Andrea Dekker

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My Thoughts on Working For Free

While, I’m certainly NOT against volunteering, charitable giving, bartering, or offering free/discounted services when the opportunity presents itself; I often have to remember that this is my job, and I can’t always work for free!

We would never expect a plumber, electrician, web-designer, or accountant to work for free; so why should I be expected to work for free just because I’m a stay-at-home-mom who “sits at my computer all day”? I’d love to hear your thoughts about working for free… especially if you are a work-from-home-person!

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Do You Split Meals At Restaurants?

Dave and I don’t go out to eat all that often — and when we do, we will often split one meal to reduce our out-of-pocket expense. And even though we ALWAYS tip the waitress based on the cost of two full meals, I still sometimes feel super cheap when we split a meal.

So I’m wondering, what are your thoughts on splitting meals at restaurants? And do you have any other tips to save money while eating out?

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Tips to Stock and Organize your Pantry

I’ve been known to have a VERY well-stocked pantry. I guess that comes from my mom — because growing up, we always had 4 or 5 more of everything down on the pantry shelves in the basement.

And although Dave and I don’t really have a true “pantry” in our kitchen, we have several shelving units in our basement that house all our extra canned goods, baking supplies, cereal, chips, snacks, beverages, and loads of other non-perishable food supplies.

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Organizing My Business Taxes with Outright.com

About a month ago, I shared the REALLY simple way I organize all our tax documents. I still use that method for both our personal tax documents AND for my business tax documents… and so far I don’t have any reason to change or alter this system.

However, I’ve also been using Outright.com for the past two years and I’m thrilled with how easy it is to use. I can’t believe how much it has helped me to organize all my business tax information!

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Inspiration for Our Kitchen Renovation!

Dave and I are already starting to make plans for a massive kitchen/dinning room renovation we hope to start and finish this summer {with the help of my dad and many others I’m sure}!

I’ll be sharing more photos, ideas, and details in the months leading up to our renovation… but right now, we’re still in the “dreaming” stage and trying to decide what we want to incorporate into our new kitchen. Here are a few pictures of what my dream kitchen might look like!

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Increase Your Productivity at Home and at Work

Each month, I write a few posts for other blogs… and for the month of February, my guest posts were all about productivity {one of my favorite subjects!}

I talk a lot about productivity, time management, schedules, to-do lists, etc. etc. but there is ALWAYS so much more to say! So if you’re looking for a few more tips and ideas to help increase your productivity at home and at work, the links below are filled with helpful tips and suggestions!

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Which “Green” Products are Worth the Extra Cost?

Now days, it seems like there is a new “green”, “natural”, “organic”, and/or “eco-friendly” alternative for every product on the market — and the main difference I see between these “green” products and the other “regular” products is the price! “Green” products ALWAYS seem to be more expensive!

I honestly don’t have enough information to know when it’s just a marketing ploy or when it’s “for real” — so I’m wondering what your thoughts are about paying more for “green”?

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Hearty Sausage and Cheese Tortellini Soup

Soup is my go-to meal option , especially during cooler months, as it’s an easy and frugal way to get a hearty meal on the table using whatever I have in the house!

This sausage and cheese tortellini soup is so delicious and filling… and yes, it taste wonderful as leftovers (so make a double batch!)

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SIMPLE Tips to Get Organized

As the name of my website suggests, I’m all about keeping things as SIMPLE as possible — especially when it comes to getting organized.

Getting {and staying} organized might not be “easy” but it IS relatively “simple”. However if you are still feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, I have a few “SIMPLE” tips that might just help!

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My Favorite WordPress Plugins

One of my favorite things about using Wordpress as my blogging platform is the ability to quickly and easily customize my site with the thousands of free plugins available.

I have usually have around 15 plugins activated at any given time, and I love them all… here are some of my all-time favorites!

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Gearing Up for Garage Sale Season

Yes, I know, it’s only the middle of February — however, if you are serious about having a successful garage sale this spring, you should start planning now!

I’ve been to hundreds of garage sales, yard sales, estate sales, second hand sales, new-to-you sales, mom-to-mom sales, etc. etc. and in my opinion, there are a few things you can do NOW to make sure your sale is a success… and it really won’t take that much time or effort!

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How the iPhone Saved My Productivity

Dave and I recently renewed our 2-year cell phone contracts… and we both got iPhones! Yes, it was totally against our ultra-frugal nature, but I have to say, the iPhone has completely saved any shred of productivity I had left after Nora arrived!

Now, 2 months later, I would honestly say that these iPhones are one of our best purchases. I can’t believe we lived without them for so long!

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Organizing a Refrigerator by Temperature

Several weeks ago we started having major issues with our refrigerator; and as we were trying to fix the issues, I noticed that the top shelf of our refrigerator was 10-12 degrees warmer than the bottom drawers — and the same was true for the freezer!

Now that things are “fixed” I decided to reorganize our refrigerator by temperature… and I can’t believe the difference it has made in the freshness of our food!

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Motherhood: The Most Difficult Job I’ve Ever Had

I’m the type of person who likes to be good at everything I do. I’m a fast learner, I work really hard, I’m willing to do things I don’t want to do, make sacrifices, deal with difficult situations, push myself to be better… and I LOVE a challenge. So I should excel at motherhood… right?

But for some reason, I feel like I’m barely staying afloat. After 13 weeks, I’m still quite overwhelmed, and have decided to give in to my new little “boss” who now seems to run the show over at the Dekker house!

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The Best Apple Cake!

It’s honestly the BEST apple cake/bread I’ve ever made! It tasted absolutely delicious plain {for breakfast} and with a dollop of whipped cream {for dessert}! And even though I cut out some of the fat by replacing half the oil with my homemade applesauce, this cake was still SO moist and very dense with a grand total of FIVE chopped up apples!

I think this might be my new “go-to” recipe for apples… I only wish I didn’t have to wait until next Fall to have a great selection of fresh Michigan apples!

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Creative Office Organization

Working in an organized space will not only help you to be more efficient and more productive — it will also help you to enjoy the time you spend in your office area!

Whether you work in a big corner office, the back bedroom of your house, your car, or even a tray table in your living room, there are plenty of creative ways you can better organize your office space… and I’m sharing a bunch of them today!

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My Bathroom Cleaning Bucket

Despite my best attempts to keep my cleaning supplies simple and organized, they were starting to pile up again… and I wanted to do something about it. Plus I was just in the mood for a quick organizing project 🙂

So a couple weeks ago, I got to work organizing our cleaning supplies and purging anything I wasn’t using. I also created a new bathroom cleaning bucket — which has saved me so much time already!

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Andrea Dekker
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