Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Need encouragement to set goals, live with purpose, and cultivate self-discipline? Be sure to get a copy of my ebook, 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life.
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Do you struggle to get your children excited about doing chores? I shared a guest post on Confessions of a Homeschooler on five ways I get our kids excited about chores that you might find helpful.
How do YOU help your kids be excited about doing chores?
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
My friend, Stacie Nelson, just released her first ebook today and it’s on sale for $1.99 through Wednesday.
Thanksgiving Heart is an ebook written for moms of young children. It’s filled with practical ideas of ways to help cultivate a thankful heart in young children — as well as in your own life.
This is not a book about the holiday of Thanksgiving; nor is it a book with a prescribed formula or twenty-step program to make your child grateful. Instead, Thanksgiving Heart gives simple, meaningful ideas to guide and train your children in growing a grateful heart.
The book includes:
Practical ways to encourage thanksgiving in children
30 service projects
15 gratitude discussion starters for families with application questions at the end of each lesson
Plus, a printable 30-Day Scripture & Activity Guide, printable Gratitude Journal, printable thank you card, and a printable Incentive Chart
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Emily emailed in the following tip:
I really enjoyed following your 31 Ways to Earn More Cash Before Christmas series… and I actually have one more idea to add to your list. I highly recommend “Sweeping” for extra cash. Sweeping is entering sweepstakes. You will probably never win “the Grand prize” but they give out millions of gift cards and smaller prizes. I always recommend people try it for two weeks and see if its for them.
There are even websites for sweepers. I follow SweetiesSweeps.com. She tells you where all the free sweepstakes are, how to enter, what the odds are, how to boost your odds, and more. There is a portion of her page for paying members, but you can get more contests in the unpaid section.
It doesn’t take much time, and although you could do it forever, I set limits. I only spend an hour entering contests a night while we watch T.V. We calculated that after a month of sweeping I had earned over $800 in prizes. Most of which were gift cards, the rest were prizes I was able to sell on Amazon. (By the way, I found out that a Mountain Dew NASCAR car flag actually sells for more than you might think!)
I was able to use to gift cards and cash to buy some really nice gifts for our parents. From sweepstaking alone, last year we did not buy a single Christmas gift, birthday gift, Father’s Day gift, or Mother’s Day gift for any of our four parents.
Sweepstaking has been far more profitable than couponing, Swagbucks, surveys, or anything else we have tried. -Emily
Have you blogged about a Handmade Christmas idea? Submit the link through this form here and we’ll consider sharing it as part of this series during the next 4 weeks!
WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
If you missed this morning assignment, find it here.
It was another great day today! Silas had a doctor’s appointment this afternoon, so we’d planned to have a date beforehand. Only problem was, when I went to start the car, the battery was dead.
Jesse was already planning to meet up with us to go to Silas’ appointment, so he just came home early after court so he could jump the car.
In the mean time, Silas and I made a snack and walked to the park. Being the “proper” sort of guy he is, he was insistent we bring cereal in a ceramic mug. No snack bars or paper bowls for this guy. 🙂
Speaking of “proper”, notice his outfit? He’s taken to wearing dress shirts, sweaters, and sweater vests on a very regular basis. He even asked if he could wear a tie with his outfit, too. 😉
His sense of style cracks me up. Jesse and I are totally cool with our children picking out their own outfits, provided it somewhat fits the occasion and weather, so we have lots of style variety out our house right now with Kaitlynn being the fashionista, Kathrynne opting for camo and tattered jeans, and Silas sporting sweater vests. I love to see their unique personalities expressed in their clothing choices. 🙂
While at the park, we found this guy. Silas was fascinated.
Silas was fascinated.
Time at the park with Silas definitely counted for my relaxation project today, it was leisurely and fun. I find that it’s such a good thing to have special one-on-one time with a child to get to really listen to them and just soak up the moments with them.
I also spent a little time reading and looking at knitting blogs online, too. Not that I need to be starting any new knitting projects when I already have four more lined up that I want to do after my scarf is finished. But it’s still inspiring to see all these amazing things bloggers are knitting!
I hope you had a great day today! Thanks for joining me in all these projects this week. Be sure to come back a week from Monday morning for your next assignment! Enjoy a relaxing Thanksgiving week!
How you do on Day 10? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
I just wanted to say a big thank you to each of you for making the launch of my second ebook, Celebrating & Savoring a Simple Christmas, such a success this week. Your support of this project meant so much to me.
Also, thank you for your patience while I posted about it a LOT this week. You all are so great!
The two winners from yesterday were:
Barbara (olmfamily1@) (Facebook-a-Thon $100 Amazon gift card giveaway winner)
Kim (kdevore@) (Kindle PaperWhite giveaway winner)
Both of you should have been contacted with details on how to claim your prize.
And now back to our regularly-scheduled programming… 🙂
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Need encouragement to set goals, live with purpose, and cultivate self-discipline? Be sure to get a copy of my ebook, 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life.
From November 5 to December 7 (skipping the week of Thanksgiving), every weekday morning at 9 a.m. EST, I’ll be posting the day’s assignment and then every evening at 7 p.m. EST, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too.
::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}
::Dust all ceiling fans and clean all light fixtures in your house. Check for burned out light bulbs and replace.
::Set the timer for at least 15 minutes and do something you really enjoy and that relaxes and rejuvenates you. If you need ideas, here are a few: read, write, call a friend, pray, exercise, bake, play with your children, laugh with your husband, stop by the bookstore and browse the book selection, work in the garden, or take a nap! Take some time to just stop and enjoy life today!
Take pictures of your accomplishments and blog about them, if you’d like. And then come back here at 7 p.m. EST to share your progress posts or tell us about your accomplishments in a comment.
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Welcome to our series on 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas. In this series, I’m highlighting simple and legitimate ways you can earn extra cash over the next few weeks for those of you who could use a little extra cash to help you pay for Christmas — or just for your living expenses if you’re in a tight spot right now.
We’ve talked about a lot of ways to earn extra cash before Christmas in this series, but I wanted to also include a post in this series with some ideas of ways to get Christmas gifts for free.
Complete quizzes, watch videos, and more on Recyclebank to earn points. You can use these points to earn high-value coupons, magazine subscriptions, and gift cards.
There are typically opportunities to earn at least 200 to 400 points each month, meaning you could earn at least a gift card or two each year. You could also request magazine subscriptions for people who live in your home (at this time, it doesn’t appear like you can have subscriptions sent to addresses other than your own).
2. Mailbox Freebies
Sign up for the mailbox freebies that I post and some of these might work for a stocking stuffer or to make a fun gift basket for someone! There are free bath & beauty products, free hair products, free tea/coffee/cappuccino samples, and sometimes even free gift cards!
You can earn points by reading emails, playing games, searching the web, or taking surveys through MyPoints. Cash in your points for free gift cards and more! Just by doing simple exercises each day, you should easily be able to earn at least a few gift cards each year.
5. Coupon/Drugstore Freebies
So many of the freebies that you can pick up by playing the drugstore game or using coupons could be turned into gift baskets or stocking stuffers.
6. Blog Giveaways
Liz emailed in and said: “I earn Christmas gifts by entering blog contests daily. I shoot for one hour a day, usually at night when watching tv. I follow about 100 blogs through email and they usually do giveaways weekly. I have won gift cards to grocery stores, lots of kids’ dvds, toys, body washes, free coupons, etc. I enter contests for pretty much everything. You never know when you will need an infant gift, toddler gift, or gift for your mother.”
Lori emailed in and said: “This isn’t earning cash, but it helps me fulfill my Christmas list without costing anything out of my budget at all! I just enter all the free Pampers Gift to Grow points throughout the year and cash them in for some gift cards at Christmas. This year, I got two $10 Applebees gift cards. I’ll be able to cross two people off my list with no money out of pocket.”
8. Kellogg’s Family Rewards
Have you signed up for Kellogg’s Family Rewards? You can earn points by inputting the codes from Kellogg’s products or by using the free coupon codes they are regularly releasing. You can use this points toward high-value coupons, magazines, toys, and other rewards.
9. Nielsen Homescan
If you are accepted as a panel member with Nielsen Home Scan, you will be sent a small hand-held scanner and will scan all the bar codes of everything you purchase. Once a week, you’ll transmit this information to Nielsen and you’ll earn points that can be redeemed for a variety of items from the Nielsen Gift Catalog.
What creative ideas do you have for earning free Christmas gifts? I’d love to hear your ideas!
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
If you missed this morning’s assignment, find it here.
It was such a good day today. After a full and busy few weeks, today was a much quieter day — and I’m going to bed with everything crossed off my to-do list today (which I forgot to get a picture taken of on accident!). It feels blissful and it’s not even the weekend yet!
Two of today’s projects: Wiping down all the light switches and tackled the bathroom (this is pre-cleaning, it looked worse in real-life than it does in the picture).
To top off a great day: I stopped by Starbucks for their Buy One, Get One Free Holiday Drinks this afternoon for Jesse and I to enjoy tonight for our at-home movie date. Yum!
How you do on Day 9? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.
From November 5 to December 7 (skipping the week of Thanksgiving), every weekday morning at 9 a.m. EST, I’ll be posting the day’s assignment and then every evening at 7 p.m. EST, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too.
Day 9 Assignment
::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}
::Clean your light switch plates. You can use a damp rag with a little disinfectant on it or a cleaning wipe. If you have younger children, they’d probably enjoy joining you in tackling this project!
Take pictures of your accomplishments and blog about them, if you’d like. And then come back here at 7 p.m. EST to share your progress posts or tell us about your accomplishments in a comment.
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
I had planned to do yesterday’s 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home projects after dinner last night… and that plan failed. And rather than stay up late to do it and post about it, I went to bed at a decent hour and got up and did it this morning.
Here’s what my dresser looked liked pre-cleaning… {Yes, my dresser is in our closet!}
And the top dresser drawer was even worse!
After 20 minutes, the entire dresser was cleaned out and oh so much better!
How you do on Day 8? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.
I also wiped down the doorknobs and was surprised that it took me less than 5 minutes to do!
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
I love the Christmas season. I love the sights, smells, tastes, sounds… all of it.
But you know what I don’t love? That so many people feel rushed, hurried, and frazzled during Christmas.
The heart of Christmas is not about impressing people or running around at a crazy, frantic speed. And making either of those things your focus is certainly not going to help you celebrate and savor the season!
Creating a Christmas Bucket List
One thing that has helped us to slow down and just enjoy December is to create a Christmas Bucket List. We all sit down as a family and choose a few things that each of us really wants to do for Christmas.
Last year, the girls wanted to build a snowman, play in the snow as a family, decorate Christmas cookies, and go ice-skating. I wanted to do an Advent project and take the girls to the Nutcracker, Jesse wanted to go look at Christmas lights as a family and watch one of our favorite Christmas movies together.
By the time we’re done discussing our Bucket List, we’ve come up with a great list of memorable activities to do together and since everyone gave their input, there’s something (or more than one thing) on the list that each person will really enjoy.
We spread these activities out during the whole month of December, doing a few items each week. Because our list is not long and overwhelming and because we have four weeks to do it, we’re able to really take time to enjoy each thing and create beautiful memories.
This tradition has been one of the best things we’ve ever implemented to help us stay focused, calm, and intentional during the Christmas season. And it also helps us to say “no” to most of the other ideas and opportunities that come up that aren’t already on our list.
If you missed this morning assignment, find it here.
