Explore every episode of the podcast Claiming Simplicity | Simple Life, Natural Wellness, Holistic Health, High Ticket Affiliate Marketing, Non Toxic
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| EP 183 // Finding Time Freedom: Simplifying Life with Faith and Passive Income | 30 Aug 2024 | 00:04:57 | |
Hey Friend!
Simple Passive Income-> https://www.claimingsimplicity.co/
Today, I want to talk about something that's been weighing on my heart—time freedom. In our fast-paced world, it's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and forget what truly matters. But what if I told you there’s a way to reclaim your time, spend more precious moments with your kids, and simplify your life—all by working just 2 hours a day? It might sound impossible, but with a simple, done-for-you automated system, it’s not only possible, it’s within reach for anyone, no matter where you are in the world. This system creates passive income, meaning you’re not trading hours for dollars anymore. Instead, you’re building a life where you have the freedom to do what you love, with the people you love creating memories. Imagine the joy of waking up without the rush, being fully present for your children every single day, and ending each day with peace in your heart, knowing that you’re providing for your family without sacrificing your time with them. That’s the kind of life we all dream of, isn’t it? As a Christian, I believe that our time here is precious and that we’re called to be good stewards of it. By freeing up your time through this system, you can focus on what truly matters—your faith, your family, and your purpose. Whether it’s attending every church service, being more involved in your community, or simply having the time to pray and reflect, this system allows you to live in alignment with your values. And the best part? You don’t need any tech skills to get started. This system is designed to be simple and accessible, so anyone can use it to start earning passive income. It’s about creating a life that’s less complicated, more fulfilling, and truly blessed. So, if you're ready to take that step toward time freedom, where you can focus on your family, your faith, and what really matters, then click the link in the show notes and let me know if you have any questions! I am so excited for you to start living a life of freedom! Remember, you deserve a life where you’re not just surviving, but truly living. Let’s simplify, prioritize, and build something that not only supports your family financially but enriches your life spiritually. With God’s guidance and this proven system, anything is possible." Website and Waitlist: Simple Passive Income-> https://www.claimingsimplicity.co/ Pinterest -> https://pin.it/4ulAVwr You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/
Love ya!Monica
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| EP 182 // Dream Again: The SIMPLE Path to Financial Freedom for Busy Families | 23 Aug 2024 | 00:06:30 | |
Hey Friend! Welcome to a new series called Freedom Fridays to simplify life. If you're juggling work, home, and everything in between, and you're exhausted from the daily grind of that 9-to-5, this episode is for you. Today, I want to talk about something that could change your life—making a significant passive income online in just 2 hours a day with a simple, automated system no matter where you live in the world. Imagine getting paid while you sleep I want to show you how you can take back control of your time like I did, ease your financial worries, and—most importantly—start dreaming again. Love Ya! Monica Simple Income Stream Info -> https://www.claimingsimplicity.co/ Simple Homesteading for Christians-> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ Pinterest -> https://www.pinterest.com/claimingsimplicity/ | |||
| EP 173 // 3 Steps to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed With All the Homesteading Things You Want to Do so You Can Have Less Stress, Enjoy the Journey, & Simplify Your Life | 25 Mar 2024 | 00:08:35 | |
Hello I know you want to be doing all the homesteading things you see on instagram and social media, but the truth is, you are going to get burnt out trying to do it all. I want you to stop and think about what is important in your life. I know that when my kids were young, there is no way that I would’ve been able to do all the things that I do now that I have teenagers that are able to help out and are also independent and that makesa big difference. Littles need so much from you, so enjoy them while you can-they grow way too quick. I am so excited to be creating a program for you so you can learn how to do some of the homesteading skills you want to learn without feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. I want this to be a sustainable lifestyle for you! Join the waitlist at the link below so you get first dibs on the discounts I will offer to email subscribers only!!!! Everything I teach is simple and whether you work full time or are a busy full time Mom, you will be able to learn step by step just how simple it is!
First, you need to take an inventory of where you are spending your time. It may be shocking to you where you may be wasting time. I really encourage you to track this for a week or two. If you don’t pay attention, days, weeks, months, and then years are just going to pass you by and you are going to say…..I wish I would have done this or that and you can’t get that time back.
Next, if you want to stop feeling overwhelmed, you need to just focus on one thing first and then build on that. You only take on what you feel is simple and doesn’t cause you stress. If you are getting frustrated making sourdough bread, then just make some homemade bread with yeast~you friend, don’t have to do what everyone else is doing. Just by taking that one step, you will improve your family’s health by so much. Once you are in a routine of that every week or every month, then add one more simple skill. Maybe you decide to make all your own hand soap~remember, it is just as important to change the ingredients you are using on your skin as the food you are eating. It doesn’t make sense to eat healthy if you putting toxins on the largest organ of your body, you have to think about natural living as a whole. If you changing everything right away, you are most likely to fail, so little by little~there is no hurry.
Lastly, build your community of like minded people. If you don’t have any people around you, then find your people online. Living in a small town of 500 people, I understand this completely! Trying to explain to people that you are a podcaster or have an online business is foreign to them and they can’t fathom making money without going to a physical job to trade hours for dollars. As nice as it is to live in the middle of nowhere, it is so beneficial to have a tribe with similar values online too! We are really grateful to be surrounded by a community of homesteaders that we hang out with often, but sometimes it is hard to find your people locally! You need to find your people and you will feel less overwhelmed when you can really find people you resonate with.
Even online, I make sure that if I am watching or following someone, they are aligned with my values and my Christian faith. I just heard someone recently say that they thought they hung out with all Christians until they became one and then they realized all the ones that they thought were Christians really are not! I could relate to this so much. I remember someone telling me years ago that just be a good person and you will go to heaven. That is not correct at all!! You have to have to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior-it doesn’t matter what you have done, Jesus loves us all and He wants to have a relationship with you! If you have any questions about this, please email me! I would love to chat. Love ya! Monica Website and Waitlist:
Simple Homesteading for Christians-> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/
Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ Pinterest -> https://www.pinterest.com/claimingsimplicity/ y/Pinterest -> https://pin.it/4ulAVwr You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/ Oils -> my.doterra.com/monicabaker/ Doterra -> https://referral.doterra.me/12623979 Tower Garden -> http://monicabaker.towergarden.com DIY Cleaners ->https://claiming-simplicity.ck.page/best-diy-cleaner
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| Why Would You Even Want to Homestead When You Didn’t Grow Up With it? Do You Want to Learn How to Preserve Food, Become More Self-Sufficient, Save Money and Reduce Expenses? | 06 Mar 2023 | 00:05:51 | |
Hey Friend! Never grew up homesteading, but you want to start? I grew up on a dairy farm, so that is where I get my work ethic, but I didn’t grow up with a garden, canning or making too many things from scratch! It wasn’t until after I was married and had a few young kids in my early 20’s when I even had any interest! Much of it came out of necessity at that time. I wanted to raise my own kids, so I had to find creative ways to save money and that is just what I did!
When my 3 oldest kids were young, I started working for a company doing food taste testing parties and it grew into a full time income in just a few parties a week, so I that was my first experience with growing a business with less hours and it was perfect for me at the time because I was with the kids all day and then I would get my adult time in the evening with a bunch of women! It was perfect! Once they got a little older and got into sports, it was alot harder to do parties in the evenings, so I had to go a different route.
Working from home became a passion of mine and I started making things to sell and they just sold word of mouth. At that time, I didn’t have alot of technical ability……that was over 20 years ago….well, tech is still a struggle for me, but at least now there are so many more resources available online to figure things out, so that has been helpful. Now you can reach so many more people online that are in your niche which is fantastic!
I started in my early 20’s making spaghetti sauce with the help of a neighbor I used to babysit for and I was hooked on canning! My first few things I canned were green beans and spaghetti sauce and I didn’t grow the vegetables at first. I would just try new recipes over the years to add to my knowledge. There were a few years that I didn’t have a garden and I didn’t can and then my father in law borrowed my canner and lost the knob for the top, so I was just water bath canning and didn’t do any pressure cooked items for a while. At that time, I didn’t consider myself a homesteader, but I was really really good at saving money! I honestly hadn’t heard the homesteading word even used up until the last few years.
For me, living this lifestyle was about the enjoyment of preserving food, but mostly it was about saving money and having less expenses so I could stay at home with my kids. If I could stretch my dollar as far as I could, that would feel like success to me. Not to mention how much better everything tasted when you cook from scratch and make simple homemade meals. Even if you don’t consider yourself a homesteader you can still learn how to preserve food, grow a garden, and raise animals. (and if you want more info on what homesteading means, you can listen to podcast episode #70)
It wasn’t until 2020 that I decided that I wanted to live more self-sufficient and produce as much food as I could on our own so that I wouldn’t have to worry about not finding grocery items at the store and then I realized that so many people have no idea even where to start, so that is why I have been working on creating a course to teach you some very simple skills. Remember that I keep everything very very simple. Slow living is the best living. It has been good for my body and my adrenal glands that get depleted very easy and it has been good for my family to not live the super fast paced life where they don’t even have time to enjoy the simple things in life. We make time for so many more things now and homesteading has been really fun to teach friends and family so that they can live this lifestyle for years to come. The bonus is that when the grocery prices started rising so fast, we needed very few items from the store since we had prepared and preserved whatever we could.
I know that you may be thinking that learning to grow and preserve your own food and homesteading is complicated, but let me tell you friend, I don’t have time or patience for anything complicated, so if I can do this, so can you. You can be a homesteader no matter where you live or what your background is. Come and join my email list so you can be the first to see when I roll out these simple classes to get you started to saving money!!!! Website: Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
As always, have a great week! Monica | |||
| Do You Want to Learn How to Start a Garden and Buy Less Groceries? Simple Tips for Beginner Gardeners by Starting Seeds to Grow Your Own Food to Save Money and Reduce Food Expenses this year. | 03 Mar 2023 | 00:10:07 | |
Welcome Friend I get so many questions about growing seeds and I am not an expert at all, but I will give you the information I know! Remember, if you don’t have time to grow your own seeds, you can buy them before you plant your garden from greenhouses that has done that part for you and that is what I did for many many years, but it is a little more expensive. I just planted seeds and I know I had so many questions when I first started doing a garden. Depending on where you live, this may not even apply to you because you may have already planted yours, but if not-this info is for you and if you have, you can always use this info for next year!!! I don’t start all of my seeds, but tomatoes, peppers, and a few others is what I like to get started before we can bring outside to plant because our season in so short in MN.. It probably wont be ready to plant outside until late may, early June here!
First I want to talk about the different seed types. There are Heirloom seeds which means they have been around at least 50 years. If you save the heirloom seeds - they are going to be the exact same vegetable you had originally planted. Next is the hybrid and that just means that the plants have been cross pollinated to have qualities of 2 different plants that have created a better plant. It is a natural process and they are safe to use, but if you save the seeds from a hybrid, you are not going to get the same plant-you might get qualities from one of the parent plants the following year.
All the seeds are organic, so you don’t have to worry about if it says organic on the package and don’t want to pay more money for that.
Also, another myth is you have to look for GMO on package-you do not have to worry about that either.
This is only my second year starting seeds, so I am going to teach you what I have done! Look on the seed packet to see when you should plant-it will depend on your zone.
I use seed starting cells and a tray underneath & dome. It comes all together.
Never bring in outdoor soil to start seeds. If you bring that inside, you will bring in fungus, disease and insects. As soon as you bring it in, mold and disease will grow and kill your seedlings, so buy seed starting mix.
So once you are ready, you will put the dirt in the cells or cups with holes in the bottom, plant the seeds-you can use popsicle sticks to mark plants, and then you will put a small amount of water in the bottom tray (about ¼ full)so the water goes up into the plant-dump what is left of water after about 30 minutes. Once you see the plants are a lighter brown and dry water them, let them be dry for a day or so and then water from the bottom again. After 10-14 days of plant growing, you will want to fertilize with any water soluble fertilizer (but only use about ¼ of what it calls for) Do that about once a month (but be careful because you can do more harm if you use too much) I didn’t even use fertilizer last year and we had a very abundant garden, so im thinking it was because of our chicken and turkey poop fertilizer we had outside. It probably depends how long you have seeds indoors too. Honestly, it is a trial every year. Last year our peppers didn’t grow as well and many people in our area said they had the same problem, so each year ends up a little different, so it you are just starting out growing your own food, don’t give up! Enjoy this replay and I will be back next week!
Website: Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Happy Planting! Monica
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| What is Financial Success as a Christian? Take a Look at an Eternal Point of View of Money | 27 Feb 2023 | 00:04:18 | |
Hey Friend! What is financial success to you? So many people define financial success as retiring early, a million dollars in the bank, material Items and how much they accumulate, but I believe it should look different as a Christian. I challenge you to look at this differently. As Christians, we are eternal beings and I believe that our life should not be measured by what we accumulate on earth, but by what we give.
Instead of fancy vehicles and focusing on material items, choose to give more to those in need and give all the glory to God. There are so many opportunities to give- missionaries, and so many many Christian based ministries. Your money is God’s money-keep your hands wide open for what He wants you to do with it. Once you change away from the world’s view of materialism, you may think about giving in a different way. When you value your priorities differently, you can change the world with God’s help. He can do big things through you, so don’t ever doubt that once you change your life, you will see a difference. We are proof that once you change the focus from yourself to others, everything changes. We have seen God’s hand in so many things more than ever these last 10 years.
Don’t ever place your worth in a dollar value. Look at financial success as God does. Eternity is forever, but our time on this earth is short. Make sure you are making the best of it and giving wherever you can. God sees you and it will not go unnoticed. Sometimes this means giving of your time if you don’t have the funds because serving is also considered giving.
I just wanted to bring this up because I had this conversation with a friend recently and we both thought most people don’t think like this, so this is just something for you to ponder on this lovely day!
Website: Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/
God Bless! Monica
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| Are You Taking Time to Rest Each Day? In Order to Know God’s Will, You May Want to Slow Down and Have Simple Quiet Time So You Can Hear From God! | 23 Feb 2023 | 00:04:56 | |
Welcome to another episode I can't even tell you how awesome it is not using social media! I didn't realize how much it zapped my energy even using it so sparingly! I realize when I get too busy that I have less time for God which is the most important thing in my life. My life suffers when this happens and since I love to always be doing things and can get caught up in the hustle, I have to sit back, slow down and figure out what is going on and it almost always comes back to not having quiet time and listening to what God is trying to tell me. It doesn’t take alot of effort to take even 10 minutes every day to just sit in the quietness of the Lord. Praise Him for who He is and Thank God for what He is doing in your Life no matter how small it may seem and then just sit in His presence. He wants time with you. Start doing this daily- put an alarm on your phone during the day to take the time or get up 10 minutes earlier to take this time. It is incredibly simple to do and SO SO important!
I was at a Women’s Christian Leadership Retreat last weekend and during the worship time, God really spoke to me and even though I heard this message over a year ago, I know now that I can’t wonder if it is my thought or if it is God and I need to be Obedient. I will go into this story as things unfold and God reveals more to me, but as for now, I will take each step as it comes and I am more eager than ever to see what God has planned. We are in a season of change which isn’t always easy, but following God is not easy in the world we live in today where evil is good and good is evil. Keep doing good friend-you may be persecuted for it, but remember that eternity with Jesus forever is worth it! Continue to let Biblical scripture lead you and don’t be led astray. Be diligent in teaching your children and Grandchildren truth from the Word of God.
I just want to thank so many of you who have been reaching out-I truely appreciate you!! I would love to reach more people across the world to learn about Jesus, so if you could take a few seconds to give a rating and review, I would really appreciate it because then this podcast can continue to reach even more people! If you are someone who wants to learn more about Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please reach out to me at monica@claimingsimplicity.com~I would love to hear from you!!!!
Make sure you take time to rest in the Lord’s presence each day friend! He loves you!!!! Go to the website and join our email group for some good nuggets! Website: Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com
xoxo, Monica | |||
| Why Do You Want to Live a Simpler Life in 2023? Do You Want to Enjoy More of Your Passions or Is It Simply Because You Want to Enjoy Making More Memories with Your Loved Ones? | 20 Feb 2023 | 00:05:47 | |
Hello This last week with all of our grandkids here, it really reminded me of the reason I do what I do! On Friday after having a fish fry the night before with my parents, kids, and all the grandkids,I had to think……what day is it? Our closest Grandkids are 30 minutes away with the others about 1.5 hours away, so because we don’t live really close, it doesn’t always happen that we have everyone here for most of the week or for dinner on the weekdays, but it sure was fun! I have always loved being able to be flexible, but when my husband and I worked full time, there was little flexibility and we wouldn’t be able to take all the kids and get to all their events during the week if we hadn’t chosen this different path. This week the kids had fun ice skating and our 6 year old was so excited she was able to skate and do twirls instead of shuffling behind a chair, they went snowmobiling, sledding, ziplining, helped with the goats and chickens, went to a homeschool valentine’s party, baked with us and it was another week of memories. We sure cherish all the time we get with our Grandkids and family. You can’t ever take back these days and we have never regretted raising our own kids and I am so so forever grateful to be able to help out whenever we are needed with Grandkids too!
This got me thinking about you. Do you have joy in your everyday life or are you rushing through every day just wishing for more peace and time to enjoy life? Are you wishing you could slow down and live a simpler life? Do you want to be able to be at home and raise your own kids or be available for grandkids? What is holding you back? Is it finances? Do you just have too much debt to ever think about living on one income? If this is your reason, I want you to take a good look at your situation and where you can make some changes. When you think about possessions, remember Proverbs 22:7 - The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender. With debt - you are a slave-what does that mean to you? I realize each and every one of you are in a different situation, but if God has put this calling in your heart to live a simpler life, He will help you. You do have to do the work, but don’t forget that anything is possible with God.
Sometimes you have to make a different career choice-there has never been a better time to work from home or start a side hustle to replace your full time income. With the internet, you can reach people with your gifts all around the world! You have to think out of the box! You may feel stuck in your job because you spent alot of money and time in college doing what you do, but you don’t love it or it is stressful. I want you to remember, you have choices!
You may be doing what you do because you feel the need to keep up with friends but you are exhausted and you are not loving what you do. Start looking inside yourself and take the time to think about what really matters to you. Is it making memories or is it having the top of the line material items. You can’t take any of that to heaven with you, so why are you burning the candle at both ends just trying to keep up? You can only do that so long! I would love for you to email me at monica@claimingsimplicity.com and tell me where you are struggling and what I can help you with - I also have a few 15 minute discovery calls left this month to help you get started on your simple living path because it is so rewarding and I don’t think it is something you will ever regret. Whether you want to start saving money, learn about raising your own food or just learn how to make simple food from scratch or your own non toxic household products, I can help you. Shoot me a message-I would be happy to help you if I can!
There really is nothing so special as being able to make memories. If I die tomorrow, I sure hope that my Grandkids learn enough from me to grow deep in their faith as they grow up because I believe that in the times we are living now, that they need to be equipped and strong in their faith with all that is thrown at them. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Think about your own walk….are you growing in your faith so that your cup can overflow into others while you are making memories? I think this is so important!
Are you ready to make a change this year or are you going to continue to live as you are right now? I want you to live this abundant life God has for us. Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/
Until next time-Be Blessed! Monica
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| Eating Traditional Nutrient Dense Foods Like Our Ancestors Did to Help You Heal Your Body and Improve Metabolic Health | 16 Feb 2023 | 00:05:02 | |
Hey Friend It is starting to warm up here at the time of this recording, but even though it has been cold, I have had so much incredible time with friends crafting for 4 days and then another weekend time with friends that I don’t see very often and another weekend at a Womens leadership retreat, we have been ice fishing and my family has caught a bunch of fish, so even when it is cold, we still gather and have quality time with people we love-even though it may not be outside!
Today I want to talk about the simple foods we eat. I no longer eat for what my body looks like, but for my metabolic health and to heal my body from the inside out. I have talked on here about how over the years up until 3 years ago, I have tried every diet there was including keto, paleo, vegan, and the list goes on and on, but when I had an abnormal EKG after doing Keto and then getting my body age, I realized that I needed to quit worrying about weight and worry more about health, so after doing alot of research,i realized that auto-immune disorders and our health problems come down to mostly what we eat. I knew that even though our soil is so depleted that we won’t benefit from all the nutrients our ancestors did, if we get closer to a nourishing ancestral diet with nutrient dense foods, we will be much healthier.
I had some testing done and I found out I had food allergies to milk, wheat, tomatoes, tuna, kidney beans, kale, and 10 other items, so when I started cooking from scratch with whole food ingredients, I noticed a huge difference in my gut health. I can’t wait to retest and see how many of these food allergies are gone. Since switching so much of what we eat, my family has become even healthier and it has saved thousands of dollars making it ourselves and growing the food. We buy organic whenever possible if we aren’t growing it as we are more aware of pesticides and also our gut health has improved immensly.
My list of nutrient-dense foods that we typically eat daily does not include a bunch of random super-foods that are expensive and hard to find. My diet has shifted to eating more Traditional Foods….or as I like to call it, following an Ancestral or Primal diet. Eating the way my ancestors have eaten for thousands of years. Traditional foods are the types of nutrient dense foods I now focus on for our whole family.
These foods are for anyone, at any stage in life. They’re rich in nutrients that your body needs to thrive.
Nutrient Dense foods we eat every day
Eggs from our chickens Raw Cheese Fermented Veggies Fruit Raw Milk Butter Animal Protein
It sure makes a difference in how we feel. We still eat our fruit and veggie tablets daily, but that is because we couldn’t possibly get 30 different kinds of fruits and vegetables every day and those have kept our whole family free from sickness for over 3 years now. I will put the link below if you are interested! When you nourish your body with the right foods, you will feel AND LOOK your best!!! If you want to be part of our community of like minded women that want to learn more about making simple traditional nutrient dense foods, join our group-the link is below in the description!!
And if you are enjoying this podcast, please share it with a friend and as always, feel free to send me an emaili with any questions or things you would like to simplify~I seriously LOVE hearing from you!
Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/ Fruits & Veggies -> https://www.monicabaker.juiceplus.com/ God Bless! Monica
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| 3 Simple Ways You Can Save Money on Groceries in 2023 with Rising Prices of Food. Reduce Expenses All While Keeping Your Meals Simple, Thrifty and Healthy | 13 Feb 2023 | 00:04:51 | |
Hello Friend It was really amazing how little I spent on food last month with our no spend challenge and I thought there is no reason we can’t eat like this all year because we wasted so much less. I honestly don’t like cooking anything that is putsy or takes alot of time, so my goal is to have simple, thrifty, and healthy meals!
Saving money and learning how to make your own foods is an important skill to have as we continue to see grocery prices rise. It is just an extra benefit to being able to have better tasting food that is healthier for you without all the additives and preservatives in the store bought food.
I am compiling a list of my favorite recipes that I like to use to swap out the expensive food/mixes from the store, so if you want to get on the wait list, just send me an email and say wait list!
Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/
Have a fantastic day! Monica
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| Do You Want to Slow Down and Have a Simpler Life? 3 Steps to Begin Your Simple Living Journey That You Can Start Right Now No Matter How Busy You Are | 09 Feb 2023 | 00:06:29 | |
Welcome to another week of Claiming Simplicity Are you wanting to pursue more simplicity in your life? Many years ago, I realized I wanted to spend my days with more meaning and not consuming and competing.
Pursuing a simplified life can be just as exhausting at times as pursuing the fast one because it doesn’t just happen on its own. You still have to manage balancing family life, work life, and personal life—while trying to maintain a slower life. You may have to learn new skills from budgeting differently to learning how to cook from scratch or preserving food and there is a learning curve if you don’t know how to do these things. It is so very rewarding though! In my current season, serving my husband, children and grandchildren calls for most of my energy, so my business is often secondary. There’s a lot of No in my vocabulary right now because we say yes to better things, but with each new season, that will always be changing. I have 2 daughters still at home that homeschool and are in sports year round, so that takes much of my focus because I know that season will be over in 6 years and I want them to know they are my priority right now. I also work my businesses early in the morning and free hours that we are not running with kids. Kids are only young for so long and I don’t want to miss it. I don’t want you to miss out either! So what are you doing to make a change? If you don’t make a plan and start, you will be exactly where you were last year! Please please please make a plan to learn something new and begin to move forward so when you look at your goals for this year, you can look back and be proud of yourself! I want to give you some skills because this is what my brand is all about!
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| Learn to Save Money, Live Intentionally and Escape the Trap of Overconsumption to Find Freedom in Frugality and the No Spend Challenge Recap | 06 Feb 2023 | 00:04:58 | |
Hello I do this no spend challenge and freezer and pantry clean out every January, but it was really fun to do with other people this year! It is such a great way to begin the new year with new habits and many of those habits stay throughout the year. Being intentional about every single purchase is so good to be aware of. I value time, flexibility and freedom over consumerism and material items and I love teaching you to live a simpler, more natural and meaningful life so you can enjoy this incredible life God gave us. I think excessive consumption keeps people from financial security and builds kingdoms of clutter in our houses, schedules, bank statements and environment. I want you to buy less of what doesn’t matter so you can afford more of what does! I love helping people escape the trap of overconsumption to find freedom in frugality!
What I hope you find is your own full life and it probably won’t look like mine, but you can start designing your own version of financial freedom and you may find you enjoy the pursuit of it!
We had some great things happen in the group! My favorite are more family time with homecooked meals and teaching kids the importance of spending less, trips to the library for the first time, fishing with family, family hiking, decluttering and just being aware of every single purchase and only buying essentials. When we live more intentionally, our lives become more significant in so many ways! When you live for treasure in heaven instead of treasures on earth, you have more time to enjoy the life you have and that is why I encourage people to simplify their lives to live better.
Money spent on groceries was very minimal and most members had to get a little creative when trying to use up pantry items and cleaning out the freezer.
When you do a shopping ban or challenge like this you need to figure out what you value. Vision what a values- aligned life looks like. I talk about this in episode 2 of the Claiming Simplicity Podcast. Value vs. Time Assessment. What motivates you? Does spending more time with family motivate you to spend less money? Do you want to stop trading hours for dollars? Do you want to be able to give insane amounts of money to people in need? Do you want to travel whenever you want to and have time freedom and flexability to do it whenever you want to? You have to have a reason that gets you excited to do this!
You also need to know what your challenges and excuses are. Most times these are just limiting mindsets. Change your mindset and you will change your outlook. You might think you are broke, but once you make a budget, you might find that you just overspend. Whatever you think is keeping you from paying off your debt, there is someone else in a situation like yours that has accomplished the same goal because of their mindset. There is alot of scientific studies to prove that mindset significantly implacts the way you make short and long term decisions, so here are some things you can do to improve your limiting mindset. Surround yourself with abundance thinkers and practice gratitude. You are capable of saving more than you can even imagine. Make a goal for yourself and plan to reach it!
You can do a challenge like this any month of the year and I encourage you to try it if you haven’t already. I am super proud of the members of our No spend challenge because most have never tried it before and for the ones that were active, they had success! Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Enjoy your week and God Bless! Monica
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| How I Only Spent $73 for 1 Month of Groceries for a Family of 4 During the January No Spend Challenge. Reducing Your Grocery Budget is Much Easier When You Raise Alot of Your Own Food. | 02 Feb 2023 | 00:07:55 | |
Hey Friend! I was pretty excited to only spend $73 on groceries last month-especially with the food prices right now! I am so grateful that my family hunts and fishes, we grow and preserve our own food, and have chickens for meat and fresh eggs_especially with the price of eggs right now! I used to advise people to eat eggs for an evening meal at least once per week to save money, but now they aren’t going to save a whole lot on that!! My first week of the challenge, I ended up spending $30 because I hadn’t been grocery shopping for a few weeks and I need to buy some extra fruit as we were running low and in our area of the country, we aren’t able to grow fresh fruit for months due to below freezing temps, so that seems to be our biggest expense because I like to buy organic as much as possible and I don’t can very much fruit because we like fresh fruit. I do freeze some fruits, but my frozen apples are gone, but we do still have strawberries. The rest of the week, we ate egg meals for breakfast because I was running low on milk, venison, potatoes and corn, I made a large pot of chicken wild rice soup because I had most of the supplies on hand and we make our own broth, we had a potato, burger and cheese hash, tacos, roast,potatoes, green beans. The second week I made a huge pan of hash to last us most of the week. That is shredded hashbrowns, pork sausage, and eggs-sometimes I put peppers in this, but we didn’t have those on hand. I like to make alot because we like heating it up during the week for breakfast or lunch. I always make large batches of everything whenever I cook because then I have to cook alot less often. Our breakfast can be something as simple as yogurt, smoothies, sourdough dishes, eggs, oatmeal and then we can use leftovers for lunches so I only concentrate on a quick dinner meal. I have not had enough ingredients to make double the meals to freeze like I usually do, but I’m sure I will get back to that when I am done trying to eat mostly out of the pantry and freezer. I had alot of cubed zucchini in the freezer and made some zuchinni lasagna with our canned spaghetti sauce, burger and cheese that we had-it is one of our favorite meals-so much flavor and it is really quick to make. I also made some chicken tacos with chicken in the freezer, venison sloppy joes and french fries, sourdough pizza crust pizza, and chilli. Of course we always have sourdough bread and treats throughout the week as well! So week 2 I only spent $26 because we still had fruit from the week before, but we did have to buy some raw milk to make our greek yogurt and also to have on hand as we ran out the first week along with a few other items.. The 3rd week I spent nothing and we had stroganoff with our homemade sour cream,and venison, one meal was chicken, potatoes, and corn, another was chicken fettuccine with our homemade noodles and homegrown chickens, venison burgers and our homemade french fries we freeze in the fall with the potato crop, , potato soup, omlets and spaghetti squash spaghetti and meatballs, canned pickles, and sourdough garlic bread. I’m being very intentional about what I buy at the store and I am not buying any extra food to stock the cupboards like I normally do when it is on sale. And week 4. I only spent $17. Sourdough pizza, sourdough skillet, eggbake, roast and potatoes, burrito bowls, chicken and sweet potatoes, and fish and french fries. We also ate similar breakfasts to the weeks above and usually leftovers for lunches. The biggest expense we have saved on was not buying snacks and making them all homemade because my kids found some recipes using ingredients we already had, so that was another win from our challenge. Even though I have only been buying the few items for the meals we need week by week, I have not felt deprived at all. It is so nice to have so many nutrient dense foods from our garden,chickens, hunting, and fishing. We will eventually need to buy more groceries just for the simple fact that our pantry staples like flour, sugar, olive oil and spices will eventually be getting low, but I’m actually encouraged to see how long I can actually go without spending more than 120-150/month. Could I do this most of the year? Possibly!I am going to try! And you possibly could too! I know months that we have Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, we wouldn’t be able to since we probably spend a few hundred each holiday for over 25 people, but most other months~especially in the summer and Fall when our garden is producing, we definitely could spend less. If you need help with this, let me know-send me your ingredients and I can help you get creative with your meals! Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ Monica | |||
| EP 172 // What You Can Do When You Have Unlimited Eggs From Your Chickens Even When You Have a Busy Schedule | 21 Mar 2024 | 00:05:34 | |
Hey Friend Now that we will have 100 laying hens, people always ask what we are going to do with all the eggs! Just for your information, we will not be keeping this amount of chickens, we are raising some to about 12 weeks for friends, 25 of them could be roosters or hens, so the roosters we will be butchering because we have our one and only gentle rooster named frank sinatra that we love so much and don’t need another rooster at this time, so we could be less than 75 before we know it! My teenagers sell the eggs and this is a really good gig for them since we pay for the feed and they make the money on the eggs! We boil at least a dozen or two boiled eggs during the week. It is a great grab and go snack for the whole family. Sometimes we will make deviled eggs out of them for a snack depending on if we have extra time. One of my favorite ways to use a dozen at a time is to make egg bakes and freeze them. I usually will make 4-6 at a time and then we will take them out of the freezer the day or night before and let them thaw and bake them in the morning. We love to have egg bakes in the fridge all week-not only for breakfasts, but if we need to heat a quick meal up in between sports or an event. If you go to my website below and go to the blog, you will see our favoirite egg bake recipe. Everyone raves about this one and we have been using it for over 20 years along with a few of our other favorite ones. We will scramble up dozens of eggs and cook them, cook sausage, and brown hashbrown and make breakfast bowls and freeze them and our family loves these as well. It is really important to me that my kids get a nourishing breakfast every day before school with protein, fat and healthy carbs to sustain them. It has been many many years since I have bought breakfast cereals and items from the store. There is always something in the fridge they can access within a few minutes to make it convenient. These are our convenient foods! No package needed, nutritious, simple adn cheap!!!! We like to make omlets and quiches, egg salad sandwiches, potato salad. There are just so many ways you can use eggs. I will take a day and make months worth of sourdough noodles which take alot of eggs-the amount just depends how big I make the batch. There are so many ways we can use eggs up in our house and it makes for simple and easy meals if you want something quick. I just ordered a refurbished freeze dryer, so that is another way we will be able to preserve them for 20 plus years if needed! I can’t wait! I’m really going to have to get that you tube channel up and running for you so that you can see all my wins and failures as I test out so many food items. Chickens are really worth getting because there are so many ways to use the eggs!
Happy Homesteading Friend! ~Monica Website and Waitlist: Simple Homesteading for Christians-> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ Pinterest -> https://www.pinterest.com/claimingsimplicity/
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| Are You Listening to God or Are You Just Trying to Do Everything on Your Own? I Wrestled With God About Growing My Online Business With Social Media and He Made it Clear | 31 Jan 2023 | 00:06:26 | |
I am so glad you are here!
I am going into this 2nd year of podcasting and I just want to say that I never in my life ever had a dream to podcast, I’m not a natural speaker, and I didn’t think I had anything to talk about, but God….. He had plans, and if you are listening, you must want to live a simpler life because the podcast has grown to the top 2.5% globally, so that is exciting! This podcast is All God!
When I first started, it was because over the years, many people would say that they wish they could work their job around their life and I wanted to teach you that, so you could spend time with what was most important to you-see episode 2 on building a balanced life plan. But as the podcast evolved, I realized that most of people didn’t have the skills to live simpler and natural life, so now I am actually teaching you more simple homesteading skills, cooking from scratch with real food, sourdough, raising animals, preserving food, gardening, natural living, saving money and reducing expenses, so you can enjoy a slower life. Everything I do is simple, so no matter how busy you are, you can incorporate this into your life and hopefully you can begin living your dream life soon.
So naturally as I was planning for this 2nd year, I thought since I didn’t do any advertising and very little on social media that I should start doing more of that to grow our business even more. I teach people to simplify and put down social so they have intentional time doing what they value and so I really struggled with the thought of being on social more. I’m rarely on social and if I post something, I don’t sit and scroll, I do it because I feel like I have to and so as I have been praying about this for months because it is exhausting to me to have to post everything and then have to reply to all the comments, ect! God has really been speaking to me and telling me to lay it down completely and that it is through Him these businesses will grow in His timing, not an algorithm that is controlled by someone else-He is the everlasting algorithm! He keeps reminding me of philippians 4:13 -that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and so can you!! If you aren’t familiar with this verse-it is a great reminder to persevere and be content in any situation-not on your own, but through Christ who will give you strength.
As of February, I am deleting my Instagram and Facebook from my phone again and I will go on my Private Claiming Simplicity Group from my computer and I plan to start actively sharing content to help you put some of my simple practices into your life. I will give this group a year and then reevaluate and see how that feels! I would love for you to join me-the link is below in the description. Come and join our community with other busy moms who love Jesus, want to slow down and live a more meaningful and intentional life.
One of my biggest problems I had with social media, is that I really really enjoy my life and I didn’t want anyone to feel insecure, inadequate or jealous because comparison is a struggle for many and that is one of the many reasons we have more mental health problems than ever and I don’t want to contribute to that and I don’t like the focus on me. I also don’t want to waste my memories with trying to make posts and capturing all we do when I can be just enjoying every intentional moment with family and friends.
I do love hearing from you, so if our community is not for you, please rate and review the podcast and always feel free to reach me by email listed below! Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Thanks for listening and remember-listen to God and He will lead you!! Monica
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| 20 Simple Ways to Become More Sustainable and Eco Friendly in 2023 | 30 Jan 2023 | 00:08:39 | |
Hello There are so many easy ways you can become more sustainable and many of them you can implement immediately and they are frugal as well! Just as we talked about homesteading last week and going slow to avoid overwhelm, I suggest you start making small daily changes and habits to start out with becoming more green or eco friendly as well so that you become more sustainable and envirnonmentally responsible. 1.Grow your own fruit and vegetable garden.
16.Only use natural non toxic facial creams or make your own 17.Buy used clothes 18.Condense your wardrobe
20 Keep it simple!
We can all do our part to become more sustainable, as you run out of products you have, just replace them with more non toxic. I do have recipes for my favorite non toxic products, so just shoot me an email and I will send those to you. Email is in the description below. We would love to have you join our community and the link is below! Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/
May you be blessed this week friend! Monica
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| Have You Started Planning for Your Homestead Projects for This Year? If You Don’t Have This Done, You are Going to Want to Plan Soon so You Don’t Run Out of Time to Get Projects Done! | 26 Jan 2023 | 00:04:38 | |
Hey Friend! There are so many many things to do when you homestead, but with a plan, it will seem alot easier to get your projects around your homestead done. First, Make a master list of all the things you want to do in the future. This may be adding some animals, growing a garden or adding to it, building a shed, shelter or shed, fencing, getting a freeze dryer, putting in a wood boiler and the list goes on and one. This could be a very huge list that you can do over several years-this is not a list you will accomplish this year. Next, look at your finances and see how much money you have to spend on projects and also how much time you have to devote to something new. After you know how much you have to spend and how much time you have, look through your projects and see where you want to start or what you want to get done this year. Once you break down the projects into smaller chunks, it won't seem so overwhelming. This Year we want to make a chicken tractor to raise about 60 meat chickens. Add more potatoes/squash to our garden as we are almost out of both of them and it is only January! We also want to add a separate strawberry garden along with some other garden additions. We also plan to breed our goats in the Fall, so we want to finish the goat shed with a milking stand and get pens ready for babies Spring of 2024!!! I’m so excited about that! We will probably add a few more fruit trees and another small insulated shed for more animals and we would possible like to try to raise a few pigs to butcher which we have never done before, so this all seems very doable to us and not overwhelming even though we really have a very short season here to get it all done in! The biggest key is taking it slow so you don’t overwhelm yourself. It is not worth being stressed out because you won’t enjoy the journey as much. I really don’t think there is a destination in homesteading because you can always do something new, so enjoy every minute of it. As far as harvesting, I want to preserve more ready cooked meals this year, so when we have ballgames and activities, we can have a healthy homegrown meal right out of the jar. Some of those would be stew and soups that I would like to make more of. Homesteading does not have to be hard. Growing your own food doesn’t have to be hard. Cooking traditional nutrient dense food does not have to be hard. I am here to tell you that everything I do is simple-I wouldn’t say it is always easy because you will have a learning curve, but it is simple and if I can do it, you can too! Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Remember~Rome wasn't built in a day!!!!!!! Monica
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| What Does Homesteading Mean and How Can You Begin to Homestead and Live a Simpler Life with Less Stress and Less Overwhelm | 23 Jan 2023 | 00:05:29 | |
Welcome Friend! I love love love to talk about all things natural, homemade, and living a simplified life, so today, I wanted to talk about what exactly homesteading is because there seems to be so many different ideas. Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency, so homesteading life for each of us can be so very different, so now you know why people have so many different thoughts about it!! You can live in an apartment, city, or in the middle of nowhere and you can still homestead no matter what your situation is. You can live a simple life with little money, so if this homesteading lifestyle is something you dream of, why not get started now? If you live in an apartment or the thought of homesteading overwhelms you, begin your homesteading journey by learning simple ways to prepare and preserve food. If you don’t know where to start, I suggest you start by replacing foods you buy at the store that you can make. Honestly, if you are worried about homesteading and working full time, the things that I suggest you learn first are super simple and not time consuming at all! Dry mixes, cream soups, and breads are a fabulous place to start, but honestly the possibilities are endless as to what you can do to become more self-sufficient!! Homesteading can actually save you alot of money when you start switching out homemade food for convenient foods, and it is alot healthier. Something else you can do is try to grow some garden plants indoors - start small and this will give you encouragement to possible someday have a bigger scale garden. I enjoy gardening, but many years the weeds have taken over, and it wasn’t good, but we do have a simple solution now with a method that automatically waters and I have very little weeds to pull, but I had much trial and error over the years. Some plants I can grow really well, and some plants I can’t and sometimes it will depend on the year, so please please please do not get discouraged, use it as a learning lesson. One lesson I learned a few years ago is that we will never use horse poop as fertilizer-we had weeds and thistles take over and it was out of control. If you live in the city and want to start with animals, find out if you are allowed to have backyard chickens! They are a really easy way to start with animals and produce your own food. We have about 25 free range chickens and I almost feel like I need to hide my eggs with the price of them right now! We just raised our price at the beginning of the year and we are still cheaper than the store- fresh homegrown is the only way to go! Chickens are such an easy animal to begin with and my favorite thing about them is that we can feed and water them and still go away for the weekend and they are fine. You don’t have to make a fancy coop either. Depending on where you live and how harsh your winters are, you do have to take that into consideration though to make sure they are warm enough. We buy a dozen chicks every Spring or every other spring so that we always have fresh eggs when some of them stop laying. This year, we are going to get a rooster and try to hatch our own chickens, so I will have to let you know how that goes. We have had chickens for several years, but this will be our first year trying to hatch our own. That is the best thing about Homesteading-many learning experiences, but you have the flexibility to do it when it works for you-take it slow and enjoy the journey! It really is an amazing life! This is truely an amazing lifestyle and it is so good for our children and grandchildren to learn these skills. So many people think that it costs alot of money to get started, but it can actually save you money if you start small. It will also reduce overwhelm if you take it slow. Learn one skill and then move to the next - and remember that you can keep it very simple like I have!
Subscribe to the podcast if you have not already so you don’t miss any episodes and I would really appreciate it if you take a few seconds to rate and review so that I can reach more listeners like you! Thanks for being here!
Monica
Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/
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| 5 Small Attainable Steps to Simplify Your Home and Clear Out the Clutter to Enjoy Peace in Your House and Spend Less Time Cleaning | 19 Jan 2023 | 00:05:45 | |
Hello and Welcome For me, this is the best time of the year to declutter because I don’t have a whole lot of extra time in the other seasons here in MN. After spending months cooped up in the house with alot of snow and below zero temperatures, you won’t find me in the house once the sun starts melting the snow in the Spring, and then we are preparing, planting, and caring for the garden and animals in the summer, and Fall is very busy here with harvesting and hunting season starting with bear the first weekend in September and then getting ready for winter, so now is the time I do more of the household projects I want to get done and it is also a time for alot of planning.
It can seem overwhelming, but if you do it in small chunks, it will seem much simpler. Start in an area of your home that will be easier to tackle and just do 15 minutes at a time. Take a trash bag for trash and a box for things you are going to donate and then a basket for the items that belong in a different area of the house.
Now I have done some major overhauls in the past, so I have alot less stuff and it takes much less time, but throughout the year, we do seem to accumulate extra items, so I like to go through and eliminate wherever I can~especially after Christmas. As I am looking around my living room right now-this is an easy area to get it done quickly because we only have a few pieces of furniture, a shelf with some pictures and the only place I really need to even look it a couple end tables that have some books and newspapers in, so this room can be done within about 5 minutes. Find a place in your home that will be an easier task so that you can feel accomplished and you will gain momentum. The reason I like a simplified home is because it is quick to clean and I can spend more time with people I love and things I love to do instead of cleaning. This alone should encourage you!
Here is a list of 5 small steps you can easily do right away to begin your declutter journey.
xoxo, Monica
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| Simple Hack to Declutter Your Mind by Doing a Brain Dump or a Power Hour so You Can Reduce Stress and Anxiety Throughout the Week and Become More Organized and Productive | 16 Jan 2023 | 00:05:38 | |
Welcome Friend It doesn’t matter what your title is a SAHM, Work full or part time, Work from home, we all have this never ending list of things to do. It is a continuous circling in our mind and if you don’t have a plan for it, you may miss some of the things you need to get done. I like to do a 1 hour power hour brain dump every week! I like to clear all distractions when I do this-no phone and no interruptions.. If you are always thinking about all the things that you need to do and they are not written down, it can constantly come into your mind and hang over your head. It happens to me each week when I do not take the time to do this simple task.! You are going to want to take notes today…..this is what you are going to do for your 1 hour-if you are driving or doing your dishes, you will want to listen again when you can write down this info. Get a notebook or use your computer -jot down everything in your mind-all your thoughts and everything you need to do. a Look at upcoming events-anything you need to do for them. Put all of these things on the calendar -schedule them so they all get done. You will feel so much lighter and getting everything written down will reduce your stress as well.
3 reason why you need to do a weekly to do brain dump:
First, Getting everything you need to do written down will help you become more organized and putting them in order will help get more accomplished in less time. Next, it allows you to utilize your time and energy better so you feel less overwhelmed with everything you have to do. Third, it increases productivity to get more done because you will have clear focus and concentration. You will know exactly what needs to be done without worry about other tasks that don’t need to be done until the future.
Like I have said in previous episodes, time is not the problem, it is how we use our time that is the issue. This will help you get more done in your busy schedule that you may feel like you have alot of extra time to do other tasks. I would love to know if you do a consistent power hour. Send me a message and let me know how you do it! Hope you enjoyed this episode, if you know someone that could use this, please share this podcast with them. Also, if you have not taken 30 seconds to give a review, I would appreciate it - it is the only way besides your messages you send me that I know you are loving the show and I read each and every one of them!
Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Have a blessed week friend! Monica
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| Make a Simple Change to Your Life & Enjoy Slow Living. 5 Tips to Learn How to Go From Being an Overwhelmed Busy Mom to Being More Peaceful With Less Stress & Anxiety & Enjoy Your Life | 12 Jan 2023 | 00:03:39 | |
Hey! Did you know that being busy is destroying health, relationships, and connection to faith? Have you noticed how the busier you are, the more stress you have? Being pathologically busy is actually a threat to your well being! I recently read a book my friend suggested from John Comer called The ruthless elimination of Hurry and if you have not read this, you should! This is such a great book! He says hurry is not of the devil, but hurry IS the devil, so slowing down can help you live a fulfilling life. The Bible says walk with Jesus, not sprint with Jesus! New technology has made us busier because it is a huge sinkhole. Trying to be everything and be everywhere is making you exhausted and I want you to commit the limited time you have to focus on the the things that are most important to you instead. Time is not the problem, it is how we use the time that is causing us stress and anxiety.
Here are some suggestions from the book:
Living intentionally and paying attention to what can give you lots of time and peace of mind.
I pray you are able to simplify your life to enjoy slow living. Live more intentionally to reduce stress and anxiety and enjoy your life once again. xoxo, Monica Join our Community of Christian Moms -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ | |||
| Why You Spend Money Like You do and 3 Steps to Correct Your Bad Money Habits and Choices so You Can Have Financial Peace | 09 Jan 2023 | 00:07:06 | |
Hello! We are going to continue working on learning financial peace this week! We often allow human nature to take control of our financial decisions, so it is time we address the causes of most money problems by identifying and replacing natural human behaviors and tendencies with healthy financial habits. We will identify consequences and practical steps we can take to reduce their harm to our finances. You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with which means you are influenced by those people, but not only those 5. Keeping up with them refers to reactively purchasing consumer items or experiences we notice they have purchased. Trying to keep up with the Joneses leads us to spend our limited resources on the unlimited items. You tend to wear what they wear, speak like they speak, and behave as they behave. Think about people you know-this is so true! This can certainly lead to overspending if the social groups tend to sustain a more expensive lifestyles than your own income can cover. Here is how you can fight this. First, make a list of your personal values. This is NOT dollar amounts or purchases But the behaviors, beliefs, and achievements that matter most to you. With these in place, you can ward off temptations to overspend when confronted by the financial choices made by others. How? Because this list includes what is MOST meaningful in your life. This list removes the pressure anytime you start to wonder if you should have or do what the Joneses have or are doing. If you don’t find the purchase related to something on your list, it won’t bring you any lasting satisfaction. You will also want to set up your own spending plan based on your priorities and income. Prioritizing money does not mean going without, it is just shifting where you want your money to go. Consumers can make purchase choices based on irrational reactions, such as the fear of missing out. Fear of getting left out of groups and their trends. Exclusion once meant getting left behind, alone, and fending for oneself. This fear remains a strong driver of consumer choices even today. The money problems arise when consumers make fear-based decisions and lack critical information. They tend to run from threats as fast as they can, not caring in which direction, as long as it takes them away from whatever danger they thought they saw. If you don’t put this into action, you will be right where you were last year, so start now so you can lessen your financial stress this year! There is still time to join our NO SPEND CHALLENGE group this month-the link is in the description. Even getting in on a few weeks can help kickstart your savings! Join our Facebook Group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ Have a blessed week! Monica ----more----
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| Do You Feel Anxious When You Think About Your Finances and Debt? 5 Simple Tips to Overcome Money Stress This Year for Busy Christian Moms | 05 Jan 2023 | 00:06:32 | |
Hello! We are going to talk about finances these next few weeks. During the global pandemic, many people lost their jobs and their peace of mind overnight. And now we’re more nervous than ever about our financial future. In fact, just over half of Americans admit to feeling somewhat anxious over their personal finances. It will take time to feel confident about money again—and that’s okay. What happened was scary and real but the good news is, you don’t have to wait for the rest of the world to get it together before you get your money in order. There are practical ways to recover a sense of freedom and power in your financial future. The state of your personal finances has a direct impact on the state of your mental health. You can’t feel safe when you’re indebted to a bank and can’t plan for your future. Im here to tell you-there is hope. With the right plan, you can take control of your money and create a life that lets you sleep sound at night. It won’t be easy, but it’ll be worth it. Here are _5_ tips for overcoming money stress.
See you next week! Monica
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| Do You Really Want to Save Money in 2023? 3 Easy Ways to Reduce Expenses This Year | 02 Jan 2023 | 00:06:24 | |
Happy New Year I can’t believe another year flew by so fast! Lets look at saving money today so you can get ahead of your finances right away this year! Do you really want to save money? This podcast will give you some tips to reduce expenses that you can easily put into place so you can reduce stress and anxiety with your money. Join our Facebook Group and get ahead on saving money this year with the No Spend Challenge. Join our Facebook Group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ Have a great week! Monica | |||
| EP 171 // Simplify the Food You Buy at the Store Once You Understand Ingredients In Them and Imporove Your Family’s Health by Learning to Make Food from Scratch at Home | 18 Mar 2024 | 00:05:20 | |
I really do beleive that alot of it has to do with the food we eat. There are so many hidden poisons in packaged food that are banned in other countries, so I believe diving into food labels and simplifying our choices can have a profound impact on our health and well-being. This topic is close to every homesteader's heart – we all want to deciphering those food labels and embrace the beauty of minimal ingredients. Picture this: you're standing in the grocery aisle, scanning rows of products, each has an array of ingredients you can barely pronounce. Sound familiar? It's time to reclaim control and return to simplicity! Why should we care about those tiny print labels? Well, they're like treasure maps, guiding you to the healthiest choices. By adopting a "more is less" approach – aiming for foods with less than 2-3 ingredients – this will help you not just simplify your shopping trips, but also nourish your bodies with wholesome goodness. So, what's the secret sauce to deciphering these labels? It's all about prioritizing quality over quantity. Look for real, recognizable ingredients – think fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Skip the lengthy chemical compounds and opt for foods that Mother Nature herself would recognize. When it says other natural ingredients, that should be avoided as well as you don’t really know what that is. Look at your bread you have right now if you get it from the store. I looked at a loaf the other day when I was grocery shopping and there were about 15 ingredients in it! Bread is flour, water and yeast. If you don’t have time for sourdough, you do have time for regular bread-I have a recipe that takes less than 10 minutes plus bake time and you can make multiple loaves at a time. I make mine in bulk, so I only have to make it 1 day every 5-6 weeks and that gives me peace of mind that I am helping with my family’s health and wellbeing. If you have not already, please get on the waitlist for my program that is going to help you start making simple swaps from the store step by step so you can fit this into your life no matter how busy you are. I am the queen of simplicity and I love teaching others to do the same! The link to my website to sign up will be below! I get it – life gets busy, and convenience is king. That's why i’m not suggesting you ditch all pre-packaged foods entirely. Instead, just get savvy with your selections. Seek out brands committed to transparency and integrity, with short, sweet ingredient lists you can trust. And let's not forget the joy of homemade food! Channel your inner homesteader and whip up your own pantry staples – from creamy nut butter to zesty salad dressings. Not only do you control what goes in, but you'll also savor the satisfaction of creating something from scratch. You won’t ever want to go back to store bought items after you see how simple they are to make and how you can save money! So, dear friend, let's make a pact to simplify our plates and nourish our bodies with foods that speak the language of simplicity. Remember the journey to wellness begins with just 2-3 wholesome ingredients. Until next time, keep claiming simplicity in every aspect of your life friends! ~Monica Website and Waitlist: Simple Homesteading for Christians-> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ Pinterest -> https://www.pinterest.com/claimingsimplicity/
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| 5 Steps to Set Your Intentions for Next Year & Review all Your Accomplishments From Last Year | 30 Dec 2022 | 00:05:42 | |
Welcome to Claiming Simplicity’s last episode of the year! I hope you have been able to start to simplify your life by implementing some of the tips I have given you throughout the year. When I look back on this year, it reminds me of how incredibly rewarding simple living is! Each year we dive deeper into making life even simpler so we can enjoy the life we value most! If you haven’t noticed, I love all the time I spend with family and friends which would not be possible if we had not created this life of freedom. If you are at a job that you look forward to 5:00 every day or always looking toward the weekend and your job is not fulfilling, I encourage you to begin by simplifying-in all areas, but especially in your finances. Begin to design a life you don’t have to escape from! We had another amazing year and I know if I hadn’t started doing this exercise years ago with God’s guidance, we would probably not be where we are today. You are going to be looking back to see all you accomplished and set your intentions for next year. It is very encouraging to see everything big and small! This should not discourage you, we are looking at and focusing on all the positive things you did this year and not dwelling on the unaccomplished. We can all improve in all areas, and this will show you where you want to focus for the next year. Join our FREE No Spend Challenge - link will be in the Facebook group! Join our Facebook Group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/
Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com
Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Have a Blessed and safe New Year! Monica
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| How to Avoid Spending Money on Unnecessary Items Next Month to Improve Your Finances. 3 Ways a No Spend Challenge Can Help You Save Money Throughout the Year | 26 Dec 2022 | 00:04:12 | |
Hey Friend! Can you believe this is the last week of the year? I hope you had a blessed Christmas celebrating our Savior’s Birth! Are you ready for the New Year? I am getting excited to get all of our goals and dreams for this year started and right now I cant wait to be doing another no spend challenge next month! This challenge doesn’t mean you don’t spend any money at all, but you try to spend the least amount as possible and especially cut out the extra unnecessary spending. I want you to be set up for financial success throughout the year starting with the first month of the year!! Here are 3 ways that not spending extra money for a month can help you save money. 1. You will be intentional about every dollar you spend 2. You will find out what you truely value and once you know, you won’t have to spend extra money on the less important things 3.You will learn to plan ahead so you won’t make impulse buys and that could save you a large amount of money as well!
If you want to learn more about the challenge and have accountability, join our free claiming simplicity facebook group! Also, thank you so much for hanging out with me this year! It has been incredible! I would really appreciate you taking 30 seconds to leave a rating and review so that others can learn about this show! I read each and every one of them and your comments have just blessed me this year! Thank you so much! Join our Facebook Group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/
Have a safe week and I will talk to you in the New Year! Monica | |||
| Do You Know the Joy that Comes with Giving to the Less Fortunate? Will You Focus on Being a Blessing to Others? | 20 Dec 2022 | 00:03:37 | |
Merry Christmas Friend! In this episode, I talk about the importance of giving to the less fortunate and some of the things you can do to help those in need. Are you giving at least 10% of your income away? You might want to evaluate your budget for the new year if you are not. God wants you to steward His money His way! Enjoy your time with family and friends and have a great week everyone!
Join our Facebook Group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/
Love, Monica | |||
| Saving Money with Gift Giving this Christmas Season and No Spend Challenge | 12 Dec 2022 | 00:06:38 | |
Hey Friend When I think about all the money spent on Christmas, the amount of gifts and stuff that is added to each household, and the thought of the small percent of those items that are even used or enjoyed, it makes me cringe!
I am not the best gift giver because I am so practical, but when I was a young mom with small kids trying to buy gifts just to have something for everyone even though we didn’t have much of a Christmas budget, I realized that this is not how Christmas was suppose to be. The hustle and bustle of getting gifts for people in hopes they will like them and then finding time to do the dreaded job of wrapping them(thank goodness my teenagers enjoy doing that now!) and if they were like me-they probably didn’t even use the gift and it would eventually be put into a donation box so it wasn’t just taking up space in our home. We never went into debt because we were too poor to have credit cards, but we did eat alot of cheap meals to save extra money in October, November, and December ~even more than the normal frugal meals, but I don’t think the kids really even noticed!
Throughout the years, we have changed the way we do things and made the Christmas Season all around much simpler and a whole lot cheaper. We do alot of baking because we enjoy doing that this time of the year, so we make up small plates of goodies to give people instead of gifts. If you don’t bake, buy a variety of goodies and split them up into different plates to give. Fruit baskets are always great too! Usually much cheaper if you make your own! If we have families that we give to, we will do a little basket of hot cocoa with a few different toppings such as crushed andes mints or candy canes, mini chocolate chips, marshmallows, toffee bits, caramel sauce and redi whip and you know that will get used because it is a nice cozy treat when you live somewhere cold like we do!!!! The simpler you keep the season, the more you are going to enjoy it and it is alot less stress when you are able to stay in your budget. I think sometimes people end up buying gifts for people just because they have always done it and probably don’t realize the other person would be happy to lessen their gift giving as well! Just talk to the other families if they want to do things differently! More and More people are moving toward simplicity and minimalism and most would be happy to have less stuff to find a place for and keep organized. See you back next week! Make sure to join our free Facebook group below for the NO SPEND JANUARY Challenge!
Join our Facebook Group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/
Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com
Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/
Have a fabulous week! Monica | |||
| Finding Joy, Less Stress and Enjoying Traditions by Simplifying This Christmas Season | 05 Dec 2022 | 00:07:40 | |
Hey Friend! Welcome back to another week! In this episode I talk about reducing stress so you can have more joy this Christmas Season. Enjoy traditions with family and friends and make memories all while celebrating Jesus Birthday! I don't want you stressed out and anxious this holiday season so you can enjoy every minute. Christmas is not about how much money you spend, but focusing on what matters even when you are busy! Save money and time this holiday season! Once you can wrap your mind about simplicity, your whole life can change for the better! Join our Facebook Group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/claimingsimplicity/ Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/
Enjoy and have a super week! Monica
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| Simplify Gift Giving to Useful Gifts so You Reduce Stress This Christmas Season and Can Focus on Creating Memories with Family Even as an Overwhelmed Busy Mom | 28 Nov 2022 | 00:06:57 | |
Happy Happy Holiday Season Friend! I love this time of the year, but I like to keep it simple and meaningful! When I was a young Mom, I thought I had to have all the best gifts and many gifts, but over the years I learned that Christmas is about focusing on our Savior and creating memories with family and friends and my focus has really changed!! In this episode, you will find useful gifts to give to people and ways to create memories instead of filling up someone's home with items they most likely won't use or don't even want. Time spent with people is more precious and has more value than any material item that loses it's shine. I don't want you stressed out and anxious this holiday season so you can enjoy every minute. Christmas is not about how much money you spend, but focusing on what matters even when you are busy! Save money and time this holiday season! I pray you are blessed by this podcast!
Love you and appreciate all of you listeners!
Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Monica | |||
| Do This One Thing Daily and it Will Make You Happier and It is Something Simple You Can Do Even If You Are Busy. Make Next Year Your Best Year Yet! | 27 Nov 2022 | 00:04:44 | |
Happy Thanksgiving Friend Thankfulness has really been on my heart lately and I figured this would be the perfect week to talk about it with Thanksgiving in the United States this week. This podcast is about thankfulness and contentment which should make you happy! Be Thankful in everything! Love Ya! Monica
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| Are You Stressed Out and Anxious Thinking About all the Things that Need to be Done for the Holidays? 3 Ways to Simplify So You Can Enjoy the Holiday Season | 15 Nov 2022 | 00:07:11 | |
Hey Friend How are you doing this week? It is snowing here in MN and we have our Christmas oils diffusing, so we are enjoying another beautiful day! I know you are super stressed out about everything you need to get done in just over a month and the thought of it all is making you anxious, but it doesn’t have to be that way! You can enjoy this season even more when you simplify! Today I want to give you 3 ways you can do this easily and make more memories instead of more work for yourself! Please take 30 seconds and rate and review this podcast so it can reach more people! Also, if you have any suggestions or topics you would like to hear about, please reach out to me! I appreciate all the love~you are all such a blessing to me! Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ Have a wonderful week! Monica | |||
| Do You Want to Have More Energy? 6 Simple Ways to Improve Energy and Get More Done as a Busy Mom | 07 Nov 2022 | 00:08:01 | |
Hello Friend I am often asked how I do all that I do! Honestly, I don’t do it all because I have learned to say no, but I do have some simple tips to help me to have energy to do all the things I do get done. I should also tell you the things I don’t do-I don’t regularly get massages or my nails done and I am terrible about getting my haircut more than 3 times per year! I rarely watch TV or movies and I make lists to shop so I only have to go every few weeks for the most part because that takes time and I don’t like to waste any time and try to be as efficient as I can!
As we enter the holiday season, I think our energy gets depleted even faster with all the extra activities we have, so today I want to give 6 simple ways to improve your energy every day, so don’t take these lightly even though they seem simple and you will get so much more done every day.
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| Can You be Frugal, but Enjoy a Quality Life? 4 Secrets to Living a More Meaningful Life Without Sacrificing Anything or Spending Alot of Money. | 31 Oct 2022 | 00:05:41 | |
Hello Friend!!!! I remember when a someone made a comment years ago about me being frugal and was trying to degrade me by saying that, but it made me proud to know that people see that I do not value material items, but value experiences and relationships more than having to “look good” for other people! Seriously friends, you can’t take your designer clothes, shoes, vehicles, or purses to heaven with you! Start living an amazing life of making a difference and enjoying each day! I would love to hear from you! Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ God Bless! Monica
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| EP 170 // 5 Simple Growth Mindset Tips to Help You Go From Scarcity Mode to Thriving with a Stress Free Simpler Life | 14 Mar 2024 | 00:07:26 | |
Hey Friend As you know, I’m very passionate about personal development and growth mindset and I want to give you some simple tips today to help you get out of the scarcity mode and start living your dreams of a stress free simpler life! Imagine your mind is like a garden. In this garden, there are two main types of mindsets: fixed and growth.
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| BONUS EPISODE! Free Amazon Gift Cards for You Because You are Amazing! | 26 Oct 2022 | 00:02:49 | |
Hello Friend!!!! Thank you so much for you support of this podcast! I can't thank you enough! Im leaving on vacation and see my 1 year goal of 10,000 downloads has nearly been accomplished much ahead of time thanks to you, so I want to bless you for your support! I appreciate each and every one of you and would love to know more of what you want to hear and what you are enjoying! Please give me a 5 star review on Apple podcast so this podcast can reach more listeners and also share this with any other mom that may be interested in simplifying and living a more joyful life with more time and more meaning! Also, hit the plus button and subscribe so you don't miss any episodes because I have some really exciting things happening this next year!!!!!! Please contact me and let me know what you are loving! Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ Love you all! Monica
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| Are You a Mom That Values Material Items or Experiences? Stop Trading Time for Money and Enjoy Every Day! | 24 Oct 2022 | 00:06:48 | |
Hey Friend This week’s show is a very important topic to me because we can not get our time back. We all have the same amount of hours every week and I don’t want you to waste them. The years go so fast and if you aren’t spending time on what you value, you might be feeling less joy than you could be. We are all wired different and we all have our own passions, but I see so many people get into the rut of the day to day grind and miss out on what their purpose really is and that breaks my heart! So many people are miserable, but feel like they have to work to buy all the material possessions to keep up with their neighbor! Yes, it is important to have an income because of the amazing impact you can make on others, but are you trading time for someone else’s dream? I have worked with so many people over the last 30 years that didn’t enjoy what they were doing, so first I want you to ask yourself to ask you if you are spending more than you make or breaking even? That might be a spending problem-in order to live a life you vision in your dreams, you need to live below your means and stop spending money on things you don’t need-many times spending is a coping mechanism for people that makes them feel good, but that is only temporary. My second question to you is, do you love what you are doing? If so, keep doing it!!!!!! Most likely your top values are balanced with your time. If not, what is stopping you from living your dream of doing what you love? Find something where your income isn’t tied to the time you put in. Find a business where you can enjoy doing it every day, but you have flexibility to work it around your top values, so you have more balance and peace. You can turn your passions into your work no matter what it is, you just need to start to dream again, be persistent and most likely, you will enjoy the journey and probably make alot more money in less time than a 9 to 5 job. It doesn’t matter what age you are, you can do anything! Many of you are not living your ideal life simply because you have to have brand name items,designer clothes, the newest phone or gadgets or fancy cars and houses, but after a while they don’t make you happy. I remember when we bought a newer suburban and I loved it because it fit all 5 of our kids in it comfortably even with 2 carseats, but then I had to make the first payment and I am not someone that has ever liked to have debt. I felt a burden of having that amount of debt and didn’t ever want a vehicle payment again!
I want you to have lasting JOY. If you want to be happier, you could start by shifting from material goods into experiences! What experiences do you like? Write down what you value-what you TRUELY VALUE. Experiences connect us and give us lasting memories! Do you want to travel and make memories with your family, do you want to raise your own kids with your own values and not the world’s values, do you just want to make your own schedule so someone else can’t tell you when you can and can’t take vacation? Take back control of your life! Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ Blessing until next week! Monica
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| 3 Simple Truths to Lose Weight Fast for Moms That are Always Worried About Their Body Image | 17 Oct 2022 | 00:05:17 | |
Hello Friend! Have you ever struggled with finding the right diet or exercise to lose weight fast? I have done the yoyo diets since I was probably 15 years old. Always worried about others think and low self esteem until about 3 years ago! I did the keto diet for about 1 1/2 years until I had an abnormal EKG and I knew that even though it was effective, it wasn't worth the health risks and since I quit keto, the last 2 years my EKGs have been normal! Praise God! Today, I will give you 3 truths about weight loss to help you in this journey. Enjoy the episode and I would love to hear your feedback!
Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Blessings, Monica | |||
| How to Save Money on Halloween with Kids for Busy Moms that Dread Getting Costumes Ready for Everyone | 13 Oct 2022 | 00:04:01 | |
Hello Friend I grew up with an amazingly crafty mom-she can make anything out of anything! My siblings and I always won first prize at every Halloween event because her costumes were always homemade and original. For instance, I was an elephant one year and she made the head out of a gray piece of carpet! It was cute and I have never seen anything like it, but all 4 of us kids always had the best costumes every year because my mom loved making them! I will be honest though….after having kids, halloween was a dreaded holiday-probably mostly because my brain doesn’t work like that and I am not that imaginative. I couldn’t buy any store boughten cheaply made costumes because of having such great costumes growing up, and I couldn’t make them because I have very limited sewing abilities. Here was my solution….I would look for items on clearance after halloween of wigs and accessories or find items all year long at thrift shops and I would keep rubbermaid bins with the items in so that when Halloween came around, my kids had a variety of items to choose from. They aren’t always original, but it beat the scramble of getting an outfit before Halloween and also, the kids enjoyed putting together things that they wanted. I suggest you make a bin or 2 for halloween and gather items after Halloween this year when they are clearanced and then start looking throughout the year on swap and shops or thrift stores for fun items you can add to the bin!
I hope this helps you to have less stress with Halloween for years to come!
Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com
Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Have a great week! Monica
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| How to Process all the Potatoes from this Year’s Harvest. 4 Simple Ways to Preserve Potatoes to Last You for a Year! | 10 Oct 2022 | 00:04:06 | |
Welcome Friend!
Because it froze last week, we have been working hard processing what could have potentially froze and now we are starting to dig our potatoes since they are underground and we didn’t have to worry about them freezing. Have you seen the price of potatoes in the grocery store lately? This should be the time of the year where they are quite cheap as we are harvesting them, but they have at least double in price in the last few months. It makes me curious what they will get up to in the winter here in Minnesota when they are out of season. I’m thankful i will not have to worry about that because we have so many potatoes, I’m curious if we will have room for all of them in the freezer!
We do like to make fries and hash browns and this year I am also going to freeze mashed potatoes as well. With all the sports our kids are in, we have to have several meals ready to go when we are running so much because you know that I don’t like to waste money on fast food or convenience foods and homemade is so much healthier!
I don’t think I will get around to it this year, but next year I want to can stew which will be another way to use the potatoes. It is really nice to have the meals all made up and we can just dump and heat for a quick meal when we need it.
There are so many different ways you can preserve potatoes and they are good with so many different meals!
Send me a message and let me know your favorite ways to preserve potatoes!
Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners
Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com
Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Monica
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| Do You Need Help with Time Management in Your Home to Make Sure Things Get Done When You Get Distracted Easily. 5 Simple Hacks to Help You Get Things Done Consistently Everyday! | 03 Oct 2022 | 00:05:07 | |
Happy October Friend Wow!!!! It was another fantastic weekend at a Christian Women’s Conference with one of my best friends! We don’t get to see each other too often, but we do schedule at least twice a year at conferences to catch up and I cherish every moment with her!! We grow in our faith and we get to catch up and It is always an incredible time!
I don’t know about you, but a schedule seems to backfire for me and every planner I have ever tried has never worked for me. Prepare the week on Sunday evening with everything that is happening throughout the week along with meals, meetings, and activities so there are less surprises that come up or you feel like you are scrambling! When you have this planned, it makes each day run so much smoother. Another key tip to time management is getting up early! If you follow what successful people do, they do not sleep in! When I sleep in until 6:30, I feel like I practically lost half of the day! So this tip is to create a morning routine that you can do every day and get up early! It is really easy to put something away when you are done with it right away. If you choose not to do this, your house may feel like chaos at all times! If you use the blender in the morning, rinse it out and put it away. When you use your toothbrush, put it away where it belongs, it can be learned to be a regular habit just as it is to brush your teeth every morning! (or at least I hope you do!) Create a simple way for you to keep track of what needs to be done and appointments. I can not keep a paper calendar consistently. I am that person that likes to buy them and start out the year really good, but then I don’t always have it with me when adding appointments, so I always go back to putting it on my phone calendar with alerts and that works wonderful for me! If I have to pick up something from the grocery store or make something for a potluck-it all goes into my phone calendar with an alert. It is super simple to do this and then things don’t get forgotten or late and you look organized-even if you aren’t!!!!!! And #5-Make sure your kitchen is clean every night when you go to bed! There is nothing worse that waking up to make coffee and feeling defeated already becuse you didn’t do the dishes from the previous day and it honestly starts you off on the wrong foot!
I hope you are able to take one of these tips and start implementing it into your routine to get things done at home consistently every single day! I would love to hear from you and get your feedback! What do you want to learn about?
Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Love Ya! Monica
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| Quick Tip to Eliminate Fruit Flies When You are Harvesting and Preserving Your Garden and Have So Much Produce Around Your Home | 30 Sep 2022 | 00:02:47 | |
Hey Friend! Here is a very simple solution to eliminating the pesky fruit flies when you have so much produce sitting around while you are harvesting and preserving. I was out in the dark after a volleyball game for my kids last night trying to gather all the tomatoes as we had our first frost, so I have a ton of produce in my kitchen as I can only do so much at a time and those darn fruit flies seem to come into the house as well, so I just wanted to pass on this simple and easyt tip to get rid of them because I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t like them in my house!
First, you will put a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar into a little mug or cup-I like to use one we don’t drink out of! Then you will add a drop of dishsoap and then I use the kitchen sink sprayer to make a little layer of bubbles. The fruit flies come to the cup for the apple cider vinegar and then they get caught in the bubbles and when the bubbles go away, you will see them in the bottom of the cup. I keep this near my sink and usually once or twice a day, when the bubbles lessen, i just give it a little squirt to make more bubbles. This is a fantastic tip and it is quite satisfying when you see how many are in the bottom of your cup!
I just wanted to share this with you if you have never heard of it before because I have been doing this for years and anytime I have produce on my cupboards, I like to have a cup out and ready for the fruit flies!
Happy Harvesting! Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
Monica
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| Are You a Mom Feeling Busier Than Ever? 3 Steps to Take to Simplify When You Feel Overwhelmed With So Much to Do | 27 Sep 2022 | 00:06:37 | |
Hello Friend I had to take a few steps back and re evaluate all that I have been doing lately! I have so many irons in the fire and I was starting to feel like I was just barely staying above water this last month! I love to do so many things and have so many passions! Sometimes my body can not keep up with my mind as I am a visionary but I do know that I need my 8 hours of sleep and I can’t do all things even though in my mind I would like to do it all! I have been testing a new product out this last week and I am blown away at how much energy and mental clarity I have gained so that has been super encouraging-not to mention being able to sleep better!!!!! I couldn’t have predicted/planned some of the things we have had happen in the last month, but I do know that even though I teach you how to live simple, I had to go back and ask myself these questions again and reevaluate and you may have to do the same if your season is crazy busy too!
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| Do You Want to Know How to Ripen Tomatoes Quickly Before it Freezes? Another Great Gardening Tip and a Failure I Had This Week to Help You! | 20 Sep 2022 | 00:04:00 | |
Hey Friend! What a fast week it was! I was very blessed to spend part of the week in Utah with some great friends! God has really surrounded me with the best Christian Women and I sometimes have to seriously hold back the tears when God reveals all that He is orchestrating. I have learned to be patient and wait on Him as He leads each and every step. I can only do what I am doing through Him and I truely give Him all the glory!!!!! This week I want to pass on another amazing garden tip that I learned a few weeks ago and tested it out! Did you know that you can ripen green and orange tomatoes within 2 days and you don’t have to set them on a table or a window seal to ripen them? I used to put mine in a single layer on a patio table this time of the year and then bring them into the garage at night in case it was going to freeze, but not anymore! This is another game changer in addition to my freezing tomato tip and I can’t believe how well it worked! We had frost here one night last week and because of our crazy schedule lately, I hadn’t had time to pick all the tomatoes, but I thought that I better pick as many as I could before I left for Utah! It is really late for our tomatoes because we werent able to even plant them until early June! I picked a few boxes of tomatoes and I froze all the ripe ones and had a full bag of unripened ones, so what I did was put my orange and green tomatoes in a paper grocery bag along with a few ripe tomatoes, I closed it tight, and I put it in the basement. After 24 hours, about ½ of the tomatoes were ripe, and the green tomatoes were starting to change color, so I froze the ripened ones and I thought that maybe a few extra days would be ok for them to ripen, but I was wrong! A few of larger tomatoes must have ripened and rotted very fast, so when I got home and picked up the bag, it totally bottomed out and my tomatoes splatted everywhere! It was a great learning lesson that it probably only takes 2-3 days for the tomatoes to ripen in the paper bag and not to leave them any longer. I only lost a few tomatoes because most of them were big roma tomatoes, so they are thicker, but it sure was a mess to clean up! I guess it is better than having frozen tomatoes though! Im just really excited to know this tip and I hope this will help you with your harvesting as well
Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ Have a great week! Monica
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| Does the Thought of Starting Your Own Homestead Make You Anxious with All the Things That You Want to Do? Keeping it as Simple as Possible is Key for Busy Moms with Little Time | 12 Sep 2022 | 00:05:27 | |
Hey FriendStarting a homestead does not have to cause you anxiety and it should not be stressful! If it is a dream of yours to begin a homestead but you are not living in your ideal place, start right where you are at! It doesn’t matter if you live in an apartment or live on a city lot, you can start learning the skills so that someday when you find your perfect property, you can grow your own food and raise your own livestock, but you will already have some of the skills needed. I hear it all the time that people don’t start because they can’t homestead where they live now, but that is the wrong way to look at it. Homesteading is about a lifestyle and it can start with your mindset! Stop looking at instagram because the people that seem to have it all have most likely been homesteading for many many years, they didn’t just do it all at once. Write down the dreams of how you want your life to be someday and then decide what you could do right where you are at. I am living the life that I wrote about over 20 years ago….but I certainly had no idea how I wasa going to get here at that time. Some of the things you can learn no matter where you are at are some cooking from scratch skills, sewing projects, preserving food, making your own natural cleaners and laundry soap, reading books about things you want to learn. It can be as simple as having something to cook with, so begin there! Maybe someday you want to milk animals to have your own milk to make your own butter, sour cream, yogurt, and cheese. For now, buy milk to learn the skills and then when you have animals, you can learn about how to raise them because you already know how to make the items from the milk! Build upon your skills~I tell people all the time, you can’t do it all at once, so enjoy the journey~it is incredibly rewarding! Maybe you want to learn how to sew or make your own quilts, take a class and learn it! There are so so many things you can do to enrich your life! If you want to learn how to grow herbs and make your own remedies, you don’t need a farm to do that, learn all you can about it from where you are at. If you want to learn how to preserve food, you don’t have to have a garden. I started canning food about 25 years ago when I was working full time with 3 kids under 3 and I didn’t have time or energy for a garden, but I did have friends that always had an abundance and they also taught me to preserve~we didn’t have pinterest or you tube back then (or at least I wasn’t on either of them at that time.) It was all about community and sharing which I think we all need to do more of! I love helping and teaching friends something that I know and I love to learn from them. It is so nice to have like minded friends that have similar values! Some other things you can learn is have to make sourdough, fermenting, and so much more! I think of it as an adventure!!! I truely love teaching these skills to my teens that still live at home and my grandkids. I wan them to fall in love with this lifestyle and be able to have skills that they can pass on from generation to generation. I want to make an impact and I know that you can do the same! Remember, enjoy the ride, and if something is too overwhelming to you, don’t do it. Do what you love to do so you can live with joy every single day!
Reach out and let me know what kind of projects you are working on~I would love to hear about your homesteading journey!
Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners
Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
See you next week!Monica
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| EP 169 // 5 Simple Habits to Nourish Your Body Every Day with Nutrient Dense Foods | 11 Mar 2024 | 00:07:22 | |
Hello! There are so many health benefits to eating nutrient dense foods and our family has really prioritized health the last few years as we have become aware of what is in store bought food more and more. If there are more than a couple ingredients in anything you plan to buy-stay away from it and find an option to make it yourself. I just heard a dentist say on a podcast that more kids are having tooth decay from goldfish crackers than candy! I remember when I thought they were a good option to candy, so that was quite shocking to me! Look at your ingredients! Here are just a few benefits:
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| Are You Feeling Overwhelmed with all the Stuff that Needs to be Done and the Kids Starting School? 2 Tips to Add More Peace in this Busy Season for the Whole Family | 05 Sep 2022 | 00:05:33 | |
Hello! With the start of the new school year here in the United States, it seems like so many people are really scrambling to do all the things. Summer is winding down and now people have begun the shopping for school clothes and supplies, preparing for the homeschool year, and then adding new schedules such as sports and youth group, ect.~all the new activities the school year brings. Plus trying to get all of your produce harvested such as canning and freezing and it all can really be a very busy time. It all adds up and can make you a little overwhelmed. I totally understand! We have had to say no to several things in the next week because of all that we have going on right now! My kids love sports and since we homeschool and live 20 minutes from town, it tends to be alot of running with them both being on 2 separate teams. It is a way for them to see their friends every day and If they didn’t love it so much, our lives are full in so many other ways, that we probably would have to say no, but for right now, we are making the sacrifice. We did take a break in the summer as we don’t think they need to play year round and we have so many other interests and I’m not really sure where they would have fit that in.
First tip to finding peace in this season is to stop being so hard on yourself - social media and pinterest give us many ideas, but much of what is on there is very unrealistic. Do not make comparisons-there is so much pressure to try to keep up with the world, but you do not need to-give yourself permission to break free from the normal and simplify your life!!!! You don’t have to have the notes in the lunch box every day, or even pack your child’s lunch every day if they go to school. Let them eat hot lunch or if they are old enough, let them make their own lunch. Just have items on hand and most likely more of it will get eaten if they pack it themselves anyway!!!!!! If you are trying to harvest your garden right now, try to schedule that to do a little each day because that will help with trying to do everything at once. Once day we froze corn, one day we made green beans, another day pickles, and so on! Another tip I have shared before with that is my best tomato tip ever…..cut the core out and put in the freezer and make your sauce in the winter. This has helped me so much with being too overloaded with garden work!
The second tip is to plan the week on sunday evening and have the week at a glance where the whole family can see it. This helps my family so much! I have talked about this before, but I just have a monday-sunday magnetic board from the dollar store on my fridge and each week, we write what is going on each day with the times such as games or practices and we also have our meals on there so we always know what needs to come out of the freezer or made ahead of time if we are gone most of the day. It has become so automatic that my 12 year old daughter that likes to be prepared and organized does the calendar before I even get to it sunday evenings!!!!! I don’t have anywhere in my home for a command center, so this seems to work amazing for our family and it is super simple!
Just remember friend-if you simplify, you are more likely to have more peace and know that you do not have to do everything everyone else is doing. Everything in your life can change once you learn to step back, slow down and make the decision to take your life back to what matters most. See you back next week!Monica Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
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| 3 Simple Ways to Save Money if You are an Impulse Shopper so You Can Stop Purchasing Items You Don’t Need to Save You Thousands of Dollars | 29 Aug 2022 | 00:09:07 | |
Hello! Welcome to Claiming Simplicity and if this is your first time listening, I am Monica H. Baker and I am so glad you are here! I am very passionate about helping you find more simplicity and meaning in your life to truely live the most enjoyment every single day!!!!!!
This was a super duper exciting week on our little farm as we added a newborn nigerian dwarf goat to our household!!!! She was born a week ago and is it is like having a new born baby around again with bottle feeding every 4 hours! We had to really decide if we wanted to add another kid to the herd since I have some things for the business in Utah next month and Colorado in October, but she will be old enough and thankfully we have some wonderful people that enjoy helping out!!! She is so so loved and is our snuggliest goat yet adn her name is Mildred, but we call her Millie, so now we have Fern, Mable and Millie. Im not a fan of having animals in the house, but we did have a box of hay for our newborn her first few days of life since she was only a few pounds and so tiny and I didn’t want her to be scared in the goat shed. I sure wish I would have known about goats years ago because they are my favorite animals I have ever had -plus, there is such a learning curve to goats that we want to learn as much as we can this next year and a half before we start milking them so we can make yogurt, sour cream, ice cream and cheese with all our own milk. Life is all about the journey and I hope you are enjoying it as much as we are!
This week I want to give you 3 simple ways to save money if you are an impulse shopper so you can stop purchasing items you don’t need! Have you ever purchased something and then a few days later wished you wouldn’t have? I have done this a few times and when I look back, I had to really examine why I purchased this item. As you know, I am not someone that has to have expensive things or brand names items or even care what brands are popular because I am just simply way too practical, but there was a short time in my life where I thought if I bought stuff to make me look good, it would make me feel better, but that is the absolute furthest from the truth! Thankfully it didn’t last, we had newer vehicles with loans on them, a very fancy home that we built with all the bells and whistles we could afford and we were living paycheck to paycheck. I absolutely hated not having a saving and I hated having debt hanging over our heads and we were not able to travel and enjoy experiences with our family because we had too much debt! And then my husband lost his job and it was very stressful. He took another job sometimes working in other states, but we knew we didn’t want to live a life like that. It was one of the hardest times in our life, but one of the best things that could have happened to us and I thank God for that experience because we learned so much about what we valued and what we didn’t. Once we put God first and knew our priorities, there was no need to impress anyone else. You don’t need brand name clothes or anything expensive-that does not impress God. We give all the glory to God in whatever we do as we live for eternity now and know that everything we have is God’s, not ours. Keep and open hand friend as it is not ours to clench. As you keep your hands open to giving and receiving, God will give you more than you could ever imagine. Make sure to give him the glory-there is not anything we can do on our own. I seriously could not have even imagined this life we have even 10 years ago-listen to God’s Will and He will Provide-trust Him with everything!
Ok, so the first thing to do to save money is take your credit card number off of any online shopping apps. It makes it way too easy for you to just put in your cart and pay automatically. That extra step of having to go and get your card number could save you alot of money! Also, if you do shop online, make sure that if you do put an item in your cart, leave it there for a few days before purchasing, so that you really have to think about if you want the item or not. Is that item in your budget? Second way to save money is to avoid going in the store when shopping. Most stores allow you to order online and then pick up. If you are going into the store, you will usually come out with alot more than just the items on your list and you tend to spend alot more. It also makes it much easier to stay within your budget because you can delete items if you are over budget and rethink your purchases when entering them online. Also, d not use credit cards. Most people do not pay off their credit card balance every month, so if you are purchasing items without paying attention to the allotted amount, you could be going over your amount allocated and can easily slip into way more debt than you want to.
And lastly, ask yourself if this is a item you NEED. Is it something you could borrow? Do you have a place for this item? Is it in your budget? Will it improve your life? I think about our patio furniture. We have an old table and chairs that we bought used several years ago. It is comfortable and not broken, but it is very ugly! I could purchase a new set and bring this to our cabin which could really use some more old furniture, but I haven’t put it in the budget because right now, we are building some little sheds for our animals and even though the furniture is ugly, it still works great and I certainly wouldn’t want to go in debt for it. Also, when buying something, I do like to purchase quality items so they last a very long time, so I wouldn’t want to purchase something that we would have to replace in a short amount of time. I have had my kitchen rugs that I purchased at a craft fair about 15 years ago-they are heavy duty weaved rugs that we can wash and they may just last my lifetime because they are very durable. I usually buy a general color too instead of a fad item or color so I don’t have to try to keep up with having a modern home! If I pay good money for something, I want to use it for many years!
I hope you enjoyed this episode and you can use some of these money saving tips. Enjoy your week friend and really think about what is really important to you this week! Remember, when you look at where your money is spent, that is your value! Where are you giving your money? XOXO, Monica Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
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| Are You Thinking About Homeschooling Your Kids but You Never Wanted to Homeschool? Going From Public School to Homeschooling Starting in Middle School and Jr High and the Lessons We Learned. | 22 Aug 2022 | 00:10:04 | |
Hello Friend! If you are like me and never really wanted to homeschool, but knew it was the best for your kids, you are going to want to listen to this episode! We have only been homeschooling for 2 years and we started when our kids were 10 and 12 and even though it would be much easier to send them to public school, it has been so fun watching them blossom! It has not been an easy journey, but when we realized how much better it was for them, we made sacrifices and have learned all we can. It doesn't have to be perfect! Learn from the people around you and surround your family with like minded friends! Enjoy this episode! Monica Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/
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