by Kayla K on January 23, 2012
Just last night I was reading Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace. One of his lines (other than beans and rice) is that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. He said this in relation to the importance of monthly budgeting.
I have gotten in the bad habit of grabbing a donut and coffee on my way to work – more than once each week. I have also purchased school lunch on more than one occasion. Not only is this crappy for my budget, but my tummy has been hating me.
I applied the “plan to fail” notion to my morning routine. Last night I:
- Set out my clothes
- Measured oatmeal, butter, and jam into a small thermos
- Set my automatic coffee machine (obvious, but the first time I’ve used the timer)
- Packed dinner leftovers into lunches for the next three days
- Told Spencer he was NOT allowed to leave until I was awake and OUT of bed
This morning I:
- Added boiling water to my oatmeal (my the time I got to work it would be cooked)
- Poured my coffee into a traveling mug
and then…
I was so far ahead that I had extra time. I decided to enjoy some of my coffee and catch the morning news.
SURPRISE! Two hour delay because of icy roads! Now, not only do I get to enjoy a two-hour delay, but I already have a great start to my day. I feel awesome and have no plans to go back to bed.
What tricks and tips do you have to a smooth start to your day?
P.S… I installed a new spam filter but I have a sneaky suspicion that it is deleting comments from humans! Please try to leave a comment so I can troubleshoot. 
by Kayla K on January 18, 2012
My mom, Jo, from Jo’s Country Junction is letting her frugal flag fly!
She says:
I’m not a “save the planet girl” and I’m not a “be totally thrifty” girl. I am just a gal who is a little of each and I like to use things that God has given me to the best of my ability…be that talents, money, time or possessions. I am doing things all the time to reuse, repurpose, reorganize and I bet you are too. I thought it would be great to have a spot where we all can bring our ideas together..and maybe we can learn ways that we all can make better use of what has been given to us.
I am linking up to her and showing off my new scrappy hat. It was very fun to make. I made it with leftover yarn from Spencer’s brother’s ski hat. Carter and I like opposing Iowa teams, so I had to add in some cardinal red.
This was a fun way to use up yarn scraps. I love to try new stitch patterns and this bright, fast-to-crochet hat was perfect.
This hat is similar to the Karlo Beanie, for which I have written a free pattern. Instead on crocheting identical rows, I added in some color and a new stitch pattern.
I am excited to go see what everyone is offering for their Waste Not Wednesdays. Take some time to check out her post, or share your ideas in the “Comment” section below.
by Kayla K on January 9, 2012
Do you prefer blogs with lots of pictures or lots of words?
My mom has a very popular blog, Jo’s Country Junction. We talk blogger business quite frequently. We like using Google Analytics to track our traffic sources and number of guests.
I have technically been blogging longer than her, but she has far surpassed me in daily number of visitors. Mom’s suggestions include:
- Blog everyday to build a relationship with your readers
- Make everyday experiences into blog posts
- PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES!
Mom never writes a blog post without a picture. She even took pictures of processing pigs! I am not confident in my photography skills so I avoid pictures if they are not necessary.
I am doing my best to heed her suggestions, although getting a post up everyday is difficult for me. One way I am adding more pictures to my blog is utilizing Flickr.
You can view and download pictures without a user ID. On the Flickr homepage, search for the item you would like. Before viewing your results, choose “Advanced Search.” Scroll to the bottom of the page and select “Creative Commons” licenses. Choose “Pictures to use Commercially.”
The resulting images are yours to use legally on your blog.
I chose an image for this post called “New Camera.” I clicked on the image which brought me to a new page. Under the “Share” tab I selected “Grab the HTML/BBCode.” There are a variety of sizes to choose from. Copy and paste the generated HTML code into your blog post.
You may also download the image to your computer and upload it to your blog. This is not my favorite method. One: It is more work. Two: These artists are giving away their images for free. It would be kind of you to promote the artist by linking back to their work.
I can’t promise a post everyday, but the posts I do have will have pictures from photographers far more talented than me.
