I used to dream of being a …history teacher? What you can learn from your past!
We've been talking about perfectionism in the Organize Your Life Club on Facebook. While I've been reflecting back on when perfectionism used to rule my life, and how that's changed over the past few years. Realizing that there were I don't typically spend a lot of...
What’s “money mindset” – and why does it matter?
As a certified money mindset coach, I've done a lot of work to understand how our mindset creates our reality. I used to think that "mindset" stuff was neat, but kind of a placebo effect, but I've learned better. Research all over the place shows how the things we...
The quick way to stop negative thought patterns
The ability to let go of negative thought patterns are one of the biggest things I see that makes a difference between people who are able to change their lives, versus those who stay stuck. The people who can't move on from negativity are the kinds of people who will...
The lazy cook’s guide to pre-making holiday dinners
I dislike the "busy" feeling that a lot of Americans associate with the holidays. I would much rather enjoy a laid-back meal and do other things, besides spend all day cooking and preparing, then cleaning up tons of dishes afterwards. Frankly, I don't know many women...
Videos and blog posts that inspire me to declutter
Recently in the Facebook group, someone posted and said they were super overwhelmed with tons of stuff in their house. Life got to be too much, and now everything's just a hot mess. I completely related, and while there were good tips in that conversation, I wanted to...
Cleaning Zones + Kicking Cleaning Perfectionism to the Curb
COVID-19 had me in a funk earlier this year, but I'm coming out of it stronger than ever. If I'm going to be stuck at home, I may as well make that space as amazing as I can make it, including dealing with some long-standing issues around how I manage my house. I got...
What is always true about money for you?
There's a reason why I talk about your relationship with money like it's a person, instead of just a tool. How you do money is how you do everything, but your partnership with money also effects every other area of your life. One of the phrases you'll hear around my...
Getting intimate with money: Learn how to work with your strengths
Having an amazing relationship with money so you're able to create the life you want isn't all about lighting abundance candles and reciting some affirmations you found on Pinterest. It's not about muttering some generic magic spell or prayer. The relationship between...
My favorite money relationship exercise!
When I'm working with my coaching clients on their money relationship, one of the first things I ask them is to do an exercise that determines how they really feel about money. Because money is so ingrained in everything we do and intertwined in our emotions,...
How we’re doing more charity donations than ever, without giving money
Okay: embarrassing fact about me: when I used to picture people "supporting charities" I thought the only real way to do it was to write big, fat checks. I attended an event once where the speaker was taking up money. I'd brought some with me planning to spend it,...
Making Raised Garden Beds from Pallets
This fall, Ian came home with a stack of pallets from work, with the idea that we’d turn them into raised beds. Ian has been working lots on making sure we have plenty of wood to heat to heat the house, so I decided to take this project off from his list and make it...
Setting Up Garden Beds in Fall and Winter for Spring planting
Last year, our garden was a side project that took a back seat to caring for myself while I grew Abbie, and took care of her after she was born in the beginning of August. We wanted to make a homemade pantry, and made lots of progress towards that, but this year we're...
Canning Venison
When Ians friend at work told us he had an extra deer, we said we’d love to take it off his hands. I know it’s perfectly fine to freeze deer meat, but the process of canning isn’t that much more work than freezing it. It takes a...
Review of ChipDrop.com – free arborist woodchips!
I love writing about services that we use and love, so when I heard about ChipDrop I started doing what I normally do: I drafted a blog post with how we got started with our new venture. If you've read any of my previous articles about how we grow our own food, you'll...
4 Stages of Training Young Kids to Do Chores
One of the things we intentionally do in our house is we encourage each child to be as independent as is age-appropriately possible. Basically, I have four steps when I'm teaching the kids to do new jobs, which are: Watch me do it Help me do it Do it while...
Can you build a business when you can’t afford a website?
One of the questions I get most often these days in my inbox is, "Do I have to have a website to have a business? I can't afford one." The short answer is: you should probably have a website, but there are things you can do to significantly shorten the time it takes...
Easy-to-Implement Ways We’ve Automated Our Finances
One of the things I’ve learned is that in order to do well financially, sometimes I need to get out of my own way. When I set a priority, I need to automate it so I can’t sabotage myself out of success. Direct deposit When we set up Ian’s direct deposit when he...
7 Prompts to help you clear dysfunctional recurring patterns
I think it's pretty common for people to feel stuck where they are. They have the same old thing that keeps happening over and over, and can't understand why. One of the things I've learned through experience and observation is that the things that keep coming up for...
How we make preserving days more efficient during harvest season
I wanted to share some quick tips that I used to make my baking days simpler and easier during the harvest season. When you have lots of zucchini to use up and not a lot of energy, anything to make the mammoth task of using up your summer produce can quickly end in...
How we’re planning to preserve our garden harvest in 2020
Last year, our garden was...sad. But, as I like to remind myself, my main project was growing and giving birth to Abigail. My goal was to have lots of tomatoes canned, enough for the whole year, and I did pretty well considering the lack of energy I had. This coming...