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Shared Jan 10, 2015 comment

DIY Experiment: A quick fix for scratched hardwood floors

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 10, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

When I saw this post on an Easy Fix for Scratched Hardwood Floors, I knew I had to try it. Our floors in our rental are very scratched up and I’ve been on a mission ever since we moved to figure out ways to improve how they look.

I bought some of the Howard Restor-A-Finish on Amazon with my Swagbucks credit and was excited to try it out this week.

I chose a spot that was pretty bad but also in a fairly inconspicuous place. See above for the scratches before I tried Restor-a-Finish on them.

And here is how they look after using Restor-a-Finish on them. I can’t tell that much of a difference up close, but I think it looks somewhat better from a distance.

I think this would work even better on wood with darker finish. I also would recommend starting out pouring on less of the Restor-a-Finish to make sure you’re happy with the results in a small area before you dump a bunch on a larger area. 🙂

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve scratched hardwood floors? Did you try an do-it-yourself projects this week? If so, how did they turn out for you?

Shared Jan 9, 2015 comment

I’d love to meet you in Mississippi on February 6, 2015!

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 9, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Our team is so excited to be putting on a special one-night Say Goodbye to Survival Mode event on February 6, 2015, in Purvis, Mississippi!

This evening will be encouraging, inspirational, and actionable. I’ll be sharing from my heart and giving you practical steps to take to:

Stop living life feeling stuck, exhausted, and overwhelmed
Determine your most important priorities & find time to invest in what really matters
Break free from the lie that whispers “I’m not good enough”
Move past loneliness and build authentic friendships with other women

If you could use a boost to begin 2015 on the right track, you won’t want to miss this special one-night event!

Find out more information about this event and purchase tickets here. We have a special group rate for those who’d like to invite a group of women to come.

P.S. Want to have us bring this one-night Say Goodbye to Survival Mode event to your church or women’s group in 2015? We’d love to chat with you about that! Just fill out this form here and we’ll be in touch with more information on dates we have available and how we can serve your church or women’s group.

Shared Jan 9, 2015 comment

How We Paid Cash for a Rental House

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 9, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

A testimony from Jackie

We are determined to pay cash for everything — even big ticket items. So while my husband and I were getting completely out of debt, I set another long-term goal: to pay cash for a rental house once we were debt-free.

The plan was to buy the rental property within a self-directed IRA. (That’s a type of retirement account where you’re allowed to decide what you want to invest in, so long as you stay within the IRS rules.)

Small amounts add up:

I started contributing to my 401k at work. At first I just contributed 3% to see what my check would be like with that amount gone. Once I adjusted to that change, I increased my contribution by 1-2% every few months. I kept that pattern up until eventually I was contributing 30% of my check!

I invested in the options available to me in the 401k, and also got a very small company match. I had in mind that I would be quitting my job at some point in the (then-distant) future to go and work for myself. Once I did, my plan was to roll the 401k money into a self-directed IRA and then buy a rental house within it. The IRA would own the rental property on my behalf.

But before I could do that, the company I worked for was acquired. That meant I could roll the money over to a self-directed IRA earlier than I’d expected. I went ahead and did exactly that. Then I went house shopping!

Finding the house:

I had managed to save up about $80,000 over about 7 years, so I set my rental property budget at $50,000 or less. (I wanted to have extra cash available for repairs and unexpected expenses.)

In order to find a house for that low price, I had to look outside of our area. I found an older home listed at around $40,000 in a small town about 40 miles away. I had my IRA make a full-price cash offer, sight unseen, that was contingent upon inspection. (The property was occupied, and they didn’t want people inspecting who weren’t serious.)

After inspection, I had my IRA withdraw the offer. The house needed a LOT of work. I got a few estimates, and then had my IRA make a new offer at about half the asking price due to the repairs that would be needed. They accepted. Suddenly my IRA owned a rental property, and I’d paid cash for a house.

How it feels to pay cash:

The first time you make a large purchase with cash is amazing! So is every time after that!

Living a debt free life may not be considered “normal”, but it’s awesome — and something I believe everyone can do once they get their finances into shape.

We’re regular people who struggled with debt for years, and we finally beat it. You can too!

Jackie Beck is an entrepreneur and the mom of one college-age son. Her husband is a software tester and avid reader. You can read about how they paid off over $147,000 in debt at TheDebtMyth.com.

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

Shared Jan 9, 2015 comment

10 Things I Learned From Downsizing Our Life

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 9, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I posted about Small House Living earlier this week and introduced you to Lori and her family of six who are currently living in an RV. The comments on that post were quite lively and there were lots of pros and cons shared for both living in a small house and having a larger house.

Lori posted a follow-up post yesterday called 10 Things I Have Learned By Downsizing Our Life. I think you’ll find it very interesting and insightful — at least I know that I did. Head over here to read it.

Shared Jan 8, 2015 comment

How I Saved This Week: Making coffee at home

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 8, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I know it’s simple, but one way we save hundreds of dollars each year is by making coffee at home. You might feel like buying coffee really isn’t costing you much, but here’s what I wrote two years ago:

The Simple Dollar estimates that the cost of a 16-oz. brewed at home cup of coffee will cost you no more than $0.50 to $0.60 each, including the cost of energy, cream, sugar, etc. When I calculated it myself, I was coming up with the same costs for high-quality coffee. If you get a good deal on the coffee beans, your savings is going to be even higher.

So, if you’re typically paying $1.50 per cup of coffee, that’s a savings of around $1 per cup five times per week — or $20 per month or $240 per year. If you typically pay $4 for a fancy cup, you’re saving at least $17.50 per week, $70 per month, or $840 per year! Crazy, eh?

Not only does it save quite a bit of money, I also like coffee brewed at home the best. I can make my cup exactly like I like it. It’s almost like an art form to me!

We don’t really make fancy coffee all that often and we don’t even use sugar in our coffee any more around here, but we do love good cream. So we splurge on half and half every week. It costs us less than two cups of coffee at the coffee shop would cost us and it lasts us all week long — and it makes good coffee so much better!

Some Tried & True Recipe Links:

I was thinking about how much money we save by making coffee at home this week as I found myself brewing a delicious cup and pouring it into my favorite Copco cup before heading out the door.

And not only that, but it saves a lot of time waiting in line, too.

If you’ve been to a Starbucks any time recently, there’s a good chance you’ve waited in line for a least a few minutes, possibly much longer. Those orders of no-whip-two-pumps-extra-foam-double-cup-extra-hot-sugar-free orders take quite awhile to process. 😉

{Speaking of which, I was at the coffee shop recently and someone ordered some drink with a long string of names and instructions that included a specific temperature for the coffee to be. I was pretty aghast that that was allowed. I kind of just want to try ordering a coffee drink with instructions for it to be some random temperature — like 42.5 degrees or something — just to see what the barista says! 😉

For the record, I’m not at all opposed to buying the occasional cup of coffee, I just like it to be a fun treat, not an every day occurrence. Because once you add up how much it costs over time for “just that one cup of coffee”, it becomes a lot more motivating to learn how to brew your own cup of coffee!

What’s one way that YOU saved this week? I’d love to hear!

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

Click here to sign up!

Shared Jan 8, 2015 comment

Gretchen’s $45 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan

Published: by Gretchen on January 8, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Homeland

Farmland Bacon – $4.69, used $1/1 mailer coupon (doubled) – $2.69 after coupon

2.39 lbs Fuji Apples @ $0.99/lb – $2.34

1 Cucumber – $0.69

2 Hungry Jack Hashbrowns – $1.59 each, used $1/2 coupon from the 10/5 SmartSource insert (doubled) – $0.59 each after coupon

1 Welch’s Fruit Snacks – $2, used $1/1 printable (doubled) – Free after coupon

1 Wishbone Salad Dressing – $1.67, used $0.50/1 mailer coupon (doubled) – $0.67 after coupon

Items a part of the Kellogg’s sale (Buy 4, Save $4 instantly):

3 Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Cereal – $1.50 each, used $1/2 coupon from the 12/7 RedPlum insert (doubled) and $1/1 printable (doubled) – 1 Free and 2 for $0.50 each after coupons

3 Kellogg’s Special K Crackers – $1.50 each, used $1/3 coupon from the 1/4 RedPlum insert (doubled) – $0.83 each after coupon

2 Kellogg’s Granola Bars – $1.50 each, used $1/2 printable (doubled) – $0.50 each after coupon

Total before coupons and sales: $54.38

Total with tax ($1.38) after coupons and sales: $12.94

Dillons

3 half gallons Milk – $1 each

1 Kroger Tortilla Chips – $1.25

1 Welch’s Natural Fruit Spread – $2.99

1 Malt O Meal Cereal – $3.49, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – $3.49 after coupon

0.79 lbs Tomatoes @ $1.99/lb – $1.57

1 can Kroger Refried Beans – Marked down to $0.49

1 Kroger Butter – $3.99, used $0.40/1 e-coupon – $3.59 after coupon

1 Kroger Peanut Butter – $2.19

1 Kroger Frozen Orange Juice – $1.59

1 Kroger Mouthwash – $1.49, used Free mailer coupon – Free after coupon

1 Kroger Tortillas – $1.79

2.82 lbs Bananas @ $0.59/lb – $1.66

0.51 lbs Broccoli @ $1.89/lb – $0.96

1 Romaine Lettuce – $0.99

2 dozen Dillons Large Eggs – $1.25 each

1 Nabisco Belvita Biscuits – $3.49, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon

Items a part of the Mega Sale (Buy 5, Get $5 off instantly):

2 Gillette Shave Gel (pk of 2) – $1.99 each, used 2 $1/1 coupon from the 12/14 RedPlum insert – $0.99 after coupons (Makes them $0.49 each)

1 Nature’s Valley Bread – $1

1 Cascadian Farms Cereal – $1.99, used $0.75/1 printable – $1.24 after coupon

1 Cascade Dishwasher Detergent – $2.99, used $1/1 mailer coupon – $0.99 after coupon

Total after coupons and sales: $32.27

Total for all grocery items: $45.91

Menu Plan for This Week

Breakfasts

Cereal x 3 Grapefruit/Oatmeal, Toast & Juice

Lunches

Bacon/Eggs/Grapefruit, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Baked Potatoes, Leftovers, Apple Slices with Peanut Butter

Dinners

Ground Venison and Noodles, Biscuits, Steamed Peas

French Toast, Eggs, Hashbrowns

Venison Burgers, Homemade French Fries, Tossed Salad

Hamburger Vegetable Soup, Homemade Bread

Bean Burritos, Chips/Salsa, Grapefruit

Salad Bar, Pumpkin Muffins

Out to eat

Shared Jan 8, 2015 comment

What would you love for me to blog about while I’m in South Africa?

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 8, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

On Wednesday of next week (January 14, 2015), Lisa-Jo, Jackson (Lisa-Jo’s 9-year-old son), Joy, and I will be boarding a plane for an 18-hour flight from DC to Johannesburg, South Africa.

{Yes, we opted for no layover to cut down on travel time… but that’s going to be one long, long flight!}

We’re getting really, really excited. Unlike my usual pack-the-same-thing-an-hour-before-I-leave routine (one of the benefits to having a really simple wardrobe and basically bringing the same things on every trip I take!), this time around, I actually wrote out a packing list earlier this week and am already starting to collect everything I need to take in a spot in my closet.

{By the way, thank you, thank you, for all the great ideas and information in the comments on this post. You all covered some things and shared some ideas I hadn’t thought of. Things like the fact that bathrooms wouldn’t have toilet paper… yikes, I’m clearly such a newbie international traveler! :)}

We’re staying with Lisa-Jo’s parents and will be spending most of our days meeting the amazing local leaders who work with them as part of the Take Action Ministry and seeing the work they are doing in the communities there.

We’re excited to be dreaming and planning for how we can come alongside them long-term and partner with them in their much-needed ministry in South Africa (more on that in the future — I can’t wait to share more with you about the projects and opportunities we’re discussing right now!)

For those who have asked, we will be in Pretoria mostly in Hammanskraal. It’s supposed to be around 95 degrees there — which will quite the contrast from the cold we’ve been experiencing in TN. It’s hard to think about sun dresses and tank tops in this coat and glove weather!

I’m grateful to be traveling with Lisa-Jo and Jackson who were both born in South Africa and who have extensive international traveling experience (Lisa-Jo has lived all over the world and speaks 5 languages!) And I’ve heard that the hospitality in South Africa is amazing. So it sounds like we’ll be in great hands there!

There are definitely things I’m anxious about, but there’s so much peace in my heart about this trip. I’m already falling in love with the beautiful people of South Africa and have a feeling I’ll be leaving part of my heart there.

I also have a feeling that it will be an eye-opening, American-comfort-bubble-bursting, life-changing trip. I want to go with an open heart to whatever God wants to teach me and am praying that my heart would never be the same as a result of this trip.

As one of our goals from this trip is to introduce you to South Africa and the wonderful people there, we want to be your eyes and ears on the ground.

There will be SO many things I could blog about when I’m there, but I’d love to know what you’d most like to hear about. So help me out:

What questions do you have about South Africa?
What pictures would you like to most see me share from my South Africa trip?
What would you most like me to blog about while I’m there?
What questions do you have about this trip?

I can’t promise that I’ll be able to cover everything you suggest, but I will definitely do my best to capture as much as I can in pictures and blog posts so that you can feel like you’re joining me virtually in this adventure!

Shared Jan 8, 2015 comment

Join the 2015 Book Challenge at Blessed Beyond a Doubt

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 8, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Need some encouragement to read more? Jill at Blessed Beyond a Doubt is inviting you to join her 2015 Book Challenge. Here’s what she says:

“This new year I decided I wanted to read more because I adore it. It’s my relaxation therapy. So I decided to come up with a book challenge 2015 for myself.

And of course, I want you to join me.

I want to broaden my horizons by reading multiple different genre and topics of interest. I rarely read fiction, but I do enjoy it. I believe you can grow from reading from any type of book.

Here’s my Book Challenge 2015 Printable with all the different genres and topics I plan on reading this year. I am just going to check them off as I read them. If I don’t get to all of them, no sweat, I will add them to my next year book challenge list. Reading is meant for enjoyment not stress…”

Read more here.

Shared Jan 7, 2015 comment

5 Books I Read Last Week + What I Hope to Read This Week

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 7, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

We’re seven days into January and I’ve finished seven books so far. That’s a pretty good pace, eh?

I don’t think I’ll be able to keep reading at the pace of one book per day, but it’s been fun to have more time for reading these past two weeks!

Books Read This Week

Here’s what I read this past week:

What Alice Forgot — I really enjoyed this book. While it wasn’t written from a Christian perspective and had some swear words in it, the book was well-written and really caused me to step back and examine my own marriage and relationships to see if I’m making small choices that would, over time, have devastating consequences.

Steal Like An Artist — This is such a quick read, but it’s packed with inspirational ideas. I didn’t agree with all of the ideas and thought some of them could be overwhelming — especially if you felt like you needed to add a bunch of them to your life in order to be a better writer or more creative person — but overall, I thought it was solid and helpful advice.

I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) — I’ve loved all three of Brene’s books. This one is her first book and, while it was very thought-provoking, I’d say it was my least favorite. If you only read one of hers, I would highly recommend Daring Greatly. Caveat: All of Brene’s books have some crass language in them and aren’t written to a Christian audience.

5-Minute Morning Boosters — This was another quick read, but it had some interesting ideas in it for starting your day well. Some of them were quite weird, but there were enough good ideas to outweigh the few weird ones. 🙂

Dashing Dish: 100 Simple & Delicious Recipes for Clean Eating — This book just showed up at my doorstep one day and it looked interesting, so I read through it last week. And to my surprise, I thought many of the recipes looked really good. In fact, I dog-eared so many pages that I feel like I practically dog-eared every other page! Many of the recipes were unique but still simple and delicious-looking. I passed the cookbook on to Jesse to look through since he’s been doing a lot of cooking these days, too.

Books I Plan to Read Next Week

James and the Giant Peach — This is our current read aloud. We’re enjoying it, though I have to say that some of the language and attitudes has surprised me for a children’s book. I’ve edited it a bit and used other parts as opportunities to have discussions on how our words can be hurtful and shameful to others.

The Anxiety Cure — As someone who struggles with anxiety during different seasons of life, I’m on a mission to learn more about it and what I can do to help prevent or minimize it. I read Sleep: It Does a Family Good by Archibald Hart two years ago and learned so much from it that I picked up this title to check it out, too.

Glimpses of Grace — So many people have told me I must read this book. I’m about a 1/2 of the way through it and am finding it thought-provoking it.

The One Thing — I keep seeing this one mentioned over and over again, so I thought it’d be a great read to start the year out with.

Long Walk to Freedom & Kaffir Boy — I’m reading these in preparation for my trip to South Africa next week.

Against All Grain — Multiple friends have mentioned this book to me and suggested I read it.

From This Day Forward — I saw an article about this book on Ann Voskamp’s site and was intrigued so I picked up a copy.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie — My friend, Ginger, recommended this book to me.

What did you read this week? Any must-read book recommendations?

Shared Jan 7, 2015 comment

Small House Living: Could you downsize in house?

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 7, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of Small House Living recently. My blogging friend, Lori, has shared about their family’s fairly radical decision to downsize to an RV and travel around the country as a family.

This in and of itself is impressive. But it’s even more impressive when you find out that they are doing this with four kids in tow.

Part of the idea of voluntarily downsizing appeals to me in a big way because I don’t like extra clutter and stuff. On the flip side, the thought of living out of a really small space sounds like a recipe for lots of tension. Namely, I like to have quiet places to retreat and living in such a small space might make me feel like I’d go crazy after awhile. 🙂

There can be a lot of benefits to downsizing, though, if even for a short period of time.

When I was 10 years old, my parents sold our house and moved all 7 of us (there were only five kids at the time!) to a single wide trailer for 7 months while we built a home in the country. Since our living space was very limited, we put most of our household items in storage and only kept out the essentials.

We have so many memories from that summer in the trailer, most of them good memories. And we discovered a lot of benefits to living in a small space. Such as:

We hardly spent any time cleaning. My mom divvied up the household chores amongst all of us and with only 6 total rooms in the trailer, that meant very few chores to go around!
It fostered togetherness. We couldn’t really go off by ourselves because there wasn’t a lot of space, so we had to learn how to get along even in tighter quarters! I have many fond memories of nights spent all together in the living room reading before bed.
We made our own entertainment. We weren’t able to bring many of our toys/things along, so we had fun using what we had for forms of entertainment. We built an elaborate tree “house” using things left in the old barn. We experimented in the kitchen with new recipes that only used the microwave, crock pot, or electric skillet (we didn’t have an oven in the trailer). And my older sister did a lot of sewing since she was able to bring her sewing machine.
We became more grateful. My parents were investing most of their money into the house-building project so there wasn’t a lot of extra cash that summer. I distinctly remember it being the first time in my life where we had to do without and I remember how much contentment and gratefulness this helped me develop.
It taught us the difference between a need and something that’s nice to have. There are many things we had to put in storage that summer that we’d always assumed you needed to live. But we realized that, if you can survive without it for 7 months, it’s probably less of a necessity and more of something that’s nice to have. It’s good to learn from a young age that there are very few real needs in life. I’m grateful for the conveniences of things like ovens and dishwashers and dryers, but you can survive just fine without them, as we did for those 7 months.

I was reading Kathi Lipp’s new book called Clutter Free recently and she talks about their decision not to move up in house, but rather to downsize in stuff.

She lists off a number of benefits for living in a smaller house, including:

Smaller houses are less expensive to furnish than larger houses.
Smaller houses are less expensive to heat and cool compared to comparably built larger homes.
Smaller houses force you to use all of your home.
Smaller houses force you to be intentional about your possessions.

I love her conclusion that, much of the time, we don’t need a bigger house, we need less stuff. If you’re feeling cramped in your space and like your family is bursting at your house seams, make sure you’ve eliminated all the unnecessary clutter and extras first before you starting shopping for a bigger house.

Have you ever downsized before — even for a short time? Do you think you could do what Lori’s family is doing and downsize your family to an RV? Why or why not? I’d love to hear!

For inspiration, check out this article: 12 of the Most Impressive Tiny Houses You’ve Ever Seen

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

Click here to download!

Shared Jan 7, 2015 comment

How to get a free washer or refrigerator from your utility company

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 7, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Queen Bee Coupons shares how they got a free washer from their utility company:

When we moved into our house nearly five years ago it came with an older washer and dryer set. Although ugly, loud and inefficient – the washer and dryer worked just fine. We sometimes discussed buying a new set, but couldn’t justify the cost if the ones we had worked just fine.

Last month, my electricity company, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) reached out to me and told me about their PSE appliance replacement program – replacing old refrigerators and clothes washers – for FREE!

Seems too good to be true, but customers who are Puget Sound Energy electric customers (those living in Washington cities like Olympia, Kent, Bellingham, Bellevue etc.) and who have a clothes washer that is really old, like 17 years old or older, can exchange it for a free ENERGY STAR model.

Read more here.

Have any of you tried or done this before? I’d love to hear about it!

Shared Jan 7, 2015 comment

Gretchen’s Target Shopping Trip: Just paid tax for 7 items!

Published: by Gretchen on January 7, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Target Shopping Trip

3 Bayer Aspirin – $2.19 each, used $10/3 coupon from the 1/4 SmartSource insert – Free plus overage after coupon

2 pkg Christmas Cards – Marked down to $0.70 each

2 pkg Bic Soleil Glow Razors – $6.99 each, used Buy One Get One Free coupon from the 1/4 SmartSource (took off $7.99) AND 30% off Cartwheel coupon – $0.89 each after coupons

Total before coupons and sales: $35.93

Total with tax ($1.38) after coupons and sales: $1.38 (I only paid tax!)

Shared Jan 6, 2015 comment

Trim Healthy Mama Chocolate Cupcakes (grain-free, dairy-free)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 6, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I found this Trim Healthy Mama Cupcake recipe when I was browsing on Pinterest the other day. I realized that we happened to have all of the ingredients on hand for it, so Silas and I spent a little time in the kitchen making it today.

This boy. He melts my heart! I love how much he loves to help and serve. He has the sweetest heart and is always looking for ways to bless his mama.

Silas did all of the stirring and mixing and then filled up the muffin tins — with very little help from me.

Here’s the link to the recipe we used: Trim Healthy Mama Cupcake recipe.

Overall, we were happy with the end result. For the healthful ingredients they have in them, they were fairly delicious.

I probably would have loved them more if they didn’t have almond flour as their base, though. I keep telling myself I’m going to learn to like almond flour, but so far, I just can’t quite get over the texture and taste of it in baked goods. It just always tastes a little too nutty and off to me.

Is anyone else like that? Maybe I’m just weird!

I do, however, think this batter would be really yummy made in the waffle iron and slathered with butter. Or, topped with some kind of frosting. Otherwise, these were a little on the dry and bland side to me.

Have you cooked or baked anything this week? Have any new must-try recipe links to share?

Shared Jan 6, 2015 comment

Want to get more done? Stop making so many decisions!

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 6, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Fewer options = less time making decisions

Want to get more done in 2015? Here’s a simple tip: Stop making so many decisions.

For real.

I was reading an advanced copy of Jon Acuff’s new book, Do Over, and he talks about this. Here’s what he says:

This is a technique leaders throughout history have taken up. Like a guy named Albert Einstein. According to Forbes, “It has been reported that the famous physicist bought several versions of the same gray suit because he didn’t want to waste brainpower on choosing an outfit each morning.”

President Barack Obama explained the idea even further, in an article in Vanity Fair written by Michael Lewis, “You also need to remove from your life the day-to-day problems that absorb most people for meaningful parts of their day. ‘You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits,’ [Obama] said. ‘I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.’ ”

If you think that won’t work, I’d like to introduce you to the “speaking jeans” I own. For the last eighteen months, I’ve worn one pair of pants at every event I’ve spoken at. (The ones where jeans were acceptable onstage.) That’s one less thing for me to think about when I pack.

-Jon Acuff, Do Over (go pre-order a copy — it’s fantastic!)

Want to get more done? Eliminate decision-making

I know this might sound overly simplistic, but it really does work. This is one of the reasons I only have a few outfits and re-wear them over and over and over again — down to the same shoes and jewelry.

This is one of the reasons it’s rare for me to eat something different than oatmeal or eggs and bacon for breakfast and why it was Instagram-worthy that I had a Purple Power Smoothie for breakfast yesterday! 🙂

This is why I like to stay at the same hotel chain, eat at the same restaurant chains (and usually always order the same things when I eat there), wear the same makeup palette every day, re-buy the exact same brand/make of something I like when the first one wears out, fix my hair in the same styles, and make the same meals on a regular basis.

Those of you who thrive on variety would probably find this incredibly boring. But for me, there is not only comfort in the sameness of things, it also simplifies life a lot.

If you only have one choice or a few choices, versus dozens of choices, it’s usually much quicker and easier to make a decision. You don’t have to weigh your options, consider the pros and cons, try on different outfits, worry about which choice is best… you just make your simple decision and go with it.

What About You?

Have you simplified and eliminated decision-making in certain areas of your life? If so, I’d love to hear! Also, does a life of few choices sound wonderful or extremely boring? Why or why not?

photo credit; photo credit

Shared Jan 5, 2015 comment

A Day In My Life: Early rising, computer crashes, Morning Time, cleaning out a closet, and a remarkably good Monday!

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 5, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

So how did your Monday go? Mine went remarkably well — which was not what I was expecting after us all being sick and completely off any routine last week and few weeks of us being mostly off school.

I am trying to get back to really early, early rising again. To the tune of 3:30 a.m. Yes, I have up and lost my mind. 🙂

But this morning, I was so grateful that I got up early because I had a lot of computer work to catch up on and my laptop crashed yesterday, so I was working on my husband’s laptop… which was clearly invented in the time of the dinosaurs. Or at least that’s what it felt like when the thing was working at a snail’s pace. (Have I mentioned I don’t have a lot of patience when it comes to slow computers??)

Instead of being frustrated, though, I decided to focus on the positive: that I usually have a fast computer, that I an internet connection at all, that my computer is under warranty, and that I have a backup computer to work on.

After crawling through all my morning computer work, I finished up, spent some time reading my Bible and studying John 4. Then I exercised with Silas (who was the only up at the time) and then let him play an educational game on the computer while I took a shower.

When I was ready for the day, I got the girls up, we had breakfast (Purple Power smoothies — see the ingredients here), and read our devotional and some from Aesop’s Fables.

While the kids were finishing up their breakfast, I wrote out chore lists for them (their chores change a little each day depending upon what needs to be done — I’m also divvying up the Confident Mom Planner chores between us all) and they go busy on their lists.

I cleaned up the kitchen, started some laundry, cleaned up my room, made my bed, washed Kathrynne’s hair and fixed it, and helped Silas with his chores.

We then sat down for Morning Time. Oh how I think this idea is going to be such a gift to our homeschooling. It went SO well today and was so fun to have time set aside to do those things I always hope we would get to but always seem to be crowded out by math, grammar, and so on.

After we were done with Morning Time, Jesse got home and made lunch for the kids, got them started on the core subjects for the day while I worked on cleaning out the bathroom closet.

I pulled most of the items out, reorganized and consolidated, threw a few things out, and moved some of the extra bottles to the second bathroom where were have some empty storage shelves. And within around 25 minutes, the closet looked SO much better!

Believe it or not, by 12:30 p.m., I had finished my entire Morning List. I guess the getting up early thing really does work well. 🙂

I spent the afternoon working on blog projects, writing this post on my South Africa secret, and getting caught up on emails.

And then tonight we had our usual weekly Monday night gathering with friends. We all brought stuff for a Taco Bar and an Ice Cream Bar. It’s always an evening filled with a lot of laughing, ribbing, and just so much fun. We’re grateful for this group of friends that God has given us and how much they bless us each week.

How was YOUR day? Leave a comment and tell us about it and you’ll be entered to win this stack of goodies I put together — including a few brand-new books by dear friends of mine! This giveaway has ended.

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