Food.com shows you how to make homemade Litpon’s onion soup mix in just 10 minutes.
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.
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My Top 7 Favorite Books Read in 2011
Looking for some good books to add to your booklist for 2012? Here are my top seven favorite books from the 60 books I read in 2011:
Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Contentment
ReWork — Hands down, this is one of the best business books I’ve ever read. I read it in one sitting because I just couldn’t put it down. The premise? Break all the rules of the “experts”. Think way outside the box. Be a teacher: if a business idea works well for you, share your secrets and people will respect you more. Stop worrying about your competition and start being a trend-setter. Keep your company small for as long as you possibly can. Don’t grow until it hurts.
Now, do note that this is not packed with specific step-by-step ideas for starting a business. It’s moreso an outside-the-box business book to challenge the status quo. And since I tend to be a very independent thinker, I loved that. Other people, like my friend Catherine, didn’t find the book as helpful (read her review here).
(Note: There is a quite a bit of language in the book and I was disappointed because it somewhat hampered my excitement about the book. And I know some disagree with me, but I always find four letter words in books bothersome because I feel like they are unnecessary and crude.)
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed By a Relentless God — If you’re a Christian, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If there’s one book outside the Bible that you read this year, read Crazy Love. It challenged me to pull out of my complacency as a follower of Christ. I’ve stayed in my comfort zone for a long time out of fear — fear of failure, fear of what others would think of me, and fear of stepping out in faith and doing what God has been calling me to do.
I read one chapter each morning for two weeks and then would spend time reflecting and praying about it during my morning run. There was much I processed during those times — and I will be processing it for many weeks and months to come. God used this book to change my outlook on many things and to light a fire of love in my heart to live a life sold out for God. I want to follow where He leads, at any cost.
Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time — This book is jam packed with practical ideas for prioritizing your time and life so that you make the most of your days. One of my biggest takeaways from the book was the challenge to start the day out by doing the things you like least first, you’ll get them out of the way so you can enjoy your day more and be more productive and fulfilled. Read more about some of the things I gleaned from this book here.
Today Matters: 12 Daily Practices to Achieve Tomorrow’s Success — If you want to make the most of your days, Today Matters will give you practical, step-by-step help and inspiration. The author makes a case for why today is your key to success and outlines 12 decisions and disciplines you should implement into your life and work toward mastering in order to achieve greater fulfillment and success in life.
168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think — We all have exactly the same amount of time: 24 hours in each day, 168 hours in each week. We all get to choose how we’re going to use those hours — whether wisely or frivolously. Laura Vanderkam’s book, 168 Hours, is based upon the premise that, if we were to step back and look at our week as a whole, we have more time than we realize. And we are probably squandering more time than we think.
This book gives real-life, practical examples for becoming a better manager of your time. It profiles a number of different individuals in different situations and shows how they are using their time well or specific ways they could improve their time usage. This book is not about stuffing our lives more full with longer to-do lists and more responsibilities, but about focusing on a life well lived. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who wants to better steward their time or find more fulfillment in how they spend their 168 hours.
Kisses from Katie — This book rocked my world and left me profoundly moved and challenged. It has caused me to step back and examine how I’m living my life and whether I’m truly giving in a way that costs me something dear. I’m still processing much of what I read and praying about specifically what I am supposed to do in response to the burden it placed upon my heart, but I am left forever touched. If you want to be motivated to live a life out of your comfort zone, read this book.
What were your top reads in 2011? I’d love know!
Setting Goals and Saving Money
The following is a guest post from Joy of Vim and Vigor:
source: RikkisRefugeOther
Whether you are a mom of one or of seven, whether you hare just married, or whether you are single, the demands of life are many. You know the old saying, “A woman’s work is never done.” That is so true!
Amidst the meal planning, dishes, work schedules, cleaning up of spills, errands, and laundry, we are real women with real needs–spiritually, physically, and emotionally. If these areas are being neglected in our lives, it affects us as woman and those around us.
Crystal has been such an inspiration to me in setting goals and accomplishing them. Seeing her lists of books to read, projects she wants to try, and also her monthly financial goals has been very motivating for me. I especially like how she doesn’t overload herself. Instead, her goals are doable.
One tangible way Crystal inspired me was to write down a budget for our family. To be honest, it was one of the most freeing things I’ve ever done. I think less about money now, because I know how much I can spend in each area of our lives. I don’t have to wonder, “Do we have enough money in the bank to cover this check?”
Creating a budget was like getting a raise: we can save so much more since we now know how much we can spend! And one goal I have regarding our budget for the New Year is to look at each category and see how I can spend less.
Here are some of the ways I am cutting back:
Clothing:
I have decided (for the time being) to only shop for myself at re-sale shops and rummage sales.
Cosmetics:
I have replaced my expensive, high-dollar face cream, and instead have started using a baking soda and water exfoliate. I’m also using avocado oil on my face, which is an inexpensive, natural and superior moisturizer. I now wash my hair with baking soda and rinse with vinegar. It cleans my hair, instead of stripping it, and it works wonderfully!
Beverages:
I had was in the habit of keeping a variety of store bought drinks at home–pop, juices, coffee, etc. However, I’ve decided we can easily save hundreds of dollars per year by choosing to drink water and milk. Juice is now a treat, and purchased only when on sale.
Eating Out:
One way we can save a ton of money is by setting a budget for eating out–and then sticking to it! If we go over budget in this area, I really feel it is my own doing.
I am the one in charge of meal planning, and I am now trying to have a few “fast food” meals handy in the freezer for those nights I don’t want to cook. (Crystal talks a lot about freezer cooking, which has been so helpful for me.)
It really is the little things that can make or break a budget. And as we approach another New Year, I hope this will be a springboard to help you think of a few areas where you too can cut back, so you can do more with your budget, and bless your family in this way.
Have you recently cut anything out of your budget?
Joy is a 33-year-old homeschooling mama to six kids. She is married to her wonderful husband, who lovingly looks past all her faults, and loves her for the wife, mama, and child of God she is striving to be. Through the trials and triumphs of marriage, having a large family, and living as naturally as possible on a budget, God is in the midst of it all. You can read about all the journeys Christ has been bringing this family through, and to be encouraged in your mothering on Joy’s blog.
Good Reads: Getting Things Done by David Allen
I was expecting to be overwhelmed with guilt by Getting Things Done–feeling like I had to set up all these new processes and procedures in order to get my life in order. However, I was really encouraged to realize that I’ve unintentionally set up processes and procedures for many areas of my life that are working quite well.
Everything in my office has a place and everything in it serves a specific purpose. I have a process for mail, a process for email, and a process for dealing with paper clutter and stuff clutter.
So I was excited to realize that there’s no need to overhaul something that’s already working well most of the time. Instead, I just need to work on tweaking and refining these processes so that they serve me even better.
That said, reading this book helped me to realize very clearly that my paper planner system is no longer working well for me and that’s likely one of the reasons my head has been spinning so much recently. My home management binder has been great for a daily to-do list and overview, but, with the increased business responsibilities on my plate in the last few months, I need to be able to have a running to-do list of business projects and I also need to be able to schedule out projects, to-do’s, and reminders days, weeks, and months ahead of time.
Since my husband manages a busy law firm and has to schedule out and keep on top of all sorts of client stuff and court appearances, he’s been helping me think through what would work best for me. I think I’m going to try a paperless system using a combination of Google Calendars and the Reminders app and To-Do app.
I’ve resisted the paperless approach for so long, as I’m such a visual, write-it-down-on-paper gal, but I think perhaps the time has come to break out of my rut and go paperless. I’m at least going to try and will let you know how it ends up going!
Two Key Points I Picked Up From the Book:
Write Everything Down
I think one of the biggest reasons I’ve felt like my brain is overloaded recently is because I’ve not been dumping enough information out of it. I’ll think of something I need to remember and, instead of writing it down on my to-do list, I’ll tell myself, “Don’t forget that.”
Getting Things Done strongly encourages you to get stuff out of your brain and onto paper or your computer or handheld device. If you capture and store the information in a trusted system, it not only guarantees that you won’t forget it, but it also frees up brain space! Plus, instead of having to remind yourself ten times about something you need to remember, you can just write it down once and forget about it until you need to deal with it.
Follow the 2-Minute Rule
As I’ve confessed before, I tend to be a procrastinator. Getting Things Done encourages you to immediately do any project that can be done in less than two minutes.
Instead of thinking repeatedly about how you need to make that appointment, just pick up the phone and make the appointment. Rather than leaving an email in your inbox and looking at it multiple times, just answer it as soon as it comes in.
I know that following this rule would help me keep on top of all those little jobs much more efficiently and effectively. Instead of continuously putting off little jobs or writing them down onto my to-do list, I should just do the job and get it done.
I thought some parts of Getting Things Done felt overly complicated and some parts I felt like the pace of the book was dragging along too slowly. In addition, since my copy was the 2001 version, the technology referred to was outdated (anyone remember Palm Pilots?), but overall I felt this book is well worth reading if you are struggling with feeling overwhelmed with life–especially if you are a professional or own your own business.
Have you read any good books recently?
(Note: The Amazon.com links in this post are affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.)
12 Do-It-Yourself Projects I Plan to Attempt in 2012
As I mentioned yesterday, I committed to try 12 Do-It-Yourself Experiments in 2011. Choosing 12 projects, writing them down, and publicly posting about it turned out to be excellent for me as it motivated me to actually follow through with trying new things instead of just intending to try something and never getting around to it.
I decided to challenge myself to try 12 new things again in 2012. However, this time, I mostly picked things that were a little more “in my comfort zone”. I figured I didn’t need to repeat the frustrating rag-quilt saga again. 🙂
So, after lots of debating, here’s my list:
12 Do-It-Yourself Projects I Plan to Attempt in 2012
January: Homemade Hair Detangler
February: Homemade Naan
March: Homemade Facewash
April: Homemade Pop-Tarts
June: Homemade Wheat Thins
July: Homemade Bagels in the Bread Machine
August: Homemade Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub
September: Homemade Whole-Wheat Pretzel Bites
October: Homemade Hand Lotion
November: Homemade Vick’s Vapor Rub
December: Homemade Bubble Bath
As I did last year, I’ll be blogging about how each DIY experiment goes so you can follow along with my successes and flops.
Have you set any goals for new things you want to try in 2012? I’d love to hear about it!
Do-It-Yourself: Homemade Salsa
Organizing Home Life shows you how to make homemade salsa with just four ingredients.
11 DIY Projects Accomplished in 2011
At the beginning of 2011, I set a goal to try 12 Do-It-Yourself Experiments–one per month. I ended up trying all 12, most which turned out fairly successfully.
Here are links/photos of the 11 that were fairly successful:
Homemade Dishwashing Detergent
Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (my full report on how this recipe is working for me will be coming in a few weeks)
Homemade Marshmallows (more on this recipe coming in January!)
On Thursday, I’ll be sharing my list of 12 Do-It-Yourself Experiments I have planned for 2012.
Did you try any new do-it-yourself projects in 2011? I’d love to hear about them!
Ask the Readers: Recommended financial management software?
Today’s question is from Amanda:
I am trying to find the right financial management software for budgeting and help with my bills. I am a recent college grad (’08) who just secured my first “big girl” job and would like to get started on the right foot. I’ve explored Mint.com, but couldn’t grasp it. Sounds silly for a college grad, but any money management budgeting tips or software you know of or could suggest would be great! I’ve searched and haven’t been able to locate anything. – Amanda
You can read more about how our family tracks our finances here. I’d love to hear what works for the rest of you!
Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
12 Audiobooks I Plan to Listen to in 2012
Believe it or not, I only really “discovered” the incredible-ness of audiobooks this past year. I’m such a visual person, that audiobooks never appealed to me. But at my husband’s encouragement, I listened to one audiobook.
And I was hooked! I realized that I could listen while I folded laundry, cleaned the kitchen or bathroom, cooked, or did some knitting.
However, even though I knew that listening to audiobooks would be a great way to help use my time more efficiently when my hands are busy and my mind is free, I didn’t do a good job of being intentional about listening to audiobooks and only ended up listening through a handful in 2011.
In 2012, I want to be more intentional about listening to audiobooks. With this in mind, my husband helped me come up with a list of 12 audiobooks to listen to–one for each month. I figure that if I get in 10-20 minutes of audiobook listening most every day, I can easily go through one or more audiobooks per month.
Here’s my list:
12 Audiobooks I Plan to Listen to in 2012
January — Developing the Leader Within You
February — The Go-Getter
March — The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers
April — Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality
May — The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence
June — Business By the Book
July — The One-Minute Entreprenuer
August — Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard
September — Made to Stick
October — The Mentor Leader
November — Rhinoceros Success
December — Guerrilla Marketing
As I finish each of these, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on them in my Good Reads posts. Have you read or listened to any of these books? I’d love to know what you think!
Customizable Printable Reading List
If you were considering making your own list of books you want to read after I posted my list of 24 books I plan to read in 2012 yesterday, you can download a customizable printable Books I Plan to Read list.
Type in the books you want to read, save the file, and then you can print it. Or, just print it blank and hand write your list. It would be fun to then save this list at the end of the year to refer back to in a few years from now to see what you were reading and what interested you in 2012.
OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!
Click here to download!
Educational Freebie: Happy New Year Printable Pack
Q&A Tuesday: How do you decide your yearly goals?
I loved the way you posted your “goals” (what to read, what to make, etc.) last year instead of New Year’s Resolutions and I’ve loved reading how you have checked them off each month. I want to be able to do this for 2012 and was thinking it might be a good topic for you to post a “how to” or tutorial as to how you came up with your list of things to help others “plan” their upcoming year. -Kris
Setting realistic, achievable goals on a yearly basis has been life-changing for me. Not only am I much more productive, I’m also living with much more intention. Here’s how I recommend going about goal-setting:
1. Determine Your Priorities
It’s pretty near impossible to decide what route you need to take if you don’t know what your final destination is supposed to be! Therefore, goal-setting and living an intentional life requires you to first know what your priorities are.
So, before you set down and make out a list of goals for 2012, first spend some time creating a list of five or six priorities in your life. I’ve written more about determining your priorities and share my own current priorities in this post here.
2. Create a List of Focus Areas
Once you have your list of priorities written out, it’s time to get more practical. Take each area of priority and determine 4-5 specific things you want to focus on for that priority item.
For instance, if one of your priorities is improving your financial situation, maybe you decide you want to set a goal to save a specific amount of money, to set up your retirement accounts this year, to read books on improving your financial situation, to go through Financial Peace University, or to start a frugal friends group.
3. Break Your Goals Down Into Bite-Sized Pieces
It’s great to have goals, but it’s hard to actually accomplish them unless you break them down into bite-sized pieces. A big goal can seem overwhelming and daunting as a whole, but when broken down into small pieces, it becomes much more doable.
If one of the save up a specific amount of money, break it down into monthly and then weekly savings goals. Look at your budget and decide where you’re going to come up with the extra money. Will you lower your grocery bill by $10 per week and then put that money toward your savings goal? Will you work an extra few hours and save that money toward your goal?
When you break your goal down to a weekly bite-sized piece, you are better able to know exactly what you need to do to stay on track. If you want to read 24 books next year, you know you’ll need to read two books per month, or half a book each week. That boils down to around a chapter per day, give or take. That’s much more concrete and doable than a big audacious goal of reading 24 books in a year.
4. Set an End Date
I like to set yearly goals, but some goals are too big or too small for a year’s time frame. Consider how much time you realistically think it would take to accomplish your goal and then set a date to have it accomplished.
You can always change the date, if need be, but having a goal finish date gives you momentum and drive. And you just might find yourself picking up speed the closer you get to the finish line!
5. Track Your Progress
Accountability is key to be successful in following through with your goals. My husband and I review our financial goals on a monthly basis and I review my personal goals at least every few weeks. I’ve also found that the public accountability of blogging my goals and process is also amazingly motivating. 🙂
Plan a monthly accountability meeting with your spouse or accountability partner, write it down on your calendar, and don’t deter from it, no matter how tempted you are to slack off. I promise it will be worth it!
Tomorrow, I’ll post a downloadable goal sheet you can customize and print to create your priorities list, break your goals down, and track your progress. And later this week, I’ll be sharing more of my goals for 2012.
What process do you use for goal-setting? What helps to keep you on track and motivated? I’d love to hear!
24 Books I Plan to Read in 2012
At the beginning of 2011, I made a list of 24 books I wanted to read this past year. I broke the list down by month and chose two books to read per month.
This plan worked very well for me, and while I didn’t follow it exactly, it motivated me to read more and read some great books that I likely wouldn’t have picked up and read had they not been on my list. I still have 2.5 books on the list to finish before the year ends, but I’m hopeful I’ll actually be able to cross all of them off my list by December 31!
I also finished quite a few books that were not on my list. All in all, I ended up reading 56 books in 2011 (see the full list here), plus the books I read aloud to the children (see the full list of books we read aloud in 2011 here). It’s amazing how committing to read at least a chapter or two each day personally as well as a few chapters per weekday aloud to the children really adds up over time!
Since the 24 book list idea worked so well, I decided to stick with it again this year. After surveying my bookshelf of books I really want to read (yes, I have three entire shelves of books on a bookshelf in our basement with books I haven’t read yet and really want to read!), I narrowed the stack down to 24 books.
Here’s my list of 24 books I plan to read in 2012:
January:
A Deeper Kind of Calm: Steadfast Faith in the Midst of Adversity
Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches
Rekindling the Romance: Loving the Love of Your Life
Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero
Leadership as an Identity: The Four Traits of Those Who Wield Lasting Influence
April:
Between a Rock and a Grace Place: Divine Surprises in the Tight Spots of Life
May:
The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself
June:
Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life
Without a Word: How a Boy’s Unspoken Love Changed Everything
July:
The Simplicity of Homeschooling: Discover the Freedom of Learning Through Living
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
August:
Satisfy My Thirsty Soul: For I Am Desperate for Your Presence
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
September:
The Husband Project: 21 Days of Loving Your Man–on Purpose and with a Plan
The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun
October:
Erasing Hell: What God said about eternity, and the things we made up
Read for the Heart: Whole Books for WholeHearted Families
November:
December:
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You
Later this week, I’ll be sharing a downloadable list you can print and fill out with the books you want to read this year. I’ll also be sharing a list of audiobooks I’m planning to listen to and my top five favorite books I read this past year.
What books are you hoping to read in 2012? I’d love to hear!
Get a sneak peek of the inside of my book!
I’m so excited!
The Amazon order page for The Money Saving Mom®’s Budget got updated over Christmas and now you can click on the graphic to see some of the inside pages of my book. I love how the final layout turned out and my hat is off to the team of folks at Simon & Schuster who worked tirelessly to make the finished product one I was really happy with.
You can read the introduction, read sections from the first chapter, see all of the fantastic worksheets that are at the back of the book, read the acknowledgments (one of my favorite parts of a book–yes, I’m weird!), and see the back cover. It’s the next best thing to having a real copy in your hands!
So what are you waiting for? Click over and check it out!
Do-It-Yourself: Starbucks Cake Pops
Grocery Alerts shows you how to make your own Starbucks Cake Pops.