My friend, Erin, over at The Humbled Homemaker has a great post up on how to enjoy read-aloud books with your kids despite a busy schedule.
Shared Oct 30, 2015
comment
2hr Cleaning Checklist
Classic View
Grid View
Stop Feeling Guilty About Being An Introvert
I love my family, oh yes I do. But as an introvert, my souls craves some quiet in each day… A time to collect my thoughts, to plan out the day, to breathe, to count my blessings, and to have my soul fed with the life-giving words from God’s Word. I’m a better wife and mom when I make this quiet a priority.
It might mean getting out of bed a little bit earlier than I feel like some mornings, but it is so worth it! Even just 10 or 15 minutes of quiet can make all the difference in my attitude and peace as I face each day.
For the longest time, however, I felt badly that I needed quiet. That I couldn’t just go-go-go and not need to recharge.
I love people, don’t get me wrong, but after about 3-4 hours, I crave a little quiet. I wondered what was wrong with me that I just didn’t want to be with people all of the time. I wondered why I felt so drained after being with people for an extended period of time.
I kept wondering why I felt such a need for alone time to refuel my tank often. I wanted to be more outgoing and energetic. I thought I was supposed to love being around people constantly.
But then, I took the Meyers-Briggs test, and that changed everything! I discovered that my personality type is INTJ. Part of that means that I’m an Introvert!
I’m a high introvert, according to the test, which means I don’t want to seclude myself in a cave, but it does mean that I refuel by quiet. That being with people, people, people and never having a break to recharge my tank will make me feel stressed and even grouchy.
Taking the Meyers-Briggs test was life-changing for me. Not only did it help me understand myself better, but it’s helped me relate better to other people — especially when I understand their personality type. Most of all, it’s helped me to stop feeling guilty about being an Introvert and instead embrace this important part of who I am.
I have learned that I can’t keep going when I am “peopled out” and I have to give myself permission to be an Introvert and have quiet.
Why am I sharing this? Because I know that many of you can probably relate to this, and I want to encourage you to make it a priority to take time for yourself. If you are an Introvert, you will be a better wife, mom, co-worker, friend, or whatever hats you wear when you take time to fill up yourself with what you need.
I think it’s also incredibly important to understand the difference between Introverts and Extroverts, so that in relationships we learn how to relate to one another. It helps us understand that certain attributes are just personality differences, and not something we should be offended, hurt, or upset by.
Are you an Extrovert or an Introvert? In what ways have you learned to embrace this part of your personality? And how has knowing this helped you relate to others?
P.S. I found this article so fascinating: 23 Signs You’re Secretly An Introvert. 22 out of the 23 are spot-on for me!
How I Went From Being a Hobby Blogger to Making an Income
Melanie at Gather For Bread has a great post up on how she went from hobby blogger to making an income. Here’s a snippet:
I remember that very first day that I made a couple pennies from ad income here on the blog. I literally did a happy dance in my living room. I was over the moon excited.
Who knew that I could do what I love and make a few bucks? I certainly didn’t. I definitely started my blog as a hobby. When I first started, I wasn’t even sure what to focus on. There were recipes and marriage posts and parenting posts. And I’m still passionate about all those things.
But over time, I realized that I had limited time (just like we all do) and in order to focus and fine tune I had to cut some things out. So in 2014 I cut back to posting mostly recipes. I rarely blogged on any other topics because I wanted to be a better photographer. I wanted to be a better food blogger. I wanted to focus on quality over quantity.
Shared Oct 29, 2015
comment
Q&A: “How can I make sure that I don’t fall for a work-at-home scam?”
Q&A: “How can I make sure that I don’t fall for a work-at-home scam?”
There are so many work-at-home scams out there, and it is important to be careful! Watch my video above for the most important clues that a work-at-home offer is a scam.
Looking for more tips & advice? Sign up for my FREE 5-day How I Make a Full-Time Income From Home course!
How I’ve Simplified My Wardrobe
When I first started blogging, I had a barebones minimalist wardrobe with just 6 tops and 6 bottoms, and that was it. For real.
I did a video on my minimalist wardrobe and people could not believe that that was possible. But I’m just such a simple person that it worked for me.
Yes, I re-wore many things over and over and over again. Yes, people saw me in the same outfits all the time, but I honestly didn’t care because it kept my life so simple.
It eliminated decision fatigue, it made it easy to keep my closet organized, and it freed up time and space in my life for things that were higher priorities to me than how I looked and dressed.
Over time, as I’ve done more speaking engagements, interviews, business meetings, TV, and video, I’ve realized I need to adjust and expand some from my long time “6 tops and 6 bottoms” wardrobe. (I quickly found that one dressier/business outfit just didn’t cut it — especially when I was on a 3 or 4-day business trip!)
At first, this was really hard for me. I don’t like shopping. I don’t like messing with figuring out clothes and outfits. And it just felt stressful — especially when I would need to get something new because I’d be doing a video interview and they’d say I needed to wear a solid color top or dress that matched with this type of background and wasn’t in these colors.
I took some time to really evaluate and figure out what would work best for my current life season, allow me to have enough options to choose from for different occasions, and also not result in me having more than I need or use.
Instead of having a set wardrobe standard where I only have X number of outfits, I’ve arrived at a really great happy place with what a minimalist wardrobe looks like for me based upon principles, rather than specifics.
These are the principles that have helped me embrace a minimalist wardrobe while also feeling great about myself.
{Keep in mind that this is what works for me, and different things work best for different people. I encourage you to take from this what you can, and then adopt it to fit your lifestyle and individual preferences.}
1. Know Your Colors
If you pay attention to what I wear, you’ll notice I only wear a couple of colors — mostly greens and blues, with a few other colors thrown in. I have found the colors that I absolutely love, that make me feel great, complement my skin, and make my eyes pop.
Knowing my colors has also helped simplify shopping for me! When I walk into a store, I don’t feel overwhelmed by all of the choices. I go straight to my favorite colors that I know will make me feel great.
I highly recommend the helpful book Color Me Beautiful to help guide you through the process of figuring out what your best colors are. I also found the book, Help Me Jesus I Have Nothing to Wear to be helpful, too.
2. Know Your Style
There are different styles for different people, and there are different styles for different body types. The Dressing Your Truth course helped me figure out my style, completely changed the way I dressed, and made me feel much more confident about myself each day.
With the help of this course, I discovered that I like and look best in classic styles, tailored items, and straight lines (I’m a Type 4). Those beautiful, flow-y shirts that look SO gorgeous on some of my friends simply do not work on my body type. (Seriously, I look like I’m wearing a bag when I try on something like that. Plus, I just feel plain frumpy — despite how cute it looks on someone else!)
Parts of theDressing Your Truth course are a little “out there” and weird to me, but I found the core principles of this course to be truly life changing. You can read my review about it here.
Note: The course is a little bit pricey, so I recommend trying out the Dressing Your Truth eBook first to see if it’s really worth it for you. There are also a number of free videos online with more information that will give you a great peak into what the course is about. If you find these helpful, then you might want to try out the full Dressing Your Truth course.
3. Only Own What You Love
In The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, the author says it is important to constantly ask yourself, “Does this item spark joy?” Take a look at your wardrobe piece by piece and ask yourself this question. Don’t hang on to anything you don’t like anymore, doesn’t fit you, is worn out, might be the wrong size, or that you don’t absolutely love wearing.
Think, “Am I wearing this because it looks cute on someone else? Or is it because I really love it?” As with everything in life, comparison steals joy. Focus on what works for you, and what makes you feel amazing when you put it on.
Get rid of anything that does not make you feel great every time you put it on.
4. Shop Your Closet First
It’s so easy to feel discontent and think that you need more clothes or “don’t have anything to wear”. But when you feel like that, instead of running to the mall or to shop online, start by looking at what you already have in your closet.
It’s possible that you have a closet full of clothes that you aren’t wearing. Start there.
Go through what you already have and ask yourself, “Do I love this? Have I worn this recently? Could I pair this with something I already have to make a ‘new’ outfit?
Just by going through what you already have, you might discover some items you completely forgot about, put together some new looks, and realize you don’t even need to go shopping at all!
5. Only Buy What You Absolutely Love
This goes hand-in-hand with only owning what you love. There is no point in buying something that you don’t absolutely love.
When you’re in the dressing room, make sure you are 100% convinced that this item you are thinking of buying is your style and color, that it fits well, and that it pairs well with other pieces and accessories you already own.
If not, don’t buy it. Just don’t.
Otherwise, there’s a good chance you won’t wear it. You’ll keep it in your closet for the day when you find “the perfect shoes to match” or “the right pants to go with it” or for when you get back down to a size 8 again.
Save yourself the trouble, the clutter, and the money and just don’t buy it in the first place. I don’t care how good of a deal it is, it’s not a good deal for you if you don’t love it and aren’t going to wear it regularly!
6. Aim For Versatility
People usually think I have more clothes in my closet than I do, because most of my clothes are quite versatile. I aim to have most items in my closet be things I can mix & match and use to put together different looks and outfits.
For instance, I recently got three dresses from Stitch Fix (see my completely honest review of Stitch Fix here). I kept them not only because they fit so well, but also because I instantly realized I could wear them during both the summer or winter months. In the summer months, I can wear them as a sun dress with sandals. In the colder months, I can add leggings, a cardigan, and a scarf for a completely different look.
Note: Putting Me Together is an amazing blog that gives moms very practical and doable ideas for mix and matching clothing pieces to come up with an almost endless number of different cute and simple looks. I highly recommend checking it out!
What are your favorite tips, tricks, and resources for simplifying your wardrobe? Tell us in the comments!
10 Creative Ways to Earn $500 Per Month From Home
Rachel from Smart Mom Smart Ideas has a great post up on 10 creative ways to earn $500 per month from home. Here’s a snippet:
Are you a stay at home mom that would like to add a little to your family income every month? Maybe you work full-time or part-time but would still like to increase your income with a side hustle? With a little creativity, everyone can find jobs and earn extra money working at home.
Let’s make $500 extra dollars a month your starting point. You can break $500 several different ways to determine the type of work you might complete to reach your goal. For example, you could work 10 hours during the month for $50 per hour or 20 hours for $25 per hour or you could work 5o hours for $10 per hour.
After you decide an hourly rate for your time, you can also decide how many weeks you want to work each month. Do you want to do all the work in 1 week or just a few hours every week during the month? Remember, the more you can charge per hour for your services the fewer hours you will need to work to reach the goal.
How Money-Making Mom is Changing My Family
Brigett Holmes has an inspiring post up today on how Money-Making Mom is changing her family. Here’s a snippet:
Have you ever been stuck in a rut? You had a vision (or maybe you still have that vision), but you just don’t know how to attain it? Maybe you even started down a path that was sure to lead to your vision, but then something happened, life happened! Well, I just described myself, but maybe some of you can relate too.
It was almost a year ago when I decided to bite the bullet and start this blog. It was a decision that had been several years and much prayer in the making. It was a bold decision, but it was an exciting decision. I had dreams, a vision, and somewhat of a plan. I began researching and learning. It was fun, tiring, and sometimes very frustrating, but it felt right and it felt good to take action!
Then somewhere along the way, life, kids, homeschool, family happened. And I began to wonder if I had made the right decision. I knew that
anything worth having is worth the effort to achieve it.
But I began to wonder if maybe I had missed God’s leading or if I just wasn’t supposed to have a home based business. Maybe my motivations were wrong. (Tell me you’ve struggled with those same doubts and fears! That I’m not alone.)
How We Saved $60,000 in 10 Months!
Guest post from Elizabeth of Reluctant Landlord
From August, 2014, through June, 2015, my husband was deployed on the USS Vincent. I knew that his time away was going to have some incredible challenging moments… and I knew the key to my success was having a large goal that took focus to achieve. This would allow me to not only feel like I had something to show for his time away, but also something that took my mind off him being gone.
My dream is to eventually be able to stay home with my children and run our rental business on the side. Before my husband was deployed we had 5 rentals properties; and while he was gone, my goal was to buy two more properties!
I knew that if I could save $60,000 while he was gone, we would be able to achieve both of these dreams!
Here are nine thing that helped me accomplish my goals.
1. We Downsized Our Housing
I moved out of my 4-bedroom 2-bath house that cost me almost $1700 (utilities and mortgage) and move into our deployed friends’ much smaller house for $650 a month.
Living in a much smaller space was less than comfortable, however, it saved us a significant amount of money and allowed us to rent out our larger home. Not only did we save almost $1200 a month, we were able to rent our house out for more than our mortgage.
2. I Practiced Bare Minimum Shopping
Since my husband was deployed on a boat and I had no room for another ounce of stuff. I only bought what was absolutely necessarily. There was no extra shopping because there was no place to put it!
3. I Took a Higher Paying, Higher Demand Position
Six months before my husband deployed, I was offered a great job at the next county over. It was a part-time position with no benefits, but perfect for our lifestyle.
Then, right before he deployed, I was offered a huge promotion and pay increase for a position that would also require many more hours. While the extra hours meant I had less of a family life, this pay increase went along way to help me achieve my goal.
4. We Lived Off of One Income
We have always lived off of one income by putting all of my income into a separate account. This way, it’s more difficult for me to get at the money. 🙂
5. We Put Every Penny of Rental Income Into Savings
Our other rentals made a little over $1000 a month. Through tight lease management and working with our tenants, we were able to fix many of the maintenance calls that came up while he was gone. This allowed us to put every penny of our rental income toward our new house purchases.
6. I Made Large-Batch Freezer Meals for One
A good friend of mine encouraged me to learn to make freezer meals for one so that I could eat healthier and also save money. This was so successful and it reduced food spoilage!
7. I Started a Blog
I knew I needed something to keep me occupied in the evenings, since my husband was mostly unreachable. A friend encouraged me to start a blog, and I soon realized how much I enjoyed writing and teaching others about how to be successful as a landlord. Now I had something to do at night and another income source.
8. I Had a Cheerleader
If you ask me, it’s so important to have someone who cheers you on and lifts you up on bad days.
Operating on such a tight budget had many “moments”, and the main reason I made it through these moments was due to the cheerleaders in my life. They held my hand let and pushed me to remember my goals.
9. I Made it Fun
Even though we were on a very tight budget, we still made sure there was enough money for me to visit my husband on three different port calls, and to do a cheap California adventure with 2 friends over Christmas. Thanks to shopping around for cheap flights and thinking outside the box, we did it all and it didn’t hurt our budget!
Being a military spouse has taught me that any lemon, no matter how sour, can be turned into lemonade — some just takes a little more sugar than others!
I hope my story inspires you to turn those crummy experiences into amazing life-changing moments that bless you for the rest of your life. While I would never have chosen for my husband to go on a 10-month deployment, it turned into a very positive experience.
What hard situations have you turned into positive and life-changing situations?
Elizabeth is an entrepreneur who is turning her love of rental properties into a work-from-home position. Follow her at Reluctant Landlord.
Walgreens Buys Out Rite Aid Stores
There is some pretty big news today for all of us who play the drug store game.
Walgreens plans to buy out all of the Rite Aid stores by the end of 2015. It looks like Rite Aid will continue to operate under its own brand name, even though it will be owned by Walgreens.
I’ll be interested to see what this means for couponers at Rite Aid.
This has definitely been a long time coming, as there have been rumors of Rite Aid closing down for years now.
What do you think about this news as a Rite Aid or Walgreens customer?
Q&A: “How do I pick a name for my business?”
Branding is crucial. You don’t just represent your brand…you are your brand! Do not rush this process. It will take a while to make this decision.
Watch the video above for specific advice on how to go through the step-by-step process of picking the perfect name for your business.
Looking for more tips & advice? Sign up for my FREE 5-day How I Make a Full-Time Income From Home course!
OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!
Click here to download!
I guess I ran out of excuses…
We stayed up way too late last night watching our #Royals win the first game of the World Series. {Woot!! Though 14 innings is a really long baseball game!}
So I slept in this morning, skipped scoping, and was thinking of skipping my workout. And then, of course, I open up the Choose Gratitude Blessings Journal that *I* wrote and here are my words staring up at me from the page.
Argh. I guess I don’t have any excuses now. 🙂
Shared Oct 27, 2015
comment
Q&A: ” What’s one of the biggest mistakes people make when starting a business?”
Q&A: ” What’s one of the biggest mistakes people make when starting a business?”
This may seem like basic budgeting 101, but if you aren’t making money, you will sink quickly. It is SO important to make sure your income exceeds your expenses.
Work hard to keep your profit margins high and your costs low. Always consider how you will work to increase your income in order to make up for a financial investment in your business.
Looking for more tips & advice? Sign up for my FREE 5-day How I Make a Full-Time Income From Home course!
How to Turn Your Favorite Hobby Into a Profitable Business
Kalyn over at Creative Savings has a great post up on how to turn your favorite hobby into a profitable business. Here’s a snippet:
I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I didn’t want to hold a 9-5 job, sit in a cubicle all day, and do it over and over again until the day I retired, or died. I know that sounds pretty morbid, but it’s true! I literally feel like a caged animal whenever I work for someone else. That’s how desperately I wanted to be my own boss.
So it’s no surprise all sorts of business ideas popped into my head after I graduated college. Okay, who am I kidding….I actually started some of these ideas during college!
It would take forever to list them all here {yep, there’s a lot!}, but suffice it say, if I was pretty good at something, I had to find a way to make it profitable. One of these hobbies was cake decorating. I took all the classes at Michaels, and fell in love with the craft.
Failure is Hard. The End.
Today we’re talking about chapters 1 and 2 of Rising Strong by Brene Brown.
I’m only two chapters in and I’m already loving this book so much. In fact, it is exactly what I need to be reading right now.
The introduction stopped me in my tracks. Especially when she talks about how we sometimes sugar coat failure and dismiss how hard and painful it can be.
I loved this quote:
“But embracing failure without acknowledging the real hurt and fear that it can cause, or the complex journey that underlies rising strong, is gold-plating grit. To strip failure of its real emotional consequences is to scrub the concepts of grit and resilience of the very qualities that make them both so important — toughness, doggedness, and perseverance.”
This last year has been hard. It’s been full of heavy things and stretching things for me as a business owner.
I started the year with gusto. I was pumped and excited.
We had a plan. We had put some great things into place. We had streamlined some things, changed up some positions, and brought in some reinforcements in areas where we were weak. And it looked like it was going to be an amazing year.
And then things got hard. Stuff didn’t pan out like we expected. I made some big mistakes. Others on my team made some big mistakes. There were miscommunications. There was tension. And I struggled to know how to lead in what turned out to be some very difficult situations.
I can’t share the details of these situations because they involve people other than me and this is not the place or time for that, but suffice it to say, it’s been rough.
I’ve wanted to quit. I’ve wanted to walk away from it all. But I felt like I needed to stay strong, fight through, and push forward. Wasn’t that what a good leader does?
So I put on my brave face, I stuffed down those feelings of hurt and frustration, and I pressed forward… all the while reeling from the weight of it all.
But yesterday, as I read the first two chapters of Rising Strong, I felt this weight come off my shoulders. That I don’t need to try to stuff it in and suck it up. That it’s okay to acknowledge how hard this past year has been for me, how disappointed I’ve felt over the setbacks and crumbled dreams, how mentally and emotionally exhausting it’s been, and how lonely it has felt at times.
I’m writing this, not because I’m asking for pity, but because I want to share how this book is impacting me on a very personal level. And also because I think it’s easy to look at someone like me and think that, “It must be nice to be so successful.”
Honestly, the success that has come over the past few years has also brought some of the greatest pain with it. The pain of losing people you thought were your friends because they were jealous over opportunities you were given. The pain of being talked about like you’re some sort of object. The pain of people misunderstanding and criticizing decisions you made. The pain of betrayal. The pain of having your parenting choices and life choices being raked over the coals and ripped apart…
Success truly does comes with its own set of hard things.
And while I want to focus on my blessings and walk in the confidence that I am enough, Brene’s book is challenging me to also be more honest about how much some of this pain has hurt.
I don’t need to write blog posts about these things, but I do need to acknowledge this personally and to my inner circle of friends. I need to have safe places where I can be completely vulnerable — without having to feel like I need to sugar coat or stuff anything.
“Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”
Did you read the first two chapters of Rising Strong? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Shared Oct 26, 2015
comment
Q&A: “How can I start a business even if I don’t have a lot of extra money to invest in it?”
Q&A: “How can I start a business even if I don’t have a lot of extra money to invest in it?”
I’m a firm believer in avoiding debt, especially when starting a business. Pouring thousands of dollars of loans into a business before you can afford it is never a good idea.
This is why I’m a huge advocate of growing your income before you grow your expenses. For example, when I started my online business, we could not even afford Internet. I got creative and signed up for a 3-month trial for AOL dial-up Internet.
Every time I called to cancel my service before the trial was up, they wouldn’t let me. For over two years, they let me keep my slow Internet for free. I was SO excited when the day finally arrived that I could pay for Internet!
Sure, this means there will be sacrifices to make in the beginning, but it will be so worth it later on when you don’t have a huge pile of debt to face.
Looking for more tips & advice? Sign up for my FREE 5-day How I Make a Full-Time Income From Home course!