Note from Crystal: Mandi asked me if she could blog through my new book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode. She’ll be sharing one post per chapter per month. I know many of you are reading through the book right now and I thought you’d enjoy hearing her thoughts — and joining in the discussion to share your thoughts, as well.
Guest post by Mandi Ehman from Life Your Way
My goal for 2014 is to really LIVE this crazy, beautiful life I’ve been given and not just letting it pass me by. To be intentional about pursuing that goal, I’m working through three books this year, including Crystal’s Say Goodbye to Survival Mode.
In January, my focus was on learning to set boundaries, remove distractions and stop trying to do it all.
In February, I turned my attention to Chapter 2: Saying Yes to the Best. That title is actually is a great summary for what I hope to accomplish this year, so I was excited to jump right in. Unfortunately, a combination of travel, postpartum depression and a big project didn’t actually result in the easiest month, but I just keep focusing on each new day and each opportunity to make the right decisions.
As in Chapter 1, Crystal boiled this idea of saying yes to the best into practical tips for making more time in your schedule for the things that matter.
I love that she compares the way we try to muscle too many activities into each day to our tendency to try to carry all of the grocery bags in one trip. Just as the weight of those bags leaves us staggering into the house with fingers that feel broken, the weight of trying to do all the things leaves us staggering through life. How much better would it be to take several trips and not lose the spring in your step along the way?
Figure Out What the Best Stuff Is
I know this sounds obvious, but I think it’s worth saying anyway: before you can say yes to the best, you have to figure out what the best stuff is.
Using the Personal Priorities list from Chapter 1, Crystal encourages readers to flesh those priorities out into a “best stuff” list. For me, the best stuff this year is investing in my relationship with the Lord (putting daily quiet time first), my husband (making time for one-on-one conversations and having fun together), my girls (looking them in the eye when they talk and saying yes more often), and our local community (carving out time for coffee and play dates and looking for family service opportunities) while simplifying my business so that my work time can be more focused and less all-encompassing.
Notably, it does not include expanding my business, eating more “real food”, any big house projects, networking or a million other possible priorities, all of which would be good, but not the best for our family at this time.
Take Control of Your Time
Crystal goes on to talk about the importance of time management, and while this is a topic I blog about myself, I appreciated her reminder that in order to take control of your time, you first have to know how much time you have.
When I was a young wife and mother, I used the Managers of Their Home system, and I was surprised to discover how much time I actually had. Unfortunately, I took that revelation and started stuffing my days with more and more stuff. In fact, I’ve gotten into the habit of stuffing my schedule so full that I wonder where exactly the day went and why I couldn’t get everything done. I miss those simpler times of being realistic and leaving plenty of margin in my day.
Truly, it’s much less stressful to admit upfront that you don’t have enough time to do all 28 items on your to-do list and eliminate/re-prioritize them than it is to try to do more than you can possibly get done and end up letting people down.
To figure out how much you can realistically get done, Crystal encourages readers to use the method found in Amy Lynn Andrew’s Tell Your Time: start with the number of hours you have in each day (hint: 24) and divide that into blocks of time according to activities. This might include a 30 minute quiet time, 2 hours of meal prep, a 3 hour outing (plus an hour to get ready to go and settled once you get back home), etc. The key is to be realistic about how much time an activity will take and to stay within the limits of your day.
And margin. Every day needs margin, time that is not dedicated to any specific task and can be used for blowout diapers, resolving sibling fights, cuddles or cleaning up a spill. I don’t leave enough margin in my day, and it gets me every time.
Routine, Routine, Routine
With a new baby in the house (although he’s now four-and-a-half months old, so I’m not sure how much longer I can call him that!), our routines are fairly flexible right now, but there is still beauty and relief in having a routine — in my morning routine of Bible study and opening all of the curtains for the day, in our evening routine of cuddles before bed, in the rhythm of our day.
While our routine isn’t a set schedule, having a routine is important not just so that I can have time carved out specifically for homeschooling and work and quality family time but also so that my children know when to expect those things.
Get Practical
Finally, Crystal recommends tracking your time to see exactly where it’s going. Right now a lot of my time is spent nursing, changing diapers, and rocking the baby. While I can often multitask during nursing and rocking, and I often use that time for reading, I need to be realistic about the time it takes so that I’m not overbooking the rest of my day!
Next Month…
Chapter 3 is all about goal setting, and I’m looking forward to taking a hard look at my goals and revising them so that they better reflect my priorities and the realities of this season of life!
Mandi Ehman is an entrepreneur, online publisher and author who is passionate about encouraging other women to live intentionally. She's the blogger behind Life Your Way, the author of Easy Homemade and the founder of BundleoftheWeek.com. Mandi and her husband have four spunky little girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia.
I've set aside the month of March to really focus on organization in my home and life. And I'd love for you to join me!
Day 8 Assignment
::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there's something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae's ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}
::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.
::Complete your morning routine {if you don't have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}
::Set the timer for 15 minutes and go through your dresser drawers. Remove items you no longer love, need, and/or wear. Quickly organize the remaining items.
::Wipe down all the door handles in your home. You can use a damp rag with a little disinfectant on it or a cleaning wipe. If you have younger children, they'd probably enjoy joining you in tackling this project!
::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.
Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.
Get Your Free Ebook + Printable Checklists
I put together an ebook with encouraging articles, all the daily assignments, plus printable checklists so you can know exactly what’s planned for the month and to allow you to work at your own pace, if you’d like.
To grab your free ebook so you can participate in this challenge, just fill out the form below with your name and email address. You’ll need to confirm your email address and then your free ebook will be sent to you instantly.
Are you planning to join us today? If so, leave a comment below!
Each week for 52 weeks, I'm sharing a different way you can save $100 this year. If you do all of these things, you'll be able to save over $5,000 this year alone! Many of these things will likely be things you're already doing, but hopefully all of you will pick up at least a few new ideas or some inspiration from this series.
We use a lot of beans around here; they're inexpensive, they're filling, and they're nutritious. Pair them with rice and you have a complete protein.
I use beans to stretch our taco meat and as a base for many soups and other dishes we regularly eat. If you purchase dry beans in bulk, they are even more economical!
Some of Our Favorite Bean Recipes
How to Live on Beans & Rice for a Week
When I read Ruth's post here on how to live on beans and rice for a week, I thought it'd be fun to try and come up with my own version. While we've never tried to just have beans and rice all week long, Ruth inspired me to come up with an almost-week-long beans and rice menu plan, too, using some of our favorite legume recipes.
Day One: Cook up a big ole' pot of beans (I do mine like this. You can add in seasonings, onions, etc. if you prefer). I'd recommend cooking black beans, pinto beans, and chili beans. Mix equal parts of the beans and make chili (we like to add onions, diced tomatoes, tomato juice, spices, hot sauce, pickle juice, and anything else that strikes my fancy that evening! You can add some browned ground beef if you like.). Serve over brown rice with cheese and hot sauce.
Day Two: Take the leftover chili and make "haystacks"–set out bowls of chopped lettuce, tomatoes, corn chips, rice, cheese, sour cream, olives, and hot sauce. Let everyone pile things on and make up their own "haystack".
Day Three: Mash up some of the black beans and pinto beans (you can make them refried like this, if you like) and mix with a little salsa and chopped chicken. Roll up in tortillas, sprinkle with cheese and heat through.
Day Four: Make pizza crust and top with mashed/refried beans, salsa or diced tomatoes, onions (if you like) and cheese. Bake. If you have leftover lettuce and tomatoes from Day Two, you could sprinkle them on top of the baked pizza. If you have any leftover chili, you could also make "Chili Pizza" using chili and tomatoes and cheese as the pizza topping.
Day Five: Use any leftover chili, beans, or mashed beans you have left to make Mexican Lasagna (like this or this or this–only substitute most of the meat for beans.)
Does someone in your family hate beans? Check out this post from Kelly on how to eat on a beans and rice budget when your husband hates beans.
Did you know that could be done? I didn’t, until I read an article in Gluten Free Living Magazine about preparing beans.
I have greatly modified their recipe to due a much larger quantity, and have modified cook times. It is not terribly labor intensive, but spans a pretty long period of time while you’re doing other things, so pick a day you’ll be home for a few hours.
Here’s how to make Recipe-Ready Beans for your freezer:
1. Find a big pot. I use an enormous soup pot. Bring 9 quarts of water to a boil. Do not add salt; it keeps the beans from softening. Rinse six cups of beans in cold water. After the water has reached a boil, add the beans. Boil at a rolling boil for about 3 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat and let the beans soak for an hour.
3. Return to the heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the beans are soft. It took mine about 2 hours (they were small black beans). Many things can affect how long it takes, including the type, the size, and the age. Older beans tend to take longer to soften.
4. When they are soft enough, package in 2-cup containers (that is the approximate size of a can, so it’s recipe -ready!) You can add some salt now if you want to, and leave them in their liquid.
Now, next time you have a recipe that calls for beans, you can easily thaw out a container from your freezer, at a fraction of the cost.
I ended up paying about $0.80 for 6 cups of dried black beans at the discount store (you could do any kind, though). I got six pints of beans out of this recipe, which equals about $0.13 per “can”.
What are your favorite ways to serve beans? I’d love to hear!
