Enjoy your Home NOW! - Pep Talk + Free 'Projects' Printable

Enjoy your Home NOW!

You can make this happen...

live pretty, less stressed...

within the time you have and your budget!

Growing up, we 4 kids always "teased" my mom about how

she ALWAYS would say "ok..lets make a plan"...

Well, now that we are older..we still lovingly tease her but with

the realization that WE SAY IT NOW ALL THE TIME!

My husband laughs every time I say "ok babe we need to make a plan."

But Seriously.

Make a plan.

I'm a list girl. and that is the only way thing can happen sometimes!

It helps take all the cluttered thoughts and stress we put on ourselves

as women, wives, mothers to make it all be put together around us!

By writing things down we can get it out of our head and onto paper.

I love decorating my home..but sometimes things like,

Oh I don't know..

having 3 kids and no money to just throw around, get in the way ;)

psh. lame.

At the same time, I know that I want to not keep putting off these home projects that I know would make me LOVE our home.. and enjoy moments in it more!

If I'm a stay at home mom stuck in the house for a good amount of

hours each day..I want to love my space!

SO..I realized that I just needed to "make a plan" and I would be

able to get through some of the projects and make it happen!

I created a free printable to help you do just that in your home too! yipee free printables

The Busy Budgeting Mama's Project Printable- Free Download

Print one out for each project.. as few or as many as you have in mind!

I made it with nifty little circles to check off.. so you feel awesome. ;)

Having a price area there you can keep track of how much a project will cost you..

and then by having a space for you to fill in where you'll get it (or to mark if you already have it)

you can make your trips to the store more time efficient!

I put a timeline next to the steps..so that you can lay it all out there so you don't feel overwhelmed (Maybe monday you'll buy supplies. wednesday you'll spray paint the frames.. etc..)

MY TIPS TO HELP MAKE

HOME PROJECTS HAPPEN:

-Invite company over.

Makes you hustle your buns.. with that motivation,you'll probably

finish projects that have been on your list 

Hide unfolded laundry in your room on your bed.

--Have a sitter come over during the day for 2 hours.

You will be amazed at what you can get in done in a short amount of uninterrupted time.

or maybe you won't be amazed...

I forgot what was even possible until the other day when I had help. haha.

--Gather Ideas from PINTEREST!

You'll feel inspired..and your creative juices will be flowing.

--Shop your house.

I really wanted to decorate our new space(we moved over easter)

but I didn't want to spend a lot of money.

Sometimes gathering up items and seeing them all together, seeing what you have...

helps you think of how you can use them in a new way!

One of the projects I wanted to make happen right after moving into our

new rental was to hang a gallery wall using all of the black and

white frames I've collected over our 6 years of marriage.

I enjoy it EVERY DAY. I spend a lot of time in our kitchen and family room...

so It was really important to me to make it happen.

I posted about the gallery wall already. I eventually plan on posting

the details on what I put in all my frames.

(below photo: sophie building a house. serious business.)

There are days NOTHING can get done.

and you need to give up

and go play in the backyard.

just do it. watch the clouds or something.

eat ice cream , put the sprinklers on or blow bubbles on the front steps.

Try again tomorrow.

 Enjoy your space. no matter how big or small it is!

Even little projects can help make your house, HOME.

and then LIVE in it. Enjoy it...

Let your kids help you "decorate" with stuffed animals on the sofa..

micah was as confused as I was. I guess they thought

 the space needed more personality.

 This is your Pep-Talk!

I get so many emails from mamas who are like ahhh

I want to do this project or that project but I just can't make it happen.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: (This goes for all women, but)

If you are a mom.. You are doing ENOUGH.

YOU are enough.

your kids are alive? awesome.

your kids are laughing and having fun in between punching each other? awesome.

"Make a plan"..and make your house a home for YOU...

  but know that even if you don't have frames on your wall you are pretty awesome.

I want you to feel motivated and capable..but also encouraged in that 

you aren't the only one trying to make it all happen and stressing about it when it feels like it just isn't happening.

We have all been there.

Print off this printable. write down all the ideas and projects you want to do...

including the steps and budget and then...relax.
go squeeze on a baby.

unless you are writing while squeezing a baby like I usually am.

They seriously don't stop touching me..... ;)

MY NEW GAME PLAN- FREE Housework/Meal Planning Printable

I am the queen of the laundry mountain.

The moment I feel like I'm on top of laundry...

I realize I completely ignored everything else I needed to do

and the world is completely out of control. It's a vicious cycle!

Some days I feel like I have to choose between clothed fed children and a clean house.

I'm a very good list maker...not so much a schedule follower!

But I knew that I needed a new game plan if I was going to be able to tackle working part time.. being a stay at home mom.. a blogger.. a graphic designer.. the list goes on.

I knew that I needed to write out what I needed to do every day so

that it wouldn't get out of control..but also set it up to be doable!

So here is the printable I created for my daily life! I'll print one for each day.

The daily chores are divided up into time frames.. NOT set times.

because that just won't work for me. I can't have my schedule put out hour by hour...

BUT I did put a timeline so that I could plug in different time sensitive things like appointments, play dates or deadlines for each day (It's marked for 5AM-9PM)

(We also have a different page with set times ben and I have time to both work.

whether it's here or at the office. It's amazing how much more work you can get

done in a couple hours when you have no distractions.)

I knew that I wanted to reduce the stress...and by portioning out the daily chores

and having a set area for my to-do-list and notes.. it would help me not have it all

jumbled in my head, looming over me or thinking I had to do it all at once.

There's a spot for marking what you are having for lunch and dinner.

I even created an area to remind myself to drink water! Healthy mind healthy body!

In the To-Do-List area I will usually plug in one of the following when

I think they are needed!---monday-scrub bathroom tub/toilet. tuesday: mop floors.

wednesday: windex windows. thursday: clean fridge/microwave. etc..

I might have put a little motivational wording at the top for myself. ;)

You can download My Daily Schedule HERE.

 And because figuring out what's for dinner can be another added stress...

I made up a calendar to fill in what I'm making for dinner!

You can download the Monthly Meal Schedule HERE.

I'm just starting this new routine..but so far it has been amazing!

It was so funny..one of the days ben and I both got up and did our morning

routine we felt so ready for the day and on top of the house stuff!

Ben: "It's kinda stupid but it feels like you conquered the world!" haha...

I felt the same way. :)

And when you aren't stressing about your crazy messy house and

what to feed your family for dinner...

you can enjoy moments with your family! 

I've heard that your children sense your stress...

This is SOO TRUE.

When we moved it was intense trying to get all unpacked

and handle all the work load we had...

The girls were acting up more and extra "wild"...

We tried to keep it as routine as possible but there was a

lot of things going on to disrupt the 'normal.'

They totally sensed our stress and reacted to it.

Ben and I made a conscience decision to take moments each day

to not worry about all the work we had to do and just have fun with them..

and to do some 'bigger' family adventure each week.

(they are easy to please at this age.. a garage sale where they can buy

a 25 cent toy is exciting...and the park is guaranteed fun.)

I think every mom needs a reminder that a messy house is completely acceptable.

If you have kids.. even just one.. life gets busy! It's more than just taking care of you now.

 But I think I've felt more and more capable with each baby I have had.. You learn how to handle the "chaos" a little bit more each time... and probably a part of that is you realize that it's fine if everything is crazy for a while. Toys will be covering your floor for most of the day..you will find the hand towel soaked and on the bathroom floor.... the cup of pretzels you gave your toddler might be found in throughout the toy bin... BUT. that's ok. My goal of less stress is to tackle certain areas that lead to making me overwhelmed if neglected!

Some days will be crazy still..and the house will go out of control..

but I'm hoping those days will be FEWER.. with this plan. ;)

 Try this new strategy with me!

I'm going to see how it goes and maybe make up updated printable if needed.

Hope you are having a great monday!

I was that crazy lady in Walmart today +Free Gifting Printable

I was going to write this blog post...

about my crazy day.

About how I took a trip to walmart because we had NO diapers.. and NO Toilet Paper.

It was a must trip. So I loaded up all three kiddos by myself and headed there.

only to end up being a shoppers' attraction with both girls in the cart, micah strapped to me, racing through the aisles to the bathroom because

sophie was screaming in pain from her stomach hurting and dry heaving

(she is super sensitive and was gagging from her tummy hurting. insane. I know)

I thought she wasn't going to make it and throw up all over the walmart floor...

so we ran for one of those recycle box/trash can things. yup. classy.

when I thought she looked better and wasn't going to throw up,

we made our dash to the bathroom....alllllll while the

LONG line of people for returns stared on horrified.

 LOVE hanging out in a public bathroom with 3 kids. it's super fun and not gross at all.

Plus loud automatic toilets are known to be LOVED by small babies.........not.

Poor thing though.. as soon as I got sophie to feel a little better we grabbed the toilet paper/diapers and she started sobbing again.. race to the bathroom!! AGAIN.

We finally ended up checking out. and if one more person told me I

had my hands full I was going to flip. flip or cry. one or the other. haha.

And what do you do when you have new toilet paper in the house....

Play with it of course!!

Later came across this and realized a certain toddler

was trying to cover her tracks..... ::cough:: sienna ::cough::

I was going to write this blog post about how some days

I feel like I'm running in circles..

Sophia came up to me wanting me to check out her hair

"I'm making it not crazy"..................

She thought it was my hair product that I put in my hair to smooth it out.

nope.

my face wash.

Oh and Micah was rocking a hand me down christmas outfit because it

was the first thing I saw that he fit in. grabbed it. he didn't leave the house like this..

I don't want to look tooooo crazy out in public.

But tonight, while snuggling with sienna before bed,

I started thinking how I don't want to post just about how hard my day was.

Of course I want moms to see that we all have hard days...

I want my readers to leave my blog relating to me..but also feeling uplifted!

I kept thinking about when someone dropped off this gift basket for us when we moved in..how I seriously wanted to cry I was so thankful for their kindness.

I feel a connection with you as my readers...

and I wish so badly we could all just do one big play date! ;)

That we could drop off meals for each other when we knew someone was having a hard day.

I kept thinking how important community is as moms.

It made me want to reach out more to my mom friends...

to not just think about my hard days, but to think about them and lift them up!

If you feel like me... and want to celebrate motherhood

and lift up your fellow mamas...

I just made up this printable for you to download and use when dropping

off something to show you care!

I asked on my blog's facebook page:

"If a fellow mama did something to show she cared,

by dropping something off,..what would you be SO HAPPY to receive?"

(click here to read the facebook status,

read what other mamas said and leave your choice!)

FREE "CELEBRATE MOTHERHOOD- LIFT UP YOUR

MOM FRIENDS" - PRINTABLE DOWNLOAD

I'm also offering, by request of a blog reader via facebook, the same design but
with my blog and 'celebrate motherhood' tiny at the bottom of each tag!
Would love for you to share our little community with other moms.
Maybe it'll be the connection that mom needs to feel a boost!
DOWNLOAD that version HERE

AND, since a lot of my readers say Mum instead of Mom..
I made up a british version as well. :)
Download the MUM Printable HERE.
and the MUM Printable with my Blog HERE.

Motherhood is hard...

and so very beautiful.

Sisters.

Please Pin, Tweet and Share the printable!

We all need to bless our fellow mamas more.

We know how some days are hard..and we aren't alone in

feeling 'happily' exhausted while taking care of our sweet babies.

So let's reach out and love on each other a little more!

I would seriously cry if someone dropped off a case of diet dr. pepper at my door.

That's all it would take! haha.

sophie update: she feels better! an hour after we got home she was back

to her normal self. must have been gas bubbles. poor little thing.

FREE PRINTABLE- Movie Themed Teacher Gift Tag

Most of my popular printables this time of year... are ones for teachers!

I sell a variety in my shop. But I thought it might be fun to offer a FREE one that I just created for a client. She planned a whole week to celebrate the teachers at their

school. It was a Hollywood Theme based off of one of the printables she saw in my shop already. LOVEDD IT! We need to celebrate our teachers more often.

I hope that this post inspires you to do the same at your school.

Even if it's just one of the days!

Here's the flyer we made up to put in all the teachers' boxes:

 Here's my free teacher printable for you!

Please Go make your teachers feel special!

FREE MOVIE THEME TEACHER TAG PRINTABLE-

Winner of a PICTURE PEFECT YEAR

(Ten tags on your printable PDF)

Click the above link to download the full page pdf. Print, cut and attach to a gift.

You could do a movie theatre gift card or a bag of popcorn/candy!

I also offer a customized one...

"Thanks for a PICTURE PERFECT Year! Love, _____"

One of my top teacher themed sellers. I add your text.

I also have a (write in your own name) immediate download version of that one too.

Here are some more of the tags my

client is gifting to her teachers each day!

Pair these tags with STARBURSTS for a cute gift!

Immediate Download - $5

(Ten tags on your printable PDF)

I think a single soda or a cute 6 pack of mini sodas

would be perfect with this tag!

IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD- $5

(Ten tags on your printable PDF)

These would be cute attached to a container or bag of popcorn!

You could make it fancy with white chocolate or

go real crazy by gifting a variety of flavors! ;)

IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD - $5

(Ten tags on your printable PDF)

I did a fun post on yummy popcorn recipes while

I was doing party prep for my girls' Vintage Circus Birthday Party

I originally created all of these for teacher gifts...

but they would be perfect for a Movie themed party,

movie night with friends or an Oscars Party!