have to store a bunch of cake making stuff that I would have used no more than twice a year. Easy.
If you’ve been panicking at the mere mention of taxes this week, it might be in your best interest to outsource it. You’ll still have to gather your forms and have some conversations about your life. But it might be that the best thing for your peace of mind and you know, your avoidance of being audited, is to have someone whose literal job is to do taxes. They’ll charge a fee, so research and ask around for best rates and someone you can trust. But I want to encourage you to find a way to budget for an accountant every year if you get a sinking pit in your stomach when tax season rolls around. That way, you know the expense won’t be as much of a blow.
I know people who have sworn by how easy hiring out your taxes is, and while I personally haven’t done it yet, I’m considering it this year knowing that my taxes might be a little bit more complicated. For me, the security of something done well by someone who’s more of an expert than I am is a better use of time and mental capacity when you’re questioning if you can.
So, please know—it’s okay to outsource. Make sure you’re working with someone you trust, of course, and start looking for that person now if it’s your first time working with someone else. But you don’t have to do it all yourself, and that’s good to hear sometimes.
Have you ever hired someone to file your taxes for you? Let us know on Instagram @nowthatimnotyourteacher.

Hey, I’m Taylor Vogel and this is Now That I’m Not Your Teacher. [cue music] Each week we’ll explore an aspect of adulting that you might have missed in school. Since I used to be a teacher, I’ll structure it in ways that are proven to help you retain information. But since I’m not your teacher anymore, I can approach it in a way that’s honest and sometimes inappropriate for a classroom.
In this week’s unit, we’re doing a crash course in filing our taxes. In today’s episode, we’ll determine if a DIY approach to filing your taxes is a good fit for you.
I’m finally going to say it—I like filing my own taxes. I like doing puzzles, birdwatching, and generally nerdy things, so let’s all just laugh at me for a second and then kindly move along. I like doing my own taxes, in part, because I tend to get irritated answer a lot of questions about my life when I don’t know what those questions will be up front, and that’s what I envision doing my taxes with a stranger is like. I would much rather file in my own home, in my pajamas, and with my dog Woodford cheering me on.
I use TurboTax, and have for years, and this is not an ad. I like using them because they gently guide you through the process of filing your taxes and ask thorough enough questions that I’ve always felt like my bases were covered, without offering me judgmental looks about a weird event in my life. But, I also knew that I would be able to do my own taxes because of a few things:

1. I keep meticulous records. If you’ve listened to the first three tax-related episodes you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I prefer to have too much information on hand than not enough. I’m hyper organized, so doing my taxes isn’t stressful for me.
2. I generally have simple input. I have worked for organizations and companies that provide me a form versus more complicated things like owning my own company. I don’t have any dependents, and I file single, aka my taxes will only affect me if I screw them up. My taxes are generally simple, so I’m confident filing them.
3. I ask a lot of questions, and I read directions carefully. If you’re someone who got distracted during every word problem in algebra, maybe filing your own taxes won’t be your jam. But if you read all of the directions to every problem and were always the nerd asking clarifying questions? You’ll probably get a weird satisfaction out of doing them yourself.

 
If you are working with a limited number of forms and a limited budget, it might be worth the expense to tackle filing your taxes yourself. As always, talk to friends and family about what services and systems they use and why they like them to see what the best fit is for you.
Have you filed your taxes yourself before? Let me know on Instagram @nowthatimnotyourteacher.

​Hey, I’m Taylor Vogel and this is Now That I’m Not Your Teacher. [cue music] Each week we’ll explore an aspect of adulting that you might have missed in school. Since I used to be a teacher, I’ll structure it in ways that are proven to help you retain information. But since I’m not your teacher anymore, I can approach it in a way that’s honest and sometimes inappropriate for a classroom.
In this week’s unit, we’re checking in out relationship with our taxes. In today’s episode, we’ll open up that shoebox of receipts to peek at what’s inside.
It’s likely that you’ve seen images at one point or another of someone brining a disheveled box of receipts to an accountant. When I started doing my own taxes, I was always concerned that I didn’t have receipts on hand and that, I don’t know, I would get in trouble or something for not having receipts. This fear was always followed by an attempt at keeping all of my receipts, trying to file them in a terrible accordion folder by month, and giving up in February.
Little did I know, you don’t need all of your receipts. Breathe. Relax. You’re okay. The purpose of receipts when filing your taxes is to document write off expenses. For example, when I was teaching in Oklahoma, I could qualify for a $200 tax write off of classroom supplies that I purchased out of pocket. So, once I quickly burned through my classroom budget and needed something like cardstock that was somehow never in the supply closet, I would purchase myself, save the receipt, and forget about it until I did that year’s taxes. By keeping all of this same category of expense together, it made filing a lot simpler. It also meant that after I spent $200 on supplies (which, I always did by the way), I could stop saving receipts.
So maybe you make a tax-deductible charitable contribution. Most likely, the organization you contribute to provides you a receipt. If not, ask for one. You can use these when you file your taxes. Or, perhaps you made a qualifying purchase for the year. Save all paperwork in one location.
Knowing what kinds of write offs your lifestyle qualifies for can help you avoid aimlessly saving receipts for drugstore makeup. It’s fine, I’m not worried about it. Talk to others in your line of work about if they know of any tax write offs related to work. Talk to family members or friends who seem to have their act together financially to see if they know of any unusual qualifying write offs for you. Or, talk to your tax professional about what they recommend you save for the next year. It’s January. Start now, and you’ll have a more comprehensive look into the next year.
Have you ever saved a shoebox full of receipts? Let us know on Instagram @nowthatimnotyourteacher.

Hey, I’m Taylor Vogel and this is Now That I’m Not Your Teacher. [cue music] Each week we’ll explore an aspect of adulting that you might have missed in school. Since I used to be a teacher, I’ll structure it in ways that are proven to help you retain information. But since I’m not your teacher anymore, I can approach it in a way that’s honest and sometimes inappropriate for a classroom.
In this week’s unit, we’re putting the spotlight on taxes. In today’s episode, we’ll set a workflow for doing our taxes.
One of the biggest reasons I’ll procrastinate on a task is because I don’t know how long it will take me to accomplish the task. This is the reason that I highly limit my cleaning routine, grocery shop at only one store for at least a quarter of the year at a time, and get project plans for work out of my head and onto a whiteboard timeline.
And when it comes to something as ever-changing as taxes? It’s best to plan on three work sessions of about two hours each. I say three two-hour sessions instead of one six hour chunk, because it’s very likely that you’ll need a break. If you’re not a tax professional, this is bound to get frustrating, or confusing at the very least. So break it up into three shorter sessions.
I recommend that session one be the gathering time. In this two-hour chunk of time, you learn what you need and gather all of the corresponding papers, forms, and digital documents and organize them into the same format, so it’s easier for you to access them. I like to create a digital file and pop PDFs of everything in there, then file any hard copies away in my tax folder in my filing tote. I’m less likely to lose a paper in between sessions if I’ve put them all in the same format on my computer.
If you’re doing your taxes yourself, session two is the time to dig deep into actually filing, actually plugging in numbers in the service you’re using to file. If you’re taking your taxes to someone to be done, this would be that appointment. I highly recommend creating an environment where you can deeply focus for two hours—I’ve had some messy changes from year to year, and it’s never taken me longer than this, because I already have my papers done, and because I focus. I also have a yummy warm, non-alcoholic drink to get me through it. You need to be sober for this.
So, if you’ve filed in session two, why do I recommend 3 sessions? Because something will probably go wrong at some point. It’s better to have a work session on the books and use it than to have to try and find time to schedule in the last thing you want to do—more paperwork. I’ve had to go back and re-enter information after filing before to verify it about a week after I filed. So I recommend spacing these sessions out about a week apart. In planning to fail, you’ll be less inconvenienced if something unexpected happens.
So what do these sessions look like for you? Mine are on early Saturday mornings. But do you work better after your afternoon gym session? What about early before work? Let me know on Instagram @nowthatimnotyourteacher.

Hey, I’m Taylor Vogel and this is Now That I’m Not Your Teacher. [cue music] Each week we’ll explore an aspect of adulting that you might have missed in school. Since I used to be a teacher, I’ll structure it in ways that are proven to help you retain information. But since I’m not your teacher anymore, I can approach it in a way that’s honest and sometimes inappropriate for a classroom.
In this week’s unit, we’re going to have so much fun! Because y’all, we’re talking about TAXES! In today’s episode, we’ll figure out which documents we need to have in hand to avoid being caught off guard come tax time.
So, I know what you’re thinking—well, you’re probably thinking two things, so I’m just going to break them down here for you:
Thing number 1 that you’re thinking:
                THIS IS WHAT I WISH THEY TAUGHT ME IN SCHOOL. I’m going to throw it out there that you learned problem solving (which applies here), that schools offer personal finance classes and that it sounded boring when you were fifteen, and that tax codes change all the freaking time, so CUT YOUR TEACHERS A BREAK ABOUT TEACHING YOU HOW TO DO YOUR TAXES! They probably don’t know how either. It’s a vicious cycle.
Thing number 2 that you’re thinking:
                TAYLOR, THIS EPISODE IS RELEASING IN JANUARY WHY THE EFF ARE YOU STRESSING ME OUT ABOUT MY TAXES?!
               
Here’s why, my dear listeners. Here’s why.
At the end of the calendar year, your employer has to scramble to compile information about how much they paid you and all of the taxes you’ve already paid on your income, pop it into forms, and send those forms to you. I have had forms arrive the second week of January via post. I have had forms arrive in March via email. They can come at you from all angles, so it’s important to know three things:

1. What forms you should be looking for.
2. How those forms are going to get to you.
3. What you’re going to do with those forms when you have them.

 
Let’s start with Thing 1: What forms you should be looking for. This sucks, because it’s different for everyone. It’s typically a W4 from every place you’ve earned money for that year. You’ll often have something proving that you have health insurance (the need for this has changed throughout my adulthood because of the Affordable Care Act, so who ever knows). You might also have forms documenting how much interest you paid on student loan. If you had a major life change in the past calendar year, like a marriage, divorce, home or car purchase, had a baby, et cetera, you’ll want to keep and/or gather any paperwork related to those life events. Basically, think about anywhere that big money or big change has happened. Make a list of all of these things.
Thing 2: Know how any missing paperwork is going to get to you.
As mentioned, some of the documents for the things just mentioned are already in your care. Hopefully. But for what’s missing, you need to know how to get it. It is OKAY to ask your employer, “Where should I keep an eye out for my tax forms?” If you need a copy of various certificates, search on the internet for how to request a copy for official forms from the place that they happened, like marriage certificates, social security cards for babies, any paperwork you might have misplaced. Know what you need to get, and make a plan to get it.
Thing 3: Know what you’re going to do with the forms when you have them.
I keep important paperwork in a fire-proof safe that stores hanging file folders. I have previously had them in a file organization tote. I also have digital versions of all my important documents that live on not-the-cloud. But if you don’t have a system for storing and organizing papers, JANUARY is the time to do this, so you’re not freaking out come April. But pick a designated place to store these documents as they come in, and it will make the time you sit down to do your taxes less likely to give you a heart attack.
 
So, you have three things to figure out:

1. What forms you should be looking for.
2. How those forms are going to get to you.
3. What you’re going to do with those forms when you have them.

Have you started getting your tax forms yet?

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, I’m Taylor Vogel and this is Now That I’m Not Your Teacher. Each week we’ll explore an aspect of adulting that you might have missed in school. Since I used to be a teacher, I’ll structure it in ways that are proven to help you retain information. But since I’m not your teacher anymore, I can approach it in a way that’s honest and sometimes inappropriate for a classroom.

In this week’s unit, we’re exploring Renter’s Life—making the most of it, being ready to move out on a dime, and embracing all of the life that can happen when you have the flexibility of renting your space.

In today’s episode, we’ll touch on the process of Moving Out.

I cannot emphasize enough that you need to have a plan for moving out. The best way to ensure this? Write your plan down. Three things that you need to plan for are checking your rental company’s boxes, financially preparing to move, and the packing and moving process.

First, have a conversation with your rental company about what they expect from you on move out. I like to have this conversation two ways: with a human, and via email. It’s really important to me after having moved a lot to have everything in writing. So, after connecting with a human, I’ll follow up with an email outlining everything we discussed. This helps for referencing it later, when they want to charge you for things they shouldn’t, like those messy stove plates they said you didn’t need to clean. Know everything that could cost you money, know important dates, and know key times you need to have things done by.

Second, financially prepare yourself to move. Create a budget, and then increase it by 50%. I know that’s harsh, but there are always unexpected costs when moving. Include boxes, moving help, takeout for that week, a truck rental, packing material, and other services you might outsource.

Finally, create a timeline for your process. If it doesn’t fit on your calendar, it won’t get done. I literally put every part of moving into my Google calendar, so I can see when things are happening, and adjust accordingly. Don’t forget to give yourself time to rest during the moving process as well—the last thing you need is an injury because you’re overworked.

Moving out can be stressful. But by knowing you’ve got your bases covered ahead of time through planning expectations, finances, and process, you can more easily navigate the unexpected.
 
What’s your biggest tip for moving out?
 
Let us know on Instagram @nowthatimnotyourteacher