by Jamie Jeffers | May 12, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
After lying in bed for hours, tossing and turning for a few nights in a row, I finally made a change. Life is so stressful right now with end of the school year things, birthdays, blogging, and real life that I can’t seem to turn off my brain! So I got up, found a book to read, and sat on the couch for a while. That finally calmed my swirling mind enough that I could sleep.
May is a stressful month every year, but I’m finally realizing that I need to make it a point to add some self care to my days. When life is at its busiest, that’s the most important time to add a buffer into your day for a nap or just some time to zone out and not think about anything!
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by Jamie Jeffers | May 10, 2017 | Goals
I am not a fan of hot dogs. But you wouldn’t know it if you ate here last week. We had corn dogs one night and beanie weenies another. I’m pretty sure kids ate quick hot dogs on their way out the door to a game on other nights. And more than one concession stand dog was consumed.
What can I say? It’s baseball season! This isn’t a way I want to eat long term. But if it keeps us out of the fast food lane, I’m all for it! We made a “quick stop” for some food after a crazy night once this month, and for ONLY fries and drinks we paid $20.
That’s crazy.
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by Jamie Jeffers | May 8, 2017 | Large Family Life, Parenting & Household Tips
These easy lists for moms are a must have when it comes to keeping track of it all.
My phone beeped with another text and I gave it a quick check.
With four kids playing baseball and softball (plus a preschooler along for the ride), there’s always something to add to my to do list. A last minute practice, a rained out game, concession stand duty…
This time it was a note that one of our games was rescheduled for this Thursday.
Which was good, I guess. We needed to get these games in!
But it also meant that we now had to be in four different locations at the same time. Yikes!
It’s hard to keep track of everyone’s schedule, especially once your kids are school aged. Everyone has products due, places to be, and it’s never easy to remember to schedule appointments and meetings.
Most Moms can’t keep it all together without some type of system in place.
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by Jamie Jeffers | May 5, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
Our school is doing Penny Wars this week. Have you ever done one? Each class brings in money of different denominations. Pennies and dollars count towards your class total. But silver coins take away from a class total. So if the class next to you has way more pennies than you, that’s ok. You can bomb them with silver coins and bring down their total!
It’s a fun way to raise money. But it really highlights the fact that small amounts of money add up quickly. That’s a lesson I hope the kids at the school remember for a long time!
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by Jamie Jeffers | May 3, 2017 | Debt
Inside: Learn why I wear these shoes whenever I can…even though I’m not a fan of this style of shoes and I HATE pink!
We were at our county fair, stinky and sweaty after a long week of showing animals. It was the last day, which is always hard. Some of our animals would go home with us. Others would be sold at auction.
Even though my son wasn’t particularly fond of this set of lambs (they’d given him a lot of trouble!), he was having a hard time letting go. He’s old enough to understand the food chain. And while our whole job was to pass a good product on to the consumer, selling animals is tough.
So even though I’m a no mom, and even though I know he needed to work through the process, I couldn’t say no when he asked if we could bring a bunny home. So after working out a deal with a 4-H rabbit shower, we needed a cage. That meant a quick trip in the pick up truck to Tractor Supply Company.
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by Jamie Jeffers | May 1, 2017 | Household Tips (Chores and more)
Do you feel like a scatterbrained homemaker? These homemaking blogs are perfect for finding the best tips that will work for your family.
All my life I dreamed of being a stay at home mom.
But when I first married my husband, he wasn’t finished with college yet. Which meant that I had to be the breadwinner for a while.
We had two baby boys just 16 months apart. All while I was working and he was doing college and a part time job.
That was one of the hardest parts of my life. Trying to juggle everything made me feel like I was failing at work, as a mother, and with our home.
And I was so blessed and excited when I was finally able to quit my job! That happened the same summer that baby #3 came along.
Except that quitting my job wasn’t exactly the magic wand I expected it to be.
Oh believe me, I loved being home with my babies. But boy was it an adjustment.
I remember sitting down at the computer and searching for help with keeping up with everything.
The first website I came across was Flylady. It changed my life!
With her baby steps, I was able to create a plan for cleaning the house and organizing our busy lives. Don’t get me wrong…I didn’t do everything the way she prescribed it.
Hey, my house is a lot different than her’s. And I bet yours is, too.
We’re moms…we tweak things until they work for us.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Apr 28, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
When baseball season begins, we are a busy family! Four of our children play ball. My husband is not only the coach for one of those teams, but he likes to help with another. And he’s the representative for all of the baseball teams in our town. Which is added work.
I’m not complaining. We adore baseball, and we wouldn’t devote so much time to it if it wasn’t a lot of fun and a super learning experience for our children. But it does make things like grocery shopping a bigger chore than usual.
I gave up taking kids to the grocery store when my daughter (18 months old at the time) started opening every package and actually ate a stick of butter. Yep. Aside from the gross out factor, I was a little worried about her health. But I guess it’s kind of like me serving a Paula Deen recipe at home…
At any rate, I prefer to take an evening every 2 weeks or so and make my trip. This week I decided that it was too much to add to our schedule, so I treated myself to a Clicklist order. You can read my review of Kroger Clicklist (other grocery store car delivery services are probably similar). My opinion is that not picking up impulse buys with my order equals the savings I might have found in hidden in store deals. So it evens out.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Apr 26, 2017 | Saving Money
Stop that inner dialogue that says “I can’t save money!” With a few tweaks, you’ll find it much easier to become a saver, even if you’ve never been one!
The day my 2 year old broke his arm was one of my worst days ever. Thank the Lord for good hospitals full of people who can help!
It’s the kind of thing that takes up every bit of your attention.
At a time like that, no one wants to toy with those wicked thoughts that ask, “Geez, how am I gonna pay for this bill??”
When emergencies like this hit you out of the blue, it’s easy to have that thought. “No wonder I can’t save money!”
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I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
