What's IN/OUT this week

Happy 2026, Haters! I hope my landlord enjoys what’s left of my checking account after a month of pure excess. Maybe he’ll use some of it to purchase ice melt and salt the front steps before I crack my skull open trying to take the dog out.

IN: Produce. Remember fruits and vegetables? I can actually feel my body gasping for a vitamin, a mineral, anything that’s not a carbohydrate or sugar! — after I had one final piece of coffee cake to fuel me through a 10 a.m. meeting on FRIDAY, JANUARY THE SECOND. The new year and its work shouldn’t begin until the first Monday of the month. OUT: Charging me, specifically, the grocery bag tax. The cashier should sense that I have a pure heart filled with the best initiations; that I remember my reusable bags 8.5 times out of 10. It should be obvious that I have dedicated myself to rinsing out shampoo bottles before I recycle them, and that I use compostable coffee stirrers. Please, let me slide just this once!

IN: Embracing the reality of winter. It is freezing, the sidewalks and streets are icy, and everything is mostly gray. Fine! I’m riddled with new little projects and plans, and will be taking a very seasonally appropriate course that a friend teaches at DePaul University: Death & Dying. I am so excited about this and will report back on my new mortality insights. OUT: Christmas decorations. It’s time to pull at least some of them down in the next week or so. I can’t fool myself into thinking it’s still the delightful holiday season… although maybe I’ll swap out a couple of the colored light strands for tasteful winter whites.

IN: Dancing. Dave included dance parties on his list of INS for 2026, and we should all have that on our calendars. Movement slows so much in the cold months because the sensible among us know that running or biking on ice is foolish (why do people risk it? What are winter joggers trying to prove??). The best way to bring movement back — and warm up — is to dance: at home, at a bar, whatever. Dave and I had a great living room dance party this week, and I debuted a leotard I bought as a joke… but it actually made the whole experience 300x more fun. OUT: Stirring a new jar of peanut butter. I put off starting a fresh jar of Smucker’s Natural (the best PB, I will die on this snacking hill) because I did not have the mental capacity for it. When I say I appreciate acts of service, what I mean is that it would be nice if someone came over and dealt with the peanut oils running down the side of the jar/their hands.

IN: Everyone who shared their INS/OUTS for 2026 with me. I kept a big running list in my Google Docs to keep track of it for us all. If you would still like to share yours with me, please do! OUT: All of the unread emails in my inbox. I spent some time last week clearing out all those newsletters I planned to read so I could get down to a digestible 10. I feel FRESH.

Tell me what you hated this week!