Make My Life Easier Thursday: Bamboo Charcoal Air Purifying Bags

This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

A bags of Bamboo Charcoal Air Purifying Bags I’ve been a longtime follower of the blog Young House Love. I think I started following them about three of their houses ago and have followed their lives through multiple moves, renovations, and beach houses. Lately their Instagram Stories are a wealth of information and recommendations of things they own that they love. One item they post about repeatedly is these charcoal odor-absorbing bags. Since I am about to move, I am definitely going to purchase them and put them in several different places in the new house. Closets, basement, and I’ll probably stick one in the trunk of my car. A pack of eight is $23.95 at Amazon. Bamboo Charcoal Air Purifying Bags This post contains affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

Sales of note for 2/14/25 (Happy Valentine’s Day!):

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

  • Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
  • Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase — and extra 60% off sale
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + 15% off (readers love their suiting as well as their silky shirts like this one)
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 300+ styles $25 and up
  • J.Crew – 40% of your purchase – prices as marked
  • J.Crew Factory – 50% off entire site and storewide + extra 50% off clearance
  • Rothy’s – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – Flash sale ending soon – markdowns starting from $15, extra 70% off all other markdowns (final sale)

And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interestworking mom questions asked by the commenters!

183 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

I don’t need advice, just need to share with internet strangers. We’ve been TTC for several years. In October I had surgery for stage 4 endo and to have one of my tubes reconstructed. Now I’m in the middle of…TTC? All the ultrasounds, blood work and injections are a bit overwhelming. I have ten days before I can take a pregnancy test and I’m trying to just chill but I think about it a lot. I feel really hopeful and also like there’s no way I could possibly be pregnant and that would be really funny and scary and I already forgot how to parent an infant (we have an adopted son).

Ugh, looking for perspective. I should be up for consideration for partnership in the next couple of months. I was a very high performer for five years with consistently excellent reviews, good track record bringing in clients, and increasing responsibility. I had a baby in year five, took 12 weeks leave, and returned. I struggled after returning because I was dealing with PPD and a number of deaths in my family that required travel. My firm knew about the family issues, but not PPD.

At the end of that year, I had my first bad review. The criticisms essentially amounted to concerns with timeliness and that the quality of my work had suffered (but the framing was “you used to do excellent work, now the work you do is fine”). I requested a review in three months (rather than typical 6), and at that three month review, I was told the quality of my work had improved but timeliness was still a concern– they gave one example of something I gave to a partner the day before it was due… At my six month review, I was told the same thing about work quality and timeliness. I asked for examples of issues with timeliness because I thought I had done well, and the only example they could come up with was the same one from three months prior.

Fast forward to now, as I am preparing to submit my request. A partner pulled me into his office this morning and said that I could submit it now, or I could choose to wait a year, and that no one would think poorly of me if I wait a year. Other partners have made this suggestion before as well, and cited the example of a former partner (now retired) who had a wonderful 40+ year career, but was passed up for partner the first year he was eligible. What they omit is that he became partner after entering treatment for alcoholism, which I think is a pretty different circumstance.

Anyway, I feel like I have given so much to this firm over my career so far and essentially they want to push my whole career back a year because I had a couple difficult months. I feel like if I don’t make it this year, I am inclined to look for other work rather than waiting out the next year, but I don’t want to cut off my nose to spite my face. I know a year isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things, but I feel like it is a giant slap in the face to all of my hard work.

Thoughts? Perspective?

My mom got my son this ridiculously complicated clock that I think is supposed to be some sort of “okay to wake” style thing, but it is seriously so complicated that I just let my kid use it as a toy. The night before last, it must have been somehow set to an alarm that played bird sounds and it went off at 4 a.m. and scared the bejeezus out of him. I came in his room to comfort him, slammed some buttons on it, and put it in the hallway while I rocked him. Of course, I must have just hit snooze so the birds went off again right when I was putting him back down for sleep.

This is the most momentous thing that has ever happened in his life. Our cleaning person came early yesterday when we were still here and he took her upstairs to show her the bird clock and tell her solemnly how the “monster birds scared me.” Then I had to spend five minutes making the birds go off so he could shut them down.

As soon as I picked him up from daycare, he asked me about the birds. We FaceTimed with my mom and his big sister (she was at her mom’s) and he told both of them about the birds (they were both totally confused until I explained). He talked about it again last night as he went to bed.

It’s cracking me up! He’s 3.5 and I have to wonder if this life-altering event is going to be his first memory. I also assume all of his daycare teachers were like, what is he talking about??

Mom win of the day – we got professional photos taken for holiday cards and there is only ONE photo of all three of us where my daughter is looking at the camera and smiling. And of course I was making some horrible expression in that photo. So…I photoshopped my mouth from one of the other photos onto it. I remember using photoshop in high school and it was so hard and you had to have the steadiest hand to perfectly select the area you wanted and it always looked fake, but now thanks to all that AI magic, the computer knows what you’re trying to capture and stitches it all together perfectly and even with my amateur work you would never guess this photo was altered. Hoooooray for technology!

Working mom guilt/ advice on managing in-school activities: My oldest is in Kindergarten, so this is a new dynamic for me. How do working parents handle the myriad in-school activities where parents are invited in the middle of the day?

I work 45-min away and have a pretty facetime-heavy job (law). We have said no to everything so far– classroom parties, book fairs, lunch with mom in the cafeteria, and other things that I have no idea how other parents are attending. Today I happened to have a Dr.’s appointment in the morning that would give me a window of time that coincided with the in-school activity before I had to be on a conference call late morning. So, I surprised my kiddo in the middle of the 2-hour activity, planning to stay for 45 minutes. When it was time for me to leave, she lost it. Hot, sad, tears, and no-mommy-please-dont-go… It was horrible. My first thought was, well this was a mistake and I shouldn’t have come. But, I will almost never have a 2-hour window in the middle of the day to go to her school, so does this mean I just say no across the board instead of coming to partial activities? Ugh, I feel so sad that what I thought would be a fun and happy surprise ended in tears. Are these things only for SAH/ WAH parents?

I completely lost my crap on my kids this morning. The morning had actually gone really well, up until the last 10-15 minutes. Kids were dressed and fed ahead of schedule, and I let them have screen time as a reward. Well, then all h3ll broke loose when I asked them to put on coats and shoes while I brushed my teeth and poured my coffee for the road. They, of course, started bickering and became completely helpless. When I was finished with my stuff and saw that they had not even attempted to put on coats and shoes, I just … lost it. They’d been told like 5 times at that point and I was just over it. In fact, the phrase “I have asked you 5 f*cking times to do this” MIGHT HAVE slipped out of my mouth. Even I was shocked at myself, but seriously, this is not a new routine, guys!

DH was sick and in bed, and I had previously been so proud of keeping the kids quiet and focused while he rested.

Can I have a do-over? And why does their inability to follow basic directions tick me off so much? (For context, my oldest child, a 10-year-old, has ADHD and mornings are generally rough with him until the meds fully kick in, but this was a new low even for me.)

They were treated to a lecture in the car about showing respect by doing what is asked of them. And I did apologize for the cursing but still feel crummy about it.

Something someone posted yesterday about the leisurely kid-free morning routines inspired me to post this. Now that you are parents, if you had to put your plans for a family on hold, what would you do to take advantage of your additional kid-free years? What do you miss about your time pre-kids?

For context, we had been TTC for a few months but had to stop when I was diagnosed with a serious illness. I just finished treatment (which took many months), and am starting to come out of the stressful fog. We won’t be cleared to TTC for a few years due to the nature of the illness and treatment, but I’m healthy now. Because this wasn’t my choice, just bad luck, I’d like to really take advantage of, and appreciate, this extra kid-free time so I feel less of a loss. But other than traveling to Zika locations, which we are excited about, I don’t have many ideas.

Any managers out there willing to share what you typically get for your team for the holidays? I have 8 people reporting to me, half remote and half in my office. Usually I just do Starbucks gift cards for $15 but now I wonder if that’s too little. I’d love to hear what others do.

Do any of you follow busy toddler? Usually I am not one to bother with things like sensory bins but I do like some of her ideas, including her kindness Christmas countdown chain. I’m planning to do only 12 days, but anyone have good suggestions for acts of kindness for my 3 and 5 yo? She had a list too, but looking for other good ideas… easy to implement where they will hopefully understand the point.

Our friend is pregnant with her second (oldest will be three when baby is born). I’d like to send her a present since we live in separate cities and I missed her shower– I only have twins and I don’t know what I’d want for a second pregnancy! They aren’t finding out whether it’s a boy or girl, and I assume she still has swaddles, etc. from the first. Any inspiration?

So I have made it to month 8 of my first pregnancy. Mentally, I have been in a satisfied place pretty much the entire time, but I am starting to really get nervous about the life that I will be giving up and the uncertainty ahead. I think the schedule conversation may have worsened it – knowing that I will be sacrificing time and sleep, feeling like I never appreciated what I had before. Please help to assure me that it’s normal to freak out a little now and that I won’t be full of regret?

Channeling Buble here at having to laugh at some of the routines on yesterday’s thread, especially those without kids. I know if I posted this on the main site, it would seem like I’m channeling #mommymartyr at complaining about the hectic mornings with kids but I think most of us here get it. Well here’s mine, if anyone cares to share a morning routine while in the trenches:

5:30am – Wake-up after hitting snooze once. 1 year old is up around this time so husband gets him and gives him milk.
5:35-5:55am – Shower, get ready.
6:00-6:30am – Eat breakfast, give 1 year old breakfast, read phone for a bit. Husband is showering and getting ready.
6:30ish – 3.5 year old is usually up by now. Give him milk and light breakfast (granola bar, squeeze). Turn on TV.
6:40am – 7:00 – This is the fun part where we get everyone dressed, pottied, brushing teeth, get a screaming 1 year old in his winter gear, negotiate with a 3.5 year old who is resisting the above and trying to do everything but get ready, finish getting ourselves ready and out the door.
7:00 – 7:15 – Daycare drop off for two.
7:20 – 7:30 – Drive back home.
7:30 – 7:45 – Walk to train (this is my exercise of the day, woo!)
7:50 – 8:30ish – Train
8:45am (often around 9 if I’m on a later train) – Finally at work.

I know my commute and daycare drop off add a ton of time. But it is what it is right now.

I read something this morning that helped me feel better about the general working mom situation of my life. It seems like a few people on here are having a rough day so I thought I’d share.

I follow Laura McKowen on all the socials and she had a really great post on fb this morning talking about being in a funk, losing her sh&t and being grumpy, judgmental, etc. and shared a Glennon quote: “I forgive myself relentlessly”. I love that. I’ve set a goal to work on self acceptance for next year. Forgiving myself relentlessly seems like a good start.

My 6 month old attends a large corporate center daycare. We started in late October. The center has 3 infant rooms, each with 2 teachers (but the teachers also float between the rooms and there are floaters that cover drop-off / pick up). As a result I don’t really even know all the infant teachers. I found out yesterday that starting Monday baby is changing infant rooms. I’m flummoxed about how to handle holiday presents. As best I can tell the center doesn’t do a cash collection. I don’t ever see any other parents to ask. And there is a parent board but they have monthly calls and I couldn’t make the November one because of work and the December one is after we will leave for the holidays. Would it be appropriate to ask the center director what parents do in this circumstance?

How many gifts are you getting your kids, if you do gifts this time of year? My daughter made a Christmas list with four items, and I’m inclined to get her every one, since they’re like $20 each at most. I feel like that’s reasonable right?