Jamerrill has a great post up sharing her $620 once-a-month grocery shopping haul for a family of 9, plus her 4-week meal plan. If you have a large family, I think you’ll be inspired by her post.
Shared Jul 19, 2016
comment
Summer Bucket List
Classic View
Grid View
Shared Jul 18, 2016
comment
How to eliminate the calendar clutter & regain peace in your life!
How to eliminate the calendar clutter & regain peace in your life!
For 15 days, we’re exploring the topic of making our health and well-being a priority as part of the 15 Days to a Healthier You series. You can read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here, and Day 6 here.
Paper clutter, an overloaded email inbox, and lots of stuff in your house that you don’t love and use, can drain you, bog you down, and zap your energy and creativity.
But it’s not just physical clutter and excess stuff that can bog us down; calendar clutter is a huge cause of exhaustion and burnout. It’s not only a joy-killer and a creativity-killer; it could also be hurting your overall health.
I get it.
There’s so much we want to do. There’s so much we need to do. And there’s so much that seems like a good idea to do.
If you’re a driven person like me, you constantly have so many ideas and brainstorms and dreams and hopes and goals for what you want to do with your life, what you want to do with your year, what you want to do with each week.
And it’s great to dream about all these amazing things you want to accomplish, but the reality is that overextending yourself and packing your schedule so full with “good stuff” doesn’t make for a great life at all… it makes for an overwhelming life.
So, what’s the solution? Well, we have to get ruthless with our calendar clutter.
It can sound simple on the surface, but just like it’s sometimes challenging to keep physical clutter at bay and to know what to hang onto and what to get rid of, so it can be hard to figure out how to eliminate the calendar clutter, too.
Not sure how to do that? Here’s some step-by-step help to get you started:
1. Choose Your “Best Stuff”
There are many good things in life that you can invest your life in, but you can’t come close to trying to do them all. Figure out what the best things are for YOU and wrap your life, time, and energy around those things. Again, this goes back to knowing what your most important priorities are for the season of life you’re in.
When you know what is important for you, it’s much easier to determine what’s NOT important for you to do.
For me, that’s my marriage, my kids, my health and well-being, and the blog. I say “no” to a lot of other things because they are the best things for me to invest my time in at this season of life.
Related: Stop Trying to Be Awesome & Instead Be Wise
2. Create a Stop Doing List
I love this quote from Breaking Busy by Alli Worthington:
“Our lives have gotten so cluttered with things we think we should do, that we can’t figure out what we were meant to do. Let your life be about what you were meant to do, not full of what you think you should do. This starts with your daily decisions about how you spend your time.”
Alli then goes on in her book to encourage you to create what she calls a “Stop Doing List” — a list of items you intentionally decide to not do so that you can focus your time and energy on your greatest priorities.
She says the best way to identify what you need to stop doing is by asking yourself these two questions: What is sucking the life right out of me? Does this activity get me closer to reaching my goals?
Related: How to Create a Realistic To-Do List
3. Carve Out Intentional Breathing Room
You might be able to juggle a lot of things and do a good job of it, but you aren’t nor will you ever be superwoman. You need to set aside buffer time in your schedule — to recharge, to refuel, and to prevent burn-out.
Some practical ideas for more breathing room in your life:
Stay Home More — I love staying home and we aim to stay home all day at least 1-2 days per week. When we are running, running, running, and going, going, going, it makes us all feel tired and cranky.
Allow Two Hours of Margin — A lot of our feelings of busyness come from trying to pack 32 hours’ worth of projects and to-do’s into a 24-hour day. No wonder we feel so overwhelmed and worn out! I use a time-blocked to-do list and I try to always include at least 2 hours of margin every day so that I have some wiggle room for the inevitable interruptions. Expect the unexpected, plan for the interruptions, and it will alleviate a lot of stress in your day!
Take One Day Off — Setting aside Sundays as our “off” day has been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. In fact, I would say it is almost the number one key to my productivity and efficiency. I look forward to Sundays as the weekly 24-hour period to rest, refresh, and recharge. You’ll quickly wear out of you just charge through life and never take time to refuel. Sundays are the day when my spirit breathes and my creativity tank is refilled for the week ahead.
4. Commit to Quality Over Quantity
When considering the multitude of opportunities that constantly present themselves for activities, ministries, service projects, and more, I try to first ask myself, “Will this matter in 25 years from now?” This helps me weed through a lot of things that just aren’t the best things for me to be devoting time and energy to right now.
After paring down my list based upon that question, I then try to focus on quality versus quantity. I’d rather do a few things really well, than a hundred things pretty poorly.
You’ve got to set your foot down, create boundaries, and say no. This doesn’t mean you always say no to everything and it doesn’t always mean that you say no every time. But it does mean that you realize that you are the one calling the shots. If an opportunity or idea is going to put extra strain on your home and family, you are the boss and you have the final say.
It’s easy to forget this and start feeling obligated to people and projects, so I encourage you to ask yourself a few hard questions before committing to something:
- “When am I going to find the time to do this?”
- “Is this going to take time and effort away from my most important priorities?”
- “What is going to be the return on my investment of time?”
By carefully considering commitments before saying yes to them, I’m able to really, really give my best to those few things I’m saying yes to. I’m able to focus on them, pour into them, and give my all to them instead of giving my leftovers or what little tiny capacity I could muster up because I was stretched so thin and exhausted by all the demands of the other things I’ve committed to.
Related: The 10-10-10 Analysis & How It’s Changing My Life
[makeover_calendar_form]
Day 7 Project
- Create a Best Stuff List and a Stop Doing List. This exercise alone should give you enormous clarity when it comes to calendar clutter.
- Do you have enough breathing room built into your life? Do you need to make changes in your schedule and commitments in order to allow for more intentional margin in your life?
- Design a list of questions you ask yourself before saying yes to anything. You can see the questions I’m currently asking myself this year before saying yes to an opportunity.
More Helpful Resources:
- Check out my list of my Top 10 Favorite Books on Productivity & Time Management.
- Read Mandi’s post on The 4 C’s to Creating Margin and my post on How to Get Off the Hamster Wheel & Stop Feeling So Rushed
- Grab a copy of my book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, or The Best Yes or Breaking Busy for more practical help how to prevent overwhelm.
- Download my FREE 7-day Make Over Your Calendar Course for all my best tips on how I organize my schedule, plan my days, and get more done!
Helping the Homeless for (almost) Free!
Guest post from Katie of Saving You Everything
I am a social worker by training, and every time I see a homeless person in my city, I try to decide on the best way to help them.
Should I give them money? Should I try to tell them where a shelter is? Is this a scam? Are they just faking?
Whatever the case, I feel compelled to — and NOT just because I’m a social worker. I want to help them because I’m human and so are they… and they are asking for help.
I decided to use my “coupon super powers” to make what my hubby and I call our Mobile Homeless Outreach Bags. Now, when we see someone asking for money or food, we simply reach into the backseat of our car and hand them a bag with toiletries and food!
Most of the people are stunned. One guy started to tear up and asked if we wanted our bag back!
Our Mobile Homeless Outreach Bags
Most of our bags usually cost less than $3 to make, and sometimes they are totally free. Here’s what we put inside (along with an estimated cost breakdown).
- 1-bottle of water (I get a 6-pack of bottled water for $0.55/pack)
- 1-toothbrush & tube of toothpaste (free at Walgreens after coupon and Register Reward)
- 1-deodorant (free at CVS after coupon & ECB)
- 2-Bic Disposable Razors (free at Walgreens after Balance Rewards points)
- 1-can of Nivea shave cream (free at Dollar Tree w/a coupon)
- 3 pack of Underwear $1.00 (this might seem weird, but I’ve heard from several shelters that underwear and socks are hardly ever donated. The size may or not be the right one, but I figure it’s better than nothing.)
- 1-pair socks (our Goodwill has new socks for $0.55/pair)
- Shampoo, conditioner, bar soap (from a friend who gives me her hotel toiletries from trips)
- 1-body poof ( I buy these in a 3-pack from Dollar Tree) and then I use a sturdy zip-top bag to put these in
- Misc. snacks that I get for free from the store — crackers, potted meats, hard candy, etc.
- 1-backpack (my work always has promo backpacks that are free for the taking)
The total is right around $1.88 per bag
That’s just $1.88 to help someone out, even if it’s just for a few days-to let them know that they are loved by someone.
I think this could be a great summertime project for kids.
If you don’t feel comfortable handing these out yourself, call around to local shelters to see if you can donate the bags to their efforts. Also, each year, local Girl Scout troops collect hygiene items for their April Showers campaign. Consider saving items for their collection.
Katie lives in St Louis, MO, and blogs over at Saving You Everything. She started blogging in an effort to show others how easy it is to save time, money, and even sometimes the Earth. By using what she has on hand and ‘making do’ she’s able to save money and help others in the process. She has been radically inspired by Crystal at Money Saving Mom to save money, be kind to others (including herself!), and to be a good steward of all the resources she’s been given.
Finding Peace When You’re Forced to Blow Your Budget
Guest post from Jen of Working At Homeschool
Recently, our family was invited to dinner with a friend from out of town. He had invited several other families as well, and we thought it was important to go.
Our “eating out” budget was completely gone for the month, but we decided it was worth it to move some budget categories around to spend time with someone we care about.
At the dinner, we were seated with a bigger family we’d never met before, along with our friend from out of town. We had a wonderful time and I felt we had made the right decision in terms of finding the money for this special dinner.
When we were ready to leave, we asked for the bill and started getting our 5 young kids ready to go. The other family with teenaged kids was out the door in a flash (no diaper bags or sippy cups to gather up). We said our goodbye, wished them well, and waited for our bill.
Then the bill for our table came.
Immediately, we realized that we were not only going to have to pay for our family, but also for the new family we had just met… the new family with teenagers who had ordered and eaten A LOT of food!
I’m not going to lie — I felt sick to my stomach!
Although I was sure they didn’t stick us with the bill on purpose, I was frantically trying to figure out where the money would come from while simultaneously trying to act gracious in front of the other guests. I say “trying to act gracious” because that was all it was – an act. I couldn’t believe that we were stuck with this bill and I couldn’t believe we were going to be out so much more money than we had planned!
My husband, who is much more laid-back than my ISTJ personality type, smiled (somewhat grimly), shrugged, and seemed ready to move on. But not me! I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
On the way home, I kept asking questions like, “Do you think they just forgot? Did one spouse think the other already paid? Did they think we are rich?” That last one made us both laugh out loud.
I kept stewing on this (thinking about how many hours of work went into paying for that meal) when I went to bed that night… and when I woke up the next morning… and beyond.
Then finally, a little voice (not in my head, it was the real voice of one of my kids) said, “Mom, I thought you said we can always afford to be generous?”
Cue the mom guilt. Or maybe “conviction” is a better word.
While my budget is important, and saving money in these leaner times is important, aren’t people more important?
By focusing on how I felt “forced” to pay for dinner, then dwelling on it for so long, I had been teaching my kids that money was my top priority. My daughter’s reminder hit me hard — people are always more important than my budget — and if blessing someone else put us in a more difficult financial place for the remaining week of the month, was that really such a big deal?
I do frequently remind my children that they can always afford to be generous. Of course, when I’m telling them to be generous I’m talking about the three dollars in their piggy banks or their toys. I didn’t imagine that those words would come back to haunt me about my money!
I couldn’t change the fact that we had gotten stuck with the bill. I couldn’t go back in time and choose a do-over (one in which I stall the family while the waiter brings the bill), but I COULD choose gratitude that we’d had a chance to bless someone else, to be selfless and generous. I could choose thankfulness for the opportunity to teach my kids about what’s truly important in life (I sure messed that one up).
I know my family has been blessed by others who have treated us to a meal out – why couldn’t I joyfully do the same for someone else?
I chose to change my attitude. I chose to model love for people that we didn’t really know. I know that we aren’t in a financial position to volunteer to give financially to other families all the time, but this experience has taught me that I should be on the lookout for opportunities to bless others in other ways as much as possible.
And the next time I’m in a position to love people more than my budget, I am going to choose people.
Jen is a work-at-home homeschooling mom who works part-time on her website, part-time for a non-profit ministry, and full-time wrangling her 5 young kids. Jen writes passionately about Bible-based homeschooling, organization, healthy gluten-free food, and meal planning. Her website, WorkingAtHomeschool.com, was featured in the best-selling Trim Healthy Mama Plan book as a meal-planning resource.
Gretchen’s $43 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan
Aldi
1 bag Red Grapes – $1.58
1 pkg Roma Tomatoes – $0.99, used $0.25 Checkout 51 rebate – $0.74 after rebate
2 pkg Flour Tortillas – $0.99 each
1 lb Butter – $2.99
1 loaf Bread – $0.99
2 dozen Large Eggs – $1.09 each
1 Frosted Flakes – $1.29
1 pkg Jumbo Franks – $0.99
1 gallon Milk – $1.89
1 can diced Tomatoes – $0.55
1 jar Pasta Sauce – $0.99
1 pkg Crackers – $1.59
1 Cantaloupe – $0.99
Total after rebate: $18.75
Dillons
1 bag Kroger Tortilla Chips – $1, used $0.25/1 e-coupon – $0.75 after coupon
2 Vans Waffles – $2.50 each, used 2 $1.25/1 printable AND $1/1 Ibotta rebate – $0.75 each after coupon and rebate
1 bag Frozen Chicken – $6.99, used $1.45/1 e-coupon – $5.54 after coupon
1 Farmland Bacon – $3.99, used $1/1 printable AND $0.10 Mobisave rebate – $2.89 after coupon and rebate
4 canned Kroger Green Beans – $0.33 each
1 lb Ground Beef – $3.99
1.38 lb Bananas – $0.81, used $0.25 Ibotta rebate – $0.56 after rebate
2 Dannon Greek Yogurt – Marked down to $0.49 each
1 Kroger Greek Yogurt – Marked down to $0.39
2 Liberte Yogurts – Marked down to $0.59 each, used $0.30/1 SavingStar.com rebate – $0.44 each after rebate
1 Frozen Orange Juice – $1
1 Romaine Lettuce – $0.99
1 bag Apples – Marked down to $0.99, used $0.10/1 Mobisave rebate – $0.89 after rebate
2 Annie’s Mac & Cheese – $1 each
0.99 lbs Peaches – $0.98
Total after coupons and rebates: $24.66
Total for all grocery items: $43.41
Menu Plan for This Week
Breakfasts
Cereal x 2
Waffles & Eggs x 4
Oatmeal and Fruit
Lunches
Tuna Sandwiches, Grapes
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Cantaloupe
Cheese Quesadillas, Veggies
Baked Potatoes
Mac & Cheese, Applesauce, Grapes
Leftovers x 2
Dinners
Chicken & Rice, Cantaloupe
Tossed Salad Bar
French Toast, Bacon, Eggs, Orange Juice
Chili, Chips, Fruit Salad
Spaghetti, Biscuits, Tossed Salad
Italian Chicken, Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes, Tossed Salad
Out to eat
How Our Frugal Lifestyle Benefits Our Marriage
Guest post by Jennifer of The Intentional Mom
When my husband and I started our frugal journey more than 20 years ago, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.
We didn’t realize what a commitment to frugal living would really take and we had no idea everything it would encompass. But at the same time, we had no idea that living a frugal life would benefit us in ways that extended far beyond our finances.
As we reach the point where we are almost completely debt free, I think we are both so amazed at how much we have benefited from the skills we have learned. In fact, I would even say that our frugal lifestyle blessed our marriage!
It’s true… and it can bless yours as well.
Here’s how our frugal lifestyle benefits our marriage far beyond our family budget:
1. We learned to be a team.
We were newly married when we took Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class. We were still learning what it meant to be married at the time, but embarking on our frugal journey forced us to become teammates who were working toward winning at a common goal.
After 20 years and eight kids, we have been called to be teammates in so many ways, even if it’s just getting through dinner!
The skills we learned being frugal teammates were an excellent foundation upon which to build.
2. We learned to lift one another up.
Maintaining a frugal lifestyle all these years hasn’t always been easy.
It’s amazing to me that when one of us it tempted to spend, the other one is often able to step up and be the strong one! When my husband struggled with a certain aspect of being frugal, it provided the opportunity for me to carry the burden in that area until he was through his own personal challenge with it. He has done the same for me at times as well.
3. We learned that doing hard stuff is easier together.
When you learn to tackle hard things in one area of life, it gives you confidence to take on hard things in another area. The hard stuff is never fun to go through, but it is much easier when you are going through the hard stuff together.
4. We were able to be a strong and united example to our kids.
Being like-minded with your spouse in any area only enhances your marriage, and our commitment to how we did and didn’t spend our money paints a beautiful picture of unity for our kids.
We don’t agree on everything, and there are times that we are anything but a united front, but being on the same page in our frugal journey is an excellent way to show our kids how a marriage is truly designed to be.
5. We learned to make do with very little.
Because we already had numerous frugal skills in place, times of financial hardship didn’t scare us and they didn’t break us. We knew we had what it took to survive.
We had perfected the skills we needed to put into practice when we had no choice but to be frugal.
6. We have been able to bless others.
There really is nothing better than blessing the lives of those around us. Thanks to the money we save, we are able to bless others in ways both great and small — and we’re able to do it together!
Being frugal and saving money is beneficial in so many ways, but it has been amazing to reflect back and see just how greatly it has enriched our marriage as well.
Are you looking to enhance your marriage in a creative way? Try embracing a frugal lifestyle and see your commitment to one another blossom!
Jennifer is a busy, homeschooling mom of eight who enjoys keeping a home, living an active lifestyle, and loving the little and not so little people in her life. Her mission is helping other moms find contentment in living intentionally every day over at her blog, The Intentional Mom.
8 Ways to Drink More Water Every Day
Check out this list of 8 Ways to Drink More Water Every Day. There is also a free printable tracker you can download.
Stop Making Excuses & Get Up & Set Some Small Goals
For 15 days, we’re exploring the topic of making our health and well-being a priority as part of the 15 Days to a Healthier You series. You can read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here, and Day 5 here.
I believe one of the biggest reasons people don’t get where they hope to go — or don’t really get anywhere in life! — is because they don’t set goals. Goals bridge the gap between dreams and reality.
It’s fairly easy to brainstorm. It’s very easy to day dream. It’s hard to get on your work clothes and get busy. But if you don’t know where you’re going in the first place, it’s almost guaranteed you’re never going to make it there.
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. You have to change something if you want to see change.
Yesterday, we took some time to talk about three Do’s and Don’t’s that I believe are imperative to lay the foundation for successful goal-setting. Now that we’ve laid that foundation, I want to walk you through some simple steps to successful goal-setting:
1. Jot Down ALL Your Ideas
Over the course of the next 24 hours, start jotting down every goal idea that pops into your head that you’d really like to tackle soon. Whether it’s a project you want to work on, a skill you want to learn, a fitness goal, a weight-loss goal, a desire to change your eating, the fact that you want to get more sleep, a financial milestone you want to hit, something you’d like to accomplish… there are no wrong answers!
If you’re anything like me, your list of ideas will probably be very long. This is completely okay! Don’t let it freak you out or make you hyperventilate. You’re just brainstorming to help you narrow down and prioritize your goals list.
The more ideas you have, the more you have to work with and streamline. So don’t hold back; write everything down that comes to mind!
2. Prioritize Your List.
Once you’ve come up with (probably) an extensive list, go over it carefully and thoughtfully considering which items on the list are really going to make a specific and near-immediate impact upon your every day life. Always keep in mind first what your priorities are for the season of life that you’re in.
Think specifically through each area of priority in your life and see what items on your list match up with those priorities and which can be instantly discarded. As you contemplate your list of ideas in light of your priorities, it might also cause you to come up with other ideas you need to add to your list. If that happens, then go ahead and add those items and go back to prioritizing your list.
3. Pare Down Your List.
After you’ve prioritized the list, pare that list down to the top two or three. If this is a struggle for you, step back and try to think of how each goal will directly your life.
Thinking things through to the direct effects over the course of the next few months usually is all it takes for me to prioritize and decide upon the most important priorities.
For instance, learning to make Artisan Bread is something I really, really want to do someday (along with about 50039 other things!), and it would be a fun idea to pursue at some time, but it’s not in line with my current priorities so I would pare it immediately off the list.
But making time to exercise is something that is high on my list of goals because it directly and positively impacts all four of my main priorities in life right now — it helps me stay healthier (priority: myself), it gives me more energy to be a better mom (priority: motherhood), it helps me be more creative and focused as a business owner (priority: MoneySavingMom.com), and it’s something I love getting to do with my husband every day (priority: marriage).
Not all items on your list need to positively impact all your priorities, but you had better be able to make a really strong case for how an item is going to majorly impact at least one of your priorities for it to stay on your list. I encourage you to pare down your list to 2-4 items that you feel will make the greatest overall impact on your priorities in the season of life you’re in.
Free Printable Goal-Setting Worksheets
To help you out, here are two printable and customizable Goal Planning Forms you can download, type into, save, and print. Or, you can just print them and hand write your goals in.
4. Define your 2-4 specific, detailed, and actionable goals.
Once you have your list of the top 2-4 items you want to focus on, then it’s time to create specific, detailed, actionable goals for that focus area.
For instance, if you want to focus on getting in a better financial position, maybe you decide you want to set a goal to save a specific amount of money, or have a goal to set up your retirement accounts this year, or to read books at least 5 books on improving your financial situation, or to go through Financial Peace University, or to start a frugal friends group.
Each of these is a specific, detailed, actionable goal with a start and end date. You will know when you have accomplished the goal. That’s what makes it a goal in the first place. If your is not detailed and actionable enough to know when it is accomplished, then you need to go back to the drawing board and refine it until you get there.
5. Create your plan of action.
After you’ve defined your goal, then create a specific plan for how it’s actually going to happen. Otherwise, it will just be a good idea that never goes anywhere!
For instance, if you want to read 5 books on getting handle on your finances, you need to choose the five books, figure out when you’ll fit in reading into your schedule, and then set a goal for how much you’ll read every week.
As I just did there, I highly recommend that you break your goals down into bite-sized pieces. A big goal can seem overwhelming and daunting as a whole, but when broken down into small pieces, it becomes much more doable.
If one of the save up a specific amount of money, break it down into monthly and then weekly savings goals. Look at your budget and decide where you’re going to come up with the extra money. Will you lower your grocery bill by $10 per week and then put that money toward your savings goal? Will you work an extra few hours and save that money toward your goal?
When you break your goal down to a weekly bite-sized piece, you are better able to know exactly what you need to do to stay on track. If you want to read 24 books next year, you know you’ll need to read two books per month, or half a book each week. That boils down to around a chapter per day, give or take. That’s much more concrete and doable than a big audacious goal of reading 24 books in a year.
6. Get Some Accountability.
Want to guarantee you have more success in following through with your goals? You need some accountability!
In our Make Over Your Year course, we recommend that you to set up 3 different forms of accountability:
- A Person: a real-life person or group of people who will keep you accountable and check in on you.
- A Product: an app, a printable, an ebook, or spreadsheet that will help you track your milestones.
- A Party: a plan to celebrate when you reach the milestones you have set up for yourself. This gives you something to look forward to and will keep you going on the hard days.
Setting up multiple forms of accountability, gives you more motivation and it sets up a variety of checks and balances — which will hopefully help you stay on task when you want to quit or get distracted.
Remember: Do What You Can Do and Let Go of What You Can’t Do
We’re all in different seasons and stages of life. We all have different challenges and struggles. Think about your own unique challenges.
Some of you are in school full-time. Some of you work full-time. Some of you have lots of little children. Some of you have a brand-new baby (or twins!). Some of you have health issues.
Some of you are caring for elderly parents or grandparents. Some of you are in the middle of moving cross country. Some of you are dealing with a death of someone you love. Some of you are pregnant or in the middle of adopting. Some of you have children with special needs. Some of you are going through heart-breaking circumstances that many of us can’t even begin to imagine.
No matter your age or stage of life, you have your own set of difficulties and things to juggle. If it’s not something you can change, accept it realizing that what you’re able to accomplish will not be what someone else who is in a different season of life is able to accomplish. And that’s perfectly okay!
I love Teddy Roosevelt’s motto: “Do what you can with what you’ve got where you are.” All we can do is all we can do.
Spending time wishing we were in someone else’s shoes doesn’t change or improve our situation. If you’re in a really busy season of life, you may only be able to devote an extra 10 minutes five times per week to tackling your goals. Don’t be discouraged.
Do what you can do and don’t worry about what you can’t do! Because doing something is almost always better than doing nothing.
Day 6 Project
If you don’t have any specific goals in your life right now, take some time over the next 24 hours to go through the steps outlined above and determine a few simple goals, break them down into bite-sized pieces, and set up some accountability.
If you already have some specific goals, go through the steps above and make sure your goals are in line with your priority, are doable, and that you have a specific plan of action and some accountability in place.
If you are willing, I’d love to hear what a few of your goals are. Share them with us in the comments!
Want Step-By-Step Goal-Setting Help?
Need some encouragement to create realistic goals and follow through with them? Go check out our 4-Week Make Over Your Year Course.
This 4-week course includes a comprehensive downloadable workbook, printable worksheets to walk you step-by-step through the goal-setting process we’ll teach you, additional resources and links for each week, and 4 one-hour-long pre-recorded Group Coaching Sessions taught by my husband and me.
It’s just the gentle kick-in-the-behind you need to actually be successful in goal-setting!
Get Make Over Your Year for just $29 here today!
More Helpful Resources:
- Feeling like a goal-setting failure? Read my posts on Why I Bombed My 2014 Goals and Why You Need to Set Goals According to Your Own Abilities.
- If there’s one key to goal-setting success I can give you, it’s this: Write Down Your Goals. Read more why you should do this here.
- See examples of my Yearly Goals here and My Weekly Goals here.
A Fun & Frugal Surprise I Got For the Kids This Week
Last week, I saw that Amazon had this 53-piece Children’s Art & Drawing Set super inexpensive, so I scooped one up as a surprise for my kids using gift cards I’d earned through Swagbucks.
I was really, really impressed with the set when it came in! This set includes: 12 Washable Color Marker Pens, 12 Color Pencils, 12 Oil Pastels, 8 Color Changers Markers, 4 Highlighters, 1 Ruler, 1 Eraser, 1 Sharpener, 1 Mechanical Pencil and 1 Pencil Lead Pack.
My kids were SO excited about the set, too. In fact, I wanted to show it on my Facebook Live video and take pictures of it for this post and I could barely keep them from keeping their hands off it it until I got both of those things done! They’ve had fun using it to draw and create with!
This would not only make a fun gift for your kids, but would also make a great gift to buy and put in your birthday gift stash for upcoming birthdays your kids might be invited to!
It’s just $4.96 on Amazon right now. I’m not sure how long the price will be that low so if you’re interested in this deal, I’d recommend going ahead and buying it now.
Shared Jul 13, 2016
comment
You CAN be a world-class goal-setter… or at least learn to follow through with goals!
You CAN be a world-class goal-setter… or at least learn to follow through with goals!
For 15 days, we’re exploring the topic of making our health and well-being a priority as part of the 15 Days to a Healthier You series. You can read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here, and Day 4 here.
My husband is a world class goal-setter (well, in my book, at least!). He has goals for everything pretty much — from what he eats, to what he reads, to his personal fitness, to investing in the lives of our marriage and family, to our businesses, to giving to others, to making an impact on the world… and on and on it goes.
He has detailed checklists in Evernote to track his goals and he meticulously checks his goal lists weekly to see where he’s at and how much progress he’s making.
I was born with a very task-driven, to-do-list oriented personality, so goal-setting is something that I’ve always aspired to and been attracted to. However, for years, I struggled to actually set realistic, attainable goals.
Not only does my over-achieving personality have the tendency to set huge, impossible goals, but I also have a very-easily-distracted personality.
I Have Great Intentions… And Then, Squirrel!
You see, while my husband is a world-class goal-setter; I’m a world-class starter. He’s very detailed and methodical. I’m the get-‘er-done sort of girl.
So when I see something that should be done or I think should be started or I think I should do or I think is a great idea, my tendency is to just jump out and start. My motto tends to be something like: Stop waiting around researching and weighing your options and just jump in and do something.
This motto is fantastic in many ways. I do get a lot done. I don’t waste a lot of time thinking through all the options and ramifications. And I don’t spend a lot of energy stressing over which choice I should make.
I just pick something and dive right in. The only problem is that while I’m really great at diving in, I’m not so great at actually swimming all the way to the finish line.
Oh, trust me, I have incredible intentions. But then there’s shiny thing after shiny thing after shiny thing that distracts me from staying focused on my original plans and goals.
So pretty soon, I see another pool or another lane that looks like it’s a better option, so I go dive right into that and start swimming. I plan to make it to the other side of that pool or finish that swim in that lane but then I see another, better pool or lane, so I then dive into that one. And on and on it goes.
Over the past 13 1/2 years that I’ve been married, as I’ve observed my husband’s goal-setting, read books on goal-setting, and experimented with goal-setting in my own life, I’ve come to realize how life-transforming goal-setting can be — when done the right way.
3 Do’s & Don’t’s of Goal-Setting I’ve Learned
I learned that I had to stop setting these huge goals, stop being overwhelmed by all the possibilities, and start getting really honed in on what was realistic for me in the season of life I was in… and then I had to create an action plan with tiny baby steps that would take me exactly where I wanted to go.
Here are my top 3 tips to be successful with goal setting…
1. Don’t Be Intimidated!
You probably have heard many people tout the importance of goal-setting by now, but you feel like you just can’t seem to get it. Like everyone else has mastered this goal-setting thing… except you.
Well, trust me, you’re not alone. I hear from readers every single week who feel overwhelmed by goal-setting or who feel hopelessly stuck in a rut or who feel like they just can’t figure out how to get started with goal-setting.
Maybe you feel like you have so many things you want to do with your life that the thought of even knowing where to start is mind-boggling. Maybe you have set goals in the past only to fall short so you feel defeated when it comes to goal-setting. Maybe you just don’t even know where it is you want to go and or what it is you want to aim for.
Don’t be intimidated! I know exactly how you feel because I was there twelve years ago!
2. Don’t Be Overwhelmed!
I wanted so badly to figure out how to follow through with all of my big dreams and plans and ideas, but I just couldn’t seem to get any traction. Oh, I had lots and lots of big dreams. But when it actually came down to going anywhere with them, most of them just fizzled out and lost steam because I didn’t know how to break those big dreams down into tiny step-by-step pieces.
It’s so easy when you start considering goal-setting to become overwhelmed by all the areas in your life you feel are in desperate need of change.
From being a better wife and mom, to becoming more organized, to losing weight, to getting your finances in order, to starting a business or blog, to writing a book, to learning a new skill, to starting a new ministry or being involved in one that’s already existing, to eating more healthfully, to learning to cook from scratch, to cutting your grocery bill, to experimenting with do-it-yourself ideas, to remodeling part of the house or redecorating a room, to being more involved in your church or community… and on and on the list goes.
We women have so many responsibilities on our plates and we have dreams, ideas, and all sorts of things we’d love to do if we could ever find an extra ten hours in our day. But the reality is that those extra ten hours probably aren’t going to be falling from the sky any time in the near future. So we must work with what we have — and do the best we can with that.
3. Do Determine Your Priorities
Think about what your priorities in life are. What are those things that you want to wrap your time and energy around? Where do you want to be in six months from now?
Think of a few areas that will have the biggest impact on your life. If you’re not sure what to start with, consider which areas are the greatest stress-inducers right now. Is it your weight? Is it your lack of organization? Is it your finances? Do you want to get more organized? Or get on a better schedule? Or increase your income? Or make time for fitness?
I have 4 areas that I’m really focusing on this year: my marriage, my mothering, myself, and MoneySavingMom.com. I’m aiming to wrap my life, my time, and my energy around those priorities. If an opportunity arises, if it doesn’t fall in line with those priorities, then I’m more than likely going to say no to it.
To be honest, I have a lot of other areas in my life that could use improvement. I can either focus on all the things I want to do and all the improvements I want to make and all the areas I feel like I’m failing in, or I can choose to say: I only have time and space in my life to focus on a few things so I’m going to make those a priority and let a lot of other things slide.
None of us can do it all and we can’t do everything in every season. When you know your priorities, it allows you to create goals that are realistic.
It’s amazing how much of a difference goals can make in your life when you don’t just set them, but then you also actually follow all the way through with them! I’ve been amazed at how much more productive and intentional I’ve been in my own life.
Instead of being really busy but having little to show for it, goal-setting has helped me to be much more purposeful in how I spend each and every day. In addition to accomplishing many more things that actually matter, I’m living a much more fulfilled life.
Tomorrow, we’ll talk very practically on how to set realistic goals and create a plan of action to help you follow through with them. You can do this! I’m cheering for you!
Day 5 Project
- What are some of the roadblocks holding you back from success in goal-setting? Really think through this and then tell us in the comments.
- What are your priorities in this season of life? This should be a small list of the few most important things you want to wrap your time, life, and energy around. Tell us what these are the comments.
More Helpful Resources:
- Read my posts on 4 Things That Will Keep You From Goal-Setting Success and How to Avoid Becoming Overwhelmed With Goal-Setting.
- Pick up a copy of The ONE Thing Book and my 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life ebook.
OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!
Click here to download!
Gretchen’s $7.78 Target Shopping Trip
Target Shopping Trip
2 Black Forest Organic Gummies – $1.79 each
Used 30% off Cartwheel coupon
And used 2 $0.75/1 printable1 KidFresh Frozen Meal – $2.99
Used 15% off Cartwheel coupon
And used $1/1 printable
And used $1/1 Ibotta rebate4 Friskies Cat Concoctions Wet Cat Food – $0.49 each
Used 2 Buy One Get One Free printable (took off $0.60 each)2 All Laundry Detergent (53 loads) – $5.09 each
Used 30% off Cartwheel coupon
And used 2 $1/1 printableTotal before coupons and rebate: $18.71
Total after coupons and rebate: $7.78
Frugal Family Fun: Family Water Balloon Fight
Two weeks ago, on Saturday night, we told the kids that we had a special surprise planned and we would reveal it as soon as the house was all clean.
You better believe that was a motivation for them to help us get everything whipped into shape around here in no time at all!! They kept guessing and guessing and we kept saying, “We’re not giving you any hints!”
The only hints we told them were that it was at our house, it was with our family only, and it was probably something they’d never guess. That just made them more intrigued! 🙂
When the house was spic and span and the laundry was done, we had them all sit at the table in the backyard and cover their eyes.
Then, we handed them the packages of Bunch of Balloons and told them they could open their eyes. They were SO excited when they realized we were going to have a family water fight and that Mom and Dad were getting in on the fun, too.
This was the first time we’d used these balloons and we will never go back to filling water balloons individually again. These are the BEST ever!
They are a little bit pricier than a bag of balloons at the Dollar Store, but for the time and effort saved they were SO worth it. It literally took us 5 minutes to fill 200+ balloons!
I seemed to have a huge target on my back the entire fight and the kids (and Jesse!) had a BLAST chasing me down and pelting me with water balloons!!
Overall, we had a blast and got in some great cardio, too (some from chasing each other around and trying to dodge balloons and some from laughing so hard that it hurt!)
We topped off the evening with roasting s’mores around the fire pit. And it was an evening we’ll remember for a long time!
And look what I found at Kroger yesterday?? $5 for a fun and unforgettable family night? I’d call that a deal!
What are your favorite Frugal Family Fun ideas? Tell us in the comments!
P.S. Need some more encouragement to be a Fun Mom? Watch this Periscope video I did earlier this week.
I hit the mother lode of markdowns at Kroger yesterday!!!
So, yesterday afternoon, I ran into Kroger to quickly see what Back to School Deals they might have available (see all the Back to School Deals I found here). While I was there, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to walk the perimeter of the store to see if I could find any markdowns.
For those of you who don’t have a Kroger or Kroger affiliate store, Kroger is a large retail grocery store chain that is well-known for offering great weekly in-store sales and clearance prices.
Every store is different, but most stores are pretty generous in how they will mark down soon-to-be expiring dairy products, produce, bakery products, and meat. You never know what you will find and it often feels like a Treasure Hunt… going throughout the store looking for the yellow clearance tags!
It’s often hit or miss on what you will find and yesterday was most definitely a HIT day! In fact, had I had more time, I probably could have found quite a few more deals. (Watch my video here yesterday where I shared all about these deals and my excitement in getting them and more details on how I plan to use some of these items!)
I first spotted the meat and bread deals and was so excited about that. I plan to use the meat in crockpot meals or as a stovetop hash (we’ll likely add potatoes or sweet potatoes, onions, and maybe carrots and then cook in the crockpot or on the stovetop) and I’ll freeze the bread to use as buns for sandwiches and as bread to accompany dinner. Yum!
Then, I saw flowers for $1!!!!! I’ve never seen flowers marked down that much EVER. And I may have done a happy dance right there in Kroger! 😉
I was scanning the dairy section to see if I saw any yellow stickers… and I saw one yogurt marked down and then saw another and another… and I just kept finding them marked down!!
My kids absolutely LOVE Greek yogurt and we go through so much of it that I was thrilled to find all of these — all marked down to $0.19 to $0.49 each. A few of them were a little interesting flavors, so I just bought a few of those (but I had one of the Cherry Beet yogurts today and it was actually really good!)
I usually have to sort of put limits on how many yogurts they can eat a day, but since I bought 40 yogurts that need to be eaten up in the next week, I’m raising all the limits on yogurt eating for a week! And the kids were SO excited about that!!
The only item I bought that was not marked down was half & half. Because we were out and I use it every day in my coffee… so it was kind of a necessity! 😉
All the groceries pictured were just $31.38 total! I was stoked… and it inspired me to be more intentional about taking a little time to run into stores regularly and check for markdowns. Because it kind of feels like you won the lottery or something! Getting great deals on items that you love and that are in your budget = pure thrill!
Have you gotten any great deals recently? Tell us about them in the comments!
Back to School Deals I Found at Kroger This Week
I ran into Kroger last night to see if they had any Back to School Deals worth mentioning and I ended up hitting the mother lode of markdowns (I’ll share all the details of that in a separate post this afternoon, but you can also watch my video here to see me talk about all of the deals I got).
While I was there, I found some decent Back to School deals and wanted to share them here so you could be on the lookout for them at your Kroger store.
They had 1-subject 70-count Spiral Notebooks for $0.19. Walmart might have them for $0.10 and we might see them for a dime at some other stores during the Back to School sale season this year, but $0.19 is still a great price.
I love to use these to write my daily lists on or for scratching out blog post ideas, mapping out live video outlines, and other brainstorming ideas.
Composition Notebooks were $0.49. These are so great for kids. My kids love to use them as journals and I love to use them for my daily to-do lists, too.
Note: I always have a notebook with me and I use it incessantly as my brain for stuff I need to remember that day. Everything else goes into my Google Calendar System. But for the current 24 hours, it’s all in the notebook. Because pen and paper still rocks! 🙂
Scissors were $0.79 and pencil sharpeners were $0.59.
They had Crayola crayons for $0.49. We’ll see this price at a lot of stores during the Back to School sale season. My target price for Crayola crayons is $0.25 per box. Office Depot/Office Max has Crayola crayons for $0.25 per box this week — though your store may already be out of stock.
Have you found any great Back to School Deals this week? Tell us in the comments!
Be sure to sign up for our daily email newsletter to get all of the best back to school deals emailed to you every week! And read my post here for 5 Simple Ways to Save on Back to School Deals.
Cut the Negativity & Fill Your Mind with GOOD Things!
For 15 days, we’re exploring the topic of making our health and well-being a priority as part of the 15 Days to a Healthier You series. You can read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, and Day 3 here.
A few months ago, a friend who knows me very well and has earned the right to speak truth in my life gently confronted me by saying, “Crystal, do you realize that you have a very negative view on life?”
Honestly, I didn’t know what to think because I’ve always thought of myself as a pretty positive person. I’m the person who will see the good in hard situations. I’ll find the blessings from failure. I’ll look for ways to bloom wherever I’m planted.
So at first, I was really taken aback. But this friend went on to explain how I’m always talking about how hard things are.
“You tend to have a negative perspective on life. When you look back, all you can see is how hard everything was. Is there ever a time in your life when you look back and think, ‘Life has been wonderful!’?”
Ouch! Ouch! I didn’t want to hear it, but I knew it was true.
Without realizing it, I’ve spent so much of my life looking back with negative-colored glasses. I look back on the week and will recount the hurtful, the discouraging, the hard. I’ll often say, “I had a really hard conversation” or “Last night was hard” or “That was such a hard time in our life.”
Now I’m not discounting that life is hard sometimes. But in all honesty, I have so much to be grateful for. So much. And I, of all people, should be looking for the beautiful, the praise-worthy, and the positive.
So, inspired by my friend and because I wanted to do something a little radical to change up my perspective, I made this commitment:
I will only speak positive words about everyone. I refuse to say negative words about anyone to anyone.
Little did I know how much this seemingly simple commitment would change my life.
As soon as I made the commitment, I was shocked at how I kept catching myself starting to say something negative. I had no idea how much negativity was spewing out of my mouth.
I could have justified it by saying, “Well, I’m just stating facts!” But even if those were true facts, did I really need to be telling Jesse or my close friends how a comment on my blog had bothered me. Or did I need to be complaining about a situation where I felt hurt or upset?
In addition, I was shocked to discover how much negativity I’ve allowed to take up residence in my brain. My whole thing is to choose joy and choose love, but I didn’t realize how I was often “choosing negativity”. I hate to admit that, but it’s true.
I was looking at situations around me and picking out the hurt, the hard, the pain, the discouraging, the struggles. I was also making up stories about situations — spending a lot of time thinking negative thoughts or stressing over what appears to be a negative situation or purporting a negative perspective on a situation.
It reminds of this quote from Rising Strong: “In the absence of data, we always make up stories.” It seems I’ve become quite skilled at jumping to conclusions and concocting stories when I haven’t taken the time to fact-check and make sure that assumptions are true. My brain can run wild with stories that aren’t true — just based upon a small little thing.
For instance, if I’m in a situation with a friend and she acts kind of cold toward me, I have sometimes made up a big story — that I’ve offended her, that she doesn’t like me, that she doesn’t want to be my friend anymore… when it could just be that she has something hard going on and she’s struggling with it. Or maybe she has been hurt by me about something.
Making up stories about a situation and then getting frustrated or hurt by someone based upon stories I made up or basing my actions and attitude toward someone on stories I made up is no way to live! It’s a surefire way to spend life feeling discouraged and disappointed — and likely needlessly, in most situations!
3 Ways This Challenge Has Changed Me
This challenge has truly changed my life! Here are 3 specific ways it has impacted me:
1. I’m talking a lot less! This challenge has opened my eyes to the fact that I say a lot more negative words than I realized I did. When I am only saying positive words, I have fewer words to say — which is a good thing. 🙂
2. I have a whole lot more space in my brain. By not speaking negatively of others, it has caused me to nip a lot of my negative thoughts in the bud and replace them with positive thoughts. I realized that I had been devoting a lot of brain space and energy to thinking about situations that were bothering me, upsetting me, or feeling hurtful to me.
3. I’m a lot happier. When I don’t dwell on the negative or rehash the negative with others, it gives me space to really notice and appreciate the beauty around me. It also gave me energy and space to pursue more creative things and to brainstorm great ideas for our business and family.
Of course this doesn’t mean that frustrating or hurtful situations haven’t come up. Sure, I’ve dealt with many things since I’ve made this commitment that would have usually triggered me into a tailspin of stress or negative thoughts or story concoctions.
Rather than dwell on what seemed like someone saying something hurtful or someone doing something that bothered me, I’ve decided to look for the good and the beautiful all around me.
I’ve been a whole lot happier because my focus is on the beautiful, wonderful, positive things in life. And I’m finding that I love life a whole lot more when I focus on those!
Need some ideas on what to replace the negativity in your life with? Here are two ideas:
1. Replace the Negativity with Gratitude
Your attitude can make or break your situation. You can choose to focus on what you don’t have or you can choose to be thankful for what you do have.
There is always, always, always something to be thankful for. When you have a thankful, grateful spirit, you’ll automatically have more joy, zest for life, and energy. It’s the natural outflow of gratitude. And not only will you have more energy, but I promise you’ll just plain enjoy and appreciate life a lot more if you choose gratitude.
Struggling to be thankful when you feel so much negativity and frustration about a situation? Try writing down a list of your blessings. As I’ve found, when you start writing down your blessings, you just may have trouble stopping!
Some days, I text pictures of myself like this to my family and close friends… just to make them laugh! 😉
2. Replace the Negativity with Laughter
It’s well been said, “Laughter is the best medicine.” It’s amazing how smiling, laughing, and seeing the humorous side of life can just make life more enjoyable.
We laugh a lot at our house. We laugh at ourselves, we laugh at each other, and we sometimes laugh for seemingly no reason at all — or at least we forgot what it was that we were first laughing about. 🙂
We say dorky things. We act like goofballs. We have inside jokes. We use silly voices and accents just because. We sing opera… even though we can’t sing opera. 😉
I’m always on the lookout for a funny story to share with Jesse and the kids. And we also love to watch comedy clips or funny movies as a family.
When you start feeling discouraged by a negative situation, try distracting yourself with humor instead of worry and stress. Not only will it likely lift your spirits, it might keep you from going down a rabbit hole of discouraging thoughts.
Day 4 Project
- If you’re brave, join me in the No Negativity Commitment. Maybe start with just committing to stick with it for a day or a few days and then see if you can extend it? If you’re planning to join me, leave a comment letting me know you’re in!
- Pay attention to how many negative thoughts you think over the next 24 hours. As much as is possible, look for ways to replace those negative things — either with gratitude, or laughter, or serving others, or something else that re-focuses your brain on something positive and upbeat.
Resources to Check Out:
- A Complaint-Free World (I’ve not read this one yet, but I just got it recently because it came highly recommended by a friend!) and/or One Thousand Gifts.
- Read my article on How Choosing Gratitude is Changing My Life.
- Want to motivate yourself to focus on the blessings? Get a copy of my Choose Gratitude Blessings Journal.
- Need a laugh today? Some of our favorite clips on YouTube are from Tim Hawkins. Have any favorite good, clean, family-friendly funny clips to share? Leave a link to them in the comments. I’d love to check them out!