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How To Simplify Christmas

Barry and I have been married for a lot of years, but it was only in the last few years that we decided to simplify Christmas. When we first got married, I’m not going to lie – Christmas was more than a little stressful! We felt like we needed to give gifts to everyone. We spent a ton of time shopping and wrapping – trying to find the perfect gift for each person. I don’t like to give crap that people don’t want – stuff that people just want to return.

It takes a considerable amount of time and effort to be a good gift giver.

As a result, I found myself not enjoying the Advent season (the days leading up to Christmas) as much as I should! And to top it all off – I don’t like clutter! We would come home from events and gatherings with a car load full of gifts. As soon as we’d bring it all inside, I would be instantly overwhelmed – so overwhelmed that a lot of times the stuff we got for Christmas would just sit for days or even weeks. I just couldn’t handle all the stuff that kept coming in.

It felt like for the longest time, there was nothing I could to about it.

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Quick Air Travel Tips

This is going to be a super short post as I wrap up our brief series on travel, but as Barry and I have been traveling more, I’ve learned a few things here or there that I just want to share. I realize these are super simple things that a lot of y’all might already do. But you know me, if I’ve got a tip, I’m sharing it! These air travel tips save us a little bit of time, money, and stress – and also keep us healthy!

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Travel Tip: Re-Entry Day

I talk a lot about the importance of taking a travel re-entry day over on Instagram. And y’all seem to really love and appreciate the idea! So, I decided it was high time there was a blog post about it too.

I don’t know about y’all, but the first day back from a trip, I am a complete and total zombie. It’s almost impossible for me to get anything done. I try to stay on task but it’s not always easy. And I try not get frustrated with myself and my kids. That’s usually easier said than done.

But then I realized… maybe I just need to cut myself some slack.

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Stacy and Barry Talk Travel

One of our main family goals for 2018 was to travel more. And I’m just going to keep it real y’all, we don’t just mean traveling with our kids. Our children are 9, 6, 4, and 2 at the time of this writing. Nobody wants an extended car trip with those ages. Plus, I can’t imagine paying for 6 tickets for the flights! Today, we talk travel tips and answer some questions you asked on social media. [Read more…]

How to Make Friends

For a long time, I told myself I didn’t need friends – I’m a loner. Women are just annoying and catty, and all they do is talk about each other behind their backs. Who needs or wants that?! But in the past few years, I have made some of the best friendships. And when I started sharing about my new friendships, it was amazing how many of y’all reached out to me asking how to find real, genuine relationships with women that won’t bring you down! So today, I’m sharing some of my thoughts and tips with y’all on how to make friends. [Read more…]

Stitch Fix versus Thred Up: An Honest Review

I have been buying thrift shop clothes for several years. I started with Thred Up and I really, really liked it. Then they made some changes and I didn’t like it as much.

I am not saying they don’t have some nice clothes; I have some I really like!  In the case of Thred Up, their customer service was no longer good. Their correspondence was really bad and when I did get a hold of them, they were not very nice. So I switched from Thred Up to Swap.com. Both are used clothing outlets, but Swap is my favorite place to buy thrifted styles. But in the last few months, I started to go to more events where I needed to dress business casual. That’s when I tried Stitch Fix. [Read more…]

Kitchen Day: Prepping Meats in Advance

I have spent some time chatting all things Kitchen Day over on my Facebook page using live videos. I am really enjoying sharing what’s happening in my kitchen on these days with y’all! And apparently, y’all love it too, because I have gotten so many comments and emails about how helpful it is. And can I just tell you – nothing makes me happier! This past week, I talked about prepping meats in advance and y’all had a lot to say! But before we dive into that…

When is Kitchen Day?

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Tips for Keeping Your Cool

When we were doing the Watch Your Mouth Challenge, I got asked questions about for tips for keeping your cool. I want to be completely honest – I have a hot head, a short fuse, and a quick temper. The Lord is always working on me, y’all! I’m not in any way trying to act like I am an expert that knows what I’m doing here. But I am going to share what I know and have learned about myself. In my own personal life, there are two things that set me off… or should I say the LACK of two things sets me off! 

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A little Bit About Meal Planning

I have written about meal planning before – and shared how I use this Meal Planning Printable I adapted from Jessica Fisher to make my life simple and more organized!  I print a copy of this meal planning sheet EVERY week to do my meal planning. And I should add that my favorite saying is on this printable…

Feed the people, keep them alive.

I get a lot of questions about my meal planning routine and how I go about doing it. The real reason for the success of my meal planning method is actually a relatively new approach and it may come as a surprise to you! My new secret is that I actually ask the family what THEY want to eat! My new secret weapon to meal planning seems pretty obvious, but until recently I never did this! I just planned my menu based on what I wanted or what I thought they might like.  Now, the day before I sit down to meal plan, I actually ask everyone… [Read more…]

3 Homemaking Anchor Tasks

There are three things I do every single day – even when it’s absolutely insane.  I called these my homemaking anchor tasks. These are things I do so that whenever it’s crazy, I don’t feel overwhelmed and I don’t feel like I’m behind. And once things slow down, I’m able to pick back up the pieces and continue on with life.

These three homemaking “anchor tasks” are certainly not rocket science. Some of you might even think it’s a waste of a post to write about this. But I feel like its worth sharing because on busy days, these tasks keep me afloat, y’all.

In no particular order, here are my homemaking anchor tasks:

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