Take a peek at life in the Dekker house — what we did to pass our extra time at home, the foods I made, the books I read, and a little inspiration to simplify your own home and life!
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Exciting News From The Blog!
A lot has changed in my life over the past 10 years… but one thing that has remained the same is my commitment to simplify every aspect of life … for my own family, AND for yours.
As I look ahead to a new decade, I’m excited to share even more simple-living tips and inspiration with you. BUT… I plan to share this information in a slightly different way. Keep reading for some exciting news!
How My Home and Family Benefit from my Early Morning Routine
Rushed and busy mornings are not high on my list of favorite things… if you feel the same way, I hope today’s post offers you the motivation you need to simplify your mornings once and for all.
It’s AMAZING how simply sticking with my early morning routine sets a positive tone for our whole family for the entire day!
Why You Should Make a “Done List”
Have you ever gotten to the end of a day and felt like you accomplished absolutely nothing? Yup, me too! Whenever these feelings of inadequacy strike, I know it’s time to make another “Done List” — or a list of everything I accomplished that day.
A Done List is an excellent way to practice gratitude and contentment, and I’m challenging you to try it this year!
5 Steps to Quickly Clear Your Closet Clutter
Over the course of my life, I have implemented many different clutter-busting strategies. However, today’s tips to quickly clear your closet clutter remain at the very TOP of my list.
If your closets could use a little TLC, give my simple 5-step process a try. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you see results with this simple clutter-busting technique!
My Slightly More Ergonomic Office
After suffering from mild to moderate lower back and neck pain for the majority of my adult life, I FINALLY started to see a chiropractor a few months ago… and I’ve made a couple really SIMPLE changes in my office space to make it slightly more ergonomic!
I still have a LONG way to go to heal my back, but I’m taking small steps in the right direction!
When Simple Isn’t Popular
I’ve been striving to live simply and to be more organized for as long as I can remember… and although “simple living” is an extremely popular topic in today’s society, my real-life simple choices are not always equally as popular.
I hope today’s post gives you the confidence to make simple living choices that work for YOU, even if they aren’t the most popular!
8 Tips That Help Me Avoid Writer’s Block
I’m often asked how I come up with enough content to update my blog 5 times each week… or how I’m able to fit writing into my days with 4 children at home.
As a “writer” I have a handful of tips that help me simplify the writing process as well as stay consistent in my writing efforts throughout the years. I’m sharing those in today’s post!
Fit. Feel. Flatter. My Wardrobe Simplifiers
Today I’m sharing how focusing on “fit, feel, and flatter” has helped me realize when I’m hanging onto clothing out of guilt and/or sentiment, or if I actually like the item and will wear it on a regular basis.
It’s a fairly simple concept that I think (or at least hope) will help you pare down your closet so you’re left with only the things you love and feel great wearing!
A Peek Into Our Holiday Week
I’m back from a little blogging break over the holiday week, and I’m sharing updates on our summer goals, lots of cute pictures of the kids, a few pictures from James’ birthday party, and 2 fun freebies! I also have a question regarding my sourdough bread attempts!
Thanks for sticking around while I took a week off!
Don’t Let Urgent Get in the Way of Important
One thing I have stressed over and over and over again in my own life, with past clients, with my children, and here on my blog is the importance of planning ahead.
I could talk about planning ahead all day long, but if I had to boil it down to one single reason why planning ahead helps me to simplify, streamline, and de-stress my entire life, it would be this: Planning ahead lets me focus on the IMPORTANT instead of dealing with the URGENT.
Yes, You Can Learn To Be More Productive!
For as much of my life as I can remember, I have been highly motivated by productivity — I think I was just born this way! That said, even if you weren’t born with super “productive powers”, I believe you can LEARN to be more productive IF you’re willing to invest a little time and effort.
If you’re ready to jump-start your productivity, eliminate wasted time, and stop procrastinating, I have the perfect resource for you!
How “Worst-Case-Scenario” Thinking Propels Me Forward
Have you ever wondered something like, Can I freeze this food?, Can I swap these ingredients?, Would this style flatter my figure?, Will this product work for my home?, etc.?
If you sometimes feel paralyzed by indecisiveness or even just unsure of what to do in various situations, give my worst-case-scenario approach a try. I have a feeling it will liberate you and help you move forward in so many areas of life!
3 Habits That WILL Help You Be More Organized
When it comes to simplifying and organizing your home, getting started is often the most difficult and seemingly overwhelming part of the entire project!
If you’re looking for some relatively simple things you can start doing TODAY to help better organize your home and life, I promise the 3 tips in today’s post will most definitely get you moving in the right direction!
Meal Planning 101: How I Plan our Side Dishes
Over the years, I’ve written countless posts about meal planning. These posts DO mention the various side dishes we eat with our meals, but I’ve never really gone into much detail about how I plan, prep, and prepare our side dishes
I’ve gotten a huge number of questions about side dishes, so I felt it was finally time to devote one full post to the topic… that’s what we’re focusing on today!
A Detailed Look At Our Weekly Meal Plans
Although I’ve shared many posts about meal planning over the years, it continues to be one of the most requested post topics… so I’m back again with a more detailed look at what exactly we eat and how I plan all our meals each week. I’m even including breakfast and lunches in this post!
If you’ve never tried meal planning before (or if you’ve fallen off the meal planning bandwagon) I think today’s post will help simplify the process and (hopefully) motivate you to give it another try!
Could Clutter Cost You Your Home?
A couple weeks ago, I took the older 3 kids to a local Fire Station open house — it was so much fun! The kids enjoyed all the goodies in their grab bags, and I learned quite a bit from reading through the packets of information handed out to parents.
One article in particular caught my attention — about reducing the risk of fire by reducing the clutter in our homes. I’m sharing more in today’s post!
6 Specific Ways We Simplify Busy Mornings
As a self-proclaimed homebody, you would be shocked to know that our current Fall schedule has our entire family up and out the door every single weekday morning for some activity or another!
Of course, getting Nora on the bus and the other 3 out the door with me can sometimes feel like a mini circus act — however, thanks to a handful of specific steps we take the night before, our mornings rarely ever feel stressful, frazzled, hectic, or too busy. I’m sharing our “secrets” in today’s post!