by Jamie Jeffers | Jul 7, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
The rain was pouring down and the kids joked about going outside to play. They could hardly believe it when I said, “Sure. Why not?”
There’s a creek that runs right through our backyard. Usually in a downpour like this, it swells and takes over much of our playing space. Or it rushes so quickly that I can’t risk the kids being near it. Too many horrible stories on the news makes that not worth the risk. (shiver)
It’s just another reminder that the simple things in life bring a lot of joy. Me? I’m not going to run in the rain, but I’ll take this moment to appreciate a quiet cup of coffee.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jun 30, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
What a week. I decided to migrate my blog to Siteground. Everything was finished and ready to go, when I made a small adjustment….and broke the whole blog.
I was so frustrated! After a lot of back and forth between a few different sites, we finally got it working again. It took all day.
I guess the good thing is that I was able to test Siteground’s customer service on day one. I would certainly recommend them! They were very patient and helpful. (You can try them out for 3 months for free if you use my referral link!)
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jun 23, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
After a hectic May and early June, I’ve been on a mission to reclaim my home. It’s hard to keep up with the daily mess when you’re so busy!
Every time I try to clean and organize, I start to feel frustrated by my house. It’s a 1950s built home, and let’s just say that closet space wasn’t a priority for people in those days. My vacuum cleaner doesn’t really have an “in its place” place. Same for several other essential things.
Yeah, I let myself have a minor pity party about that for a while. Then I decided to take action. For starters, I went into my disastrous attic and emptied the entire thing. Then I sorted through everything and put things back in an orderly fashion. That gave me a bit of attic space to use as a closet.
I also took 7 trash bags of stuff (as well as several big items) to the Goodwill. I sent another 7 bags to the trash. I got rid of several baby items. (Which is kinda sad, but even if we do have another baby I won’t be using that pack and play anymore. It’s worn out!)
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jun 16, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
We’re back from one of the more relaxing family vacations we’ve taken, and I’m so happy to be sharing another 5 Ways post with my favorite readers!
I spent the entire vacation reminding my family (and, let’s be honest, myself!) that this was a #yearofno style vacation. We’d already paid for the rental van and the vacation house (which we split with two other families to make it one of the most affordable stays possible for a family of 7). That left us with travel, hotel stays both ways (an 11 hour drive with 5 kids is too much for one day for us!), food, and fun to cover. I had cash ready to cover those expenses, and when it was gone, it was gone.
You might expect that to be stressful, but it was actually quite the opposite! We were more content this time, with less pressure to fit everything in to a one week trip. We ate out less, and that meant less guilt and more appreciation for the fresh seafood we were able to get.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jun 9, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
We’ve been spending our nights in Rodanthe this week, and it’s been wonderfully relaxing! So today’s post will be short and sweet. When we return home I’ll write up all of the ways we made vacation for our young family work, even in the midst of serious debt repayment.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jun 2, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
Over the weekend we attended a birthday party with a few family friends. It was such a good time! The kids spent hours in the pool not fighting while the grown ups enjoyed good food, a few drinks, and fun conversation (at each other’s expense). Inside jokes are the best, because it means you’ve got good people in your life. 😉
No one spent a fortune on the gifts or the food. And while our host and hostess have a beautiful house and backyard, it made me think again about scruffy hospitality. It really is more about spending time together than making sure everything is perfect before you’re willing to host others.
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I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
