I loved this post from Andrea Dekker and thought it was so thought-provoking:
About 2 months ago, I shared a post about one of my pet peeves — when people complain about "not having enough time" for various activities.
The point of that post (which you can read in its entirety here) is that I almost never say "I don't HAVE time for ______" because I know that if I really wanted or needed to, I could MAKE the time for that activity.
Instead I say, "I'm choosing not to MAKE the time for ___________ right now as I have other priorities."
By simply changing the way I phrase things, I feel much more empowered, more in control of my time, and less defeated by everything I don't get done each day. I know that I made the choice to do something else — whether it was tending to a sick child or taking advantage of really nice weather instead of doing my work or opting to make a big fancy meal instead of enjoying more free time — it was my choice.
Similarly, I almost never say, "We can't afford that."
This is not because we are "loaded" or have unlimited financial resources. It's simply because I know that in almost every situation…”
Read the full post here.
Personally, I think that while there are legitimate things we cannot afford and in the early years of our marriage, there were many things we didn’t have room for in our budget, we’ve found that saying “We’re choosing to spend our money differently” helps us to remember that these are choices we are making based upon priorities we’ve pre-determined. And this causes you to approach your finances with a completely different mindset.
In addition, I agree with Andrea that it makes you feel empowered. Your money is not in control of you; you are in control of your money. You are choosing how to spend it. Even if you only have a little bit of money to spend, you still can choose to spend that little bit as wisely as possible.
Do you agree with this article? Why or why not?
This was actually from last night, but I wanted to share it anyway. 
Remember the free Psalty album download I posted earlier this week? Well, we downloaded it and listened to it during last night’s Laundry Party. It was so fun to introduce my kids to songs from when I was a little girl.
Also? Laundry parties are one of my secret house-cleaning tips. We have so much fun and get so much done when we all work together. And when Mom’s excited about it, the attitude is usually contagious!
Want to see a video clip of my girls jammin’ and foldin’? Here you go. Notice their outfits? Cracks me up how two girls in the same family can be so, so different from each other!
Oh and thanks for your Swagbucks tips yesterday. I was excited that we earned 55 Swagbucks today — with very little extra time or effort. I scored 11 Swagbucks on my first search try and that helped bump up our total!
How did YOU save today? Did you have any frugal fun at your house?
I took a few weeks off from posting my book updates because in between life and writing my own book, I’ve just not found a lot of time to read more than 5-15 minutes per day, if that. At that rate, it takes me quite awhile to get through books! But I finally have an update for you!
Books I’ve Finished Recently:
All In — I've been so blessed by all three of the Mark Batterson books I've read so far and was excited to dive into this one. It did not disappoint. Mark always motivates me to dream big, aim high, and jump out and do. It’s not enough to plan or dream if I never do anything with those plans or dreams. This book challenges you to go “All In” for God. To not hold back. To not settle for less than everything you’ve got. You might not agree with everything you read (I rarely do when I read Batterson), but I guarantee you’ll be challenged.
Eight Twenty Eight — I knew very, very little about this couple before this book showed up on my doorstep from the publisher. Honestly, I’m not sure what I think about it. I didn’t particularly care for the writing style as it kept jumping back and forth between different time periods making it feel disjointed. I also don’t know what I think about marrying someone who was just your boyfriend and you’d only known for 10 months before the traumatic brain injury. I get why Larissa (his now wife) would want to stay by his side, because she genuinely loved him, but the book just left me feeling unsettled and hurting for her. That said, I don’t know them personally and it’s not my place to question decisions they’ve made. You can watch a video of Ian and Larissa here.
Manage Your Day-to-Day — This book came highly recommended to me by a friend whose book recommendations I value, and I found it to be very worthwhile. It inspired me to evaluate how I’m spending my days and make sure I’m putting first things first. I loved the differing perspectives and thoughts from multiple voices in this book.
Own Your Life — Since the time my children were babies, I have been so challenged by reading Sally Clarkson’s writings. She’s inspired me to embrace each day, find simple ways to cultivate beauty in my home, and take time to invest in myself so that I can better nurture and bless my family. If you are a busy woman who longs to live a life of meaning and purpose, you’ll be blessed by reading Own Your Life. It’s packed with heartfelt encouragement and practical strategies to savor life more and make each moment count. {I received a pre-release copy of this book. It releases in a few months.}
Books I Hope to Finish This Week
I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn't) — I've had this one started for quite awhile, and it's good. It's just deep and it's taking me awhile to get through!
A Proper Pursuit — I've not started this book yet, but am hoping to have some down time some evening this week so I can actually read a fiction book from cover to cover. It's been quite awhile since I've done that and I'm itching to just get lost in a good story!
Love, Skip, Jump — Multiple readers have told me I must read this book. It looks good and I can't wait to dive in!
Podcasts I Listened To:
Brilliant Business Moms — So someone suggested this podcast to me when I first started writing my next book (it’s on how to increase your income, increase your impact, and not lose your joy in the process). I turned on one episode and listened for a bit and wasn’t all that impressed. So I turned it off. In all honesty, I was just going to delete it off my iTunes playlist, but then, a few more people highly recommended it, so I listened again — this time to most of an episode. And I loved it.
I’m glad I gave this podcast a second try as I’ve learned so much and been inspired in very practical ways from it. Highly recommended — and be sure to listen to more than just 10 minutes of one episode. I’ve found that the value in these is really in listening to an entire episode. Hearing these women entrepreneurs unpack what has and hasn’t worked and share their stories is highly educational and beneficial!
Movies We Watched:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier — We’ve loved all of the movies in this series and, once again, we not disappointed with this one. I loved that there was a clear good versus evil storyline, that the film was very clean, and that it was action packed. In fact, Jesse and I were planning to watch half of it one night and then finish it the following night. But we got so caught up in it that we just couldn’t turn it off!
And, of course, we’ve been watching lots and lots of baseball. How about our Kansas City Royals?? Silas and Jesse are HUGE fans and it’s so fun for me to see their team doing so well in the post-season. We’re pretty stoked about Friday night’s game!
What have you read recently? What are you planning to read this week? Any good book recommendations for me?
Target Shopping Trip
2 Pledge Floor Care – $3.50 each, used 2 $2/1 printable AND $2.50/2 Target printable AND $1 rebate from Checkout 51 - Free plus $0.50 overage after coupons and rebate
1 NYC Mascara – $1.97, used $1/1 printable - $0.97 after coupon
1 NYC Concealer – $1.79, used $1/1 printable - $0.79 after coupon
2 Celestial Seasonings Tea – $2.33 each, used 2 $1/1 coupon from the 10/5 SmartSource insert AND 20% off Cartwheel coupon - $0.86 each after coupons
4 Tresemme Hair Care (On Sale Buy 3, Get $5 Target gift card) – $3.99 each, used 2 $5/2 coupon from the 9/28 RedPlum insert – $0.24 each after coupons and “gift card” (The gift card sale did not ring up at the checkout and my cashier kindly offered to just take $5 off instead. So it ended up being $0.24 each after coupons and money off.)
Total before coupons, rebate and sales: $35.47
Total after coupons, rebate and sales: $3.94
