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Shared Dec 18, 2014 comment

One Fairly Big Blogging Change I’m Making in 2015

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 18, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Over the past month or so, I’ve quietly been thinking, mulling, pondering, talking with my husband, and considering blogging changes for 2015.

This past year has been one of much growth for me as a person and as a blogger. I’ve truly loved going back more to my roots. And I want to do even more of that in 2015.

One of the changes I’m really excited about for 2015 and have been slowly rolling out over the past few weeks, is that I’m planning to have themes for each day of the week starting the week after Christmas.

I thought through which posts were the most viewed and the most commented on from 2013 and 2014 plus considered which posts I most enjoyed writing. Based upon this information, I put together a list of themes I wanted to cover on a weekly basis and this is what I came up with:

Daily Blogging Themes for 2015

What I Cleaned/Organized This Week — This post will be on Monday and will be in the vein of the Clean Your Home for Christmas posts that you all really enjoyed. I’ll post a cleaning project in the morning and a Day in the Life sort of post in the evening to share the results of my cleaning plan. I thought this would be a great way to start off the week. And it would also help keep me accountable to keeping our home organized.
What I Cooked/Baked This Week — This will either be a post on a freezer cooking session, a new recipe, or a kitchen flop — something I’m really good at. 🙂
What I Read This Week — This will be a post recapping what I read/watched/listened to/read to the kids over the past week + mini reviews on each item. Plus, I’ll also share what I’m planning to read in the upcoming week.
How We Saved This Week — This post will share some simple ways we saved that week. From little to big ways, it will give you encouragement for living a frugal, simple, contented life.
What I Tried This Week — This post will either be a DIY idea I tried, something I sewed, or a new idea I tried implementing and whether it was successful or not.
What We Did This Week — This will be a peek into our week type of post. I’ve kind of fallen off the bandwagon in sharing these and I’ve missed it (and many of you have mentioned missing these, too).

And That’s Not All

That said, don’t worry: I still plan to share my goals for the week, regular Q&A posts, regular content pieces on a wide variety of subjects as I’m inspired to write them, regular guest posts, and, of course, plenty of deals and freebies and coupons and giveaways.

In addition, you can still count on finding a regular smattering of other eclectic posts on wide variety of topics — as you’ve likely come to expect (or be surprised by!) here.

My goal in having daily posting themes is that having a sort of set posting schedule will help keep me on track and will also provide variety around here, as well as a bit more predictability.

I know that I sometimes get side-tracked with topics I’m inspired to write on and I know some of you enjoy this, but others of you would love a little more consistency here. So I’m aiming for the best of both worlds with this!

As always, I can’t promise that I will follow this outline 100% perfectly every single day of every single week in 2015, because you know how life goes, but I’m really excited about this concept and am hopeful that it’s going to work well and be something that I’ll be able to follow through with. I’m at least going to do my best to stick with it!

I know I say it often, but I feel I can’t ever say it enough: Thank you for being on this blogging journey with me. I am grateful for each and every one of you and what you mean to me. Without you, there would be no reason to blog.

So thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate all of you more than words can express and am excited for what 2015 has in store!

Coming Up After Christmas

After Christmas, I’ll be sharing my personal goals and some of our family goals for 2015, some thoughts on why I struggled with my goals in 2014, and what I learned from a year that was packed with a lot of new and stretching opportunities. Look for those posts soon!

What would YOU love to see more of here in 2015? What are some of your favorite types of posts? I’d love to know as I plan out posts for the beginning of the year!

photo credit

Shared Dec 18, 2014 comment

Simple Ways We Saved This Week: Creating art, using the library, puzzles, and why you shouldn’t put egg whites in your coffee!

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 18, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

The girls have been doing lots of painting and drawing this week — mostly abstract type art pieces. I love to see them being creative and having so much doing it!

Bonus: it’s such a frugal activity — especially when they use art supplies we already have on hand.

My sweet friend, Victoria, sent me this Craft Night in a Box — complete with a Starbucks gift card! It made for a free night of entertainment and relaxation for me.

I had so much fun working on it last night and am planning to finish my project tonight. If all goes well, I’ll share the finished results tomorrow.

{Isn’t this SUCH a great gift idea? If you know a crafter or a wanna-be crafter, this might be a great last-minute gift idea!}

The kids have been enjoying some books and this drawing DVD we got at the library last week. Have I mentioned how much we love the library?

If you haven’t visited yours recently, you should take some time to do so — it’s like having thousands of unexplored worlds and ideas at your fingertips, for free!

I’m loving reading this Lynn Austin novel I requested used from PaperBackSwap, one of my favorite frugal sources for books!

We’ve been making memories by working on this 2000-piece puzzle that we got from a White Elephant gift exchange earlier this week.

I got a $5 iTunes gift card with my points on Recyclebank. And I spent it to get some songs from one of my favorite movie soundtracks.

{Oh yes, I know, you might think it’s a little kooky that I love Frozen as much as I do. But here’s the thing: the songs not only make me so happy when I listen to them, but I can relate to many of the themes in the movie because of my own personal journey with being more authentic to my true self in the past few years. So yes, it might be juvenile, but I don’t really care! :)}

One way I didn’t save: I could not figure out why the “cream” I was pouring in my coffee this morning looked so watered down. And then I actually read the box. Yikes… Clearly, not all brain cells were firing this morning. Needless to say, I had to pour that coffee down the drain and brew a new cup!

How did YOU save this week?

Shared Dec 18, 2014 comment

Gretchen’s $8.70 Target Shopping Trip

Published: by Gretchen on December 18, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Target Shopping Trip

1 bag Flour – Marked down to $0.46 (This will come in handy with all the baking I’m planning to do the next 2 weeks!)

1 Up & Up Ammonia – $0.99 (I needed this to clean our garage floor and found Target had the cheapest price around town.)

2 Juicy Fruit Chews – $2.50 each, used 50% off Cartwheel coupon AND 2 $0.75/1 coupon from the 9/28 RedPlum insert – $0.50 each after coupons (Cheap stocking stuffers!)

1 Hello Kitty Necklace – $1 (I got this is a gift for a little girl I know and tried to use the 25% off Cartwheel coupon but it didn’t come off.)

1 box Oreo Mini – $3.50, used 50% off Cartwheel coupon AND $0.50/1 printable – $1.25 after coupons

1 Home Alone Complete Collection DVDs – $10, used 10% off Cartwheel coupon AND $5/1 printable – $4 after coupon (This is a great inexpensive Christmas gift that I was thrilled to find!)

Total before coupons and sales: $31.92

Total after coupons and sales: $8.70

Shared Dec 18, 2014 comment

How I paid for Christmas this year by selling on Facebook Yard Sale Groups

Published: by MSM Team on December 18, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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Traci emailed in this reader tip:

I had been planning a yard sale for months but this summer I decided I didn’t have enough or valuable enough things to make it worthwhile.

About this time, I joined a handful of Yard Sale groups on Facebook and bought a few things through them. After purchasing a few things from others and realizing how easy it was to post things for sale also, I decided to list a few items around the house.

Within minutes — even seconds, sometimes — I had people interested!

I started cleaning out closets and found so many other things that I wanted to get rid of. It felt great to purge and makes some money, too. Items that I have sold so far have been: adult and children’s clothing, toys, kitchen items, furniture, books, and movies.

Money is tight this Christmas, but by selling items on the Facebook Yard Sale Groups, I was able to pay cash for Christmas for my entire Christmas for my family and even had some extra money leftover!
The best advice that I have for selling on local Facebook Yard Sale groups would be consider the time and gas you are spending to buy or sell an item. If you have to travel far, this could be eating your profit or savings.

Post that others need to pick up in your city. I like to try to arrange pickups or drop-offs either in the morning or evening as to not interrupt my daily work, school, and family routine.

I also don’t have strangers come to my home. Remember safety first and it is best to meet in a public place like a shopping center or, even better, the local police department parking lot.

Also remember that people have busy lives and things happen that they have to reschedule a transaction sometimes. With that said, if someone is not being respectful of your time or you are not comfortable with something, don’t meet with them.

I am not stressing about Christmas this year and have not put one thing on a credit card that I will regret having to pay for later! -Traci

Shared Dec 17, 2014 comment

Let’s Stop Photoshopping Our Lives

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 17, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

“If most of us stopped to examine the expectations we set for ourselves, we would discover that our concept of perfection is so unrealistic that it can’t exist in one person. Instead, its a combination of pieces or snippets of what’s perceived as perfect. We don’t just want to be good at what we do, we want to be perfect–we want to edit together all the best clips of what we see to form our lives.”

Brene Brown, page 174, I Thought It Was Just Me But It Wasn’t

Last week, I brought you all into our home for the Clean Your Home for Christmas Challenge. I showed you my messy drawers, my unpacked suitcases, my untidy closets, and gave you a peek into real-life here.

Truthfully, I wasn’t sure how those posts would be taken. It’s always a little intimidating to press publish on posts that are far from perfect.

You know you’re going to disappoint some people. And as a recovering people-pleaser, that’s hard for me to voluntarily do.

But can I be really honest with you? Letting you into our home — to see the underbelly, as it were, of our lives — was so freeing for me.

Again and again, women commented and said, “Thank you for being real. It’s so good to know I’m not alone.”

You’re Not Alone

The messes, the fact that I don’t hit all my goals, the unkempt closets, the suitcases that don’t get unpacked for months… they all bear witness to the fact that I’m a work in progress just like you.

I hope that it encourages you to know that I don’t have my ducks in an alphabetical row. Far from it. I deal with have stuff bombs and dust bunnies and bad hair days, just like you.

In this online world beaming with Pinterest-staged pictures, it’s easy to start feeling like we’re the only one who has laundry piles, unwashed dishes, and sticky countertops.

We can be tempted to try to photoshop out the messes, slap on plastic smiles, and pretend we don’t have some ugly, messy, or struggles in our life and home.

But that’s not real life.

We All Have Struggles

I tried being a people-pleaser for years. And let me tell you this: not only is it completely exhausting, it’s lonely.

I’ve discovered it’s so much better to let people get to know me for exactly who I am — messes and struggles and all — than to wear myself out putting on an act in an effort to please someone.

Real, authentic relationships only happen when we’re willing to stop pretending and start being honest about our struggles.

No one — no matter how put together they may seem — is exempt from hard things.

We all have struggles. We all have burdens. We all have areas where we fall short. We all have literal and metaphorical “junk drawers” in our homes and lives.

Let’s stop photoshopping our lives and instead welcome people in right where we’re at. It won’t always be pretty, put-together, or Pinterest-worthy, but it will certainly be much more fulfilling and freeing!

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Shared Dec 17, 2014 comment

5 Books I’ve Read Recently + 3 Books I Hope to Finish This Week

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 17, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared a post about the books I’m reading. In all honesty, that was because I was so focused on finishing my own manuscript I didn’t have much extra time to read other people’s books.

And oh how I’ve missed it! It’s been so good to get back to regular reading the past two weeks!

Books I’ve Finished Recently:

Undone: A Story of Making Peace With an Unexpected Life — Ya’ll. Do yourself a massive favor and go pre-order this book. It is SO good. Michele is one of the best communicators I’ve ever known. The way she paints pictures with words moves and inspires me as a writer. But her book is much more than beautiful word pictures; it’s the story of a woman finding hope and peace in the middle of messes, heartaches, and unexpected difficulties in life. Highly recommended.

Addicted to Busy — This wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read on white space and margin, and I sort of struggled through parts of it because it sort of felt like it was dragging on a little slowly (maybe that’s an indication that I’m addicted to busy? That I have a short attention span?? ;)), but overall, it made me think and examine my own life. Some of my thoughts on S-P-A-C-E were the result of things I mulled over after reading this book.

You and Me Forever — I thought this book had some valuable information in it, but honestly, I found it a little scattered in how it was laid out. While I’m not opposed at all to self-publishing a book (as this one was), I felt like it could have benefited from having some more editing for clarity, flow, and to further develop and strengthen the bones of the book. I still feel it’s really worth reading — especially if you want to have your mindset challenged on what constitutes a “Godly marriage”.

Me Before You — This was one of the most heart-breaking, compelling, and thought-provoking books I’ve read in a long time. I thought it was very well-written and found it hard to put down. In fact, I read the entire book in one day! Caveat: This book is not written from a Christian perspective, has quite a bit of language, and the plot line deals with suicide in a very raw form. I didn’t agree with the outcome of the book, but it made me dig deep and think hard… and books that do that are ones I feel are very worth my time.

Grace is Free: One Woman’s Journey from Fundamentalism, to Failure, to Faith — As someone who was deeply involved in what many would term “the fundamentalist movement” for a number of years of my life, I found this book’s title intriguing. One of our elder’s wives from our church in Kansas recommended it to me and I found it insightful, thought-provoking, and encouraging as I’m on a journey to walk by faith and live a live steeped in grace instead of being a performer, perfectionist, and people-pleaser.

Books I Hope to Finish This Week

I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) — I’m really digging into this right now after setting it aside for a few weeks. Such thought-provoking stuff in it!

A Proper Pursuit — I finally started reading this one! It’s been on my to-read stack what feels like forever! I’m about eight chapters in and enjoying it.

The Best Yes — I’m working through this as part of my morning devotions and really finding it helpful as I think through my priorities and goals for 2014.

And maybe I’ll read a few others, too. We’ll see!

What have you read recently? What are you planning to read this week? Any good book recommendations for me?

Shared Dec 17, 2014 comment

Reader Tip: How I Got Two Free Photo Calendars Shipped From Shutterfly!

Published: by MSM Team on December 17, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Rachel emailed in this reader tip:

Last night I ordered two 8 x 11 photo calendars from Shutterfly for Christmas gifts for Grandparents. The cost was $42.97 including shipping. However, I had received a code from my Kelloggs rewards account in my email for a free calendar from Shutterfly.

I then checked my Pampers rewards account. They have two systems there–the one where you use points to get gifts and the “grow on” program where if you enter a diapers or wipes code at least once a month for so many months in a row you are given a free gift. My free gift was a Shutterfly calendar. They also gave me a free shipping code with that calendar!

Between the two calendar codes and the shipping code, my order was absolutely free!!!!

I thought some people may need to be reminded to check their rewards accounts before purchasing gifts. Even if you have at least 800 points in your Pampers Gifts to Grow account you can get a calendar for free and just pay shipping. Yay! -Rachel

Shared Dec 16, 2014 comment

How to Stop Being a Grumpy Mom

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 16, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I was feeling frazzled and impatient this morning — ready to throw in the towel and lose my temper. Kind of ironic because I just wrote a post about finding more S-P-A-C-E yesterday, I know.

But I’m just keepin’ it real here. And it was one of those days.

We had a long day yesterday and were gone most of the day.

When we got home last night, we went pretty much straight to bed instead of staying up and going through the all mail and packages that had arrived (it was a pretty massive pile yesterday!), finishing cleaning up the kitchen, working on the laundry, or unloading the car that we’d spent a lot of time in yesterday while driving to various locations all over Nashville for different things.

This meant that I woke up feeling behind. Plus, for some reason, my alarm clock didn’t go off this morning and I overslept, too. Which didn’t help me feel any more calm.

To add to that, there were some attitude issues that flared right off the bat this morning and some little people who didn’t want to help or focus or do what they were asked to do.

This morning, of all mornings, of course. I said to myself in frustration.

By about 11:15 a.m., I had had it. It felt like nothing was going right, my anxiety level was rising, and I knew if I didn’t do something quickly, it was going to go from bad to worse really, really quickly.

I went out into the garage and called Jesse. He listened to me rattle on about how frustrated I was feeling. He encouraged me and by the end of the phone call, I was feeling somewhat better.

But I knew I needed to do something more, something tangible, to help turn the mood around in our home. Well, and mostly, to help turn around my mood. 🙂

So I called the kids into the living room, apologized for how I’d acted stressed this morning, and then told them we were going to pull out the puzzle we’d gotten at a White Elephant gift exchange the night before and we were going to stop what we were doing, set the timer, and work on the puzzle together until the timer went off.

They were all thrilled with this idea — especially because it involved mom working with them on something that they love to do.

And I was amazed, because within 5 minutes, not only did I feel so much calmer, but I was actually really enjoying being down on the floor working on the puzzle with them.

Being a fun mom instead of a grumpy mom always wins! 🙂

Related post: How I Stopped Yelling At My Kids

Shared Dec 16, 2014 comment

Protein-Packed Bacon Omelet Bites

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 16, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Looking for a really hearty breakfast that’s also easy to grab and eat quickly? You’ll want to try these Bacon Omelet Bites. They are filling, packed with great nutrition, and so delicious!

Jesse made these omelet bites for the first time last week and they are a winner recipe. I know we’ll be making them over and over again.

Ingredients for Omelet Bites

4 whole eggs
12 egg whites
2 cups diced cooked chicken
12 slices bacon cooked and diced
1 bell pepper, diced
Salt and pepper to taste
Nonstick cooking spray

Ingredient Substitutions

If you you’re not watching your fat intake, you may use 12 whole eggs in place of the 4 eggs + 12 egg whites.

To save money, you could leave out the chicken or bacon.

Feel free to experiment with different veggies — frozen spinach or some cooked broccoli would work well.

And a little added shredded cheese would be delicious too!

How to Make Omelet Bites

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Grease or spray muffin tins, or fill with cupcake liners.

3. In a medium bowl, use a fork or beaters to thoroughly mix the eggs.

4. Add meat, peppers, salt & pepper and mix well.

5. Use a soup ladle to fill each muffin tins with some of the egg mixture.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until the eggs are fluffy and slightly browned.

Recipe

Protein Packed Bacon Omelet Bites

Author Crystal Paine

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 25

Ingredients

4 whole eggs
12 egg whites
2 cups diced cooked chicken
12 slices bacon cooked and diced
1 bell pepper diced
Salt and pepper to taste
Nonstick cooking spray

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Grease or spray muffin tins, or fill with cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, use a fork or beaters to thoroughly mix the eggs.
Add meat, peppers, salt & pepper and mix well.
Use a soup ladle to fill each muffin tins with some of the egg mixture.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until the eggs are fluffy and slightly browned.

Notes

If you you’re not watching your fat intake, you may use 12 whole eggs in place of the 4 eggs + 12 egg whites.

To save money, you could leave out the chicken or bacon.

Feel free to experiment with different veggies — frozen spinach or some cooked broccoli would work well.

And a little added shredded cheese would be delicious too!

Recipe adapted from Men’s Health

Nutrition

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What are some of your family’s favorite filling breakfasts?

How to buy all your Christmas gifts on a ZERO dollar budget! These are GREAT ideas to keep in mind all year long!

Shared Dec 15, 2014 comment

How We Bought Christmas Gifts on a $0 Budget

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 15, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Ai.

It was 2 years ago. Thanksgiving was fast approaching and after all the feasting and pounds gained, the days following would be filled with lots of shopping and gift wrapping. Or at least, that’s how it was in the past.

When, normally, my husband and I would have a budget set for Christmas gifts, this particular year, we had nothing. My husband had been out of work for a few months, and we had been rapidly depleting our emergency savings.

We were prepared to let our families know that we wouldn’t participate in any gift exchanges that year. We knew they would understand.

Then, it occurred to me. We had money, “hidden” in-store loyalty rewards, and forgotten gift cards.

Store Loyalty Rewards

Much of our reward dollars were from drugstores and office supply stores. Not your typical Black Friday destinations, but we definitely avoided the crowds by shopping at these places. We actually found some nice gifts at these stores.

Gifts that Give Back

Typically on Black Friday, the stores with customer loyalty programs mark even more items that generate reward dollars or gift cards. By focusing on these items, we essentially got them for free … paying for them with our rewards and walking out with more rewards to use for the next trip.

Cash-Back Incentives

Before my husband left his job, he often met with clients outside the office, and his employer reimbursed him for all his expenses: meals, mileage, etc.

We rarely use a credit card, but to keep his business expenses separate from our personal ones, my husband used our credit card whenever he was working. By the time holiday shopping season came around, we realized that all those credit card charges accumulated a nice amount of cash-back for us.

Lost Gift Cards, Found

Don’t you get excited when you empty pockets before doing the laundry, and you find a $10 bill all crumpled up next to the pocket lint? That’s how I felt when I realized there were gift cards in my purse from I-don’t-know-how-long ago.

Being forgetful did pay off that time!

Though this is the busiest shopping season of the year, I know not everyone can afford to buy presents for Christmas.

With no income coming in, we certainly thought we couldn’t. But after digging a little deeper, we realized we still had some resources to be able to give to our loved ones, even during such a lean financial time.

And of course, not every gift can be bought from a store. Sometimes, those made with love are the best kind.

What are some of your frugal gift ideas?

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

Click here to download!

Shared Dec 15, 2014 comment

Being Organized Is About More Than a Clean House

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 15, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Last week, I invested a lot of my time and energy into getting our house more in order and getting our family into a new routine. It was a lot of work and honestly, there were multiple days that I didn’t want to put the effort into it.

But I kept at it and by the end of the week, our house looked so much better, our lives seemed a lot less chaotic, and I felt like I could breathe again. It felt so good.

However, it wasn’t the clean house, calmer days, or less cluttered drawers I was most happy with. It was the space this freed up in our lives… space to exhale, space to love each other better, space to look into a child’s eyes and listen, space to stop and invest time.

It’s easy to get caught up in the busy, busy, rush-rush, go-go pace of life. To constantly feel like you have to hurry through the moment to get to the next thing.

I get it that there are seasons when that’s just what you have to do. It’s finals week at school. Or you just had a baby. Or your grandmother is in the hospital. Or your friend was diagnosed with cancer.

Sometimes, we can’t slow the pace of life and we just have to go with it and power through.

But most of the time, I believe that we can choose to slow down.

We can choose to do less. To say no to the crazy, frantic pace. To put forth the effort to get better routines in place and less clutter in our homes and on our calendars so that instead of a hurried pace, we have a calm S-P-A-C-E.

Space to love that child who needs extra nurturing on a Monday morning.

Space to listen to our friend who is feeling discouraged and overwhelmed today.

Space to text or call our neighbor who is going through a rough patch.

Space to smile at the elderly person in front of us in the checkout lane.

Space to pray for someone who is struggling.

Space to share a kind word of encouragement.

Space to refresh our souls so we can better serve those around us.

S-P-A-C-E. It’s a beautiful thing!

Near the end of last week, as we were working on our morning chores, one of the kids found a copy of Silas’s very favorite books of all time: Goodnight Moon. We hadn’t read the book in months and we’d all sort of forgotten about it.

There were squeals of joy when it was re-discovered. And because I had space in my day, I was able to stop, snuggle with all three kids, and read the book aloud to them.

It was a simple thing — and it didn’t take a lot of time. But it was a beautiful moment in time. One that I will treasure in my heart for a long time.

I don’t want to miss out on these every day moments.

Related: Read this excellent post on why we need to stop being managers of our homes and instead start being nurturers of those in our home.

Shared Dec 15, 2014 comment

6 Goals For This Week

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 15, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

10 Goals For This Week

I can’t believe that I accomplished all of my goals again for the second week in a row. I think that might be the first time ever??!

It’s the last week before Christmas and, since we’ll be out of town all of next week visiting family in Kansas, we’re planning to keep it really simple this week and just focus on spending lots of time being together as a family. Because of this, I’m keeping my goals list very short, too.

Last week’s goals:

Marriage/Mothering/Homemaking Goals

~~1. Continue reading Unwrapping the Greatest Gift with the kids. Finish reading Nobody Loves Me.~~

~~2. Write a love note to Jesse.~~

~~3. Have a movie night with Jesse.~~

~~4. Watch a Christmas movie as a family.~~

~~5. Take the kids to The Gift of Christmas Tour.~~

Personal Goals

~~6. Work on reviewing and memorizing Romans 1 and Romans 2:1-5.~~

~~7. Finish at least two books.~~

~~8. Run or exercise at least 4 times.~~

~~9. Continue on with the Trim Healthy Mama plan.~~

~~10. Clean the house from top to bottom and blog about it.~~

This week’s goals:

Marriage/Mothering/Homemaking Goals

1. Continue reading Unwrapping the Greatest Gift with the kids. Start a new read aloud book.

2. Write a love note to Jesse.

3. Take the kids to the Christmas Ice Skating Show.

Personal Goals

4. Work on reviewing and memorizing Romans 1 and Romans 2:1-5.

5. Finish at least two books.

6. Run or exercise at least 4 times.

How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives! You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.

Shared Dec 13, 2014 comment

Gretchen’s $32 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan

Published: by Gretchen on December 13, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Homeland

1 Alpha-Bits Cereal – $2.50, used $1/1 printable (doubled) – $0.50 after coupon

2 Flour – $1 each

3 Hershey’s Chocolate Chips – $1.66, used $1/2 coupon from the 11/16 SmartSource insert (doubled) and $0.50/1 printable (doubled) – $0.66 each after coupons

1 Suave Deodorant – $1.39, used $0.50/1 coupon from the 11/16 RedPlum insert (doubled) – $0.39 after coupon

2 Reynolds Cupcake Liners – $0.89 each, used $1/2 printable (doubled) – Free plus overage after coupon

2 Ragu Spaghetti Sauce – $1.25 each, used $0.60/2 coupon from the 11/16 RedPlum insert (doubled) – $0.65 each after coupon

1 Vegetable Oil – $1.99

1 Pert Plus 2 in 1 Shampoo – $1.99, used $1/1 coupon from the 11/23 SmartSource insert (doubled) – Free after coupon

1 Suave Kids 2 in 1 Bodywash – $2.45, used $1/1 coupon from the 1/16 RedPlum insert (doubled) – $0.45 after coupon

1 Carefree Liners – $1.45, used $0.50/1 printable (doubled) – $0.45 after coupon

Total before coupons and sales: $37.51

Total with tax ($1.32) after coupons and sales: $10.37

Dillons

1 Moms Best Mallow Oats Cereal – $1.88 (I haven’t seen this cereal in any of my local stores in several years. My husband and I used to eat this all the time when we were first married and I could get it free with coupons. When I saw it this week I had to buy it just for fun!)

1 qt Kroger Half & Half – $1.99

1 gallon Dillons Milk – $2.77, Received $0.25 back from Ibotta

1 Kroger Laundry Detergent – $4.99, used Free coupon from Dillons mailer – Free after coupon (I couldn’t find the regular laundry detergent anywhere so I bought the baby laundry detergent.)

1 pkg Kroger Drumsticks – $5.19 ($0.99/lb)

1 dozen Dillons Eggs – $1.69

1 Leaf Lettuce – $0.99

2 Brut Deodorant – $1, used $1/1 coupon from the 11/23 SmartSource insert – Free after coupons

0.89 lbs Tomatoes @ $1.99/lb – $1.77

1.97 lbs Bananas @ $0.59/lb – $1.16

1 Kraft BBQ Sauce – $1.99, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon

1 Cucumber – $0.79

Items a part of the Mega Sale (Buy 4, Get $4 off instantly):

1 Honey Nut Cheerios – $1.49, used $0.50/1 printable – $0.99 after coupon

1 Vidal Salon Styling Gel – Marked down to $1.24, used $2/1 e-coupon – Free plus overage after coupon

1 Listerine Floss – $0.99, used $1/1 printable – Free after coupon

1 pkg Thomas English Muffins – $1.99, used $1/1 printable – $0.99 after coupon

Total before coupons and sales: $49.32

Total with tax ($2.37) after coupons and sales: $21.81

My parents also gave us all these grapefruit this week. We love grapefruit at our house!

Total for all grocery items: $32.18

Menu Plan for This Week

Breakfasts

Cereal x 2, Toasted English Muffins, Scrambled Eggs and Bananas, Homemade Granola

Lunches

Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Grapefuit/Crackers/Veggies, Tuna Sandwiches, Tossed Salad, Leftovers

Dinners

Baked Chicken Drumsticks, Tossed Salad

Dinner with friends (I’m bringing Chocolate Sheet Cake.)

Chicken & Noodle Casserole, Steamed Broccoli

Spaghetti, Rolls, Tossed Salad

Deer Roast, Potatoes, Carrots, Toasted English Muffins

Breakfast Casserole, Grapefruit

Hawaiian Haystacks, Green Beans

Use these frugal family Christmas traditions as ideas to embrace the Christmas season without breaking your budget!

Shared Dec 13, 2014 comment

7 Frugal Family Holiday Traditions

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 13, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Sara:

Christmas Tradition Ideas on a Budget

Being on a budget can be especially discouraging during the holidays. It’s easy to look at what we “can’t afford” or what we “don’t have”, that we lose sight of the beauty of the things and people around us…the lifelong memories we can create with little or no money.

Here are 7 of our family’s favorite frugal Holiday Traditions.

Frugal Holiday Traditions at Home

1. Decorating Christmas Cookies

My husband and I started this tradition when we were first married 10 years ago, and have carried it on with our two children. We start with a simple sugar cookie recipe, cut out shapes using Christmas cookie cutters, and decorate with whatever we have on hand (like sprinkles, chocolate chips, or even marshmallows).

It’s an inexpensive way to get into the holiday mood, (most baking supplies go on sale this time of year), and we look forward to kicking off the Christmas season with some goodies to share with friends and neighbors.

2. Making Homemade Ornaments

I do a homemade ornament with my kids each year to hang on our tree. It’s been as simple as tracing their handprint onto construction paper, cutting it out and sticking a pipe cleaner through it — but it’s a beautiful reminder to cherish the moments since each progressing ornament shows how quickly they’ve grown from year to year!

Christmas Traditions Out & About

3. Looking at Christmas Lights

Our town has many beautiful light displays, and on several evenings before Christmas, we like to take a few sugar cookies, maybe put some apple cider into respective sippy cups, and drive around looking at all the lights while blasting our favorite Christmas music CD.

4. “Adopting” Someone

Helping someone out during the holidays doesn’t have to cost money, but we always try to find a way to bless at least one family during the Christmas season.

Whether it’s giving them some of the gift cards we’ve collected through Swagbucks so they are able to buy a gift for their children, babysitting for a single mom so she can get some shopping done, visiting a nursing home and bringing handmade cards and a listening ear, or inviting someone who has no family over for Christmas dinner, you don’t have to spend a lot to bless someone else.

A small gesture to you may mean to world to someone else.

5. The Sounds of the Season

My two-year-old was born deaf, and last year received cochlear implant surgery that gave him the incredible gift of sound. Our newest tradition (but one of the most meaningful) is listening for specific “sounds of the season” wherever we go (bells, carolers, wrapping paper, even the timer on the oven I use when baking), which our son is now able to hear.

“Junior can hear _____!” we’ll exclaim when we hear a new sound, as a reminder that the best gifts in life have nothing to do with packages and bows.

Holiday Traditions for Christmas Eve / Morning

6. Christmas Eve Pajamas

Following a tradition dating back three generations in my family, our kids get to open one gift on Christmas Eve, and it’s always a pair of pajamas and a book.

I try to find clearance items throughout the year, so the pajamas may have cost less than $5 and the book may have been from the dollar store, but it’s still one of our favorite traditions.

7. Christmas Morning Communion

It’s a simple act, but before opening any stockings or presents, our family takes communion using some toast and apple cider as a reminder that Christmas isn’t about the WHAT, it’s about the WHO, and His perfect gift to us.

These are a few of our family’s favorite frugal family traditions — I’d love to hear about some of your in the comments!

photo source

Shared Dec 12, 2014 comment

I told you I’ve been neglecting deep cleaning & here’s proof (Clean Your House for Christmas: Day 5)

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 12, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Thank you so much for joining me this week for the Clean Your House for Christmas Challenge. It made such a big difference in our home and it inspired me to continue cleaning out other neglected areas in our home in the coming days and weeks.

Today was the first day all week that I’ve finally felt almost completely 100% again — which was such a blessing after days of being sick and then just feeling really tired as a result of being sick. I’m so grateful to be on the mend and back to full steam again!

Silas made scrambled eggs for breakfast — and needed almost zero help from me to make them! I still turn the burner on for him and oversee him carefully, but it’s exciting to see him really picking up on cooking skills this year.

I started the She Reads Truth 1 & 2nd Peter Study today… I can already tell I’m going to benefit greatly from it! Taking time to be quiet and spend time studying God’s Word, reading from a good book, and counting my blessings is such a great start to my day!

I love that this girl has really started to love reading! I keep catching her with her nose stuck in books this week!

While I was working on finishing up my morning cleaning, Silas asked if he could help clean all the windows. He spent an HOUR working on cleaning all the windows on the first floor! I was quite impressed!

The rest of the morning was spent on homeschooling. Right before lunch, I finally had a chance to get in a quick run on the treadmill. And then Jesse got home and made lunch while I hopped in the shower and got dressed and ready.

I came downstairs and we ate lunch and read aloud together. Then Jesse took over homeschooling and I headed out to spend a few hours working at the shared office space we have a membership to. I was grateful to finally feel up to getting out of the house today… while I love being home, I find that I’m much more productive when I leave for the afternoon and working at the office space. Plus, it was just good to get out of the house after being home almost all day every day for the past week because I just haven’t felt well.

When I got home, I tackled the bathroom cupboards. I’m kind of embarrassed to show you this one… because you see that duffle bag stuffed in the cupboard?

That’s a duffle bag we packed for a trip we went on in AUGUST.

Um, yeah.

I wasn’t kidding when I told you I’ve neglected deep cleaning…

It feels SO good to f-i-n-a-l-l-y have that bag unpacked and put away. And to have that bathroom cupboard cleaned out and organized.

Bathroom cupboard #2: Before

And after. Much better.

While I didn’t get all the deep cleaning done that I’d hoped to this week, I tackled a LOT of projects and areas that have been very neglected these past six months of my life and it feels so good to open drawers and closets and cupboards and see such neat and organized spaces again.

Now I’m determined to work on keeping them that way!

~~Leave a Comment & You Could Win This Stack of Books!~~

In my cleaning today, I found some more books that I’d love to pass on to a good home, most all that are ones I’ve loved and just want to share with someone who could be encouraged by them! Plus, I threw in a copy of both my audiobook, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, and a copy of my new Choose Gratitude Blessings Journal that’s now out of stock in our store (I have a few copies left!), and a copy of my first book, The Money Saving Mom’s Budget.

Who wants to win them? To win, just leave a comment on this post and I’ll choose one winner tomorrow evening and will mail them to you so you’ll have them in time for Christmas. Some of these books are great condition and might even work as gifts for people on your Christmas list!

Did you work on cleaning your house today? If you blogged about participating in this Clean Your House For Christmas Challenge, leave the direct link to your post below that is specifically about this challenge. Or, leave a comment telling us how your cleaning went today.

The winner of yesterday’s stack of books is Jennifer (jjsbarrilleaux@) — I sent you an email tonight to ask for your address.

The winner of this stack of books from today’s giveaway is Kaitlin (literarymademoiselle@) — I sent you an email requesting your address. Congrats!

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Homeland

Dillons

Menu Plan for This Week

Breakfasts

Lunches

Dinners

Christmas Tradition Ideas on a Budget

Frugal Holiday Traditions at Home

1. Decorating Christmas Cookies

2. Making Homemade Ornaments

Christmas Traditions Out & About

3. Looking at Christmas Lights

4. “Adopting” Someone

5. The Sounds of the Season

Holiday Traditions for Christmas Eve / Morning

6. Christmas Eve Pajamas

7. Christmas Morning Communion

Leave a Comment & You Could Win This Stack of Books!

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