Sunday Reads: secrets to mom happiness, fun cleaning products, squirrel thieves
by Meagan Francis on April 22, 2012
Happy Sunday! I hope you’re having a great weekend. Since I spent yesterday at Bloggy Boot Camp in St. Louis and am about to get back on the road for home, I haven’t done much of any blog reading this weekend. But I do have a few posts of my own I’d like to share: [READ MORE…]
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Coming clean about money: 5 financial pitfalls
by Meagan Francis on April 20, 2012
I originally wrote this post about a year ago, but since I’m focusing on money management this week, it seemed like a good time to bump it back up. Would love to hear your thoughts!
My parents separated when I was five. Up until then, according to my siblings, we’d had a nice, if not flashy, middle-class lifestyle: a newer ranch house with harvest gold appliances, two used cars in the driveway, braces on the teeth and new school clothes.
I don’t really remember that phase of my life.
What I do remember is Phase 2: Extreme Frugality. [READ MORE…]
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4 reasons we eat out too much – and how to break the cycle
by Meagan Francis on April 18, 2012
In Monday’s post about tightening up our family finances, I mentioned that we have been eating out too much lately, and several of you admitted that you’re in the same boat.
So how to cut down on the restaurant meals? Well, it helps to know why you’re turning to them in the first place. I reflected on it for a while and came up with four basic reasons I eat out too much – and some solutions to steer my eating habits back toward home: [READ MORE…]
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Mindful Monday: financial tune-up time
April 16, 2012Guess what my husband and I spent all Friday afternoon doing? Our taxes. Ugh. As two self-employed people who are better at earning money than handling it, filing with the IRS – even with the help of “foolproof” (ha!) software – is a major chore. But it also serves as a useful yearly reminder to [...]
Sunday Reads: Bird watching, forgiveness, growing through motherhood, feeding babies, raised beds
April 15, 2012How’s your weekend going? It’s been a lovely and relaxing one here. I’m visiting my sister for the weekend but still managed to catch a handful of blog gems for your enjoyment:
(Not all that) serious business: newsletter update, speaking appearances, special advertising offer
April 13, 2012I took this picture at the Grand Rapids Public Museum during our trip last week. It was too funny not to share. As you can see from the very serious faces of my boys and husband, this post is going to be just packed with serious bizness. Housekeeping details, updates, that kind of thing. It [...]
I am THAT mom: reflections on a merely adequate Easter celebration
April 11, 2012I am the mom who bought our Easter-egg painting kit at the dollar store, thinking “It’s a PAAS kit, how crappy could it be?” only to get it home and find out this basic dollar-store kit didn’t even have a wax crayon inside. (Turns out regular crayons work, sort of, in a pinch.) I am [...]
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