Living Simply

How I Do It All — Or Not {Video Blog}

by Crystal on May 23, 2013

How do you do it all?

This is the question that many of you asked when I asked for questions you’d love for me to answer in a video blog.

In this video, I answer that question by sharing how I don’t do it all and I don’t do it all myself. I also give you an insider peek into how I currently plan my day and how it has freed me up from feeling overwhelmed every day.

Links mentioned in this video or related to what I shared:

Google Calendar

My Amazing Team

How to Create a Realistic To-Do List

My Top 3 Tips for Getting Stuff Done

If you have a question you’d love for me to answer in a video blog next week (or in the weeks to come), leave it as a comment on this post and I’ll pick one of your questions to answer next week!

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Clutter-Busting Challenge Day #15: I’m starting to have to dig pretty deep!

by Crystal on May 20, 2013

Every week day in May, I’m challenging my readers to try to find at least 7 things to get rid of. These can be big or small things, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you actually throw them out, sell them, donate them, recycle them, or find someone else who can use them. Think you’re up for the challenge?

I’m starting to have to dig pretty deep to find things to get rid of — I think that’s a good problem!

Today’s things I got rid of:

1 battery
1 hanger
1 toy dinosaur
2 pieces of blue tube
1 activity book that has been all used
1 box with cologne my husband doesn’t like (he’s been a little inspired by my purging!)

How did your clutter-busting go today? Link up your blog post and/or Instagram pictures below. Or, leave a comment telling us how many things you got rid of. Let’s clear our homes of clutter so we can be more productive and efficient!

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Clutter-Busting Challenge Day #1: We got rid of 32 things!

by Crystal on May 01, 2013

Every week day in May, I’m challenging my readers to try to find at least 7 things to get rid of. These can be big or small things, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you actually throw them out, sell them, donate them, recycle them, or find someone else who can use them. Think you’re up for the challenge?

So, I challenged my girls to see how many things they could find to get rid of today. I told them I’d pay them $0.25 for everything they got rid of.

They were highly motivated and went through their room, the toy closet, and the craft shelves and came up with this big box of items! We counted and there were 32 items in all! It’s amazing how a little incentive works so well!

How did your clutter-busting go today? Link up your blog post and/or Instagram pictures below. Or, leave a comment telling us how many things you got rid of. Let’s clear our homes of clutter so we can be more productive and efficient!

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52 Different Ways to Save $100 Per Year: Grow Some Of Your Food {Week 17}

by Crystal on April 30, 2013

Every week in 2013, I’m sharing a different way you can save $100 this year. If you do all of these things, you’ll be able to save over $5,000 this year alone! Many of these things will likely be things you’re already doing, but hopefully all of you will pick up at least a few new ideas or some inspiration from this series.

We all know that it’s usually much less expensive to grow our own food, than to buy it at the store. But it’s also a lot of work. And time is money, too.

So if you have more time than money right now and you have the space for a big garden, definitely go for it. However, if a big garden is just not feasible, here are a few money-saving options that might work for you:

1. Plant an herb garden.

Fresh herbs are so delicious and nutritious. Best of all, they are easy to plant and care for, too!

Growing up, I had an herb garden for a number of years and loved experimenting with different herbs, different recipes, and different drying techniques. I recommend choosing herbs that you use often in cooking. Otherwise, you’re going to end up with a lot of excess herbs that you might not really have a use for.

Tip: Here’s a quick way to freeze fresh herbs.

2. Only plant a few things.

This might seem like a no-brainer, but I think we often can get ambitious with gardening and then end up biting off more than we can keep up with.

Instead of planting 27 different things, think about what vegetables you use the most and consider just planting your top 3-4 favorites.

Sure, you won’t be able to fix entire meals mostly from your backyard, but if you don’t have to buy lettuce, tomatoes, or onions all summer long, that will help cut down your grocery bill some.

Tip: If you’re short on space, you might also look into Square Foot Gardening.

3. Look into community gardening.

Want to have a big garden, but don’t have the space or hours of time to devote to it? Consider starting or participating in a community garden.

These are all run differently, but basically it’s just a group of people who all go in together and work together to plant and take care of a garden — and then split the produce that grows.

This might be something you could do with extended family or a few neighbors or friends. Or, you could see if your community already has a community garden project that you could participate in.

4. Have your children plant their own gardens and then pay them for the produce.

Growing up, one of our favorite things about summer was planting our own little garden plots. It never seemed like work and I loved watching my plants grow and produce.

If you have children who will have free time this summer, this might be something to consider. And you can offer to pay them a dime or some similar small amount for every item they grow.

This can be a win-win situation: you get to enjoy garden fresh produce for much less than what you usually pay for it at the store, your kids stay busy, and they have a way to earn money, too!

5. Barter with someone who plants a garden.

If you don’t have any space or desire to plant a garden, another option for inexpensive produce is to barter with friends who have big gardens. Maybe you bake bread for them, or babysit, or mow their grass, or fix their appliance (or whatever your skills are) in exchange for their extra garden produce. I’ve also heard that many people find free garden produce offers on Craigslist and Freecycle.

Do you plant a garden? Why or why not?

photo credit #1, photo credit #2

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Should I Snatch Up Every Good Deal That Comes Along?

by Crystal on April 26, 2013

I would love to hear your thoughts on balancing “snatching up a good deal” versus “impulse buying”. I feel like there are often time-limited sales or good deals that come up, but if I haven’t budgeted or planned to spend that money I have to pass them by or else spend money I really shouldn’t be spending. -Anna

I think this is such an important topic to bring up — because we must have balance in our lives. It’s wonderful to get great deals and bargains, but I think we need to set clear criteria for what constitutes a true “deal”. Otherwise, we can spend a lot of time and money needlessly chasing down supposed bargains that really aren’t a good deal for us at all.

Here are five things that we’ve set up as a criteria for making sure we’re not overspending and that a good deal truly is a great deal for us:

1. Create and Follow a Budget

Without a budget, we won’t have any way to track whether we are truly saving money. In fact, without a budget, we might be spending more money by chasing down sales and bargains.

Sticking with a cash budget has been so helpful to me — especially because I’m not a spreadsheet nerd. I know that the money that I have in the envelope is what I have to spend. And when the money’s gone, the money’s gone. Cash provides instant self-discipline and guarantees that you don’t spend more than you have.

2. Budget for Everything

We have fairly specific cash envelope categories and find that this really helps us to stay on track. For instance, instead of just having a “clothing” budget, we have individual cash envelopes for each person in our family. We don’t just have a Food cash envelope. We have a Groceries envelope and a Dates & Eating Out envelope.

In addition, we budget for everything — from hair cuts and clothing to homeschooling supplies, gifts, and car maintenance. Everything we regularly spend money on (even if it’s just an annual purchase that we routinely make) has a category in our master budget spreadsheet (I’m so thankful that a married a math nerd who loves to create and track things on spreadsheets!)

On those rare occasions that a necessary purchase arises that we haven’t budgeted for, we either have to find a way to shuffle things around in a few categories to be able to afford it, we don’t buy it, or it comes out of our blow cash envelope.

3. Analyze Every Purchase

Because I have a limited supply of cash to work with in each envelope, this forces me to evaluate every purchase and make sure I’m getting the best deal. I’m constantly asking myself questions like, “Do we need this?” “Is this the best use of this envelope money?”

Note: I think that you can get to a point where you over-analyze purchases — like I did with my candle purchase. If you’re agonizing for 30 minutes over a $0.50 purchase, you may need to lighten up a little bit.

4. Don’t Buy Something Just Because It’s a “Good Deal”

What’s a good deal for someone else won’t necessarily be a good deal for you. This is an important thing to constantly remember. If you don’t have the money for it, it’s not a good deal for you. If you don’t need it, it’s not a good deal for you.

If you feel panicky because you’re missing out on a “good deal”, that’s probably a sign that you need to step back and re-evaluate things. It’s great to get good deals and I’m all about stewarding our money well, but I think we need to be careful that we don’t become obsessed. Life is about a whole lot more than getting the best bargain.

5. Take a Break From Bargain Shopping on Occasion

It’s good to occasionally to just shelve your coupons and maybe even take a break from reading blogs that share bargains. I do this at least once or twice a year — and I find it really freeing!

Taking a breather will help you get some fresh perspective and help make sure that you’re staying balanced in life. And it also usually causes you to be re-energized and excited when you come back to bargain shopping again!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic! Weigh in on this in the comments!

photo from BigStock

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Homemade Soft Scrub

by Crystal on April 16, 2013

I’ve long wanted to make Homemade Soft Scrub and after doing it today and discovering how simple it was, I’m kicking myself that I waited this long.

It’s seriously just three ingredients — one of which is water.

It takes all of maybe three minutes to mix up. And that is it!

By the way, I tried it out and it works really well. Score!

Homemade Soft Scrub

3/4 cup baking soda (slightly heaped)
1/4 cup Castile soap (I used Mrs. Meyer’s All Purpose Cleaner, because that’s all I had. It seemed to work just fine. But every recipe I’ve seen online mentions using Dr. Bronner’s.)
2 Tablespoons water

Mix the baking soda and soap together to make a paste. Add in the 2 Tablespoons water and stir well. Pour into plastic or glass container with a lid.

To use, squirt or pour onto a sponge and scrub. Rinse well with water after scrubbing.

Recipe adapted from Live Renewed.

More Homemade Cleaning Recipes:

Homemade Window Cleaner

Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

Homemade Tub & Tile Cleaner

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52 Different Ways to Save $100 Per Year: Rent Movies for FREE {Week 13}

by Crystal on April 03, 2013

At the beginning of every week in 2013, I’ll be sharing a different way you can save $100 this year. If you do all of these things, you’ll be able to save over $5,000 this year alone! Many of these things will likely be things you’re already doing, but hopefully all of you will pick up at least a few new ideas or some inspiration from this series.

One of the ways my husband and I have saved a lot of money over the years is by having at-home movie nights instead of going to see a movie at the theater. On the rare occasions when we do go see a movie, I always choke at the prices they charge.

$8+ per ticket? That adds up quickly!

We love a good movie as much as the next person, though, so we’ve found creative ways to enjoy the occasional movie on the cheap. Here are some of those ideas:

The Library

When Jesse was in law school, we lived in Topeka, KS, home to one of the best libraries in the U.S. (yes, I’m a little biased and oh how I miss that library!). Not only did we check out dozens of books each month, we also frequented the DVD section for our at-home movie dates. You can’t beat FREE DVD rentals!

Not all libraries offer free DVD rentals, but if your library does, take advantage of it! Our kids especially love checking out old TV series to watch during movie time each day.

Redbox

Sometime near the end of law school, Redbox came to town and we switched to getting most of our movies from the Redbox kiosks. Back then, they gave away free movie codes like they were going out of style so whenever we wanted to get a free movie, we’d just check Inside Redbox for a valid code.

Now, the codes are a little less frequent, but they still release them on occasion. Coupon Dad keeps a running list of free Redbox rental codes and I also post any that I find as they are valid. (There’s a free Redbox code available through May 8, 2013).

You can use one free code per card, so if you have multiple cards, you can use the free codes more than once. If you have a texting plan, you can text SIGNUP to 727272 and you’ll get a free rental code the first Monday of every month, plus Redbox coupons and occasional free rental codes throughout the month.

Amazon Instant Video Rental

Thanks to Swagbucks, Amazon is becoming more and more our go-to place for renting movies. The Amazon Instant Video library contains thousands upon thousands of movies, TV shows, and more.

They occasionally release free Instant Streaming credits that we use to download movies and they also often have $0.99 rental specials. The thing I love best about the $0.99 rental offers is that you have 30 days to start viewing them. So I can purchase one and save it for a movie night later in the month. Once you start viewing the video, though, it’s only available in your account for 48 hours.

I use a few of the Amazon gift cards I earn through Swagbucks each month to pay for some Instant Video library purchases from Amazon. We’ve been very happy with Amazon video rentals and we love that we don’t have to mess with going out and getting a video or the possibility that they might be all rented. In addition, if we’ve had any connectivity issues with a movie playing, Amazon has always refunded our money all on their own — even when the connectivity issues weren’t anything major.

There are also other options like NetFlix, Hulu, and watching shows online, but the library, Redbox, and Amazon Instant Video are our top three favorites.

How Much Can You Save?

If you go to a theater once a month and spend and average of $20 (two movie tickets + popcorn), you’ll save around $240 per year by having at-home movie nights. That’s fairly significant!

Plus, you don’t have to mess with finding a sitter and you can make your own snacks — which are much better than most of those icky movie theater options (can you tell I’m not a soda pop and candy bar girl?!).

Do you like at-home movie dates? What are your favorite alternatives to paying for movie tickets?

photo from Big Stock

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Earn While You Burn: 5 Benefits of Being an Exercise Instructor

by Crystal on April 02, 2013

Guest post from Leslie of PeterAndLeslie.blogspot.com

Would you like to get paid to exercise?

I was taking an aerobics class last year when the instructor suggested that I get certified to teach. It didn’t take me long to conclude that getting paid to exercise would be a good thing for our bottom line (pun fully intended)!

Staying fit is something most people seem to struggle to find time for, but if you’re already a regular exerciser and you can bring in a little income while you’re at it — that’s a good use of your time! And if you’re not a regular exerciser, getting paid to exercise may help keep things affordable and keep you consistent.

5 benefits of being an exercise instructor:

1. Savings.

Getting certified as a group exercise instructor will require an initial investment, but if you teach at a club or gym, you will most likely receive a free membership there. This may also include free or discounted family memberships and other classes or programs that may be offered.

Right now, we’re saving about $600/year in gym membership fees.

2. Flexibility.

There is a broad selection of gyms and clubs that offer a variety of aerobics classes at various times from early morning to late evening. There is a good chance you can find a type of class you’d like to teach at a time that works for you. Of course when you’re just starting, you may have to be flexible, but there are a lot of options.

3. Childcare.

Many gyms offer childcare which contributes to both flexibility and savings: you can take your children to work with you, and you don’t have to pay for baby sitting.

4. Income.

I’ll admit, the income will probably be small, but even an extra $100/month could make a big difference for some people. Additionally, staying healthy and fit may pay dividends in the long-run in terms of health care costs.

5. Chiseled Physique.

Okay, this might have more to do with your genes and your dietary habits than with your decision to acquire a group exercise certification, but I will say that my arms are more toned than they’ve ever been! I mean, that’s not saying too much, but my husband noticed!

How to Get Started:

If you’re not already doing so, start take a variety of group exercise classes so that you can familiarize yourself with the format. Talk to the instructors to find out how they got certified; ask them about employment opportunities at the gym.

There are several organizations that certify group exercise instructors, and all will require an initial investment: the fee for the certification workshop and study materials. However, there my be ways that you can cut down on those initial costs.

A little online research will help you learn about the options and compare prices. If there is not a workshop hosted near you, some organizations also offer online certifications. I got certified through AFAA, and all organizations will require you to also be certified in CPR.

Here are some ways that you can minimize the initial costs of certification:

Try to find someone who has already been certified and borrow their study materials — this saved me almost $100.
Look for cheap or free CPR classes. I had to pay $90 for my class, but I have since learned that there are online classes that run about $20 or so.

For me to get certified through AFAA and get a CPR certification, I paid roughly $400. It’s not pocket change, but you may be able to recoup that investment quickly.

If you go ahead with certification, be sure to network with the people at your workshop — the instructors and other students. I got my job through the instructor at my AFAA certification workshop.

After I had my second child, I struggled to get back in to regular exercise. This job increased my enthusiasm and commitment and helped me to shed the last of my baby weight.

It may not be for everyone, but you may be surprised to find that it works for you. I never saw myself doing something like this, but it turned out to be a good decision for me.

I’m able to generate a little cash flow while staying in shape and encouraging others to do the same. And those toned arms don’t hurt either!

When she’s not teaching aerobics, Leslie she does a lot of toddler lifts — which also contribute to toned arms! She lives in Houston with her husband and two young children. She loves to read, write, exercise, and cook. She blogs at PeterAndLeslie.blogspot.com

photo source

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52 Different Ways to Save at Least $100 Per Year: Use Cloth Diapers {Week 11}

by Crystal on March 20, 2013

At the beginning of every week in 2013, I’ll be sharing a different way you can save $100 this year. If you do all of these things, you’ll be able to save over $5,000 this year alone! Many of these things will likely be things you’re already doing, but hopefully all of you will pick up at least a few new ideas or some inspiration from this series.

We talked about eliminating disposable products earlier in this series, but I wanted talk more extensively about cloth diapering in a stand-alone post. Why? Because you can fairly easily save $100+ per year just by eliminating disposable diapers completely — or even just partially.

However, making the switch to cloth diapering is a big decision and not one to rush into without some thought and research. It’s a commitment of time and energy and it’s also usually a financial commitment. But it can pay off in fairly big dividends.

Our Cloth-Diapering Story

When Kathrynne was born, Jesse was in law school and our budget was extremely tight. I had wondered how we were going to afford diapers.

Well, we didn’t end up having to worry about it at all because shortly after Kathrynne was born, some good friends of ours called us up out of the blue and generously said they wanted to give us an entire set of Fuzzi Bunz diapers. We were overwhelmed at their kindness and enthusiastically accepted their offer.

We exclusively cloth-diapered Kathrynne and loved it… plus, we saved so much money. In fact, I don’t know how we would have ever afforded to buy disposable diapers since there were many weeks in those days when we struggled to just pay for our food and rent.

When Kaitlynn was born 2 and 1/2 years later, we planned to cloth diaper her as well. However, she was extremely allergic to every cloth diaper and diaper we tried. I was determined to make it work, but after a few months and many, many severe diaper rashes, I finally concluded that she could only use Pampers.

Gratefully, by this time, I had discovered the Drugstore Game and was able to work in Pampers purchases to my overage (that was back in the good old days when overage was a whole lot easier to come by at CVS!).

What Are the Cloth Diapering Options?

There are many, many different cloth diaper options out there. I recommend researching them all so you understand the lingo. For a basic primer, check out these two articles: Having a Baby Without Breaking the Bank: Cloth Diapering and Cloth Diapering 101.

There are many different ways to build your cloth diaper stash other than buying them brand-new yourself:

Ask for Cloth Diapers for Gifts — If you’re a first-time mom and you’re planning to cloth diaper, asking for cloth diapers as gifts for your baby showers might be an option for you.

Buy Used — Check Craigslist, garage sales, eBay, and online diaper forums for used cloth diapers. This might not be appealing to some people, but it is an option.

Make Your Own — If you’re handy with a sewing machine (unlike me!), I’ve heard it’s fairly simple to make your own cloth diapers.

Get Creative — Willing to think outside the box a little? Check out these two articles: How to Cloth Diaper for Practically Free and Start Cloth Diapering at Home for $20 (no sewing required).

How Much Can You Save?

How much you save by cloth-diapering will vary a great deal depending upon how many children you have, what kind of diapers you buy, how much you’d usually pay for disposable diapers (if you read this blog and print coupons, you likely pay a lot less per disposable diaper than many people do!), how much your water and electricity costs, whether you line-dry your diapers or not, and so forth.

However, regardless of your situation, I can fairly safely say that you will save at least $100 per year by using cloth diapers at least half the time. And there’s a good possibility that you’ll save significantly more than that if you cloth diaper exclusively, don’t have high electricity and water costs, and use your diapers for more than one child.

BabyWorks has some interesting statistics and stories on how much you can save by cloth diapering. You can also read some of my readers’ answers to this question. And here’s a breakdown of a number of different diaper costs from Diaper Decisions.

Save Even More By Making Your Own Cloth Wipes

If you’re already cloth-diapering, it’s really simple to use cloth wipes, too. With Kathrynne, I just used baby washcloths and water. However, if you want something a little more handy, you can Make Homemade Reusable Baby Wipes.

Related: My Journey to Cloth Diapers