We’re weird. I’m okay with that. No, really, I mean it. I’m glad we’re weird. It is one of the big reasons you check us out every day. But why are we that way? Why do we choose to look at “normal” and go the other way? Why do we drive cars we can actually afford instead of having payments? Why do we do most of our own construction projects? In other words – why do we do things that “normal” people don’t do? Today, I’ll fill you in.
[Read more…]How To Make Healthy Changes that Actually Last
“I am so busy, I just don’t have time for that.” “As much as I want to, I can’t add anything else to my plate.” You know the drill – you decided it was time to make a healthy change, but you failed. Maybe you got overwhelmed with all the information because you just had to “know it all” before you got started. Maybe you didn’t actually believe it was possible, so you talked yourself out of it. Or maybe you didn’t actually want to make the change – you just said you did. 😉 #beenthere Today, I want to work through some ideas and tips for how to make healthy changes that will actually last!
[Read more…]Dealing with Busy Seasons Without Losing Your Mind
Have you ever been in a season or state of life where you are just so busy and it seems like all you do is run from the time you get up until the time you go to bed? Do you ever feel like you are just going crazy and can’t get it together? Do you ever wonder if you’re going to make it to tomorrow?! Is it possible to deal with busy seasons without losing your ever-loving mind? Today I am going to show you that yes, yes it is!
[Read more…]Our Journey Buying a Foreclosure and Remodeling
If you’ve been following along for a while you’ve probably heard about our debt-free journey before, but you may not be familiar with our journey with buying a foreclosure and remodeling it. We haven’t always lived where we do now. Barry and I bought our first home about 15 years ago. It was a townhouse that we bought before construction had even begun! It took about 1,100 years for them to build it (not really, but it seemed like it took FOREVER). While we were waiting for it to be built, we lived in pet friendly apartments for rent that Barry’s parents had at their home and once the day came to call in the movers to help us relocate ourselves into our new home we were so excited.
We lived in our townhouse for 8 years, and completely paid it off in after 7 years. That’s when we became debt free! We decided that we didn’t want to get another home mortgage loan EVER.
[Read more…]Living Debt Free Q&A
We’ve made a kind of a name for ourselves as far as living debt free goes – and teaching other people how to make it a real thing in their own lives. Barry does a lot of work with people on the side trying to help them live debt free as well. Our whole debt free story is available both on the Humorous Homemaking and on Facebook under videos. But recently we asked if y’all had any specific questions related to living debt free and decided to answer them today in kind of a speed Q&A round. [Read more…]
My Daily Routine: Work-from-Home Homeschooling Mom
Working from home is very common now, but it didn’t used to be! Y’all wanted me to talk about where I find the time to be a work-from-home homeschooling mom who still manages to take care of her home and cook from scratch. For those of you who don’t know, Barry and I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I love to homeschool our kids, keep our home, and cook everything (or almost everything) from scratch. But in addition to that, Barry and I run multiple businesses from home. I get asked ALL the time how I do it all.
But the truth is – I don’t! I can’t be 100% a stay at-home mom and 100% working woman.
Being a Work at Home Mom {Q&A}
A while back, I asked you guys to submit questions you’d like me to answer about being a work-at-home mom, and you had LOTS of them. It has been fun to sort through them all and see how to encourage you through what I’ve learned over the past several years. I have been a work-at-home mom since Annie was 9 months old, when I started teaching local workshops in the evenings and on weekends. I taught about frugal living, living on a budget, and how to use coupons – which I don’t do anymore. This blog actually grew out of that. And it grew and grew and grew – which was a surprise to us! We have used that platform to start multiple businesses from home, in addition to Barry’s day job and our four kids. #busypeople
I really enjoy being able to be a work-at-home mom.
Our Family’s Debt-Free Story
I have told our family’s debt free story before, but it’s been requested a lot lately. And I have to admit, in recent years, I’ve almost been resistant to share. I guess it’s because I’m worried that people will think I am bragging or I am trying to point fingers at other people for the choices they make. I promise I am not trying to do either of those!
I’m just telling where we’ve come from, where we are now, and how we got there.
We’ll call this the new and improved version – but it’s really the same old story a lot of you have probably already heard. And this may come as a shock, but we weren’t born into wealthy families and we didn’t get here by chance or luck. No, our family is debt-free thanks to hard work and dedication. [Read more…]
How I FINALLY Helped My Kids Sleep Better
I’ve mentioned several times on this blog how my children aren’t exactly good sleepers. Barry and I joke around that we haven’t really slept in almost 6 years. My Annie didn’t sleep through the night until she was over 4 years old. Four. Years. Old. FOUR. YEARS. OLD. I hated getting all the “does she sleep all night” questions…because really it made me want to lash out irrationally and poke someone’s eyeballs out. I’m just sayin’.
I read every. single. book out there. Really. Every single one. I thought each one would be a magic pill for me. Guess what? There is no magic pill.
For every single child in the world, there should be a sleep book – because each child is different. And there isn’t a box you can put your kids into…because they bust out of there – I’ve tried. Even with duct tape. Okay, that was a joke (for those of you who are way too serious and were dialing the police).
Annie would have nightmares – she would wake up randomly – she would get up to pee – she would sing – she would talk in her sleep – she would walk in her sleep. It was as though she was afraid that by being asleep she would miss some great world event.
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How We Pay Cash for Our Cars (…and trucks and vans…and everything else)
We bought a van last week. I know for families with more than your average number of kids that is a rite of passage, so I guess we’re “in the club” now…the I-drive-a-minivan-and-like-it club. Although it doesn’t have flames painted down the side, a hemi under the hood or a stereo that will let everyone hear you from 3.4 miles away, I’ll have to say that I’m happy to have bought it. More importantly, it is paid for. We don’t do payments around here. If we can’t pay for it, we aren’t buying it. So how can we pay cash for all our cars? Read on. [Read more…]