Joe Casabona: I'm a big fan of telling people to use what they'll actually use, whether it's finding the right tool for a task manager, calendar management, or project management. In a world where every tool is increasingly becoming an all-in-one tool, you need to do what works best for you. And for my friend, FamousAshley Grant, that's Google Sheets.
Today, she's going to tell us all about how she built a system inside Google Workspace that manages everything in her life, from her client work to what's in her pantry. And Ashley's story really hits home for me. Longtime listeners know that I had a panic attack in 2020, well before Ashley implemented her system. She was working too many hours, and she was facing burnout and she was snapping at her partner for the seemingly small question of what's for dinner? Because decision fatigue is a real thing, and if you're not managing the important parts of your life, then any small thing can set you off. And now she has a full system inside Google Sheets, a system that she's going to walk us through today.
Now, I'm really excited for you to hear this, and if you're wondering how you can get more ideas for your system, you can join my mailing list over@casabona.org automation. You'll get 40 free automations for you to use or even just get ideas, as well as my AI swipe file. So that's over at casabona.org/automation. But for now, we'll let's get into the intro and then the interview.
Welcome to the Streamlined Solopreneur. A show for busy solopreneurs to help you improve your systems and processes so you can build a business while spending your time the way you want. I know you're busy, so let's get started.
All right. I am here with FamousAshley Grant. A content creator and my compatriot over at rss.com, Ashley, how are you?
FamousAshley Grant: I'm excited. I'm very excited that you are even allowing me to be on your gracious space.
Joe Casabona: You know I am. I'm excited to have you. You as, as you know and the listeners know, I've been trying to do these kinds of case study episodes, and as you can imagine, I'm not getting good pitches. And so when you gave me a good pitch, I was very excited because it shows that you read the instructions and didn't just say like, oh, I want to be on your podcast. So let's, let's get into this case study. First. Tell us about the system.
FamousAshley Grant: Well, the Reader's Digest version is I literally use Google Suite for many aspects of my life. I'm talking from booking date nights to booking, you know, hangouts with friends. And I live and die by Google. If they sunset any of the things I use, I'm in big trouble because I use it for my shopping list, I use it for my meal planning, I use it for my business. I use it for making sure that I keep all the moving parts of my business and professional and personal life all in order. And so it's kind of just a connection of the Google Sheets, plus Google Doc, plus Google Calendar, and even, of course, email. Those four things together, like, they combine to create. Like, when our powers combine, they make my life possible.
Joe Casabona: Yes. The captain planet of online organization.
FamousAshley Grant: I'm glad you got that reference.
Joe Casabona: Of course I did. Yes. It makes me sad when people don't. You know, I was listening to a podcast where they were trying to remember that they're like, you know, like all the kids, they combine their powers to make, like, a Captain Earth, and I'm like, no, you're so close. You're so close.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: So, two quick level-setting questions here. First of all, we're both contractors for rss.com but you have your own, like, content creation business as well.
FamousAshley Grant: Yes.
Joe Casabona: Where, you write for a bunch of other people and then host your own podcast.
FamousAshley Grant: Yes. Yep. Absolutely.
Joe Casabona: Cool, cool, cool. And as someone who has tried to impose my, let's say, technophilia on my wife, how has that gone with you and your partner? Because you said you use it for, like, planning date nights and stuff.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah, he is. He's the logical one. It's my husband, Jeremy. He's my business partner and my. Well, my better half. My much smarter, better half.
He's the logical one. I call him lb, which stands for left brain. And I'm right brain. I'm in the creative area. Very you. And if it hadn't been for him coming into the business, I would still be flailing and not making enough income to not have to run back to a 9-5.
So, yeah. He's kind of the one that put it all together, like, I said what I wanted, and he made it happen. So that's. Yeah, that's it. I mean, it's just that that's kind of how it happened. So he's definitely the reason that my ADHD brain doesn't fly off the handle. Well, okay, it still does, but.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, but it comes back to the handle.
FamousAshley Grant: Exactly. He brings it back to the handle.
Joe Casabona: I like that, I like that you mentioned adhd. So I will just point listeners to a recent episode I did with Sky Waterson, episode 476, ADHD, and is an expert in the field, has her PhD if I'm, I don't have her bio upright in front of me. But we had a great convers building systems for those who have ADHD or who happen to think a certain way. So, really good episode. Episode 476. Okay, cool. So with that level setting, table setting information, we're gonna go through the story of you building your system.
Joe Casabona: So you said you use Google Suite for everything. Do you like the paid version or is like the free version?
FamousAshley Grant: Oh, I use the paid version for you. Definitely the paid version.
Joe Casabona: Okay, super important. What is the main benefit of the paid version?
FamousAshley Grant: More storage. And that was definitely more storage that was definitely necessary because one of the things that we have in there is all of our recipes. Like every single thing that I know how to cook or that he knows how to cook, it's all in there so that we can pull it together for our shopping lists. And you know, sometimes it requires images, sometimes it requires videos. And like this is how you boil an egg, kind of.
So, yeah. Storage was the biggest reason, and also making sure that I wouldn't lose it. Like, you know, I know that that's, it's very rare, but I know that sometimes Gmail will kind of discontinue your account without warning. And I just kind of wanted some protection, and I wanted no more ads on my Gmail and all that stuff. So all that, all the, all that is the reason I wanted paid.
Joe Casabona: Nice. So, yeah, tell us a little bit about life before your system. How are you managing things? How are you managing life?
FamousAshley Grant: You mean the lack thereof? Yeah, before, before my husband came into the business and started helping me actually create this system, we. I literally would get an assignment and kind of forget about it because, you know, things were moving so quickly. I would, I would have deadlines and whatnot. And I can't tell you how many times it would be 2 or 3 o' clock in the morning, and I'm like, oh my God, that's due by 8 am tomorrow. And so it was, I can't go to bed yet, I've got to do the assignment. And there was a lot of that where I wouldn't plan out my time well, I wouldn't see like, okay, this is going to take me four hours. This is going to take me Eight. So that doesn't mean I can do it all at 2 o' clock in the morning and get it in by 9am. Although I am pretty good at moving time and space when I'm under pressure.
It's not a sustainable way to live. And it was definitely causing a lot of burnout. It was causing a lot of stress and a lot of fights because, you know, if you plan something and then you have to tell someone, oh, I'm sorry, I can't go to dinner with you after all because I, you know, forgot about this deadline that I've had for six months. It's very much the. They gave us the project at the beginning of the semester, but the night before, I'm asking for poster board at 9pm as I'm sure you can relate with three Littles. Yeah, so. So, yeah, it was a lot of that.
And the crazy thing to me is what finally made me realize how much trouble I was getting myself into was the pandemic. When that happened, a lot of people, you know, I feel awful to say this, but a lot of people started losing work. I actually gained a bunch. And because as soon as everyone was stuck at home, they're like, well, we gotta get our websites up. We gotta get, you know, everything online as quickly as possible. And since I'm a ghostwriter for hire, it was suddenly everybody knocking on my digital door, if you will, saying like, hey, can you do this? And me, like a fool saying yes to everything before I actually checked and saw whether or not I could. And so there were several nights where it was like I was up till 5, 6 in the morning, you know, waking up with the birds and not getting any good sleep. I was, I was, I was a monster.
I was not a fun person to be around anymore. And you know, the, the straw that broke the camel's back, as silly as this may sound, was the question of what's for dinner? And I literally was like, I don't freaking care, Just order a pizza. You know? And like there was period where we were eating Cajun chicken pasta, like far, far too often because I learned how to make my version of it from Chili's. And so I learned how to make it at home. But then we ate it so much, we hate it. So just that all that kind of came to a head. And it was like, if we don't come up with something, I'm going to have to get, you know, a different job or something because I keep failing in all the places that it doesn't make Sense that I'm failing.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, well, and thanks for sharing that. I think this is really important. Right. Because, you know, as, you know, like, it's a lot of solopreneur parents listening to this. And the, what's for dinner? Question is like, sometimes it's like the. The worst part of my day. Right. It's like I have a system in place for what I'm gonna do.
And I know my Tuesdays are coaching days and Fridays are, like big picture days. And then I pick up my kids and I haven't looked in the fridge, and I don't. I'm not allowed to do the grocery shopping. I don't do a very good job. Apparently not. Apparently. I say apparently, like, I wouldn't know that. I do a terrible job.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: You know, I just watched a video on weaponized incompetence. Have you heard of this?
FamousAshley Grant: I have not, but it sounds like my life.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. It's apparently like boyfriends purposefully doing a bad job so they don't get asked to do things. Right. And so, like, it's like, you do the dishes poorly, so you don't get asked to do the dishes. So I promise me, grocery shopping is not weaponized incompetence. It's just regular incompetence.
FamousAshley Grant: And it's funny you say that, because I remember a book. It was a dating book from God. I'm dating myself now. I think it was like 20 years ago. And it was something to the effect of, you know, if you're. If your husband, or excuse me, if your boyfriend asks you if you can cook a meal, make sure you cook him the worst meal he's ever had in his life so that he knows for the rest of his life he has to take you out to eat.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, I like that. I like that.
FamousAshley Grant: So that's. That's kind of what that reminds me of.
Joe Casabona: Yes. Yes. I'm Italian. So, like, the. The wife or the mom knowing how to cook is, like a deep seated requirement for me. But I will say that I also can cook because I'm Italian.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: But it's like, it's like the worst. Especially when you have kids because, like, they arbitrarily and capriciously don't like things all of a sudden. And I'm not making more than one dinner. Like, I just can't. So it's usually like, all right, fine, chicken nuggets.
FamousAshley Grant: I guess you'll eat it or starve.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, right. Yeah. Except, like, that's like, I never follow through on that, obviously, but so, like, all of this is to say that that could be the hardest question of the day. And you have. You make all these decisions, and decision fatigue is real. So I really like that we're kind of talking about how you're using this in both your. Your business and your personal life. So you started to get a lot of clients.
Joe Casabona: And then, like, again, like, the potentially worst question of. Of the day is, what's for dinner?
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah. And it's ironic that that was what broke the. Broke me because, like, it's such a. It's. Food is life, you know, like, everything is. You have to eat to live. And. But yeah, just at that particular mom, I remember it so well.
I was just, like, standing in the kitchen, looking in the pantry, going, I don't know what to do. I literally don't know what to do. And it seems like a strange thing to cry over, but I was. I was verge of tears because, like, there were so many things going wrong at the same time. And then you ask me, what's for dinner? I don't know.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, well, it's like. It's like that one little thing, right? Like, I can't tell you. Longtime listeners will know I had a panic attack in November 2020. I can't tell you what it. What it was that, like, that finally did it. But I could tell you I wasn't working. I was standing in my kitchen.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: And, like, either, like, my kid asked me something, and I just, like, didn't have an answer, or my son, like, puked or something, and I was like, the millionth time, and I just, like, couldn't, and I broke down right there. Right. So, like, yeah, it adds up. And if you're on the verge of burnout, you might not see it. And that's why these systems are. Are so important. Right. So you started crying because you didn't know what was for dinner.
Did you decide, like, right then and there, I need a system, or did you, like, take some time to think of it? Like, how did I get here?
FamousAshley Grant: I remember there was lots of yelling and lots of just, like, trying to think, like, how can we do this better? And I already had, like, the beginnings of something because someone told me, well, you know, just put everything in a spreadsheet, and that'll make things so much easier. And I try. Tried trello.
Joe Casabona: That.
FamousAshley Grant: That didn't work. It didn't take. I tried asana. That didn't take. I tried a couple different things, but something about the simplicity of a Google sheet saying everything that I needed to remember that Made sense to me. And I know that some people, you know, swear by other systems, like, I know you use notion and things like that, but. But just having it all in one spot in Google sheets just for some reason made the most sense. And so we kind of just sat down one day after the, you know, fine, we'll order a pizza, and we started looking at the spreadsheet I had.
And I call this the pre2019 spreadsheet because at the time, it was very discombobulated. There was no rhyme or reason to it. The only thing it really said in there was whether someone had paid me or not, whether I had even invoiced for it. Like, very basic details. And, you know, his. My husband's analytical brain, he looked at it and he's, well, we could make this better. Do you want help? And at first I was like, no, I don't need you. I got this.
And then I thought about it again and realized, yeah, I really do need help, because I was. I was failing in every, every possible way. And. And I didn't want to anymore. You know, you just, you come to that point where you're like, nothing changes if nothing changes. And so we started looking at the spreadsheet we had created or that I had created in haste and finally turned it into something that was helpful and, you know, adding new tabs to it, which I didn't even think about, or adding links to the assignments, which I again, didn't think about. Making folders for each client, which sounds so simple now that, you know, in hindsight, you know, everything makes sense now.
But yeah, even something as simple as creating a folder for every single client. I even created a folder for myself as a client. Like, I treated myself as a client to put stuff on my spreadsheet because, you know, I do run my own podcast on my own blog, and nothing was getting put on it because I wasn't like, I was always the last person to have anything posted. It's kind of like the cobbler whose kids shoes really need to. Need to be fixed.
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
FamousAshley Grant: So, yeah, I had to add myself as a client. And just starting that, like, was such a game changer. Like, I hate saying game changer because ChatGPT and Claude Love to use that phrase, but it really was like, I mean, take off. Yeah, but it was, it changed everything. And when we started changing the spreadsheet, that's when it was like, oh, wait a minute, we can connect this to the Google Calendar and say like, hey, this deadline's coming up. Or this podcast interview that I'm going to be on with Joe. So it's coming up. And so, you know, you have it in the calendar, you have it in the spreadsheet.
And it's now listed as famous Ashley Grant, as the client has an assignment that she has to be there for on this day. And now I'm actually showing up. Yeah, yeah. And so that was attached to that. And then we had another spreadsheet we created for all the recipes I know how to make. And, like, it was kind of like a forced thing, like realizing we had to do it because of course, in the middle of the pandemic, in the middle of all the burnout and all the crazy, we decided to move 800 miles away from our home to Richmond, Kentucky, to be near family. And that was another camel breaking moment where, you know, we're looking in the pantry going, well, how are we going to move all this food to Kentucky? Well, we can't. So let's make a plan for how we're going to use it all before we get up there.
And that was the beginning of that spreadsheet of, this is what I can make for breakfast, this is what I can make for lunch, and this is what I can make for dinner, and this is what I can make for snacks. And so that became another spreadsheet that was attached to every recipe I knew. Like, I remember we sat down and we literally were typing every single recipe I knew how to make. And I remember at one point I was like, dude, this is taking way too much time. I have other things to do. And it did. I'm not gonna lie. It took a long time to type all this stuff out and to get all this stuff on paper, but the amount of time it saved me now, oh, my God, Like, I just, I.
I can't even imagine going back.
Joe Casabona: It's also worth noting that you did this before the explosion of LLMs. And that is true that you can word vomit into, right?
FamousAshley Grant: Yes. Like, I. If I had, if I had that kind of stuff, whenever all this was going down, it may be a very different story. Like, a friend of mine, I think you know him, Josh Elledge, he runs up my influence. He's. He's been posting on Facebook that he'll add in to chat with GPT what's in his refrigerator, and he'll just be like, hey, with these ingredients, the heck can I make? And so he comes up with all these random recipes. So if that had, if that had all been going on at the time, that would have been very different. But even though it existed in a very small sense, I wasn't playing with it.
And I was very anti AI overlords at that point, and I still am, but I'm trying to embrace them so they won't kill me first. But, you know, it's. That's an ongoing struggle that we'll talk about another day.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. The longtime listeners of this show know that, like, I may I hesitant I've been using it more. But, you know, I was really turned off by the, hey, AI can write articles for me so I don't have to write them. I'm like, yeah, sure, if you want, like, really crappy articles.
FamousAshley Grant: Ask me why. I've lost a lot of clients.
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
FamousAshley Grant: As a ghostwriter.
Joe Casabona: Unbelievable. Yeah, well, they'll come back. This is what I said when. When I was a developer and like, a lot of jobs were getting offshored.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: I'm like, they'll come back. They'll realize, buy cheap, get cheap, and they'll come back. So. Yeah, but it stinks.
FamousAshley Grant: Yes.
Joe Casabona: Okay, so your system is you have Google Sheets. It sounds like you have one for your client work and then maybe like one for your personal home, dinner, personal life.
FamousAshley Grant: Yep.
Joe Casabona: And then you said that they connect up to Google Sheets. So how are you Google Calendar? So how are you. How are you wiring everything up?
FamousAshley Grant: Okay, so whenever something comes up, like let's say it's. We're gonna go out to dinner at Chart House on Saturday night. I will literally have. In the. In the Google Sheet for personal stuff of. We have a list of places we want to go, like restaurants we want to go to and cities we want to see, like, all that stuff. So there's a list of restaurants in there, and it's connected to the address of the place and. And their website.
And so we'll plug that into the Google Calendar and if we need to, we'll link to the Google Sheet where it says where it is with all the information. And then we set up a date of when we're going to go. And the good thing about it is it can be moved. That was the thing that I struggled with with my paper calendar, is I would put it in there and then I caught myself like, whiting stuff out. Do you remember those days? Whiting stuff out and trying to like, then put it somewhere else. I love the fact that I can just drag and drop now so that if I have to change a date, I can do it quickly. And. And what we love about this is that, you know, since we're using Google suite of products.
It's all on my phone, it's all on my Android. And so if we come up with an idea for something we want to do while we're on a car ride or, you know, taking a walk, I can just quickly add it in and it's already synced up. I don't have to, like, remember where it is. And all of our sheets, like the, The. The grocery list. Even, like, if. If we run out of soap, we put the. Put it on the.
On the grocery list. Like, there's no more thinking about it. And having to run to the store 16,000 times because I forgot that I needed Sharpies that day. You know, like that. Just simple things like that. Just finding ways to make it work for us has been everything. Like, it has just been like the fact that the only reason we have to go to the grocery store is because we come up with something that's not on the list that's just random. Like today we wanted caramel syrup, and there was no good reason to have it on the list, but we went and got caramel syrup.
But. But yeah, just not having to. To make extra trips, not having to waste the gas, waste the time, waste the energy has just been very helpful.
Joe Casabona: Going to the pantry and going like, oh, man, I forgot to buy that. Right. Like, so, okay, you. I want to. I want to visualize this in my mind piece. You have like, one Google sheet with a bunch of. Well, I guess it's like one Google sheets document with a bunch of sheets.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah. One workbook with lots of tabs. Lots of sheets.
Joe Casabona: Workbook. There it is. And for. And for your. Let's look at your business side first. Right. It's. It's what clients like.
Joe Casabona: Projects.
FamousAshley Grant: Yes. And we gamified it. I had to gamify it because I would get so bored looking at it. My assignments are called quests. My clients are my quest givers. And so it literally says that in the sheet. It makes me giggle every time I open it.
Joe Casabona: Nice. And then you also mentioned, like, you know, you didn't know when you were invoicing a client. How are you handling the invoice side of things?
FamousAshley Grant: Yes, we have a dropdown menu that says not applicable, meaning I. Not applicable, meaning I cannot invoice for it. Like it's a free event or unpaid work. Then invoiced, not invoiced, prepaid. Because I do sometimes have clients that prepay me. And I think there's one other one, but it's not coming to Me right now. And then to the, to the right of that is a column that says, is this ready to write in draft? Draft completed, waiting to submit, waiting for approval, and approved.
Joe Casabona: Nice.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
So, and then when you. And then do you use, like, invoice software to send the invoice, or do you have, like, a Google sheet for that too?
FamousAshley Grant: I have both because some of my clients prefer to pay via PayPal. Some of them prefer to pay, you know, in the dark ages of checks. And so those, you know. Yes, there's a.
Joe Casabona: No fee associated with checks. This is true.
FamousAshley Grant: But you got to wait for it to come. That's kind of the frustrating part. But yeah, so a lot of them are via PayPal. And so we have templates for that, which is also helpful because it used to be trying to figure it all out every single time.
Joe Casabona: Right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I like that a lot. And then I assume you write in Google Docs.
FamousAshley Grant: Yes, yes. Obsessed with Google Docs. And I like the fact that they have the voice typing feature because I have carpal tunnel and sometimes my hands, like, will really cause me trouble. And so the fact that I can just put my mic into my headphones and start talking really helps whenever those times happen. I haven't had a flare up in a while. Knock on wood. But, you know, just, just, just that alone has been helpful to just be able to say what I'm thinking rather than typing it out.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, that's. That's awesome. I was writing in Google Docs for a little bit when they added Gemini in, because I usually like to ask an AI companion, like, hey, can you check this for grammar? And like, is my point clear? Yeah, I'm like, did I land the plane right? Like, that's like, do I? Do I? I always open really strong. Am I closing as strongly? And so I was like, writing in Google Docs for that reason, but. But I moved back to Ulysses, which is like my favorite writing app of all time.
FamousAshley Grant: Understood.
Joe Casabona: I really wish that I don't. I never wish this because I think that a lot of services are superfluously adding AI features to say they added them. But I kind of wish that Ulysses just had like one tiny feature that was like, send this to ChatGPT. Yeah. Or whatever. Right? Like, or Claude. Right? like, whatever.
FamousAshley Grant: So if the developers are listening, you need to take note.
Joe Casabona: Yes. I did have the lead developer, the founder, on the show all the way back in, I think, 2018.
FamousAshley Grant: Oh, wow.
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
FamousAshley Grant: So I'll send him this episode.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, yeah. A quick follow up. But so this is great. So your whole system is basically in Google Sheets, which I think is really cool. Right. Because I'm a big fan of use the thing you're most comfortable with. Right. This is.
If you don't have opinions, I will tell you how I'll build it for you. But, like, if you're like, hey, I'm really into Google Sheets or Airtable or whatever, I'm like, good, let's use the tool you're actually going to use. And then the other thing is, like, you know, I talk about, like, these Rube Goldberg machines that I build where it's like lots of tools and Zapier connects them all, but like a single point of failure. Right. Like you, like, you want to have the fewest possible points of failure and like, using one tool is just the way to guarantee that. Right.
FamousAshley Grant: As long as it doesn't go away.
Joe Casabona: As long as it's.
FamousAshley Grant: That's my only fear.
Joe Casabona: Yes. I feel like behind ads, Google Workspaces is Google's second biggest line of business. I don't know that for sure, but if I had to guess, I would say it is.
FamousAshley Grant: I like to think it'll stick around, right?
Joe Casabona: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They'll just rename it like 14 more times, right?
FamousAshley Grant: Yes.
Joe Casabona: I think, like, Google and HBO are in a. In a fight to see who can rename their flagship products.
FamousAshley Grant: Oh, my goodness. I, I saw that LinkedIn post yesterday. It was like, HBO Max and then Max, Max, Max. HBO Max.
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
FamousAshley Grant: Like, all the times they renamed it and then they went right back to the original.
Joe Casabona: If. If anybody out there is worried that they rename their stuff too much, Google and HBO are showing. Hey, you. You can not. Or you can and it's fine. Right. Like, so focus on making good content.
FamousAshley Grant: Yes.
Joe Casabona: first and foremost. Okay. So are there any other parts of this system I didn't ask you about?
FamousAshley Grant: I'm not sure. I think you. I think we covered it all. I mean, basically handles three things. My meal planning, my supply management, and my productivity. That's. That's. That's the Reader's Digest version.
Joe Casabona: And it's. And it's like largely like just straight up text entry into a Google sheet. Right. Are you, Are you doing like, fancy formulas or calculations or anything like that?
FamousAshley Grant: I mean, yes, yes and no. Yes. For. For when we're trying to figure out how much to invoice. When we add the assignment in, we put in whether it's hourly or per word. Because I do a lot of things that are hourly. I do a lot of Things that are per word. So we do have calculations like that, but it's not insane stuff.
FamousAshley Grant: It's pretty simple.
Joe Casabona: Nice.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: And then same thing. So I'm really curious about, like, the grocery list or the pantry. Like, how do you. You add something to the list? Do you remove it after you bought it, or is there like a. Okay.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: And then you just kind of like, keep adding it. In my head, I'm over engineering can.
FamousAshley Grant: Go on the tablet. You can take the tablet directly to your pantry and look and see if you've already got it. So, like, the way that we do it, especially with, like, the meal planning, is we'll decide, okay, how many things do we need to purchase for two weeks worth of groceries? And those groceries have to cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And so we'll choose. We like to cook once and eat twice. We're big fans of leftovers, even though I know a lot of people really get angry at me about this because they do not like leftovers. But we're a leftover household, so that's crazy.
Joe Casabona: Waste not, want not. Yeah.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah. And just the fact that, you know, instead of having to spend an hour every night cooking, I have to spend an hour every other night cooking. You know, that. That's. That's a big win for me. But so we'll sit there and we'll figure out two weeks worth of dinners because that's the main thing that we want to make sure we don't repeat, because that was a big problem is we were repeating the same thing over and over again. And so right now we have about six months worth of recipes that I can. actually cook like that.
I'm okay with going into the kitchen and cooking as long as I have the ingredients. So we'll make a list of our two weeks worth of food, and we keep all breakfast items and all lunch items in stock at all time, because those are like the smaller things, the quick grab and goes, you know, the hot Pockets. I know nobody come for me. I know it's processed food, but leave me alone. I'm busy. You know, that kind of thing. It's simple stuff for those two meals. But so once we have that list of all the things that we need, we open up every recipe and we literally put together the grocery list based on that.
Now we are working on fixing this system so that it's automated that whenever you put in the. The recipe that you need the ingredients for, it automatically adds it. We're working on that. It's going to take time. And we're working on an inventory system, but that's also going to take time. So right now it's still just walking over to the pantry and seeing what we've got. But yeah, when we do it that way, I have every ingredient I need for every recipe that's on my list. And it's made a throw away a lot less stuff.
Like, because every single thing that's in my refrigerator right now, there's a plan for it. And that's been huge. Like, the only thing that we still sometimes let go bad is not intentional. It's usually produce. Because sometimes we'll think that we had a week to eat the strawberries and they go bad in three days, that kind of thing. But just that alone has saved so much time, so much concern, so much energy because, oh well, if I'm making chili tonight, crap, I forgot the kidney beans. Well, now I gotta go back to the store because I forgot one can of 89 cent kidney beans. You know, that kind of thing.
Joe Casabona: Right.
FamousAshley Grant: So just putting those things together and then the very, the last thing we say right before we finish a grocery list is, is there anything that we didn't add that we should. So we'll do a quick inventory of. Well, do we need shampoo? Do we need toothpaste? You know, the simple things that most people don't think of that are making you go to the store multiple times and every time you have to leave, you're killing your productivity, your context switching, you're having to go do more things and you're not getting as much done. And so it's all been about like trying to streamline literally everything in our lives to make life easier. And in a lot of ways, it's kind of saved my life. Like, it's, I know that's dramatic to say, but it's, it's true in the sense that it's improved my quality of life. And so I'm continuing to work with my husband to make it even better because I want better, I want easier.
Joe Casabona: Okay, this is good. I have one more question about the system, the grocery system before we kind of move on to what you've started to allude to. Right. The result of having this system and that is, do you shop at multiple grocery stores and how do you handle that in the spreadsheet?
FamousAshley Grant:
Okay. Yes, we do. And we actually have up here in Kentucky, we have Kroger, Meyer and Walmart as our main three grocery stores. In Richmond, where I am, I know that in Lexington, there's also Sam's Club and Costco and Publix and all the things. Things. But we're trying to keep it within like a 15 minute drive. So. So we have a column for Kroger, we have a column for Walmart, and we have a common column for Meijer and then we have a miscellaneous stores.
And that column is usually like your Amazon stuff if we need to go to Kohl's because my shoe broke, you know, that kind of stuff. But. But yeah, we have a. Those three columns and we have specific things that we will only get at Kroger, which is usually like your producer juice, because I'm very finicky when it comes to that. And meat, which might sound, you know, silly to some people, but whatever, I'm picky.
Joe Casabona: We do that. We do that too. Right. There's like a higher end grocery store where we get the important stuff and then the lower end grocery store where we get the produced stuff. Right, the en masse stuff.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah, yeah. Like the Hot Pockets.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. Right.
FamousAshley Grant: Yes. So, yeah, we have three columns for our main grocery stores and we add the stuff there. And then what we do is we'll sit in front of the computer and we actually order it all to be picked up. We don't walk through the store anymore because it is not uncommon for us to spend two or three hours literally just walking around the store. And we don't have time for that. So that's another thing that's helped us save money because we're not impulse purchasing anymore. We're not just buying a bunch of crap we don't need because it's very easy.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. Yeah. This is why I'm not allowed to go grocery shopping.
FamousAshley Grant: Me neither. I'm not either. Yeah, yeah. It's. It's very easy to go off script. So. But when you're putting it in from the list to the, to the Kroger app or the Meer app or the Walmart purchase and then you just go and pick it up. It's.
FamousAshley Grant: It's significantly easier and saves a lot of time.
Joe Casabona: I like that.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: I will say, as a Northeasterner, I can't believe that you don't regularly shop at Publix. Because I'm like, that's the store I'm jealous of that you have down in Florida.
FamousAshley Grant: You know what? I was obsessed with Publix whenever I lived in Florida. And until about six months ago, it took two and a half hours to get to a Publix. Now it only takes 45 minutes. So we're we're still going to get my. My things that I have to have. I have to have my peach sweet tea. If, you know. You know, if I'm hankering for a public sub, that's where I go, you know? Oh, my God. Pub subs are like life. I miss them so much. But now I'm. Now I'm hungry. Thanks a lot.
Joe Casabona: So sorry.
FamousAshley Grant: But tonight's meal plan is Asian meatballs, so I gotta stick to the plan.
Joe Casabona: Nice. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: I will say I think I might have committed blasphemy since I live outside Philly now and I. I've possibly put a different story above Wawa, but, like, Wawa.
FamousAshley Grant: Is in Florida too.
Joe Casabona: It is. It is very. One of the few places outside of, like, of the Philly area.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah. And whenever I was still working in a corporate job, I will not. How many times I went there for my breakfast Sammy's.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, I mean, they're. They are. Those are good. Okay, cool. So let's talk about results from the system. I. I can see a few. Right? You, you are saving time. You're potentially eating healthier. You're probably saving money. Give us, Give us the rundown.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah, I mean, everything you said, honestly, we are. We're saving time, we're saving money, and we are eating healthier. And what's interesting is when we started, like, really focusing on doing more of this meal planning, we're eating a lot less bread. And that wasn't intentional. It's just because I guess we have more space to think about the things that we're consuming because we actually have the time to discuss it.
Joe Casabona: Right.
FamousAshley Grant: It's been like, you know, instead of burritos, we're having burrito bowls. Because when we sit down to actually discuss it, it's like, you know, we could make it better. And so, like, even my fish tacos, it's now a fish taco bowl because it just tastes better without the tortilla. And again, a lot of the things I feel like I'm saying are probably so obvious to some people, but when you don't have any systems, you're just flailing and you're spending so much time. And like I said, things were going bad too, like meats we would buy. It's like, well, what am I going to do with this? And then six days later, you're like, well, crap, the meat turned because I forgot to do something with it. You know, the fact that every single thing has a plan is saving us a boatload of cash. And the fact that we don't have to stand there answering that proverbial question of what's for dinner? That question haunts me.
Now, we know the answer. You know, you have these six items to choose from. Pick one. You know, that kind of thing.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. And so I will say, like. I mean, maybe what you're saying is obvious, but, like, it's something we all experience. Like, when we have to throw out unopened meat, it. I die inside.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: Right? And, like. Like, lunch is the worst for me. I hate lunch because I go upstairs and I'm, like, in a rush, and I haven't thought about it, and I'm like, whatever. And that's, like, that is where I am most susceptible to eating unhealthy, right? Because it's like, the morning I'm gonna have like, one of my, like, Atkins protein shakes or whatever, or, like, Greek yogurt. And then by lunchtime, I'm hungry. And also, I'm like, I'm in a rush, right? So. And then, like, for dinner, you know, there's usually some sort of, like, plain meat or whatever. My wife makes dinner, and it's really good.
And so, like, I totally get that. And that's when you plan. You can plan for health, because easy is usually unhealthy. Or. Or when you go out. I went. I went to a smoothie place recently, and I was like, hey, do you have any, like, low carb? You know, I was saying before we started recording I have type 2 diabetes smoothies. And they said, oh, well, we have this one, like, vegetable smoothie.
And I'm like, no, thank you, because I don't like vegetables. And then they said, but you can ask for any without added sugar. And I'm like, what do you mean, added sugar? They add an entire cup of sugar. Oh, my God, that's insane. To their smoothies. I'm like, how come that's not on the menu? You have banana, peanut butter, whey protein, yogurt. No cup of sugar, right? So I'm like. I'm really glad I asked, because I, like, I would have died.
It would have been, like, 130 carbs or whatever. Which, for those who are unfamiliar, like you, for a snack, you should chew for, like, for pre diabetics or diabetics. Like, 15 type 2 diabetics. I should say, like, 15 carbs. Wow. Right? So, like, almost 10 times that.
FamousAshley Grant: That's insane. Like, yeah.
Joe Casabona: Wild, right?
FamousAshley Grant: No wonder they taste so good. They're just pure sugar.
Joe Casabona: They're pure sugar.
FamousAshley Grant: Well, I guess that's why they started adding the calorie count to the menu.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, right, exactly. And I'll tell you what, it was just as good without the added sugar good. Like, I mean, maybe not just as good, but it was very good. Because peanut butter and banana is amazing.
FamousAshley Grant: I'm partial to very, very. I've been doing a lot of that lately, but I've been making it because it's on the meal plan.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, absolutely. So, like, I think, like, what you're saying, it maybe is obvious if you sit down to think about it. But like, most people, especially, you know, again, you're running a business and you have kids. It's. It's really hard. And so having a system like this in place is really smart.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah. And it only happened because I had no choice. Like, it got to that point where I literally had no choice. And I don't want that for other people. I want them to be able to choose to do it, not feel like they have to do it. But I will tell you, the amount of. Of brain space it has given back, like, we're getting things done that are on our. We call it our homework to do list, because there's things around the home that don't have anything to do with business that have to be done.
Even those things are finally getting accomplished, all because we have it put somewhere we don't have to think about it anymore. I remember just last year, my cousin, she got pulled over and got a ticket because she hadn't renewed her driver's license or not. Driver's license, her license plate. And me, whenever I receive the little notice that says, you know, renew your license plate, it goes in the calendar immediately. And so I'm getting a constant reminder to take care of it. And just the fact that we have this, like, we can add it to the calendar the second we get it, it's on our phone. You know, we were. Even though we were on our way somewhere and I had it, you know, I got the mail and then we were going somewhere, I still was able to put it in my phone right away.
And that's a, That's something I'm still trying to build on. I'm still really bad at it. Like, I'll forget sometimes, and I. I get in trouble when I do because I. I can't stand the fact that I forget things now, especially since there's a place to put them. But it's been helping not only with productivity and time savings, it's been helping with creativity. Like, I now have a place to park all My ideas too.
Like article ideas for, you know, anyone or for myself. Podcast ideas. Like, we have a place they go and so I don't have to sit here with all these things swimming in my head anymore, blocking my ability to actually function. I can work and I can get it done. And it's, it's, again, it's still something we're, we're working on to make it even better, but just the fact that we finally sat down and we had these hard conversations and we spent the time to do it, it's. It's been so helpful and I'd highly recommend it. Five out of five stars.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, I've said the same exact thing, right? Like, like I put automations and systems in place because I had a panic attack and then my daughter had to take care of me.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: And I don't want other people to experience that. So, like, heed our warnings, dear listener. Life happens quickly and it's hard. And anything you can do to make it easier, even if it's a Google sheet, Right. Or like a reminders list.
FamousAshley Grant: Yep.
Joe Casabona: Right. I think the most important thing, and you touched on this when you mentioned, like, you can do things from your Android phone is, is quick capture, right. Like, easy. I make it so that I push a button on my watch and I can talk into it and then I get an email. Right. Or like I make it so that, like there's a button on, on my home screen to add to do items. Right. Like, like doing that so that you can do stuff or like, remember stuff in the moment is going to make life so much easier for you.
FamousAshley Grant:
It's funny you say that, because I actually, I've even gotten to where like, I was having a conversation with my mom and we were sitting there talking about something and I didn't want to forget what we were talking about, so I was like, hey, I'm going to start recording this conversation. And I literally just did. I started recording it, I threw it into Cast Magic and I then pulled the transcript and I'm like, hey, these are the things we talked about and we need to take care of them. And she's like, how the hell do you remember that? And I'm like, because I recorded it.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. Yeah. I didn't remember it. I captured it. Right, Exactly. This is so this is. And I'll, I'll say this to all the people who are like, ah, if it's good enough, it'll come back to me. It won't.
FamousAshley Grant: No, it won't.
Joe Casabona: Once it's gone, it's gone.
FamousAshley Grant: And actually, no, I'm gonna. I'm gonna correct you on that. Yeah, it will come back. It'll come back at three in the morning when you're like, crap, I meant to do that.
Joe Casabona: That.
FamousAshley Grant: Now what do I do?
Joe Casabona: Yes.
FamousAshley Grant: So that's when it'll come back. It'll come back in a moment of stress and panic.
Joe Casabona: Yep.
FamousAshley Grant: And it doesn't have to.
Joe Casabona: And then you'll fall asleep and say, I'll remember that in the morning. And you won't.
FamousAshley Grant: And you won't.
Joe Casabona: And you won't.
FamousAshley Grant: Write it down. Yeah, capture it.
Joe Casabona: Yes, capture it.
FamousAshley Grant: As. As Ryan Reynolds famously says in Van Wilder, Write that down.
Joe Casabona: Write that down. Oh, my gosh. Another excellent reference.
FamousAshley Grant: Yes.
Joe Casabona: Oh, man, I'm gonna watch that movie which came out. Was it, what, 1999, I think sounds right. 2001, when I was but a teenage boy. And I'm gonna hope it aged well.
FamousAshley Grant: I have to tell you that he's the reason I'm wearing the shirt that I'm wearing. Let the Shenanigans begin. Because he worked at Shenanigans in the movie Waiting. Yep.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, yeah. Yes. So welcome to Shenanigans.
FamousAshley Grant: Welcome to Shenanigans.
Joe Casabona: Gosh.
FamousAshley Grant: Yep. Another great, great movie.
Joe Casabona: Yes. I'm gonna share something with you off air.
FamousAshley Grant: All right.
Joe Casabona: April 2002. I was close. God, such a great movie. Okay, Famous Ashley Grant. Let's end with this question. Why is it Famous Ashley Grant?
FamousAshley Grant: All right, so I'm gonna give you the quick and dirty version. Basically, I was working for Channel 10 down in Tampa.
Joe Casabona: Tampa.
FamousAshley Grant: And I was working for their. I guess you'd call it their affiliate metro mix. And I was going out and doing all kinds of bar reviews, restaurant reviews, like, all the things I was covering events, taking pictures everywhere, and I started to be recognized a lot of places. And there was this guy, his name is Ron, and he happened to work for the Don Cesar at the time. He was concierge there, and he was called Ron from the daughter on. And he was known for giving reporters alcohol. He was known for that. He would.
He would buy them a drink at every event, or if there was free tickets, he'd give them, you know, extra free tickets to. To give them a drink. And so he kept seeing me and he blurted out one day, oh, my God, it's the famous Ashley Grant. And the whole night, the man literally introduced me to every person as, do you know famous Ashley Grant? She works with Channel 2 10, blah, blah, blah. And he kept saying it as he continues bringing Me, white wine. And that night I. I ordered business cards and I put Famous Ashley Grant.
Joe Casabona: Yes.
FamousAshley Grant: Because as one does in a drunken stupor. And when they came, it was like, well, crap, what do I do with them now? And I started handing them out because I was like, well, what else am I supposed to do? And people either laughed or they rolled their eyes. But the big thing was they didn't forget who I was. They remember. And I was like, that's it. I'm buying the domain name. That's going to be my blog name, and the rest is history.
Joe Casabona: I love that.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: And so for. Yeah.
FamousAshley Grant: Yeah. And the funny thing is, in Sarasota, at SRQ magazine, there's an Ashley Grant. And people used to call me looking for her and they'd be like, are you Ashley Grant from SRQ magazine? And I'd say, no, I'm the famous one, which is awful. And Ashley Grant of srq, I think you're amazing. I still see your stuff in Google Trends and Google Alone Alerts, but. But yeah, that's. That's kind of how it all started.
Joe Casabona: You gotta stay on brand.
FamousAshley Grant: Yes, exactly.
Joe Casabona: I learned that there was another Joe Casabono when our pediatrician called me and said, Joe needs his booster shots. And my mom said, Joe's 11. And so there was another Joe Casabona in my town seeing my pediatrician who was born 10 years after me or 11 years after me.
FamousAshley Grant: That's wild.
Joe Casabona: Yes. So weird and fun. Famous Ashley Grant, thanks for joining us today. If people want to learn more about you, where can they find you?
FamousAshley Grant: I'm atFamousAshley Grant:.com and if you look up Famous Ashley Grant on any socials, it may not be that exact handle, but you'll still find me.
Joe Casabona: Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining us again. Thank you to everybody listening.
If you want to find this and every episode in the show notes and join the mail mailing list and all that fun stuff, you can head over to [streamlined.fm]. That's [streamlined.fm].
Thanks again for listening, and until next time. I hope you find some space in your weekend.