Burning the candle at both ends doesn’t make you superwoman; it makes you exhausted.
Give yourself permission to rest and take care YOU today so that you can more effectively serve and pour into others.
Summer Bucket List
Classic View
Grid View
Gretchen’s $56 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan
Aldi
2 dozen Eggs – $0.99 each
1 loaf Bread – $0.85
1 pkg Hamburger Buns – $0.69
1 gallon Milk – $1.89
1 Cantaloupe – $0.99
2 Cucumbers – $0.69 each, used $0.25/1 Checkout rebate – $0.56 each after rebate
1 pkg Roma Tomatoes – $1.69
1 pkg Flour Tortillas – $1.19
2 pkg Strawberries – $1.29 each
1 pkg Oats – $2.39
1 pkg Rice Cakes – $1.29
1 pkg Butter – $2.99
1 pkg Graham Crackers – $1.29
1 pkg Cream Cheese – $1.29
1 pkg Zucchini – $0.99
2 pkg Blueberries – $0.99 each
Total after rebate: $27.25
Dillons
2 Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce – $1.49 each
1 Psst Ketchup – $0.89
1 Kroger Frozen Orange Juice – $1
1 Kroger Flour – $1.79, used $0.40/1 e-coupon – $1.39 after coupon
1 Nature Bakery Fig Bar – $2.99
1 Honey Nut Cheerios – $1.49, used $1/1 printable – $0.49 after coupon
1 Romaine Lettuce – $0.99
2 Kroger Cottage Cheese – $0.99 each
1 Bai Bubbles – $1.67, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon
1 lb Ground Beef – $3.99
2 Moms Best Cereal – $1.67 each, used $1.25/2 e-coupon – $1.04 each after coupon
2 Mott’s Fruit Snacks – $1.49 each, used $0.50/2 e-coupon and $0.50/2 SavingStar.com rebate – $0.99 each after coupon and rebate
1 pkg Kroger Frozen Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts – $6.99, used $1.45/1 e-coupon – $5.54 after coupon
1.98 lbs Bananas – $1.17, used 20% off SavingStar.com rebate – $0.94 after rebate
1 pkg Heritage Farms Chicken Thighs – $3.44, used $1/1 e-coupon – $2.44 after coupon
Total after coupons and rebates: $29.68
Total for both stores: $56.93
Menu Plan for This Week
We still have some fruit and veggies leftover from last week so we will be eating that up this week.
Breakfasts
Cereal x 3
Eggs & Toast x 3
Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake (I make this every July 4th!)
Lunches
Macaroni & Cheese, Fruit
Peanut Butter & Jelly Rice Cake Sandwiches, Carrot Sticks, Cucumber Slices
Cheese Quesadillas, Fruit
Salad Bar, Cottage Cheese
Cheese, Crackers, Veggies, Fruit
Leftovers x 2
Dinners
Oven Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
Hamburgers, Zucchini Fries, Chips
Chicken Philly Cheese Steaks, Cantaloupe, Tossed Salad
French Toast, Eggs, Sausage
Tacos, Rice, Fruit Salad
Dinner with family
Leftovers
5 Days to a Better Morning Challenge (Day 3)
Welcome to Day 3 of the 5 Days to a Better Morning Challenge! I’m so excited that so many of you committed to join me in this journey. If you missed the first posts in this series, read Day 1 here and Day 2 here.
For years, I ran myself ragged. I burned the candle at both ends. I thought that the best way to be more productive was to be as organized as possible, work as efficiently as possible, and get up really early.
Being organized, working efficiently, and getting up early can all be great things, but in my case, I forgot one very important truth: if I get up really early only to go throughout my day completely exhausted, I won’t be able to work anywhere near as efficiently and I won’t be able to stay at all as organized and focused.
Not only that, but not getting enough sleep for days and days and days on end is a surefire way to hurt your health and to probably also go through life feeling frazzled and irritable.
Today we’re going to talk about the importance of getting a great night’s sleep. I truly believe that this one of the keys to a better morning. When you wake up feeling refreshed, rested, and energetic, you’ve given yourself a huge head start for a fantastic day.
Ever since I first started blogging, I’ve known and preached the importance of good sleep. For years, it was something I really wanted to make happen and did try to make a priority, but between babies and toddlers and a business and life, it was hard for it to ever really consistently happen.
I love the quote that says, “If it’s important to you, you’ll find the time. If it’s not important to you, you’ll find an excuse.” This was true for me with sleep.
Even though I preached all about sleep and had amazing intentions to get good sleep, it was rare that I actually got a good night’s rest more than a few days in a row. And there were a number of periods of time where I ran on fumes for days on end and had to just keep pushing through in order to meet the deadlines and goals I had, follow through with my commitments, and still have time for my family.
I had bought into the lie that, “I had no other choice.” That I needed to say “yes” to these things in order to be a good businesswoman, a good friend, a strategic author, a good wife, a good mom.
In reality, I had brought almost all the stress, the to-do’s, and the tasks on myself. I had said “yes”, I had chosen to feel obligated, I had set those goals. I was the problem, but I was also the solution! I could choose to say “no”, I could choose to not feel obligated, and I could set fewer goals.
This Year of Rest has been bursting with lessons and a-ha moments. One of the greatest lessons for me has been that saying “no” to a bunch of things hasn’t ruined my life or my business. If anything, it’s made things so much better because I’m only doing a few things which means I can do those few things really, really well. And not just that, but I can also fully enjoy those few things instead of feeling stressed over what else I still have to do and what’s coming up right around the corner.
This breathing room in my life has giving me the space to start actually getting good sleep. Not just one good night’s rest here and there. No, it’s becoming very rare that I get less than six hours of sleep in a night and it’s becoming very normal for me to wake up before my alarm clock — something I basically never, ever did before.
2 Strategies for Better Sleep
If you’re struggling to get enough sleep at night, I want to challenge you to try these two strategies:
1. Learn Your Triggers
Are there specific things that are keeping you from getting a good night’s rest? Things that are either keeping you up at night or keeping you from going to bed at a decent hour or waking you up early in the morning?
Now obviously, those things might not be a thing; they might be a baby or a toddler who is waking up at night! I get that because that was my life for about six years. My nights were full of interruptions and crying babies needing to be fed.
But in that season, I also had other triggers: I was addicted to busyness and productivity. I felt worth from what I did. And I had bought into the lie of chasing after “more”.
So instead of getting up with the babies and then letting myself sleep in or take a nap to compensate, I got up early and worked through the baby’s naps. Because there was always so much to do… almost all of which I had put on myself.
As I’ve talked about before, I struggle with being a performer and a people-pleaser and this fed into how I short-changed my sleep.
I have been so challenged by Emily Freeman’s quote in Simply Tuesday: “When I’m performing for my own acceptance, burnout is always the result.”
If you’re feeling worn down and worn out, take a step back and examine if any of the exhaustion is a result of trying to earn someone else’s acceptance. Are you only saying “yes” to that opportunity because you want someone to like you? Are you only volunteering or sending that email or showing up for that event just so someone else will be impressed with you?
2. Track Your Sleep
One of the most helpful things I’ve done in the past two years is to start tracking my sleep. I always had a general idea of how much sleep I was getting, but actually tracking it really opened up my eyes in big ways.
I started out by tracking my sleep with the Sleep Cycle App. This is an app that you download and run on your phone during the night. You choose a 30-minute window of time when you’d like to wake up and then it tracks your sleep patterns (based upon your movements) and wakes you up when it’s the most optimum time during that window.
The Sleep Cycle app also tracks your sleep and gives you a report each day on your sleep cycles and how deep and restful your sleep was. You can read more how it works here.
While I found this to be a really great start, I felt like the tracking wasn’t as accurate or in-depth as I wanted. Sometimes when it would say I got great sleep, I didn’t feel like I had.
So I started researching other options. Though I had resisted getting a fitness tracker for a long time as they felt like such a “fad”, I finally caved and bought myself a Jawbone UP3 at the beginning of this year. I’m SO glad that I did as it truly made such a difference for me.
Not only have I found myself much, much more motivated to be active and get in more steps, I’ve found that the sleep tracking has been incredibly enlightening.
For instance, I’ve learned that when I go to bed hungry, I don’t sleep as well. I’ve also learned that it takes me a lot longer to actually go to sleep than I realized. So I’ve made adjustments to my schedule so that I’m in bed for at least 7 1/2 hours in order to get close to 7+ good hours of sleep.
I’ve also determined that stress and certain other factors result in a lot lighter sleep. So I’ve worked on eliminating as many of those things from my life — or at least around bedtime! — so that I’ll sleep more restfully.
In not only making sleep a priority, but also in making deep sleep a priority, I’ve discovered that I have much better focus, I feel a lot calmer, I’m a lot less irritable, and I’m a lot happier! And all of those things definitely help make for better mornings!
Day 3 Project
1. Think through what your triggers are that are keeping you from getting a great night’s sleep. Are there things you could avoid, remove, or eliminate from your life in order to cut down on hindrances to a good night’s sleep?
2. Start tracking your sleep and see what you learn from it. I recommend tracking it for at least two weeks so you can notice trends and see what’s working and what’s not working.
Looking for some more practical help?
- Read my post on How to Get More Sleep and How Getting More Rest Has Changed My Life.
- Download Day 1 of Make Over Your Mornings (it’s FREE!) — my 14-day course to help you jumpstart a successful day.
- Grab a copy of Rest Assured or The Abundant Mama’s Guide to Savoring Slow for inspiration to incorporate more rest into your life.
- Sign up for the FREE 21-Day Go to Bed Early series from my friend, Beth.
- Have young kids? Read my post on How to Get Up Early — Even If You Have Young Kids. And be sure to check out this post where I talk about some hard lessons I learned with balancing business & family life.
- And finally, check out my post on How to Get Up Early — Even With a Crazy, Ever-Changing Schedule.
Stop collecting information & go apply what you already know…
It’s so easy to get stuck in “collection mode”… book-reading, podcast-listening, idea-brainstorming, conference-going, blog-hopping… and never actually make it to “application mode”.
There are lots of amazing and interesting and wise voices out there sharing great ideas, but some days, I just have to tune them out and focus on flat-out getting stuff done.
Learning from the most experienced people in the market does nothing for you if you don’t actually go out and DO SOMETHING with what you learn.
Get brave and take that first tiny baby step! You can do it!
5 Days to a Better Morning Challenge (Day 2)
Welcome to Day 2 of the 5 Days to a Better Morning Challenge! I’m so excited that so many of you committed to join me in this journey. If you missed my first post for Day 1 you can read it here.
Today, I want you to take your answers to the three questions I had you ask yourself yesterday and we’re going to use those as the basis for creating a Realistic Routine.
3 Steps to a Successful Routine
Step 1: Start Out Small
The biggest mistake people make when trying to create a routine is that they bite off more than they can chew. If you’ve never had a routine before, please don’t decide that you’re now going to have your whole family on an every-15-minutes regimented schedule. That’s setting yourself up for failure and frustration from the get-go.
Instead, start out small. Choose your start time, your out-the-door time, and your Big Rocks. Then, flesh this out into a simple routine.
Sample Routines
Example #1: Let’s say you’re a single woman who works full-time and your start time is 6:30 a.m., your out-the-door time is 7:45 a.m., and your Big Rocks are to eat a healthy breakfast and get in 15 minutes of exercise, your routine could look like this:
- 6:30 a.m. — Get up and get on workout clothes
- 6:40 a.m. — 15 minute workout
- 7:00 a.m. — Make scrambled eggs and cut up fruit for breakfast
- 7:10 a.m. — Eat breakfast
- 7:20 a.m. — Shower/dress
- 7:40 am. — Ready to go
If you’ll notice, I padded the routine with a little extra time. You probably don’t need 10 minutes to get your workout clothes on. But maybe you move slow in the morning, so this will give you a little extra time to slowly wake up and get on your workout clothes.
I also added in 5 extra minutes between when the workout ends and when you’d start making breakfast, just to give a little extra buffer. And then it probably won’t take you 20 minutes to make and eat breakfast, but this gives you a little extra time so you can check email or catch the news or listen to a podcast or read a little. I’m all about giving a little margin and breathing room!
Example #2: Let’s say you’re a working mom with two kids who are 5 and 8 and your start time is 6:00 a.m., your out-the-door time is 7:30 a.m., and your Big Rocks are to get 15 minutes of quiet time and to read to your kids at breakfast. Your routine could look something like this:
- 6:00 a.m. — Get up, wash face, make coffee
- 6:10 a.m. — 15 minutes of quiet time
- 6:30 a.m. — Get kids up & started on their morning routine, shower/dress
- 6:50 a.m. — Help the 5-year-old finish getting dressed/ready
- 7:00 a.m. — Breakfast
- 7:10 a.m. — Read to kids while they are finishing breakfast
- 7:20 a.m. — Ready to head out the door.
If the thought of having specific times for each part of your routine freaks you out or you’re in a season of life where you’re just trying to survive and when you get up is constantly changing based upon how many times your baby or toddler wakes up at night, you might consider creating a routine that isn’t time-based… but is just a list of items you plan to do in the same order when you get up every morning. As always, do what works for you and your family!
Do you see how this works? It’s really quite simple. Even if you’ve never had a routine before, you can do this!
The trick is to not bite off more than you can chew. If you only have an hour and a half or two hours and you choose 3 30-minute Big Rocks to tackle, you’re likely going to have an issue. But if you choose two Big Rocks that take 10 to 15 minutes each, you can fit them in and still have time to get ready and out the door in time!
Note: Not a morning person? Here’s a post on How a Non-Morning Person Can Have an Effective Routine.
Step 2: Set Up Accountability
If you want to be successful at anything, you can’t go it alone. You need other people on the journey with you! That’s one reason why I love blogging about things I’m working through/challenging myself with — because I get the benefit of having the public accountability that you all provide for me! 🙂
{Yes, did you know you are my accountability partner? Yup. You may not have known it, but you totally are! 🙂 Thank you!}
Yesterday, I encouraged you to not only leave a comment on the post to say you were participating in this challenge, but I also asked you to tell someone offline.
Why did I ask you to do this? Because I knew that the very act of saying, “I’m doing this” and then telling someone else that you are would encourage you to not just think this is a good idea, but to actually be motivated to follow through with it.
What kind of accountability would motivate you to actually follow through with your morning routine? I recommend that you choose at least two forms of accountability and that one is a person and one is a product.
Accountability Partners — It’s great to have online accountability, but real-life people are the best forms of accountability. They can even show up at your front door if you don’t answer the texts, emails, or phone calls. 😉
Not sure where to find an accountability partner? Check out this post for some ideas. The Hello Mornings site is a great way to plug into morning accountability groups if you can’t find anyone in your area.
Accountability Products — I also am a big fan of accountability products such as apps, printables, or other kinds of trackers. These are great for everyone, but are especially valuable for those of us who love to check things off a list!
At the bottom of today’s post and yesterday’s post, I’ve put together a list of resources that might be great starting points. You can also check out this post for some great ideas on other accountability sources.
Step 3: Stick With It
You’ve got your routine set up. You have your accountability in place. Now you just need to follow through and do it!
A plan only works if you actually follow it. So jump in with both feet and stick with this. You can do this! I’m cheering for you!
Need some accountability and step-by-step help for transforming your mornings? I’d love to help you!
Day 2 Project
1. Create your routine based upon your start time, out-the-door time, and Big Rocks. Leave a comment letting us know what your routine is. We’d love to hear and be inspired!
2. Put at least two forms of accountability in place. I’d recommend that one is a person and one is a product (a printable, an app, etc.). You decide what would work best for you. Leave a comment and let us know that you put the accountability in place, as well.
Looking for some more practical help?
- Read my post on What To Do When You Get Thrown Off Your Routine.
- Need more step-by-step help? Follow the steps in this post on How to Create Your Perfect Morning Routine.
- Download Day 1 of Make Over Your Mornings (it’s FREE!) — my 14-day course to help you jumpstart a successful day.
- Grab a copy of Eat That Frog! for inspiration to start your day well.
- Have young kids? Check out this long list of Visual Routines for Kids — a great round-up of cards/checklists for young kids that you can print for free.
5 Days to a Better Morning Challenge (Day 1)
This week, we’re going to be talking about mornings. Maybe you’re in the middle of summer and the last thing you want to think about is a routine. If so, you go right ahead and skip this series, okay?
But if you’re anything like me, you’re already thinking ahead to the upcoming school year or you’re wanting to get into a better routine this summer in preparation for the upcoming school year. Our kids are going to a 4-Day Classical School this coming year, so it will be our first year of having to get lunches packed, backpacks ready, everyone dressed and out the door early in the morning four days per week.
Our kids aren’t so little any more, so they are able to be a lot more helpful and independent, but I still need to be the one to create the overall routine and make sure things run smoothly. To help our kids gear up for this (and to help our summer run more smoothly because our girls are spending a lot of time at skating and swimming practices), we decided to have a pretty strict Morning Routine as a family.
Here’s what our current Morning Routine looks like:
5:45 am — Jesse and I up and ready to workout.
6:00 am — Workout in the garage with our friend, Brian. (Read more about my workout plan here.)
6:30 am — Run in and wake the kids up (if they aren’t already up) and get them started on their morning chores and then head back to finish the workout.
7:15 am — Finish our workout. Kids are expected to be at the kitchen table completely dressed/hair fixed, with their morning chores all done. I read a chapter from our current read aloud while Jesse makes breakfast.
7:30 am — We eat breakfast while Jesse leads our family Bible Time. (Read more about our family Bible Time here.)
7:45 am — Jesse eats and oversees the kids’ Summer School workbooks/helps Silas with reading while I clean up the kitchen and take a quick shower and get ready for the day.
8:15 am — Girls make their lunches/dinners if they’ll be at swimming/skating. Bags packed for heading out the door. I make sure everything is in order for the day, do my She Reads Truth study, and be ready to start my online work at 8:45 am.
And that’s that! Here’s the thing I love about this Morning Routine: if we don’t get much else done after 9 am, we still accomplished some of the most important things — like working out and family time around the table!
{My goal is to work back to getting up at 5 am so I can read my Bible and have some quiet before the workout, but I’m not there yet. Baby steps, right? :)}
Our hope is to just tweak this a little so we can have almost the same time blocks and then just head out the door at 7:45 a.m. for school (gratefully, they don’t have to be at school until 8 a.m. and it’s close to our house!)
There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Plan!
If you read our routine and felt overwhelmed, please remember this: My husband and I are both home full-time and both share in the household/kid responsibilities. I know that this makes things so much easier for me and allows me to have a lot more flexibility in my schedule than many of you have.
In addition, as I mentioned above, our kids are at a stage where they are much more independent than they used to be. Plus, our business is at the place where I have a great team in place and I don’t have to get on and check social media or emails until later in the morning.
And finally, we’ve been fine-tuning routines for a long time. This is not something new to us. Practice doesn’t make it perfect (trust me on that!), but it does make it easier.
Here are some examples of previous routines — to give you an idea of how things have changed for us over the years:
- My 2012 School Year Routine
- Our 2013 Summer Routine
- My 2014 Morning Routine (look in the comments for lots of readers’ morning routines, too!)
- Our 2015 Summer Routine
3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Creating a Routine
If you don’t already have a great morning routine and you’d like to develop one, I want to challenge you to ask yourself three questions:
A. What is a realistic start time? What time can you realistically commit to getting out of bed in the morning? Please remember this is not the time you would ideally love to get up in the morning. Or the time you think sounds impressive. Or the time your Type A, super organized friend gets up in the morning. 🙂
I want you to think through what is actually feasible for you right now in this season of your life. Make sure it will allow you to get enough sleep. Trying to operate well while exhausted is like trying to run your car on fumes. You just aren’t going to get very far without being stalled on the side of the road.
Note: Maybe you don’t even want to choose a realistic start time and instead choose to start your routine when you wake up — whenever that is. I think this is an especially good option if you have a baby and/or a toddler who is waking up in the night and you’re in a season of life where you don’t have to be out the door at a certain time each morning.
B. When do you need to be out the door? What time does everyone need to be dressed, ready for the day, bags, packed, lunches packed, and in the car? This will help you determine what a realistic start time is and what you can realistically accomplish during the hour or hours you have from the time you get up to the time you need to be out the door.
If you don’t have to be out the door by a certain time, then ask yourself what time would you like to have accomplished your morning routine? Would you love to be ready to walk out the door if a friend called you for a play date or to easily be able to run an errand mid-morning because you are dressed, look presentable, and your ducks are in a pretty good row? That time could be 9 a.m. (like us) or noon or whatever time you decide! This challenge is not about following a formula, but about figuring out what works best for you and your family in your current season of life.
C. What are your Big Rocks? What would you really, really love to have done first thing in the morning? What few things would set your day up for success? What are those tasks or to-do’s or projects that you always hope to get to but that often get pushed to the back burner because you spend so much of your day putting out fires?
For my husband and me, working out and family time around the table are two big priorities. By making them something that happens very early in the day, we not only start our day off on a great foot, but we also ensure that they actually happen! It feels SO good to have accomplished these very important things right off the bat in our day!
Day 1 Project
1. Decide that you’re going to participate in this challenge. Committing to something is the first step to success! Leave a comment letting us know that you’re committed to joining me on this 5-day journey to a better morning this week.
2. Determine your answers to the three questions above. Write these out or type them out or leave a comment on this post answering them. We’ll use these as a guide for setting up a Realistic Routine tomorrow.
3. Tell someone offline that you’re participating in this challenge. In addition to leaving a comment on this post, I encourage you to text, call, or personally tell a friend, family member, neighbor, or co-worker about this challenge and that you are committing to it this week. The more accountability you set up from the get-go, the more apt you are to actually follow through on what you’re committing to!
Looking for some more practical help?
- Check out this page on Pinterest with lots of Morning Routine posts, ideas, and printables.
- Follow my Make Over Your Mornings Pinterest board.
- Download Day 1 of Make Over Your Mornings (it’s FREE!) — my 14-day course to help you jumpstart a successful day.
- Pick up a copy of The 5 A.M. Miracle for inspiration to get up earlier.
- Download the What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast ebook.
- See if your library has any of my 10 Top Favorite Books on Productivity & Time Management.
7 Ways to Save More on an Already Tight Budget
Guest post from Kristin of Joyfully Thriving.
As a frugal mom, I am always looking for ways to save my family money. We were always on a tight budget, but after having children our income was cut almost in half when I became a stay-at-home-mom. Since then, I have had to work harder than ever to find ways to save.
I have learned that saving money is possible, even when your budget is tight. These ideas aren’t earth-shattering but they do work. You probably won’t be able to save as much as you used to save (or as much as you would like to save) but you still can save something!
Work hard and get creative to start saving.
Here are some of the ideas that we used to save money on our tight budget.
1. Sell things.
This is one of the quickest ways to earn money and can be done anytime money is tight. Look around your house and find some things to sell. I guarantee you have things to sell!
You can sell just about anything on Craigslist or through a Facebook garage sale. Have an actual garage sale. Sell books at Half Price Books or via Bookscouter.com. Sell your clothes at a consignment shop or online through a site like thredUP. Whatever you make from selling, put it straight into your savings account.
2. Eat from the pantry.
I would venture to guess that you have food in your pantry, fridge and freezer. It may be an eclectic mix but that’s okay.
Give yourself the challenge of eating from what you already have on hand and skip the grocery store for a week. Put whatever you would have spent on groceries into your savings account.
3. Use coupon apps and put the money earned in savings.
I have become a big fan of coupon apps for the simple way they can earn money. Start using coupon apps and whenever you can cash out, put the money directly into savings. The same principle can be applied to shopping through cashback sites.
4. Audit all your bills.
Really look at all your bills. It is a known fact that we can negotiate bills with most companies, but how many of us actually do it?
Start by cutting any bills you possibly can. If and when you’ve already done that, call the other companies to see if they can lower your bill.
Utilities, car insurance, your mortgage – any bill is fair game. You can even do a grocery audit to save money! Whatever the difference, set up a monthly transfer into your savings account.
5. Stay put.
When you don’t go out, you don’t spend money. You don’t spend money on food, entertainment or gas. It’s harder to calculate but look at your gas bill for the month.
See if you can skip one fill-up this month by staying put. Whatever money you save, once again, put it into savings.
6. Challenge yourself to a no spend week / month.
This idea is old and often encouraged by the most frugal of us, but when was the last time you completed a no spend challenge?
Now is a perfect time. You set the rules and the time frame. No matter how long you do it, you are bound to find savings that you can tuck away!
7. Look for a cheaper way to do everything.
Instead of going to a movie theater, rent a movie on Netflix. Instead of using Neflix, borrow a free movie from the library.
If you go on a weekly date night, can you switch it to an every other week date night?
Instead of hiring a babysitter, swap babysitting duties with another mom and her family.
If you like to eat out, commit to only eating out with coupons or gift cards.
Start thinking about everything you do and look for a more frugal way of doing it.
I hope this post has given you some new thoughts on ways to find savings on your tight budget.
Remember, get creative and you will find ways to save. Be careful not to let the savings disappear into your monthly budget! As soon as you find a new way to save, put the savings into a specific account or else it will get used for other purposes. (I have learned that lesson too many times!)
How do you save money when your budget is already tight?
Kristen is a frugal stay-at-home mom of two, who works hard to save her family money. She writes at Joyfully Thriving about learning to love her frugal life, as she encourages others to do the same. She loves baking with chocolate, good books, and saving money.
Stop trying to impress other people
I’ve been thinking of this recently. When we focus on impressing others and trying to make them like us or think well of us, it distracts us from being able to fully focus on loving them well.
Let’s just be our authentic selves, set aside our desire for performing and people-pleasing, and instead pour ourselves into wholeheartedly loving others as best as we know how.
Shared Jun 25, 2016
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5 Things I’m Loving This Week (our new morning routine + more!)
5 Things I’m Loving This Week (our new morning routine + more!)
1. Our New Morning Routine
On Monday, we started our official Summer Schedule. For a long list of reasons, we decided to have a pretty strict Morning Routine as a family. We’re a week in and I’m happy to report that it’s going really well.
We’ve had a few bumps here and there, but overall, it’s been so good to get up and get so much accomplished before 8:30 a.m. You can read the details on our Morning Routine here.
Need some encouragement for setting up your own Morning Routine? Read my post on How to Set Up a Successful Summer Routine. You can also read about our Summer Routine for last year here.
Psst! Beginning on Monday, I’ll be doing a series called 5 Days to a Better Morning. Stay tuned for that!
2. A Q&A Budgeting Scope with Jesse
Jesse and I did something out-of-the-ordinary this past week: we recorded a Facebook Live video on budgeting.
Clearly, as you can tell from the video, we are still newbies at this. But it was a lot of fun to do it together and to get to take your questions live. I’m trying to convince Jesse that we should do this more often. 🙂
3. A Quiet Day at Home
This summer has been full. Full of good stuff and wonderful time with friends and lots of fun activities for the kids, but still full.
So I was so grateful to have a quiet day at home all day today. I didn’t need to go anywhere and didn’t have any big projects or to-do’s I had to accomplish. It felt SO nice!
Instead, I cleaned the house, did some organizing, watch the Olympic trials, hung out with my family, did some research for some upcoming blog projects, did some fun blog-surfing, and just enjoyed a completely laid-back PJ day!
4. My Birthday Girl
Kaitlynn turned 9 this week and we enjoyed some special birthday celebrations — including a Mother-Daughter date to get manicures and a fun afternoon at the pool with friends.
Still on our list of birthday plans: A date with me to the mall to go to Sephora (she’s been begging to go check out Sephora for a few months. That’s my fashionista girl!)
This girl brings so much life, beauty, and creativity into our home and I cannot imagine life without her!
5. Watching the Olympic Trials
For months, I’ve been counting down to Rio and I couldn’t be happier that it’s almost here! This week and next week, we’ll be watching the Olympic trials like it’s our job. {Yes, I’ve roped my kids into being just as enamored with the Olympics as I am!}
What are YOU loving this week? Tell us in the comments.
7 Ways To Fall Back In Love With Your Starter Home
Guest post from Erin of The No Drama Mama
Sometime in the past eleven years, the home my husband and I purchased in our early twenties silently worked its way from our five-year plan “starter home” to our forever home.
Considering the housing market plummeted, it’s become paramount that we find ways to fall in love with the house we have and not the idea of a bigger, better house out there somewhere.
When you look around your house and find your list of grievances is stacking up (making the idea of moving feel like the only option) here are a few ways you can fall back in love with your starter home:
1. Clean
I personally don’t love cleaning, but every so often (when I feel like my house’s limitations are annoying me) I spend a few hours cleaning up. I usually find myself feeling a lot less fed up with my house when I’m done.
When you spend time improving your surroundings, it’s harder to distance yourself emotionally from a place you put sweat equity into.
2. Declutter
When you purge unnecessary things, you often find that you have a lot more usable space than you thought. I often say that many times when you think you have a “space problem”, what you actually have is a “stuff problem”.
When my husband and I needed to find space in our two-bedroom townhouse to add an additional bedroom, decluttering the basement opened up the perfect space. Decluttering and renovating turned a storage space into our beautiful master bedroom.
3. Make A List of Positives
Staying in love with your current home requires making a conscious effort to remember the things that made you fall in love with it in the first place.
Did you love the open concept design? The wonderful neighborhood? The spacious backyard? Write it all down. This should help you focus on the positive aspects of your home instead of dwelling on its shortcomings.
4. Think About Your Long-Term Goals
Think about your long-term financial goals. How would a larger mortgage affect those goals? Will it make it harder to travel? Will it make it harder to help your children with college expenses when the time comes? Would you like to pay off your home early and see some life-long dream fulfilled?
I constantly remind myself that when my family found transitioned from two incomes to one, our lower mortgage payment kept us out of financial trouble. If we had bought a much larger home, we definitely could not afford for me to stay at home with our children — and I am grateful for that!
5. Consider Renovating
Think about whether or not a renovation project or two could give you the extra space or functionality your home is currently lacking. It’s usually vastly cheaper to renovate than it is to move to a bigger home.
6. Consider Utility Bills
When my husband and I first moved into our home from our apartment, we were shell-shocked by the utility bills. Since our apartment had heat and hot water included with the rent, the first winter in our new home threw us for a loop and we felt pretty house poor at the time.
The mortgage is not the only cost to consider when contemplating buying a bigger home. You have to think about the higher costs for utilities too.
I still look at larger houses in awe, but now it’s more like, “Wow, look at that beautiful large house! I bet it costs a fortune to heat in the winter!”
Sometimes bigger isn’t always better, especially when it comes to heating and cooling costs!
7. Cultivate Community Ties
For years after I moved to a rural county in upstate New York, I thought about “home” as simply the geographical location of my house. It took years until my oldest child started school to really form community ties.
That was also when I met neighbors who would become my second family. Now our families are so close, we’ve practically taken an oath not to move out of our neighborhood unless we move together.
Do you have strong community ties? Is a bigger house worth it if it means losing those ties?
If you’re holding back like I was, I strongly encourage you to explore your town and surrounding areas. Shop local stores, visit the library, and perhaps join a service organization and give back to your community. A house is just a building, but a community creates that feeling of “home.”
Home is where your heart is and when you make room in your heart to be grateful for what you already have, you can fall back in love with your starter home.
Erin Johnson is the author of “So, You’re Broke? 18 Drama-Free Steps To A Richer Life.” You can find her blogging at The No Drama Mama.
OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!
Click here to download!
Gretchen’s $55.14 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan
Dillons
1 jar Ragu Sauce – $1.29, used $1/1 e-coupon – $0.29 after coupon
2 Hamburger Helper – $0.99 each, used $1/2 e-coupon – $0.49 each after coupon (I just use the noodles from this since we don’t like Hamburger Helper.)
2 Annie’s Mac & Cheese – $1 each
1 Kroger Shredded Cheese – $1.88, used $0.60/1 catalina coupon – $1.28 after coupon
1 bag Kroger Flour – $1.79, used $0.40/1 e-coupon – $1.39 after coupon
1 Cheerios – $1.49, used $1/1 printable – $0.49 after coupon
1 Trix – $1.49, used $0.75/1 printable – $0.74 after coupon
1 Aquafina Drink – $1, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon
1 Cascadian Farms Cereal – $2.49, used $1/1 e-coupon – $1.49 after coupon
1 Cottage Cheese – $2
1 Sour Cream – $2
2 Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad – $1 each, used $1/2 e-coupon AND $1/2 SavingStar.com rebate – Free after coupon and rebate
1 Lettuce – $0.99
4 Larabars – $1 each, used 2 $0.50/2 printable – $0.75 each after coupons
1 Bumble Bee Tuna pouch – $1, used $1/1 e-coupon – Free after coupon
Total after coupons and rebate: $15.38
Aldi
2 gallons Milk – $1.89 each
1 pkg Hamburger Buns – $0.69
1 loaf Bread – $1.39
1 pkg Crackers – $1.79
1 pkg Tortillas – $1.19
1 Marshmallow and Star Cereal – $1.29
1 Cucumber – $0.49
1 Watermelon – $4.49
1 pkg Sliced Mushrooms – $1.49
1 dozen Eggs – $0.99
1 pkg Bagel Chips – $1.79
1 can Chicken Broth – $0.49
1 pkg Sweet Corn – $0.99
1 Frozen Orange Juice – $1.19
2 can Green Beans – $0.49 each
6 Peaches – $0.29 each
1 pkg Pita Bread – $1.59
2 pkg Blueberries – $0.99 each
2 pkg Strawberries – $1.29 each
1 Grape Jelly – $1.49
1 pkg Kettle Chips – $1.79
1 pkg Carrots – $0.99
1 Vegetable Oil – $1.99
1 Applesauce – $1.89
1 Avocado – $0.69
Total: $39.76
Total for both stores: $55.14
Menu Plan for This Week
Breakfasts
Eggs, Toast & Fruit x 3
Cereal x 3
Lunches
Tuna Sandwiches, Carrot Sticks
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Veggies
Salad Bar
Toasted Pita Bread, Sliced Cheese, Fruit
Mac & Cheese, Tossed Salad
Leftovers x 2
Dinners
Spaghetti, 30 Minute Rolls, Green Beans, Fruit Salad
Slow Cooker Chicken Burrito Bowl, Chips & Salsa, Watermelon
Hamburgers, Chips, Pasta Salad, Corn on the Cob
Homemade Pizza, Tossed Salad
Slow Cooker Lasagna, Amish White Bread, Steamed Veggies
Chicken Philly Cheese Steaks, Watermelon, Lunch Lady Brownies
Out to eat
4 Tips to Keep A Frugal Mindset After A Pay Raise
Guest post from Julie of The Hallway Initiative
“Nothing stimulates creativity like a good crisis.”
I’m not sure who originally came up with the above quote, but it could sum up the first several years of my marriage.
Finances were almost always tight, so I researched how to save money and stretch dollars. I read books on personal finance, kept a detailed budget, and searched the internet for money-saving ideas. It was during this time that a friend referred me to MoneySavingMom.com, and I ate up every penny-pinching post Crystal produced.
Friends often commented on how good I was at managing money, but deep down, I knew that I only did it out of necessity, not because I was naturally gifted with saving money.
Sure enough, when my husband Jon’s income increased, so did our budget. Some increases were absolutely necessary, like replacing our completely dead dryer and catching up on repairs that we simply couldn’t afford before. But we also increased our eating out, and I stopped being nearly as careful with our grocery budget as I used to.
I knew I needed to rein in our spending (with my husband’s support and help), but it wasn’t until I read Crystal’s razor post that it hit me how much my mentality toward frugality had changed. If I’d lost my razor, I’d simply have run out to the grocery store to pay full-price for a new one without a second thought.
After that wakeup call, I began to think about how I could change my mindset back to my frugal days even though our income is no longer as strained as it once was. I’m now implementing four strategies to maintain my frugal mindset:
1. Think in terms of stewardship.
I often forget that everything I “own” is actually a gift on loan from God. When I remember that it’s all His, no matter how much or little He’s given me, it challenges me to be a better steward with His things. I want to be found as faithful with the plenty as much as with the lack.
Thinking in terms of stewardship also enables me to give generously to others who may be hurting financially. We have had untold numbers of people help us during our lean years, including family, friends, and strangers who who paid out of pocket for my diabetic spark plug’s insulin pump! Now is our opportunity to help others in need.
2. Continue keeping a budget.
I admit, I’ve always been a budget nerd. My dad always kept a family budget when I was growing up, and it was something that stuck with me. With few exceptions, I’ve kept a monthly budget since we got married over 12 years ago.
That said, It’s easy to fall off the budgeting bandwagon once finances aren’t so tight. But sticking to a budget is one of the best ways to maintain control of your spending.
It helps you keep track of your expenditures and reminds you to be wise with what you have. And, if finances permit, it’s perfectly okay to increase certain budget categories, such as giving, saving, and splurges! Just make sure you’re doing it deliberately rather than on a whim.
3. Keep up with penny-pinching resources
Even though I don’t absolutely need to pinch every possible penny at the moment, I still stay subscribed to my favorite money-saving blogs.
I also continually peruse quality financial books. Why? I’ve found that by keeping up with new frugal ideas and reminding myself of the financial advice I’ve already learned, it helps keep me focused on being a good steward of my money.
Some of my favorite resources include:
- The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn
- The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
- Master Your Money by Ron Blue
- Living Well Spending Less
- Money Saving Mom
4. Save for the next crunch
Just because your finances are freed up for the moment, doesn’t guarantee that you’ll never go through another financial crisis. Start saving today for the next squeeze.
Having extra reserves for the unexpected will go a long way toward mitigating the anxiety that naturally comes with a loss of income or unexpected bill.
Dave Ramsey and other financial giants recommend building up 3-6 month’s worth of living expenses. If you’ve never been able to do so before, do it now while you have money left over at the end of the month.
Chances are high that you’ll hit another financial rough patch, and having that savings in place will be completely worth the effort it takes to build up that much money!
I’ve not done a perfect job of thinking in terms of stewardship, continuing to keep a budget, keeping up with penny-pinching resources, and saving for the next financial crunch, but those are the four strategies that I’m working toward during this time of plenty.
I know that I’ll have no regrets for doing them, especially when the next financial famine hits!
Julie Moore is wife to Jon and mom to their four spark plugs, the oldest of whom has Type 1 Diabetes. When not helping Jon with his business or homeschooling the kids, she blogs at The Hallway Initiative, encouraging Christian women to praise the Lord in the midst of hardship.
Chasing After More When You Already Have Enough
Not too long ago, I wrote a post on why I stopped hustling, and why I wish I’d done it sooner. That was a really raw post about my emotions of how I got to a place where I decided I was ready to be done, to give it all up, and walk away.
As an individual, I made intentional choices to let a lot of things go and have a Year of Rest instead. As a team, we made some really big changes to help me take a step back and create more breathing room for myself.
It’s almost July and I’ve learned so much this year that has changed me in many ways. Just a few weeks into 2016, I started to realize that I had become very addicted to being busy. This was a powerful realization.
Just a few months in, I also was acutely aware of the fact that so much of my worth was wrapped up in my work. I felt valued and validated by how much I did, how many people I impacted, and how productive I was.
I recently finished reading A Life of Being, Having and Doing Enough and it challenged me to really consider the concept of ENOUGH. I think our culture often encourages the lie that more is always better.
More money. More influence. More impact. More fame. More stuff. More friends. More. More. More. More.
While there can be good things with some of those “more’s”, it’s time we stop spending our life chasing after more and really stop and ask ourselves, “When is enough, enough?”
I’ve been asking myself the following questions:
- Am I only feeling contentment when I’m doing a lot?
- Is my joy and fulfillment coming from when I am having the biggest impact?
- What does enough look like for me?
- Would I be settled right where I’m at with what I have?
- Would I be content if I knew that where I am right now will never change?
These questions can apply to so many different areas and situations in our lives. For me, I instantly thought of two areas:
1) The Number of Children We Have
I have three wonderful kids. Which I’m so very grateful for. But I always thought we’d have a big family (Both my husband and I grew up in big families and we always wanted a big family ourselves). Instead, God gave us 3 kids… and my baby just turned 7!
I’ll be honest, there are times when I see other people announcing their pregnancy or I see little babies, I feel that pang in my heart. I’ve decided, though, that I can either focus on what I don’t have or I can rejoice in the children I do have. Because so many, many people would love to have three kids!
We are so blessed. I want to pour myself into exactly where I am and be the best mother I can be to the three kids God has given me instead of spending time wishing I had something I didn’t have.
2) The House We Live In
We are committed to staying out of debt and are saving to pay cash for a house here in TN. However, because of the housing prices here, it will likely be at least another 18 months to 2 years (or more!) before we have enough saved up to pay 100% down on a house.
In the meantime, we’re back to renting again — something we did for the first 8 years of our marriage. The house we’re in is less than ideal in many ways… including the fact that all three kids are in one bedroom right now because this is the best arrangement we could come up with here.
Some people would say we are terrible parents for living in a house where they all have to share a room and don’t have a lot of their “own space”. But here’s the truth: Our kids were little when we made a LOT of financial and personal sacrifices to get to the place where we are now. They don’t remember those days.
We now have a lot more wiggle room in our budget and they get to enjoy things we never imagined we’d be able to afford for them — like swim team and figure skating and even an international trip to South Africa last year. However, we don’t want them to grow up thinking that everything will be handed to them. We want them to experience short-term sacrifices for long-term benefits.
So we’ve chosen to continue to rent a house that has less than ideal sleeping arrangements (along with a long list of other “less than ideal” things) because it allows us to be able to save aggressively and give generously.
We’re learning contentment in the house that we’re in and being grateful for the many things about it that we love — like the wonderful neighbors, a beautiful kitchen, and a great backyard. Our hope is that these lessons in contentment will be something our kids will carry with them for the rest of their lives — no matter where they live.
I’ve been asking myself: If we weren’t ever able to buy a house with more bedrooms or had to downsize even more, would I be content?
How Can I Do Less Chasing and More Embracing?
Maybe for you, it’s your income level. Maybe you are struggling with where you are living or going to church. Maybe you wish you had a better job, different friends, better health, a spouse… the list could go on and on.
Whatever those things are that you really wish you could have, I challenge you to ask yourself, “Would I be content if I knew that where I am right now will never change?”
What does embracing enough look like for you? I’m not saying you shouldn’t work on improving your situation or set goals or build character or apply for jobs or whatever it is that would help you get closer to your goals and hopes and dreams.
However, I also want to challenge you to consider if you’re just chasing after more instead of embracing right where you are. If you’re spending your days pining for more and better instead of wholeheartedly loving the life you already have.
For me, I’m throwing my energy into loving and nurturing the beautiful children God has given me. I want to disciple them, encourage them, walk with them, and be present with them. In addition, I’m seeking to embrace the home we have and make it as welcoming for my family. I don’t have to have a bigger house or a better layout in order to make this home I currently have a haven of rest.
Let’s stop spending our time and our days chasing after more and instead start embracing the here and now — right where we are!
Related: When She Gets That Thing You Really Wanted
10 Ways to Save On Your Wedding
Guest post from Bronwyn
When my wonderful boyfriend proposed to me, I immediately bought a pile of bridal magazines and began looking for inspiration online.
I quickly learned one thing: Love may be free, but weddings can be expensive!
A quick google search showed that the average price of a wedding in the US is a little over $25,000. I initially laughed at this number, but having now planned a wedding, I can see how easy it would be to spend this amount of money.
In an effort to help other brides who are in the process of planning their big day, I wanted to share some money saving tips I knew going in, and some I learned along the way:
1. Decide how much you can afford.
I didn’t want to dip into savings to pay for a wedding, and I was definitely not going to put anything on credit. So I reviewed my monthly budget for areas where I could cut back each month. I multiplied this by the length of our engagement to determine my total budget.
2. Cut that amount by 10%.
There will be overruns, there will be items you forgot to include in your detailed budget, and trust me, as the day approaches you will want to throw money at problems just to make them go away.
My advice would be to cut your initial budgeted amount by 10% just to give yourself a little cushion.
3. Choose your top three priorities.
These are the items you will “splurge” on (splurge being a relative term). You may want to get your fiancé’s input on these!
4. Create a detailed budget.
Make sure this budget doesn’t exceed your total budget (including your 10% cushion). If it does, go back and revise.
5. Be upfront about your budget.
Don’t be afraid to tell vendors what your budget is for their particular area
Our baker and florist were both happy to offer us options that fit our rather modest budget. (Our florist even said, “Honey, more flowers aren’t going to make you any more married.”)
6. Be careful when dress shopping.
Although it might be tempting, DON’T try on a dress above your budget as you could fall in love with it.
Also, make sure to budget enough money for alterations and bear in mind that different styles will cost more/less to alter.
7. Consider if it’s something you actually need.
Yes, that ring cushion marked down from $50 to $25 may be a great deal, but do you actually need a cushion to put your rings on?
8. DIY can be your money-saving friend OR foe.
Buying a print-at-home invitation kit from Michaels was substantially cheaper than paying a professional to print them. However I have also seen brides spend a fortune on DIY projects.
9. Don’t feel guilty for not saving every penny.
Not every suggestion is right for every person (I wasn’t willing to have my wedding on a Tuesday to cut costs), pick and choose the ones that are right for you.
10. Remember what it is all about!
At the end of the day, you will be married to you best friend. And you can’t really put a price on that!
What are YOUR tips or tricks to save money on wedding expenses?
Bronwyn married her best friend in 2012, and is now a part-time bean-counter, full-time penny-pincher, wife, and mom to the world’s most adorable toddler (she may also be a little biased!)
Change doesn’t just drop in your lap
There are a few areas in my life right now that I really want to see change in. But I’ve been kind of hoping the change would just miraculously happen.
Change rarely just drops in your lap, though. Instead, it’s the result of intentional, consistent effort.
So today, I’m committed to getting up and taking the first step. And the next step. And the next step.
Wednesday, I’m showing up for you today. I’m not going to coast through you; I’m going to be intentional about playing full out, taking intentional baby steps, loving well, and making the most of you.