About the Author

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Kristin Van de Water is a former journalist and teacher who relies on humor, faith, and her mom crew to get her through the day. Raising four kids in a two-bedroom NYC apartment, Kristin is always on the lookout for life hacks to save time, space, money, and her sanity.

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Ten Skills I Honed as PTA President

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During my first foggy years of stay-at-home motherhood, Mommy brain replaced the quick wit I previously employed as an English teacher. Life suddenly revolved around my brood of four kids under four years old rather than my cohort of rowdy freshmen. Literature started to look more like board books and less like Shakespeare. My mind threatened to turn to mush in the melee of spit up, swings, snacks, swaddles, strollers, and stretchy pants . It was hard to see beyond the immediate task of making sure my household was fed, clothed, clean, and sleeping. Just when I glimpsed a light at the end of the tunnel (aka all kids attending school), COVID-19 hit and launched us into a blurry year of hybrid learning limbo . When my youngest child finally entered full-day Kindergarten in 2021, I emerged from the daze of new parenthood. Not looking to return to the classroom as a teacher, but ready to expand my focus beyond meeting my family’s basic needs, I dipped my toe into volunteering with our el...
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Spend More Time Doing What You Love (in Barcelona!)

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As I sit aboard my delayed flight, trying to make my way home to New York City, I'm reminded of a sign that caught my eye recently at a rock climbing gym. It read, “Spend More Time Doing What You Love.” Instead of pouting at the delay, I used the forcibly carved-out time to focus on doing something I love: travel writing. There's nothing like the constricted space of an airplane to bring about the freedom to write to my heart's content without feeling the pull of household chores, social commitments, relationship responsibilities, or incessant emails. This trip to Barcelona has been an exercise in setting aside the demands of daily life to spend time doing what I love. Exploring a new city is way up there on my list of favorite pastimes. There's indescribable joy to be found in sampling local cuisine, deciphering the public transit system, taking in a museum, shopping for mementos, and wandering through green spaces and along waterfronts. The idea for these five day...
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How a Christmas Desk Paved the Way for Small Space Hospitality

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Adding a desk to our kids’ bedroom launched an apartment reshuffling akin to a game of musical chairs. The desk was the last player standing, so to speak, as we shed the outgrown or underused contents of our New York City apartment–all for the sake of making our home a welcoming gathering place. My eldest daughter had included a desk on her Christmas wish list . For a suburban family with ample room, this would have been a no-brainer. As a mom fitting a household of six into a two-bedroom apartment, however, her wish seemed unrealistic. I saw the value in upgrading our toddler table to a scale appropriate for my eight, ten, and twelve year olds. An extra workstation would come in handy, especially considering they often invite friends over for homework playdates. However, we needed to think outside the box to seriously entertain the idea. Two bunk beds, two dressers, and a bookshelf monopolized all four walls in the kids’ bedroom, so where could we squeeze in a desk? As an experiment, ...
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