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Shared Jan 21, 2016 comment

500 Things Decluttering Challenge: Day 9

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 21, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #9 of the 500 Things Decluttering Challenge and today we were supposed to be working in our family rooms.

Since we don’t really have a family room, I decided to spend time in some other parts of the house that need some TLC. So I went through our bedside tables, as well as our DVDs and CDs.

And would you know it?! I came up with 79 items to get rid of!!!!

Today’s total: 79 items decluttered

Total for the entire challenge: 407 items so far!

I’m keeping a running total of all my items decluttered during this challenge as I thought it would be fun to not only do Daily Totals but also Overall Totals.

How many items did YOU declutter today?? Leave a comment and let us know.

P.S. You can read more about the Decluttering Course I’m going through here. If you’d like to join me in going through it in January and get the videos, information, and printables every day, you can go here to purchase and get it for just $5.99 right now!

Shared Jan 21, 2016 comment

Do It Yourself: A Rolling Kitchen Pantry

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 21, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

DIYpassion.com shows you how to make homemade rolling kitchen pantry.

Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared Jan 21, 2016 comment

Get Up Early Challenge: Day 9 (it was hard to get out of bed this morning!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 21, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #9 of the Get Up Early Challenge and, truthfully, I struggled to get out of bed this morning — even lying there for awhile considering the possibility of going back to sleep!

But I got up anyway… And now I’m so glad that I did because I had such a soul-filling time preparing my heart for the day, reading God’s Word, recounting my blessings, and planning for the day ahead!

I’ll be hopping on Periscope around 7:30 to 7:45 a.m. to share some Morning Motivation encouragement and to some thoughts and insights from The 5AM Miracle book. I’d love for you to join me or watch the replay (just download the app and search for @MoneySavingMom).

Are you joining me for the Get Up Early Challenge? If so, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you did with your wake-up goal this morning.

We’re in this together… And if you didn’t hit your goal, that’s okay! Give yourself grace, don’t beat yourself up, and know that you can try again tomorrow!

P.S. Read more about the Get Up Early Challenge here. Need some help and inspiration to use your mornings well? Download Day 1 of Make Over Your Mornings for free (scroll to the bottom of this page to sign up for it!)

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

How I Found Time to Write a Book

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

When my last book came out, many people asked me how on earth I found the time to write a book. That’s a great question!

As many of you know this blog gets 1.5 to 2 million unique visitors each month. If you are a blogger, then you know a lot of work goes into keeping up a website. Because of this, I knew if I was going to find the time to write another book, it was going to take some serious re-arranging of our schedule and my business/work time to make it happen.

Here are 3 strategies I employed that allowed me to find the time to write a book:

Strategy #1: I Made it a Priority

We had decided that writing another book was a priority for me and for our family, so we made the time for it — with some effort and creativity and the support of my family!

If you want to actually follow through with anything, you have to say, “I’m GOING to make this a priority” not “I WANT to do this”. After you have committed to making it your priority, then, you have to look at your schedule and figure out how it’s going to work.

Jesse and I got out our calendar and found a three-month period where I wasn’t going to be traveling much and our family commitments were relatively low. We blocked that entire period off on our calendar and basically said “no” to almost everything during that season.

Strategy #2: I Hired a Ghost Editor

Once I knew when I could take the time to write the book, I hired on a ghost editor. A ghost editor is someone who works alongside you in the writing process.

I worked with my editor on every single section of every chapter. I would write down all of the concepts I wanted to talk about in each section and my editor would ask me a lot of questions about it.

She would send back an outline and some content ideas to me and I would go in and re-arrange things and expand on her suggestions. Then we would talk more about the order, she’d do more tweaks and give more suggestions, and I’d write more content. And on and on it went — through every chapter and every page and every paragraph of the book.

Every step of the way, she would guide me in the process and be there to give feedback, constructive criticism, and encouragement. Having AJ work alongside me really helped me to stay focused and kept me accountable. Not only did she help me come up with exactly what I wanted, she significantly reduced the amount of time I had to spend researching, tweaking, and editing. Best of all, she made the final product so much better!

Strategy #3: I Rallied My In-Home Cheerleaders

It is so important that everyone in your life is on board with the idea of you writing a book. I knew that writing a book was going to take a major commitment on my part, which would impact my husband and kids in a big way, too. So I didn’t say yes to writing it or commit to the timeframe my publishers wanted it written in until I knew my family was wholeheartedly supportive of every bit of it.

Because of their firm commitment to this, they were willing to come up with a pretty unconventional work schedule during the time period when I was writing the book. I would go to bed early and sleep for a while. Then I would get up at 12:00am and work until 4:00am. I’d go back to bed for a while and then get up late and start my day.

The kids and Jesse would get up and around at least an hour or two before me but because Jesse works from home now and took over a lot of the home and homeschooling responsibilities while I was writing the book, it worked for us.

This allowed me to get some quality writing hours in while most of the world was fast asleep and the house was completely quiet and the internet was almost 100% dead. This meant, there were almost no potential distractions and I could fully concentrate on writing.

I don’t necessarily recommend that you try a crazy schedule like this, it was grueling and hard and it took me at least a few months to recover and get back to a really normal routine. But sometimes, in order to hit a goal that you’ve made a priority, you make short-term sacrifices for long-term benefits.

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Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

3 Books I’m Reading This Week + 1 Book I Read Last Week

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Many of you have requested that I share more book posts — what I’m reading, what I’m reading with my kids, and reviews of books that I’ve read. I can’t promise to do a post every week on this, but I’m going to try to do a better job of more consistently sharing what I’m reading — since I really enjoy getting great book recommendations from others!

3 Books I’m Reading This Week

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis — I’m about 75% through this one and am not sure whether it’s beautiful or weird…. The jury’s still out on that!

Rest Assured by Vicki Courtney — I just started this book and I think I’m going to really enjoy it and it’s going to be perfect for my Year of Rest!

All She Ever Wanted by Lynn Austin — I have really enjoyed many other books by Lynn Austen, but I’ve not read one of her books for awhile, so I’m excited to dig into another good fiction book.

What We’re Reading Aloud

Johnny Tremain — This is our read aloud for our homeschool curriculum (Sonlight) and while it took us awhile to get into it (it starts out slow and takes its time developing the story plot and characters) and there’s a bit of coarse language in it, we’re really enjoying it.

What I Read Last Week

It’s Not What You Think — This book was deep and made me really think and reconsider many different things from a new perspective. I didn’t agree with all of it, but I found so many thought-provoking nuggets throughout it.

What are YOU reading right now? What have you read recently? Any great recommendations?

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

We Paid Cash: A 10-Day Family Road Trip

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

A testimony from Rosanna who blogs at The Four F’s

We hadn’t been on a major vacation in seven years, so we decided to take our family on a road trip to British Columbia, this past June. We spent time seeing many attractions along the way, as well as when we got to our destination of Vancouver, British Columbia.

My husband, Bernd, and I have always enjoyed road trips, and now that our three children are getting older — ages 10, 7, and 5 , we thought we would like to attempt this with our family.

We believe in building memories with our family, but obviously these memories come at a cost. We are a one-income family and my husband is self-employed. That means that he doesn’t get vacation days or holiday pay.

That said, here are some of the things we did to pay cash for our big family trip.

1. We continued have monthly budget meetings and told our money where to go.

2. We have a sinking fund for different categories, one of which is vacations. Though our sinking fund payment wasn’t that high, we hadn’t gone on a large vacation for a long time, thus we had a head start on this one.

3. I sold items we no longer needed.

4. Every time I had extra money left in a budgeted category, I put it into a glass jar and eventually brought it to the bank.

However, our budgeting didn’t stop there. In order to make this vacation work, we needed to be careful on our trip too.

Here are some of the ways we saved money during our trip:

5. We brought most of our food along, stopping at grocery stores along the way to stock up. We only ate out for three meals, not including continental breakfasts in hotels.

6. We booked most of our hotels at hotels.com, which enabled us to get a much better rate most of the time.

7. We chose to bring our tent and gear and camped for two nights instead of using a hotel room.

8. We chose to do the activities that were most important to us, not every single available thing.

9. We were able to visit the Vancouver Aquarium for free because we went with some relatives that had a pass.

The total of our trip came in around $1800, and it was worth every penny!

We look forward to the day that we are completely debt free so that we can do these kinds of trips more regularly.

Rosanna is a wife and homeschooling mom of three. She loves writing, worshiping Jesus through song, and chatting with her husband. You are invited to follow along with her on her journey at The Four F’s.

Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

500 Things Decluttering Challenge: Day 8

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #8 of the 500 Things Decluttering Challenge and today’s project was to go through kid’s stuff, sports equipment, and Hobby/Art supplies.

I went through our craft tubs and found quite a few items to get rid of. I was especially excited because I was able to consolidate down to one tub!

I’m thrilled that our house is really starting to look more and more decluttered! For the last few months, I’ve been meaning to get to certain problem areas and then just never made it a priority. But every time I would see those problem areas I would be reminded that I still needed to get to decluttering and organizing that area.

So it feels so nice to finally be tackling and conquering those areas — one day at a time!

Today’s total: 45 items decluttered

Total for the entire challenge: 328 items so far!

I’m keeping a running total of all my items decluttered during this challenge as I thought it would be fun to not only do Daily Totals but also Overall Totals.

How many items did YOU declutter today?? Leave a comment and let us know.

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

Ask the Readers: The Best Way to Sell Books?

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Today’s questions is from April:

I just finished reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and I now have a huge pile of items I no longer want to keep!

I would like to try and get some money out of them, but having a garage sale won’t work based on where I live. One thing I thought I could do was sell my pile of books online, but it doesn’t look as easy as I thought.

Do you have any suggestions (besides ebay) on how I can sell my used books online without doing it as a business or having to pay a monthly fee?

Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

5 Lessons We’ve Learned from Frugally Raising our Kids

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Sarah of The Jelly Jars

My husband and I have three kids, and every time I hear reports about how much it costs to raise just one child these days, I wince a little (the latest data says close to a quarter of a million dollars per child). But then I remind myself that it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are some lessons that I’ve learned as we try to raise our kids without spending too much money on them:

1. How to get creative with activities.

We don’t have our kids in more than one activity at a time (such as soccer, swimming, gymnastics, etc.), encouraging them to fully engage in where they are, and refusing to believe the lie that we have to push them too hard from an early age in order for them to succeed later on.

Instead, we watch Youtube videos of gymnastics or ballet, for example, and either follow along with a tutorial or turn it into a fun family activity as we pretend our living room is the summer Olympic games.

2. How to find enjoyment through experiences rather than things.

In the spaces of our lives that aren’t taken up by school, work, or activities, we tend to do things together. We will go for a family hike, take a “nature walk” down the street, make muffins, or play a board game together.

We own plenty of toys, but we also try to teach our kids that the most joy in life comes from relationships rather than objects, and model that through how we spend our time together.

3. How to find great second-hand deals.

If you look at your local library, they probably have a section where they sell their old books for a fraction of what it costs to buy a new book. I’ve bought books at our library for a quarter each, greatly expanding our home book collection.

We tend to buy board games at the local thrift store for two or three dollars rather than the fifteen or twenty they cost brand new.

I also find gently used clothes that are still on trend at thrift stores, a huge benefit when kids grow so quickly and need new clothes so frequently!

4. How to make lots and lots of lunches!

I make lunches every day, not just school days. If it’s a Saturday and I know that we’ll be out running errands over lunchtime, I think ahead and pack a quick lunch.

Stopping to eat out add up quickly and I would much rather take ten minutes to put things together at home than get stuck with a big bill because we all got hungry before we got home.

5. How to teach our children about money.

From a young age, kids can begin to understand basic money concepts. By watching the ways we save, spend, and give, they are learning how to do the same.

Our kids have 3 jars labeled “Spend, Save, Give.” When we give out allowance, the kids split it equally among the three jars. The “spend” money can be used however they choose, the “save” money is money they are saving for a specific item, and the “give” is to encourage generosity.

An additional benefit in many of our methods is that they tend to be more relationally geared, creating a special bond in our family as we do life together.

Raising a family can be quite expensive, but these are tactics that work for us as we try to be wise in how we spend money in the process.

Sarah is a mountain-loving, dark chocolate-eating, Frank Sinatra-listening, owie-kissing, truth-telling, freelance writer/blogger who seeks out a passionate life with her husband and two kiddos. She writes at The Jelly Jars.

photo source

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Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

How to Save Money on Food Costs When Life is Crazy

Published: by crystal on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Do you struggle with letting the grocery budget get out of control when life gets busy? If so, Jessica from Life As Mom has a great post up on how to save money on food costs when life is crazy.

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

Get Up Early Challenge: Day 8 (I learned a valuable lesson yesterday!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #8 of the Get Up Early Challenge and I re-learned a valuable lesson yesterday… If I over-pack my schedule and try to cram too many to-dos on my list for the day, even getting up early won’t calm the rushing, busy, frantic feeling in my heart.

So here’s the honest truth: we had a rough morning at our house yesterday. Mostly because I struggled with major Bad Attitude… And it was contagious.

I snapped at my kids, was curt with my husband, and just felt stressed about life.

I couldn’t figure out what was up… Until I looked at my to-do list and realized it was because I hadn’t given myself space to breathe in my schedule today.

I had scheduled too many commitments. I had put pressure on myself to do too many things. And I was feeling squeezed and squashed by it all.

Instead of continuing on the Stress Spiral downward, I stopped and took a hard look at my to do list. I crossed some of the non-important things off of it, rescheduled an appointment, and made a much more simplified game plan for the afternoon.

Then, I apologized to my husband for my attitude, kissed him for 15 seconds (it’s hard to kiss your man passionately and be mad at him at the same time –try it! ;)), asked God for love and calmness and patience, turned on some worship music, and drank a Green Smoothie.

The rest of the day went so much better! And I’m going into today reminding myself of this: Jesus didn’t call me to a life of busyness. He says, “Come unto me and rest.” He is not impressed by how much I do. He doesn’t need my productivity. He’s already finished the most important work on the Cross.

Today, I’m leaving room in my life for quietness and space for my soul to breathe.

Are you joining me for the Get Up Early Challenge? If so, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you did with your wake-up goal this morning.

We’re in this together… And if you didn’t hit your goal, that’s okay! Give yourself grace, don’t beat yourself up, and know that you can try again tomorrow!

Shared Jan 19, 2016 comment

How to Get Up Early — Even if You Have Young Kids

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 19, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

So many moms have written in and told me how they would love to get up early but they just can’t figure out how to do so because they have young children. If that’s you, this post is for you.

However, I need to preface it with this: I’m all about grace, not guilt. If you feel like you’re in a season of life where you’re not supposed to be getting up early, then this post isn’t for you. Just skip it.

Also, remember that everyone’s definition of “early” will differ, depending on life circumstances. I may be getting up at 5 a.m., but you could be getting up at 6, 7, or 8 a.m.. Everybody’s schedule is different. Do what works for you, okay?

Now that we have that out of the way, here are my tips on how to get up early even if you have young kids:

1. Cut the excuses.

We can spend so much of our life living under lies. We live under the lies that we aren’t good enough, we can’t do that, we’re not X. When we tell ourselves lies for long enough, we start believing them to be truths.

Some people truly do thrive in the morning and some people thrive in the evening. But don’t say, “I’m not a morning person” if you’ve never tried being a morning person before.

If you’ve not gotten up early for 3-4 weeks in a row, you can’t really say one way or the other what you are. So don’t tell yourself “I’m not a morning person”, if you’ve not proven that statement to be true.

Ask yourself what kind of messaging you’re telling yourself not just about this, but about all areas of life. Cut the excuses and don’t let them hold you back, because you usually have to believe that you can actually do something before you’ll really try to do it!

2. Go to bed early…if you can.

You are not going to successfully get up early if you stay up late. You have to develop the discipline of going to bed early.

What are you staying up doing at night? Is it productive or mindless? Some people get SO much done at night or they intentionally stay up to do something that they love and that refreshes them. I’m all for that!

But if you’re getting sucked into the rabbit hole of social media, or you’re mindlessly filling time just to avoid going to bed, then give going to bed earlier a try!

You might even challenge yourself to go to bed shortly after your kids go to bed. For some of you this won’t work, and I’m definitely not asking you to sacrifice your marriage and time with your husband for this, but at least consider the idea of going to bed shortly after your kids do and then maybe getting time alone with your husband before they get up in the morning.

3. Try getting up 15 minutes earlier.

Instead of feeling like you have to revamp your entire schedule and life, try making small changes over time. Even 15 minutes can make such a difference.

By getting up 15 minutes earlier, you could have time to spend thinking, praying, exercising, journaling, reading God’s word, and/or planning your day… there are so many different options! Pick one or two of these things that you are going to get up and do during the first 15 minutes of your morning.

Then, challenge yourself to go to bed 15 minutes earlier and get up 15 minutes earlier and invest a little time into something that will refresh, encourage, and positively impact your life!

4. Take a nap when your kids do.

As moms, we often think we shouldn’t nap when our kids nap, because it’s wasted precious time to be productive. But think about this: What if you were able to get up an hour earlier and really knock out your to-do list, so that you could enjoy a nap during your kids’ nap time?

Over time, I have become a big fan of napping. One morning last week, I took a nap around 9:30 a.m. because I realized I wasn’t going to be able to make it through the rest of the day.

Because I had gotten up early and I was finished with all of my important morning tasks, I was able to just lie down and take a short nap. I didn’t have any guilt, and I felt so refreshed and rested for the rest of the day!

5. Teach your kids to stay in their rooms longer.

I know this one is controversial, but as parents, we are in charge. In most cases, we can teach our children to stay in their rooms longer, so that we can have more time in the mornings to be productive. (Have you seen these Okay to Wake Clocks? I’ve had many moms rave about their effectiveness to me!)

Think outside the box. Get creative! And remember to give yourself grace and focus on the progress you are making — not on how far you might be from where you’d like to be!

Want some practical help with setting up your day for success? Be sure to grab a copy of my course, Make Over Your Mornings.

This 14-day online course includes videos, a workbook, and step-by-step projects and is designed to help you revolutionize your productivity, streamline your routines, invest your time in things that truly matter, and find more joy and peace in the process.

If you’ve ever wished that you could figure out how to get more done, have more organization in your life, and find time to spend on things you love, the Make Over Your Mornings Course is for you. Find out more about it here.

What do you find helps you get up early each morning, even with younger children?

Shared Jan 19, 2016 comment

500 Things Decluttering Challenge: Day 7 (decluttering the garage, ugh!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 19, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #7 of the 500 Things Decluttering Challenge and today we were supposed to clean out the garage and basement. We don’t have a basement, but I can assure you I was not excited about cleaning out the garage — especially since it is currently freezing in Tennessee!!

But I braved the icy cold garage and went out there and did it… not crazy thoroughly, but I did a quick sweep of it and found some items to get rid of — including a few Kid’s Meal toys and paint that was all dried up. And some trash. Of course.

I was pleasantly surprised that the garage was not as cluttered as I’d pictured… and most of the clutter was stuff in the donate pile that I’ve collected by doing this challenge!

Today’s total: 32 items decluttered

Total for the entire challenge: 283 items so far!

I’m keeping a running total of all my items decluttered during this challenge as I thought it would be fun to not only do Daily Totals but also Overall Totals.

How many items did YOU declutter today?? Leave a comment and let us know.

Shared Jan 19, 2016 comment

Get Up Early Challenge: Day 7 (the day I woke up grouchy!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 19, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day 7 of the Get Up Early Challenge and for some reason, when my alarm went off this morning, I woke up feeling on edge and irritable. I wanted to just crawl back into bed and try to sleep it off, but I knew I had gotten sufficient sleep, so instead I decided to get up and try spending time reading God’s Word, journaling, praying, hand lettering, and exercising.

It was so good to read about Jacob in the Genesis study this morning and be reminded of who I am in Christ — that my identity is in Him. And I can rest in that as I go about my day.

“Love through me, love of God. Make me like Thy pure air, through which, unhindered, colors pass as though it were not there.” -Amy Carmichael

I’ll be hopping on Periscope at 7:30 a.m. to share some Morning Motivation encouragement and to some thoughts and insights from The 5AM Miracle book. I’d love for you to join me or watch the replay (just download the app and search for @MoneySavingMom).

Are you joining me for the Get Up Early Challenge? If so, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you did with your wake-up goal this morning.

We’re in this together… And if you didn’t hit your goal, that’s okay! Give yourself grace, don’t beat yourself up, and know that you can try again tomorrow!

Summer Bucket List

Summer Bucket List

FREE Summer Bucket List!!

Strategy #1: I Made it a Priority

Strategy #2: I Hired a Ghost Editor

Strategy #3: I Rallied My In-Home Cheerleaders

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

3 Books I’m Reading This Week

What We’re Reading Aloud

What I Read Last Week

What are YOU reading right now? What have you read recently? Any great recommendations?

1. How to get creative with activities.

2. How to find enjoyment through experiences rather than things.

3. How to find great second-hand deals.

4. How to make lots and lots of lunches!

5. How to teach our children about money.

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

1. Cut the excuses.

2. Go to bed early…if you can.

3. Try getting up 15 minutes earlier.

4. Take a nap when your kids do.

5. Teach your kids to stay in their rooms longer.

Want some practical help with setting up your day for success? Be sure to grab a copy of my course, Make Over Your Mornings.

What do you find helps you get up early each morning, even with younger children?

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