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Shared May 1, 2012 comment

This week’s menu

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 1, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Breakfasts

Granola bars
Cereal
Strawberry Pineapple Smoothies, oatmeal
Scrambled eggs, fruit salad
Waffles, scrambled eggs, fruit
Egg-in-hole, fruit
Granola, yogurt, and berry parfaits

Lunches

Waffles, scrambled eggs, fruit
Snack-y lunch
Leftovers
PB&J, carrot sticks, apples, granola bars
Hard-boiled eggs, toast, fruit
Beans and rice, veggies
Lunch out

Snacks

Fruit/veggies
Chewy Granola Bars
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Dinners

Build Your Own Haystacks
Homemade pizza, tossed salad, fruit salad
Chicken and veggie stirfry, muffins, fruit, veggies
Potato Veggie & Beef Hash, Easy Whole Wheat Bread, fruit salad
Steak, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, steamed veggies
Dinner with extended family x 2

What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.

Shared May 1, 2012 comment

Do It Yourself: Painted Terracotta Pots with Chalkboard Labels

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 1, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

HalcyonHomestead.com shows you how to make painted terracotta pots with chalkboard labels.

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

Shared May 1, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Week #1 Breakfast Freezer Foods Plan + Shopping List

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 1, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Are you ready to get busy filling your freezer? My goal with this challenge is to erase your fears of freezer cooking and to show you that — no matter what stage or season in life you’re in — you can find a way to make it work for you.

In the process, I hope you fall in love with freezer cooking, if you haven’t already. It’s been a huge sanity-saver to me so I can’t help but be a big advocate of it. 🙂

Here’s this week’s list of Breakfast Foods I’ll be making to stick in the freezer along with a grocery list (let me know if you see any mistakes on amounts needed):

Freezer-Friendly Breakfast Recipes

Tuesday — 2 loaves of Our Family’s Favorite Banana Bread
Wednesday — 2 dozen Cinnamon Rolls (I’m using this bread dough recipe and this filling/topping recipe.)
Thursday — Triple batch of Whole-Wheat Waffles
Friday — Double batch of Freezer-Friendly Baked Oatmeal
Monday — One batch of Homemade Baking Mix

Grocery List

(I rounded up on the amounts needed, just to be safe. You probably have many of these items already on hand. You’ll want to double-check that you have the correct amounts, though.)

1 dozen eggs
6-8 ripe bananas
One package of butter (4 sticks)
20 cups of freshly-ground flour or two 5-lb. bags of whole wheat, all-purpose, or a mixture of both flours
1 package of brown sugar or raw sugar
1 bag of sugar (You’ll need at least three cups — can substitute raw sugar)
1 bag or box of powdered sugar
Cream of tarter
Powdered milk (you’ll need 1 1/4 cups)
1 canister oats (regular or quick oats)
Oil (any kind — you’ll need at least one cup)
Coconut oil (you’ll need around 2 1/2 cups)
Milk (you’ll need at least 2 cups)
Baking soda
Baking powder (make sure you have at least 1 cup)
Salt
Vanilla
Cinnamon

Freezer Storage Items Needed

Foil
Plastic Wrap
10-12 large ziptop freezer bags
2-4 glass or aluminum pans (to freeze Freezer-Friendly Baked Oatmeal in)
1 airtight lidded tub (to store Homemade Baking Mix in, if you don’t want to use freezer bags)
Something to label packages with (marker to write on bags, labels, and/or tape)

Click on the “Print This” tab at the top of the list to generate a printer-friendly list. (If you’re reading via email or a feed reader, you may need to click through to the post to print the list.)

Before you head to the store, make sure to clean out and organize your freezer and check that you have enough storage space for these items in it.

Eating PB&J Sandwiches can change your finances...and your LIFE! Short-term sacrifices can be difficult, but SO worth it in the long run!

Shared Apr 30, 2012 comment

If you want something badly enough, you can usually find a way

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 30, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post on surviving on a $30 per week grocery budget. Many of you found the post helpful and inspiring. But a handful of people really disliked the post.

In the blogging world, that’s totally to be expected. You can’t please and inspire everyone all the time and I’ve learned and grown a lot as a person and a writer from the constructive criticism I’ve received as a blogger.

However, what I found interesting was that most of the people who didn’t like the post got hung up on the fact that I was suggesting you eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch every day for a week.

The grocery list and menu I shared was meant to serve as an example that you can eat on $30 per week and still set aside a little extra toward your stockpile so that, within a few weeks, you can have more wiggle room and variety in your diet. I wanted to show that it can be done — if you’re willing to get creative and you’re willing to make short-term sacrifices.

Truthfully, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches Are Not All That Bad

While eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day for a week might sound outrageous to some, it’s actually not all that bad. In fact, one of the many little things we did to stay out of debt while my husband was in law school was to eat lots and lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

We didn’t eat peanut butter and jelly every single day of the year, but choosing to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on a very regular basis over Subway or Sonic — or even turkey and cheese sandwiches — was a simple thing we could do to help inch us in the direction we were aiming for.

How Motivated Are You to Get Where You Want to Be?

Where do you want to be financially in a year from now? What about five years from now? What simple short-term sacrifices can you make to help you get there?

If eating peanut butter and jelly every other day isn’t your thing, consider what short-term sacrifices might work for your family. When Jessica and her family were working really hard to get out of debt, they set their thermostat up a number of degrees in the summer in order to save money. Jessica was pregnant at the time and I’m not quite sure how she managed, but their family was highly motivated so they made a lot of sacrifices — including sweating out a hot Kansas summer — so that they could get out of debt much more quickly.

When There’s a Will, There’s Usually a Way

If you want to get out of debt, stay out debt, save more, or give more, it’s likely going to mean making some sacrifices — especially in the short-term. You can’t change your financial situation unless you also change the way you’re doing something.

But you have to be willing to change, willing to cut back, willing to give things up, willing to eat less than gourmet meals, or willing to not have the latest and greatest gadget or gizmo. How willing you are to make changes is directly dependent upon how motivated you are to get where you want to go.

If you want something badly enough, you can usually find a way. It won’t always be easy, fun, or glamorous to make short-term sacrifices, but it will be every bit worth it.

What simple, short-term sacrifices is your family making to get where you want to be financially? I’d love to hear!

Shared Apr 30, 2012 comment

May’s Challenge: 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 30, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

In May, we’ll be filling our freezers together in the 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer Challenge.

Whether you’re a freezer cooking newbie or an experienced pro, I hope you’ll find inspiration, ideas, and maybe just the extra motivation you need to get some freezer cooking done in order to save time, money, and your sanity!

I’ll be cooking or baking something every weekday for my freezer and I’ll be blogging about what I cook or bake each evening along with a link-up for you to share any freezer cooking or baking ahead you did that day.

I’ll be sharing my weekly plan and recipes at the beginning of the week so that you can follow along and cook what I cook, if you’d like. We’ll be tackling breakfasts the first week, lunches the second week, dinners the third week, and snacks and desserts the fourth week.

If you’d rather create your own plan, that’s wonderful, too! Just do what works best for you.

And if you don’t have any time to do extra cooking, than you can just read along and get some new recipe ideas. Or, you can skip these posts altogether. 🙂

Come back tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. and I’ll share the list of recipes I plan to tackle this week.

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

Click here to sign up!

Shared Apr 30, 2012 comment

2012 Goals: April Update

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 30, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

How are you doing on your goals for 2012? I’m excited about the progress I made in April…

Personal
Read through the Bible in a year. {I’ve been keeping up with this faithfully.}
Read through the 24 books on my 2012 booklist. {I’m almost finished with April’s books and have read quite a few other books!}
Listen to 12 audiobooks. {I just finished April’s audiobook and am starting on May’s!}
Run in at least one 5K race. {Finished the Couch to 5K program and am now working on getting my time down. Hoping to sign up for a race soon.}
Complete the Couch to 10K program.
Tackle 12 Do-It-Yourself Projects. {I made homemade poptarts last week!}
Focus on one habit per month. {I made some good headway on my morning and evening routines in April?!}
Learn to use my new DSLR camera (huge surprise Christmas present from Jesse!!) & improve my photography skills.
Take at least one photo a day and put together a page every week for my Project Life album. {I’m behind on putting my album together, but I’ve been doing good about taking lots of pictures!}
Memorize Colossians using the plan and free download here. {I’m almost caught up with this.}

Marriage
Go on the Love Like You Mean It Cruise. {Done–read my recap here.}
Go on two Marriage Retreats (Went to Cincinnati together in April).
Have monthly date nights. {We had one date in April.}
Read four books together. {Jesse read Rekindling the Romance in April and we talked about it since I had just read it in March. We also read parts of One of Us Must Be Crazy… And I’m Pretty Sure It’s You together!}
Read at least 3 books on marriage. {I’ve read two so far this year.}

Children/Homeschooling
Continue regular dates/outings with each of the children individually. {I went on at least one outing with each child individually in April.}
Continue Grace and Truth memory book. {The children finished memorizing the Lord’s Prayer plus two other verses and one verse of a hymn this month.}
Ice-skating lessons for all three children. {The children finished up their second round of classes and we enrolled them in a third round since they are enjoying it so much!}
Swimming lessons for all three children.
Finish second grade, begin third grade with Kathrynne. {We should finish this in May!}
Finish kindergarten, begin first grade with Kaitlynn. {We should finish this in May!}
Start preschool with Silas. {Started this in April.}
Go on at least one field trip every month. {We went on one field trip in April.}
Go on at least one family vacation.
Finish at least 15 read-aloud books. {We’ve finished nine read-alouds so far this year.}

Ministry/Friendships/Extended Family
Write at least two handwritten notes every month to encourage someone. {I wrote & mailed two handwritten notes this month.}
Continue being involved in our local church, homeschool group, young couple’s group, and blogging accountability group. {Ongoing}
Continue with weekly get-togethers with both sides of our extended family. {Ongoing}

Business/Blogging
Continue to take Sundays off from blogging/business work. {Ongoing}
Continue keeping strict Office Hours for the business/blogging time each day. {Still plugging away on this!}
Switch to a paperless planning system. {This is going well for me, though I’ve decided I’m probably never going to be 100% paperless for all things.}
Follow my weekly blogging plan. {I didn’t do this perfectly in April, but I did pretty well most days.}
Plan blog posts out at least a month in advance. {I made some great progress in this area in April!}
Write and schedule blog posts at least a week in advance. {Making some headway with this, though I’m far from where I want to be!}

Financial
Continue to tithe 10% of our income. {Ongoing}
Give generously to needs in our community and around the world, as God prompts us. {Ongoing}
Pay cash for a new-to-us vehicle to replace our family’s van. {We’re still looking and haven’t found anything we love in our price range yet!}
Finish saving for and purchase a rental property with cash. {Thanks to finding out we set aside too much for taxes this year in our tax savings account (we got burned last year when we had to pay more than we expected, so we set aside quite a bit more than we thought we’d have to pay this year), we ended up with a lot of extra money in our tax savings account after paying our taxes. So we’ve almost fully funded our rental property savings goal amount and are beginning our search for rental property — woot! We’re still investigating our options right now and we’ve not completely settled on what we want to invest in, so we may decide we need to save quite a bit more depending upon what we find now that we’re starting to look. I’ll keep you posted!}

How Are You Doing on Your Goals for 2012?

If you’ve posted goals for 2012, I’d love for you to post an update on how things are going and share your link in the comments. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to just leave your update as a comment. Let’s encourage one another to live lives of intention and purpose!

Shared Apr 30, 2012 comment

How to Stay Motivated When Paying off Debt

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 30, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Kacie of Sense To Save

When you’re in the process of getting out of debt, sometimes it can be a challenge to stay motivated until it’s all paid off.

If you are feeling a lack of motivation, here are a few tricks to help:

Tally your debt totals.

List all credit card balances, car loans, student loans, mortgages, and personal loans. Get a complete picture of your debt balance, interest rate for each, and minimum payment.

Break your debt into smaller chunks.

If you have a large, overwhelming balance on a student loan, don’t focus on the full amount. Instead, break it into smaller amounts.

For example, if you owe $50,000 in student loans, break that amount into the number of semesters you took. Want to break it down further? Try breaking it down into classes. Viewing $50k as eight $6,250 semesters, or 40 classes at $1,250/pop might be easier to tackle.

If your debt is a mortgage, you can calculate how much house you have paid off and translate that into square footage in your home. For example, we’ve paid off about 20% of our house — roughly enough to own our garage and a bathroom.

Create a visual representation of your debt.

Post it somewhere in your home where you and your family will see it often. Try a graph that you color in as you make progress.

Write the debt total on a post-it note and wrap it around your debit card in your wallet.

Use play money to represent your debt. Tape it to a poster board and remove the bills as you make progress.

Pick a debt pay-off date and put it on your calendar.

Calculate how long it will take you to get out of debt if you only made minimum payments. Next, figure out how much in interest you’d pay if you never made an extra payment.

Using Dave Ramsey’s debt-snowball principle of listing your debts from the smallest to largest balance, apply as much as you can to the principal of the smallest debt and pay only the minimum on the other debts. Eliminate that first debt, and then repeat while building momentum. You might also want to call your credit card companies and ask for a lower interest rate to help make even more traction.

Here’s a handy calculator to track your progress with your debt snowball. It will tell you when you’ll be debt-free. For each individual debt, note the projected pay-off month and see if you can beat it by selling extra things and reducing your expenses for awhile.

Tell a friend when you hope to have each debt paid.

Accountability is important! If a friend knows you should have your Visa paid off by July, she can follow up with you. If you’re feeling bold, post your debt numbers or target payoff date on your Twitter or Facebook account for even more accountability.

Stick to your plan and see it through. The short-term sacrifice will be worth it!

Kacie blogs at Sense To Save. She and her husband have paid off roughly $20k in debt, built a 6-month emergency fund, and have a mortgage. She’s working on a retirement guide to help herself and others get on track for investing for the future.

photo credit

Shared Apr 28, 2012 comment

How We Switched From Debit to Straight Cash

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 28, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Cassi who blogs at The Fitness Failure

About a year and a half ago, my husband purchased Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and it drastically changed our lives. We learned how to budget our money and save money by using cash.

Our first decision was to implement the envelope system!

We had tried using cash to pay for groceries in the past but inevitably we would turn to the debit card when we went over. We solved this problem by purchasing an inexpensive calculator that I could use to keep track of our total as we shopped so that we would not go over.

I learned to take my time shopping and pay close attention to prices. The longer I used the envelopes, the easier shopping became. I also realized another added benefit to the envelopes — they held my coupons that I needed for any given shopping trip and eliminated the possibility that I would forget my coupons at home.

Since switching to cash we have reduced our grocery bill by over $150 per month. We always have a stockpile of cereal, pasta, and other canned goods. And because I now pay more attention to the amount of cash that it leaving my envelope, I am better equipped to handle sales on items that I need to stock up on. This has afforded me the opportunity to buy more fresh produce throughout the year and has helped me to plan healthier meals for my family.

Holidays used to be a grocery bill buster, but now my husband and I plan for holidays by budgeting more money for groceries in November, December and April. We no longer have to panic when a holiday arrives wondering how we will purchase the few added expenses.

Using cash has totally transformed our lives.

We do much less impulse shopping and we pay very close attention to where every penny goes. My husband and I are much less stressed and we have a stronger relationship as a result.

Tips for using cash:

Use brightly colored envelopes to categorize and organize your cash — it makes them easier to keep track of!
Invest in a decent calculator — one that flips closed is best if it is going to live in your purse!
If you don’t want to use a calculator (or you can’t find it) round up on everything and jot the total down on your list periodically so you don’t lose track.
Don’t figure coupons in when keeping a running total. This helps you have money left at the end of your shopping trip for things you may need to buy later.
Leave your debit card at home — that way you will not even be tempted to think it is okay to go over.
Always leave wiggle room — try not to spend every last cent so that you have cash left mid-month if you need it.
Don’t forget to figure tax into your total — this could break the bank

Cassi is a wife, mother, and high school English teacher in South Dakota. She loves to read, write, paint, use coupons and is passionate about saving money. She blogs at The Fitness Failure.

photo credit

Shared Apr 27, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #20 Update

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 27, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Well, today’s assignment was a breeze — especially compared to yesterday’s!

Before

After

Since we don’t have a medicine cabinet in any of our bathrooms, we just keep the medicines in tubs in the bathroom closet. The top tub is for children’s medicine and the bottom tub is for adult medicine.

The things I found to get rid of or that needed to be put away elsewhere — including an empty bottle of nail polish remover. 🙂

And for my relaxation assignment: I planned my grocery shopping trip for tomorrow, took the children to Target, and am going with Jesse to a couples’ campout with some friends of ours. Should be fun — even if Jesse and I chickened out and decided not to stay the night. 😉 {Well, we didn’t exactly chicken out — I promise! — it was moreso that we realized doing this plus ice-skating lessons plus the (in)RL meet-up tomorrow might be overloading our weekend — something we try hard not to do.}

How did you do on Assignment #20? 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.

Shared Apr 27, 2012 comment

Today’s Target shopping trip: Spent $8.84, Saved $24!

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 27, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

The children and I headed out to Target this afternoon after our homeschooling was finished. And we rocked the deals — or at least I thought so! 🙂

Here’s what we got:

2 Mossimo Supply Co. Scoop-Neck Tees – $6 each
Used 2 $3/1 Target printable coupons
$3 each after coupons

4 Market Pantry Pasta Sauce and Pasta at $1 each
Used 2 $1/2 Target printable coupons
$0.50 each after coupons

3 Revlon Nail Products — $1.97, $1.69, and $1.27
Used 3 ~~$2/1 Revlon printable coupons~~
Free after coupons (coupons adjusted down to make each item free)

2 Aquafresh Kid’s Fresh ‘n Fruity Toothpaste — the shelf had it marked at $2.19, but it rang up at $1.50
Used 2 $1/1 Target printable coupons
Stacked with 2 $1/1 Aquafresh Fresh ‘n Fruity printable
Free plus overage after coupons

1 Lifesavers Peg Bag 6.25 oz — $1.84
Used $0.75/1 Lifesavers Target printable coupon
Stacked with $1/1 Lifesavers candy coupon
$0.09 after coupon

2 Nail Polish Removers — $0.97 each
Used 2 $0.50/1 Target printable coupons
$0.47 each after coupons

Total with tax after coupons: $8.84!

I figured up that without coupons and sales, we would have paid over $32 for all of these items. Of course, who pays retail anyway?!

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Click here to download!

Shared Apr 27, 2012 comment

6 Easy Ways to be a Semi-Minimalist

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 27, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Rebecca of D&R Tabb

Minimalism as a way of life is intriguing to many of us, but difficult to put into practice. Here are 6 relatively pain-free ways you can introduce yourself to a ‘less is more’ lifestyle.

1. Make getting rid of stuff fun!

In the spirit of Crystal’s 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series, I did “7 Days of 7 Throw Aways.” I made a game out of finding 7 items each day to give or throw away. This was so much easier than trying to de-clutter the whole house and I even found myself coming up with more than 7 items some days.

2. Streamline your Facebook news feed

Evaluate each person on your news feed and decide if seeing his or her status updates every day are worth the time you spend reading them. If you don’t want to ‘unfriend,’ simply click “Unsubscribe” or subscribe only to the “Most Important” updates.

This makes your online visits quicker as you spend less time perusing through unnecessary information in order to find the information you are interested in.

3. De-clutter as you go

Small changes make a big difference. While you are waiting for water to boil for your spaghetti dinner, go through your utensil drawer and find 3 things you don’t need anymore. Challenge your children to find 5 things to give away during the commercial break of a show. Progress, however small, is still progress!

4. Lay ground rules

If you go shopping for new clothes, make “one in, one out” your rule. If you buy a new shirt, another shirt has to go to the garage sale pile. If you buy new underwear, get rid of a few old pairs (you’re probably due for that, right?)

5. Surround yourself with minimalist thinkers

Conversations with like-minded friends will bolster your confidence that you’re making wise choices. Not all our friends and family will ascribe to our choice to reduce when everything in our culture tells us “More! More! More!” but be conscious of the influence others have.

If you feel inadequate or envious after visiting a friend with many possessions, counter that feeling by reading quotes on minimalism or making a list of reasons to be thankful for less.

6. Re-think the American dream

I used to dream of having a large home. But I have learned living in our small home is just as good! I love that I can almost reach our entire home with the vacuum plugged into one outlet. I am so glad to only have two bathrooms to clean.

While everyone’s choice of home is personal. I have really started to question whether the money and effort that goes into owning a large home is really worth it, not the mention the time spent to earn that money!

This choice can make a huge difference in your commitment to being a “semi-minimalist” because you must be intentional about what you bring into your home.

Rebecca is a former educator turned stay-at-home mom. She enjoys exercising, reading, and blogging about her life as a wife and new mom at D&R Tabb.

photo credit

Shared Apr 27, 2012 comment

Reader Tip: Save money on repairs by watching YouTube videos

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 27, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Lizjane emailed in the following tip:

We’ve all probably heard about videos on YouTube. I had, but I hadn’t spent much time looking for things to watch — until this week, that is.

We have an older vehicle that was having a problem losing antifreeze & overheating. We had a big belt that needed to go back on, several pulleys, and a bracket. Although my husband is pretty handy with fixing cars, he wasn’t familiar with these problems.

I turned to the internet (as I often do to research things), and looked at a few articles that were sort of helpful. But then, one of the links was a YouTube video.

Voila! It showed and explained in detail what to do, how to do it, and what tools would be needed. I watched the video myself a few times, then went back to the garage and put the belt on myself!

I didn’t find where the bracket went in that video but searched and watched a few more until I found it, then brought the laptop out to the garage and played the video for my husband. The car is now back to 100% with no extra pieces left over (always a good sign!). It runs fine and doesn’t overheat anymore!

I had no idea people would post instructional videos like that out there, but now that I do, you can be sure I will check the next time we need some help figuring things out! -LizJane

Shared Apr 27, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #20

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 27, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

We’ve made it to the finish line — woohoo! Thank you to all of you who have joined me in this adventure and who have followed along in all the crazy tasks I’ve assigned to you. 😉

It’s been fun, but I’m kind of looking forward to a few days of break before we begin next month’s challenge on May 1. Any guesses as to what that challenge might be??

Day 20 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.}

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

::Clean out and re-organize your medicine cupboard(s). Check expiration dates on medicines and dispose of any that are expired. Note: Check out this article for information from the FDA on how to properly dispose of medicine.

::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!

Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.

At 4 p.m. ET this afternoon, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!

Shared Apr 26, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #19 Update

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 26, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

So, um, I have more windows than I realized. And today’s assignment was a doozy. Sorry, everyone, don’t ask me what I was thinking!

While cleaning windows today, I couldn’t help but think that it sure would be nice to be back in our first apartment that only had one window and one sliding glass door. There were definitely some perks to living in a tiny place — namely, cleaning was a breeze! 🙂

The windows weren’t all that dirty and, gratefully, the few window treatments we have are newer, so I skipped the laundering part. I did find a nice layer of dust on the top trim of each window.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever dusted up there — unless I did the week we moved in. Gulp!

So yes, it was good to get those cleaned, even if I was sort of whining at myself for assigning it today. 🙂

And when I got in the cleaning rags basket to get some rags to tackle this project, I noticed it needed to be thinned out.

So here’s my final pile of 7+ things to get rid of this month.

And now I’m off to bed — probably to dream about cleaning windows. 😉

How did you do on Assignment #19? 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.

Shared Apr 26, 2012 comment

Freezer Cooking Session: Beans, Rice, Cinnamon Rolls, and Homemade Poptarts

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 26, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Earlier this week, the girls made peanut butter cookies by themselves. It was their first time to follow a real recipe all by themselves, so they were pretty excited. It left an aftermath of mess, but the memories and fun were worth it! 🙂

Jesse had to work late last night, so I got motivated to do a little more freezer cooking. In about an hour and a half, here’s what I was able to accomplish:

5:50 p.m. — Started the flour grinding and rinsed the beans. Added more wheat to the grinder. Filled up a pot of water and put it on the stove to boil.

5:55 p.m. — Poured a bag of rice into a pot and put it on the stove to boil. Added more wheat to the grinder.

6:00 p.m. — Added the black beans to the big pot of boiling water. Started putting the ingredients in the bread machine for cinnamon roll dough (I used this bread recipe for the dough). Added more wheat to the grinder.

6:05 p.m. — Finished adding the ingredients to the bread machine and turned it on. Brought the freshly-ground flour into the house (I grind wheat outside since it’s a little on the messy side!)

6:10 p.m. — Cleaned up the kitchen and started in on the homemade poptarts. I decided to use a different crust recipe since I didn’t have any yogurt on hand.

6:30 p.m. — Poptarts are finished — finally! {More details on how they turned out will be coming in a separate post.} I stirred the rice and beans and turned the rice off to cool.

6:35 p.m. — Cleaned up the kitchen — again! — while the poptarts baked and put the flour into freezer bags.

6:50 p.m. — I dumped the dough out onto the countertop and rolled it out and into cinnamon rolls. I set these out to rise and sat down to take a short break.

After the cinnamon rolls rose, I stuck them in the oven to bake while I finished cleaning up the kitchen (notice a trend here with all the kitchen clean-up?! It seems to be never-ending!) and put the beans and rice into bags to go in the freezer.

The cinnamon rolls were supposed to be for an event this weekend, but alas, they were too good to stick in the freezer to save for later! 🙂

Summer Bucket List

Summer Bucket List

FREE Summer Bucket List!!

Breakfasts

Lunches

Snacks

Dinners

Freezer-Friendly Breakfast Recipes

Grocery List

Freezer Storage Items Needed

Truthfully, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches Are Not All That Bad

How Motivated Are You to Get Where You Want to Be?

When There’s a Will, There’s Usually a Way

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

How Are You Doing on Your Goals for 2012?

Tally your debt totals.

Break your debt into smaller chunks.

Create a visual representation of your debt.

Pick a debt pay-off date and put it on your calendar.

Tell a friend when you hope to have each debt paid.

Tips for using cash:

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

1. Make getting rid of stuff fun!

2. Streamline your Facebook news feed

3. De-clutter as you go

4. Lay ground rules

5. Surround yourself with minimalist thinkers

6. Re-think the American dream

Day 20 Assignment

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