Intentional finance. Intentional family. Intentional business.

Here's what's new:

How I Do “It All” (The Answer Might Surprise You!)

Silas and Jesse Share About Their Trip to DC

How I Do “It All” (The Answer Might Surprise You!)

Wondering how I do “it all”??? Keep reading, because you might be surprised by the answer!

People ask me often how I juggle all the things I do and really my secret to getting all the things done is three-fold: 1) I don’t do it all myself. 2) I keep things super simple. 3) I have really good systems in place for many areas of our home.

Let’s talk more about how this actually looks in our home…

Secret #1: I don’t do it all myself.

I am a big believer in teaching your kids to be responsible for helping and contributing from an early age. In fact, I believe it is a gift we can give our kids to help them learn the value of hard work and how to pick up after themselves/take ownership of certain tasks and chores and areas of the home.

So our teens are responsible for their rooms, their bathrooms, much of their laundry, some of the dishes and general house maintenance, their cars, and more. (As an aside, they are also 100% responsible for everything related to school and jobs. If they need help with something, they are welcome to ask for help, but I don’t oversee or manage any of this part of their life as it’s considered their responsibility in our home.)

Secret #2: I keep things super simple.

This is a big one for me! I currently am super careful what I say yes to since I have three teens, two preschoolers, and a toddler…

I reserve Wednesdays for any business meetings or interviews and say no to almost anything business-related that is a meeting or interview and can’t happen on a Wednesday.
I rarely say yes to any ongoing commitments because I just never know what a week is going to look like.
We eat super simple meals most of the time and we get takeout once a week for dinner.
I wear my hair the same way every single day.
I always wear the same makeup.
I eat a lot of the same things for breakfast, lunch, and snack.
I wear the same 5-8 outfits on repeat.
I don’t have a vegetable garden.
I don’t attend any Bible studies right now.
I usually sign up for super easy things like bringing water bottles or plastic plates, etc. when there are school sign-up opportunities.

And on and on it goes.

Secret #3: I have really good systems in place for many areas of our home.

I’ve alluded to some of these above, but these systems save my sanity. For instance:

I order groceries on Thursdays and have them delivered on Fridays.
I only wash my hair once a week (and I wash the three younger kids’ hair once a week, too.)
When the mail gets brought in, I go through it immediately and take care of it.
Jesse and I work together every night before bed to get everything picked up and set out for the morning so that we wake up and don’t need to do much at all to get out the door.
We try to do a quick house clean up twice a day so that things never get out of hand.
I bring in anything that doesn’t belong in the car when I come in.
I clean out my purse and the fridge once a week.
I put laundry away every night.
We run one load of dishes every day.
I get up and walk first thing every morning and pray over my day. I then read my Bible and a devotional and a few pages from an encouraging book.
I write a time-blocked to do list every night before bed.
I try to always know what’s for dinner by 8 a.m. that morning and then pull out anything from the freezer we need.

These are just a few examples. So many of these things we’ve been doing for so long that they just happen without me even really thinking about it. They are on autopilot.

And these simple systems keep our home and lives running smoothly and allow me to have breathing room to spend time with my kids, make space for fun, invest in relationships, take care of my health, and try to get enough sleep (most nights!).

A Special FREEBIE for You!

If you would love to create better systems for your home and life, I put together a FREEBIE that gives an overview of many of the systems I have in place for each day, week, month, and year.

The Simplified Home Checklists were designed to give you a doable and realistic list that you can put on your fridge or somewhere that you’ll see often throughout the day to help you stay on track with the basics of what will set you up for success throughout your days, weeks, and months.

If you want to set up systems but don’t know where to start, I made these to serve as a guide for you. They have all the most basic, regular household tasks listed, with a couple lines to personalize them for yourself.

When you download the FREE Simplified Home Checklists, you’ll get a printable pack that includes checklists for regular daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual checklists.

Best of all, you’ll get TWO versions to choose from — one if you’re home most of the day and one if you’re away from home most of the day. (You get both versions, so decide which is best for you!)

I’ve been loving hearing from those of you who are already using them and finding them so helpful! YAY!

What are you waiting for?! Just click below to download your FREE Simplified Home Checklists!

I hope that these lists are a game changer for your sanity and help you streamline some of your family’s systems this year! Here’s to less stress and more joy and organization in our lives!

Psst! One more thing! When you download the Free Simplified Home Checklists today, you’ll be the first to know about a HUGE surprise I have in store for you next week! I’m SO excited!!

Silas and Jesse Share About Their Trip to DC

Silas makes his formal debut on the podcast this week by joining Jesse and me to share about their trip to DC. He’s joined in on a few podcasts in the past when he was much younger and didn’t say much, so I’m excited for you to get to hear more from him now that he’s older and less scared of the microphone.

Jesse and Silas recount the adventures they had on their trip, including flying Southwest (and winning some vouchers!), Arlington, the Holocaust Museum, the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon, Museum of the Bible, the Capitol, Mount Vernon, Gettysburg, the White House Visitor’s Center, and more!

You’ll enjoy hearing both of their perspectives on it, what they learned, what was disappointing and surprising, and places they want to return to. They shared some stories and insights I hadn’t yet heard from their trip, so it was really fun for me to sit back and listen — I hope you enjoy it as much we did recording it!

In This Episode

[0:35] – Silas and Jesse are here to recount their recent trip to Washington D.C.!

[2:19] – Jesse admits that this trip was better than Kathrynne’s eighth-grade trip because they flew this time.

[3:18] – Silas won two $50 Southwest vouchers on the trip!

[4:49] – Jesse highlights getting to know the teens in Silas’s class better and visiting Arlington.

[5:59] – Silas reflects on gaining insights from classmates and highlighted visiting the Museum of the Bible and the Holocaust Museum.

[6:58] – Jesse found it unexpected and intriguing to meet someone who was in the Pentagon during the attack.

[7:43] – Hear Silas go into more detail about the visit to the Holocaust museum and Museum of the Bible, finding the transition from heavy to light.

[11:35] – I mention the personalized experience at the Holocaust Museum and compare it to a memorial in Israel.

[13:20] – Visiting the Capitol and the White House Visitor’s Center.

[16:42] – Was there anything that was disappointing or surprising about the trip?

[20:11] – Silas wants to go back to D.C. but with the whole family.

[21:26] – Jesse found their visit to Mount Vernon intriguing, describing it as a living history experience.

[25:13] – I share some exciting news: I am launching the Simplified Home Checklist, offering daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly tasks for organizing!