Simple living can sound like an overwhelming task for many of us… and it CAN be at first.
However, I know from personal experience that when simple living becomes a habit, or “an unconscious pattern of behavior,” it just feels right, and easy, and oh so simple you won’t even be able to imagine living life any other way!
As we start a fresh new year, I thought it might be fun to revisit a time when I started over fresh with my business — that time I rebranded my entire blog and business!
Believe it or not, it’s been almost FOUR years since I changed the name of my blog and my business — which means I’ve officially been “Andrea Dekker” for longer than I was “Simple Organized Living” — crazy!
Have you ever pushed yourself too hard… to the point where you hated an activity you once loved?
As we strive for new goals and resolutions in the coming year, I want to highlight the negative impact of pushing too hard. It’s one thing to strive for a lofty goal… it’s another to completely burn out and start hating an activity you formerly enjoyed.
Freezer cooking has been a crucial part of my efforts to simplify my life for over 10 years now. I have saved myself countless hours in the kitchen, thousands of dollars at the grocery store, and bucket loads of stress due to planning ahead and having ready-made meals in the freezer ALL THE TIME.
However, aside from some leftover soup, we currently have ZERO full meals in our deep freezer right now! Today, I’m sharing why…
Although I’m not nearly as frugal as I was 10 years ago, I still try to use our money wisely, get the best value, and save when it’s not too much of an inconvenience.
One of the ways I save quite a bit (without sacrificing much time, effort, or quality of product) is by simply asking the right questions to the right people.
Sometimes, I think we get sucked into thinking that all busyness is bad, unnecessary, and something that could or should be avoided — like if our lives are busy, we’re doing something wrong.
But in reality, busy times are often just part of life. They are not always avoidable, nor are they always bad…
So often, we talk about “maintenance mode” in a negative way — as in “I’m so busy, I have no time for anything. I’m simply in ‘maintenance mode’ trying hold the pieces together.”
That is NOT the type of maintenance mode I’m referring to today though — I’m speaking of it in a much more positive light, as a current goal for my business!
As I’ve done for many years now, I’ll be taking the week between Christmas and New Years as a short blogging break. It’s such a nice time to step away from my computer and social media for a few days, and I always come back after the New Year with so many blog post topics and ideas!
Today I’m sharing our 2016 Christmas card, and a little bit about what I hope to do (and not do) over our Christmas break!
I’ve recently been asked (multiple times) for any tips or ideas I have to “get back to normal” after big life-changing events.
Unfortunately, based on my own experience, it’s often not possible to truly “get back to normal” — especially after a big change. Instead, I feel it’s more fitting to focus on EMBRACING A NEW NORMAL.
If you’re looking for an extremely simple, super delicious treat to bring to a holiday party, or just something fun to do with your children or grandchildren over Christmas break, I don’t think you can go wrong with these yummy pretzel candy bites!
The gooey caramel + crunchy pretzel + sweet chocolate + salty pretzel is one of the best combos I’ve had in a bite-sized snack in a long time!
Making assumptions without knowing all the facts has the potential to make us look like idiots… however, have you ever considered WE might be the ones who are negatively affected by falsely assuming our friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, and social media acquaintances are better or superior to us based on only half the story?
Today I’m sharing one fairly simple concept that could free you from lots of unnecessary guilt.
I am often asked to share about how many electronics we have in our house, how we organize them, and how we handle our kids using electronics… but I’ve never felt like I had a lot to say about these topics since our kids are still relatively young and really have no idea how to use any of our electronics.
So today, I’m sharing a bit about how we manage our electronics, in hopes that those of you with older children (or no children) share what works for you too!
Although I was fairly certain we would get a live tree once we were living out on our own, Dave and I have been using a thrift store artificial Christmas tree for the past 11 Christmases 🙂
Every year I have some sort of internal debate about if we should keep using our artificial tree or go buy a real one…
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