by Jamie Jeffers | Nov 9, 2015 | Goals
*this post contains affiliate links that pay me a small stipend but do not increase your bill at all
Last week was every bit as busy as it looked on paper. Even more so with a few events popping up at the last minute! I was very happy that I decided to take it easy on my weekly goals knowing that I had such a busy time scheduled.
Sometimes you have season where you have to give yourself grace and realize that you can come back to marching towards your goals again soon. There is no reason to frustrate yourself. Sometimes that frustration just leads to you falling further and further behind.
[Tweet “Sometimes frustrations over not meeting goals makes you fall further behind.”]
Here’s what we got finished:
Home & Barn
Continue work on bathroom redo- List 5 more items for sale
Money/Frugal Goals
Family Goals 
Family time (kids have Election Day off of school)One on one time with my daughter
Blog Goals
- Finish mapping out posts to the end of the year (halfway done)
Increase mini blogging on Facebook This is so much fun!Spend more time on Pinterest (What a “tough” job blogging is!)Research guest blogging and begin process
Personal Goals
- Daily Bible readings
- 6 Burpees on 5 days
- Finish reading Better Than Before and blog about it
New goals for this week are…
Home and Barn
- Continue bathroom project
- Clean out barn pen
- List 5 things for sale
- Paint some baseboards
Money/Frugal Goals
Family Goals
- Have a family game night
- Have some friends over
- Reestablish chore charts
Blog Goals
- Finish plan through end of year
- Write a guest post
Personal Goals
- Daily Bible readings
- 6 Burpees on 5 days
- Finish reading Better Than Before and blog about it
- Eat 5 fruits and/or veggies per day
What are your priorities this week?
by Jamie Jeffers | Nov 9, 2015 | Meal Plans
The grocery stores are absolutely full of great deals on baking supplies, stuffing, chicken stock, and…of course, turkey! It’s hard to choose which things to stock up on. But if you can create any wiggle room in your grocery budget at all, be sure to take extra advantage of the great prices on the items you use the most. Fill those freezers and pantries!
If you’re starting to make your Thanksgiving plans and aren’t sure what side to take to your pot luck, here is a great list of suggestions.
A tradition my own little family has is to eat a Practice Thanksgiving every year about a week before the “real” Thanksgiving. Since we attend a big family pot luck for both lunch and supper on the actual day of Thanksgiving, this gives us the chance to celebrate the holiday for ourselves. It also gives me the opportunity to try out any new recipes before I take them along to the big family event. We really enjoy this tradition!
So here is our 2 Week Meal Plan for November. As usual, I like to keep it simple and work with the cheaper in season foods.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Nov 6, 2015 | Ways We Saved This Week
Wow! Ten whole weeks of money saving tips. That’s 50 ways we’ve saved money since I started this series. That’s pretty exciting! If you want to see all 50 tips, check them out here.
All of that said…it’s not been the most frugal week around here. A last minute zoo trip cost us some extras since I didn’t have a packed lunch prepared. (That’s ok, my kids had a blast with their buddies. Worth it.) We also ordered pizza and generally had a too busy week. It happens.
We still managed to find our 5 ways to save money, so here they are.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Nov 5, 2015 | Parenting & Household Tips, Parenting Tips
The baby of our family recently turned two years old.
(I suppose that means that I am not really supposed to be calling him a baby anymore. But let’s be honest… it’ll be years before we stop calling him “the baby”!)
It also marks the fifth time our family has navigated the “terrible twos”.
Two year olds are something else!
You’re so proud of the many things they have learned to do on their own. They are really starting to grow up.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Nov 4, 2015 | Holidays, Recipe
These (mouthwatering) easy Thanksgiving side dish recipes will have your family going back for seconds.
Here comes Thanksgiving.
Many of us Thanksgiving lovers enjoy the holiday because it’s so simple.
But the one part of Thanksgiving that isn’t so simple is (obviously) the meal.
Either you’re hosting and have a big burden on your plate…
(Pardon the pun. Actually, I totally love a good pun.)
…or you’re heading to someone else’s Thanksgiving. And you have to bring a side dish.
That might be stressful.
But it doesn’t have to be!
Those foods that make Thanksgiving so amazing don’t have to keep you in the kitchen for 10 hours.
With the right recipe, you can get the side prepared ahead of time, without a ton of effort.
And, wouldn’t you know it…those perfect recipes are right here!
(Psst…print out one of these Thanksgiving potluck signup sheets to keep it simple!)
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by Jamie Jeffers | Nov 3, 2015 | Be Prepared, Debt, Saving Money
Our family is on a money saving journey as we raise a bunch of kids on one income and attempt to pay off some debt. We are always on the lookout for creative ways to save money. That’s not to say that we are experts at frugality! I actually consider us to be students of thrift.
One of the first points that crops up when a family is striving to save money is food. Grocery bills. Dining out. Starbucks runs. Drive thrus.
And ordering pizza.
That’s one of my weaknesses. About once a month I have the kind of day where time gets away from me. Before I know it, it’s suppertime and the family is asking what there is to eat. On days like this, the temptation to order pizza is strong! And many times I don’t resist it very well.
When I do order pizza, I always feel like I’ve failed my money saving ways. That isn’t necessarily the case since we don’t use credit to pay and it doesn’t happen frequently. But I still wish I could stop ordering last minute pizza.
You need a plan! Let’s put one together.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Nov 1, 2015 | Goals
*this post contains affiliate links that pay me a small stipend but do not increase your bill at all
It seems like I was just complaining about how fast September passed us by, and here it is…already time to be amazed that it is now November! 2016 will be here before we know it.
But that’s enough of that kind of talk.
We had a great time celebrating Halloween with some good old family fun. I’ve been doing some mini blogging about that sort of thing over on Facebook. So be sure to head over and give me a “like” there!
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by Jamie Jeffers | Oct 30, 2015 | Ways We Saved This Week
Happy Halloween everyone! Do you have any special family traditions you like to do to celebrate this holiday? We have a few family traditions that we enjoy.
We always carve a family pumpkin and let each child choose a feature to design: eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. (Guess we’ll need to figure out another feature for the 2 year old this year! A mustache, maybe?)
This year we bought a couple of extra pumpkins so we could carve fun stencil designs into them. It’s hard to believe that my older boys are now at the age where they can be trusted (mostly) to use a knife to carve a pumpkin themselves.
Buying extra pumpkins isn’t frugal, but we choose to splurge on family fun from time to time. That’s the good stuff of life!
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I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
