November 2016

Motivated Moms Planner Review & Giveaway

Please note, though an app affiliate, I was not compensated by Motivated Moms for this review. All opinions are mine alone.

With running two at-home businesses, working on my first novel, running a blog, time spend volunteering pro-bono legal services, aiding my husband to coach his school’s robotics team, being an active member of several community civic and political organizations, hosting local book club meetings, and attending mass regularly, to keeping up with everything involved in the running of a home, a lot falls on my plate to finish each and every day.

While I’m not a super woman by any sense of the imagination, you may wonder how I manage to keep so many plates spinning at the same time? I’m able to accomplish all these tasks by keeping all of my priorities straight, delegating tasks out when needed, relying on family members to pull their fair share when it comes to chores at home, and by utilizing several planners to help keep me on track for success.

This past year I discovered a new planning cornucopia of goodness when I was given the opportunity to review the Motivated Moms iOS app, an app which has helped me stay on top of my daily household routine.

This full year’s app comes standard with a pre-programmed year of chores, broken down daily with a master list of chores and new prescribed and seasonally detailed chores as well. Everything is covered from laundry maintenance to being reminded to clean out my purse from time-to-time. This app is reminiscent of nothing as virtually every home-based maintenance is meticulously listed.

Using the app is as easy as completing a chore, and then once a task is completed, I just touch the check box on my devices screen, where it’s moved to the bottom of my chore list, and listed as a completed task.

Even as a minimalist, I can become overwhelmed by the demands of my home. Having lived my life the guide of perfectionism, as is typical of only children, I tend to go overboard when it comes to chores and feel a personal sense of failure if I don’t get every task completed on my daily to-do list. With the Motivated Moms iOS app, I receive immediate validation after completing each task on-screen and get the instantaneous gratification that comes with knowing in progressing through my daily chores. This app gives you momentum to get it all done!

I also love that typical homemaking chores, such as the tidying of countertop surfaces and the sweeping of common areas, aren’t the only chores listed. Also included are chores such as exercising, the taking of vitamins, and Bible reading are also included. The Motivated Moms iOS app (also available for Android) keeps me focused on my house cleaning schedule, helping me to take back time in my schedule for more important things like self-care and spending time each day with my family.

What makes the Motivated Moms iOS app so unique? This app is customizable! Not only can I assign and color code for individual person’s and their chores, I can also add or remove tasks based on the seasonal necessity of our family and home’s day-to-day needs. I can even select how often a custom task should be performed. I recently added blowing fall leaves from our walkways to my husband’s every-other-day chore list. A chore that while needed at present will not be a pressing task in the weeks to come.

I am also able to tailor some of the most perfunctory tasks on the app as well. Since we don’t have the 2nd floor in our home, I hid this task from the chore list and created a new task, cleaning out our home’s essential oil diffusers weekly instead. While pre-programmed tasks can’t be edited, just hiding the original chore and creating a custom task accomplishes the same goal in less time.

Not only can you customize chores for your home, you can also:

Add rooms, such as a library, sunroom, den, office, pantry, or study.
Freely hide and unhide tasks as your needs change.
Add or remove people from chores.
E-mail yourself a printable of the day’s lists (available for iOS), and if you have an AirPrint printer, you can print directly from the app.
Sync the app between your iOS devices. As everyone in our home is an Apple user this makes finding out your daily chores effortless.

While I admit to having been always more of a paper-to-pen kind of planner, but I have been blown away by the ease of using the Motivated Moms system, both by their app and their printable planner. But if you don’t want the app and prefer a printed chore planner? Motivated Moms has you covered for that, too. You can get the same planner, with or without assigned daily Bible study reading, in black and white or in color, for only $8.00, when you use promo code SAVE1 at checkout. You will also receive the remainder of 2016 with each purchase for free as well!

An initial subscription to the Motivated Moms iOS app is $1.99 and includes two months of tasks and server access. You can buy additional months via in-app purchase for 99¢ per month or a year for $7.99, and again denoted above for only $8.00 when you use promo code SAVE1 at checkout for the printable paper version.

In all, this app has proven beneficial to helping me finish my chores and get more done, in terms of my home-based businesses, I plan to keep my subscription current and will be using this system again in 2017.

For more information on Motivated Moms, also be sure to join them on Facebook and Twitter.

Motivated Moms has been gracious enough to give two LadyPrefers2Save readers their very own 1-year subscription to this amazing app. To enter, just leave me a comment and let me know why you are excited to try this app in the new year.

So savvy savers, let me know how you plan to get everything you need to get done at home in the coming year. I’d love to hear all about it below!

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Why you need self-care in your life

You’re overwhelmed at work. You have a ton of projects piling up at home, and your calendar is packed with overdue tasks and responsibilities. To make room for all of this stuff, you skip meals, stop working out, and what shreds of a social life you have seems to be put even further onto the back burner. When we’re stressed, self-care is usually the first thing to go. And that’s when things only seem to get worse.

As indulgent as the phrase self-care may sound, the habit of caring for yourself in an intentional and directional manner, is truly functional to your entire being.

Most of us grew up believing in self-sacrifice. Believing that the more you gave up, the bigger the reward. In high school, I routinely signed up for a debate tournament and speech events that often simultaneously went on during the same weekend. I forced myself to stay up all night preparing. I pushed myself each tournament to the point of exhaustion, going from room to room, from floor to floor, just to receive small academic accolades at the end of each district meet. I believed that by pushing myself to the brink everything would eventually pay off. Of course, the next day and beyond, I was so exhausted I could barely form coherent sentences, especially in school the following week. Mentally and socially this pace caused me to tank.

I know first hand that it’s easy to take the hard work pays off adage too far, to the point that it becomes counterproductive to your overall well-being and success. Your abilities become worn through. Your skills aren’t as sharp. You lose that laser focus. You run yourself into the ground. While you might think you’re working hard, in some ways, you’re not working efficiently at all. It’s easy to neglect taking care of ourselves because when we’re busy and overwhelmed, even a small reprieve feels like a luxury. So actually taking the time to eat lunch, exercise, and hang out with friends? That just feels like slacking.

It’s easy to neglect to care for ourselves when we’re busy and overwhelmed when even a small reprieve feels like a luxury. When taking the time to eat lunch, exercise, and hang out with our own family feels like slacking. But like with all flawed mindsets, backfires are inevitable as self-care actually helps you make progressive strides in life faster than the constant grind.

Take for example these few reasons why self-care should be a necessity in your life:

Self-care prevents burnout: We’ve all been there: you push yourself to the point that you can’t take anymore, causing you to just give up and let go of those important progressions in life. Self-care actually helps you avoid getting to that point initially by reduces the stress that makes you consider throwing in the towel at all. An unstressed mind prepared for battles ahead and does not dwell on past failures.

Self-care gives you perspective: While a small amount of stress can serve the purpose of outward momentum, but after a while serves to do little more than break down the virtue and sanctity of your down your mind and body. Self-care enabled you to care enough about your mental wellbeing to create healthy barriers that allow you to keep stress from taking over your life and your full functionality. Self-care helps you refocus: When I was stuck on a complicated math problem in school, my teacher would suggest walking away and coming back—taking a break, basically. Breaks are the epitome of

Self-care refocuses your senses: Self-care enables you with the gift of discernment. It allows you to know that sometimes in life you need to walk away from difficult situations, from difficult people, and from difficult attachments in your life. Self-care lets you know you need a break. It allows you to think your heart and soul, to know when it’s sometimes necessary to come back into a situation refreshed. Breaks are the epitome of self-care and are essential for helping you perform better.

I’ve said all that to say self-care is not a reward. It’s part of a process. A necessary process that sometimes gets mislabeled as rewarding rather than nourishing or enriching. We aren’t rewarding ourselves with lunch or even a trip to the bathroom, though, we are providing basic ourselves with the basic necessities of life.

While rewards can motivate us to work hard, they are not the light at the end of the tunnel. Self-care is.

When you care for yourself first you give yourself back the ability to strive and not just function. It’s better to care for yourself if even for a few minutes a day than later undergoing the arduous, messy, and altogether uncomfortable task of talking oursleves back in the from the ledge.

It’s vital that you make time for yourself in your daily routine. Even if it’s just a fresh change of clothes or a long stint in the shower. You need the respite.

Self-care also requires accountability. Consider letting those closest to you know you need help and be humble enough to put your ego aside and accept the help they offer. If you need help staying focused on fitness, consider teaming up with a friend and working out together or try an app like Sworkit, which generates daily exercise routines based on how much time you have each day. Sometimes you just have to get up and do it.

Self-care also relates to good nutrition. Do you want to eat less sugar? Control your carb intake? Drink more water? Just focus on one area at a time, carefully measuring your progress each day. There is nothing wrong with the occasional indulgence, but food should never be a means to an end when it comes to stress. Changing the way you think about stress will help you change the way you think, relate, and in time, crave foods. Give yourself the gift of hydration over saturation. Give yourself grace.

In the end, self-care if nothing if not the practice of good emotional hygiene, and that’s something we can all get behind.

So tell me, in what ways today will you give yourself the gift of self-care. I’d love to hear about it below!

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Welcome to this week’s Happiness is Homemade Linky Party

Welcome to Happiness is Homemade Link Party and
Happy Upcoming Thanksgiving, everyone!

The local weather forecasters are saying we are going to get dumped on here in Western New York tonight – up to a foot of the white stuff!

What?!?!?!

I guess it had to arrive sooner or later. Perhaps we’ll have a white Thanksgiving!

The hostesses of Happiness Is Homemade and myself wish you all the happiest Thanksgiving to your and your families!

And now on to the goodies…

THIS WEEK’S FEATURES

Thomas & Friends Holiday Candy Trains from Gluesticks – just in case you are running out of ideas for Thomas presents for kids like I am!

Chocolate Caramel Turkey Legs from Culinary Envy – these are just cool!

Orange Cranberry Margarita from Growing Up Gabel – this is going to be my signature Thanksgiving drink!

Cozy Winter Wreath with Thrift Store Finds from Refresh Living – you can’t have too many wreaths for your front door!

MEET YOUR HOSTS

Want to follow us?

Just click on the circle to connect to our blogs!!

The rules are really simple! Make sure you visit a few other blogs and make some new friends along the way. Feel free to link up your favorite recipes, crafts or your latest DIY project. We want you you share it all! As always, please make sure to follow your hosts and co-hosts!! Link up your posts, make some friends, and earn the chance to be featured at Happiness Is Homemade Link Party! We will feature the favorite posts each week! Disclaimer: Adding your link to this link party gives permission to all 12 Hosts, along with any co-hosts, guest hosts, and participants of Happiness Is Homemade, to share your posts and pictures via social media and as features, roundups, etc. with an explicit link back to your original source. Therefore, linking up you agree to allow us to use your images on each of our blogs in features relating to Happiness is Homemade Link Party.

An InLinkz Link-up

Here is Brittany’s bonus Thanksgiving linkup code to use again this week, just insert it anywhere in the party that you wish – thanks again Brittany for putting this together! I’m going to say something like “Just in case you missed this at last week’s party, here it is again!”

We thought it would be a fun addition to make a Thanksgiving special with our Happiness is Homemade Link Party. We compiled several of your links from the past week that would be perfect your Thanksgiving table.

Come on over and take a look!

Save Money Pampering yourself with Groupon

This is a sponsored post for Groupon. All opinions are my own.

There are few things in life I love more than being pampered! Whether it’s getting my hair highlighted, getting a pedicure, or having my eyebrows waxed or threaded, getting pampered helps to reward myself with the gift of self-care my body and mind craves. The only downside? Sometimes pampering can be uber expensive. Luckily that’s where Groupon helps me out!

I love using Groupon because there are so many different ways that the app and website help me to be a savvy saver. From finding great deals on new restaurants to snagging deals on day trips for the kiddos to my beloved pamperings services such as massages, manicures, and hair salon visits. I’m even able to save money purchasing gifts for those on my holiday gift-giving list. Whatever you need, Groupon has you covered.

Personally, I make a point of always staying signed into my Groupon account on my computer so should any fabulous daily deals pop-up in my area, I can quickly jump on the deal. Currently, there are tons of awesome Health, Beauty & Wellness Groupons available to help savvy savers like myself score budget-friendly ways to treat themselves to a day of pampering, even during the hustle and bustle of the upcoming holiday season. You can also check out Groupon’s current deals on their Twitter feed and Facebook page as well.

Groupon is a great way to save money on the products, services, and retailers you already shop with as well. Being able to save money and to love where you shop makes Groupon a completely win-win situation!

Also, searching for coupons on Groupon is super easy to do. You’re always just a few clicks away from your new favorite online deal, without the hassle of having to pay online or in-store membership fees. So whatever you are looking for this holiday season, from toys to trips, to clothing and electronics, Groupon has something for everyone!

How do you save money with Groupon?

Holiday Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Pets

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ToPetsWithLove #CollectiveBias

Our pets are members of our family. If you haven’t met our band of rascally critters here on my blog before, let me introduce you: Roxie the West Highland White Terrier, Sassy the Shih-Tzu, Harley the Chihuahua, Shadow, our beautiful Bombay, and Boo Radley, an American Shorthair cat.

While we consider our motley crew of furry friends family, I think we love them all the more because each came into our lives as adopted pets, and as the old saying goes, who rescued who? I also like to think that our pets love us equally in return, and not just for the copious amounts of table scraps my family sneakily gives them during meals!

With the holiday season soon upon us, I wanted to make sure that we included our furry friends in this year’s Christmas festivities, and what does any full-fledged member of the family receive each holiday season? Well, a stocking, of course!

Each year I make sure that our pets have nice stockings and stocking stuffers at Christmas. This year I wanted to mix things up a bit and include a few DIY pet toys among the presents they receive.

For our cats, I made a DIY Hanging Cat Scratcher. This scratcher will hang on a doorknob and give my cats a means to harmlessly indulge their natural instinct to flex their claws and scratch. This was a very simple project to make and cost only around five dollars to create, making this a very frugal pet stocking stuffer idea.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

12″ section of 2″ x 4″
50′ package of sisal rope
Wood glue (not in photo)
Non-Toxic Kids Trim Paint
Paint Brush
Drill
Ribbon (optional)

To begin, make sure your board is smooth to the touch. Sand if needed. You will then need to pre-drill two holes so your scratcher can be hung. Measure out and drill 1 inch down and 2 inches apart from both the top and bottom of your board. After drilling, wipe away any dust or shavings left over with a clean cloth. You’ll now need to paint the top and bottom four inches of your board on both sides. Allow the paint to dry for 24-hours before moving on to the next step.

To create your scratcher, start two inches from the end of your board and spiral the sisal rope around the bottom of the board, gluing it in place as you go. Remember, wood glue takes a while to dry. Go slow in the beginning and gauge your work accordingly. Allow your board to dry for a full 24-hours.

Now you will need to cut a 1-foot section of rope for your handle. To make a loop, simply lace the two ends of the rope through the back side of your board and tying a knot on each side of the sisal.

Your scratcher is now ready to be hung and enjoyed. If giving this scratcher as a gift consider adding a ribbon bow to the finished project. This will make your scratcher a bit more festive.

Now for my canine companions, I created DIY Doggy Doughnut sock toys! This is another quick and inexpensive project to make as they can be made from mismatched socks or from festive holiday socks. Either way, they’re awesome!

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

1 Pairs of Holiday Themed Socks, per doughnut
1 Pair of thick socks, per doughnut
Needle & Thread
Ribbon (optional)
Scissors

To begin, cut off the toe from all your socks. You want to have openings at both ends of your socks. Once your socks are cut lay them in lines and turn them inside out. Then place your holiday socks inside of the plain socks.

To form your donuts start by rolling the plain sock inward towards itself until you form a ring. To prevent your doughnuts from unrolling, take a needle and thread and quick stitch around the hem of the underside of the sock roll. If you have a dog that isn’t an aggressive chewer, you can skip this step altogether. To finish off your doughnuts, simply stack them up and tie them together with bakers twine or ribbon!

Once my DIY’s were done it was time to assemble my stockings. This year I decided to create two separate stockings, one for our cats and another for our dogs.

The stockings were repurposed and embellished with DIY crocheted bands, bows, and glittered star ornaments.

Now for the fun stuff! I also included lots of fun and frugal treats for my pets. Here’s everything our cats and dogs will be receiving this in their stockings:

Beggin’ Strips
Busy Bones
Chewnola Busy Bones
Purina DentaLife Sticks
Fancy Feast Purely Trays
Friskies Party Mix
Whisker Lickin’s
Rope toys
Cat Wand
Stuffing-less dog toy
Squeaker mouse

To finish everything up, I stuffed my stockings and hung them up for safe keeping on my vintage wooden ladder. This way I’m hoping to be able to keep all of these awesome treats safe in their stockings until Christmas!

Just like with my stocking stuffers, I also give my dogs the best food I can each day. I give them Beneful IncrediBites dry dog food because it has been reformulated to feature meat as it’s #1 ingredient and without any added sugar. I love that this newly reformulated recipe was created directly from the feedback of real pet owners, like myself, who demand wholesome, antioxidant-rich ingredients for their own furry family members.

As a pet owner, it’s important for me to provide my pets with foods and treats that are as tasty as they are good for them.

As you can see, Shadow and Boo really enjoy their Fancy Feast Purely cat food trays, which features real seafood, chicken, or beef, without any by-products or fillers, and the yummy Whisker Lickin’s Soft & Delicious treats.

Roxie, on the other hand, loves her Busy Chewnola Dog Treats, which provide her with a long-lasting chewy treat that’ll keep her both busy and happy this holiday season, and maybe even out the Christmas tree this year! As for Harley, he’s always game for a Beggin’ Strip, as they smell and taste like bacon because they’re made with real bacon!

Since all of my pets really enjoy eating these awesome, affordable Purina products, I made sure that I keep extra Purina treats on hand for them to enjoy for the entirety of the holiday season too!

What’s even better? When picking up everything I needed to fill my pets holiday stockings this year, I didn’t have to go out of the way as your local Kroger store is always full of all of your pet’s favorite food, treats, and toys.

From the newest Fancy Feast Purely formulations to delicious Purina DentaLife treats, you can stock up on everything your pet needs this holiday season right on the pet aisle in-store, making shopping at your neighborhood Kroger an easy way to show your pets how much you care. Even during the hectic hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

Did you know that you can help spread the holiday cheer to your furry friends with the help of Purina? Now through the end of November, take advantage of great savings on your favorite Purina pet products available at Kroger with this Coupons.com link, while supplies last.

Well, friends, I hope these tutorials gave you a few ideas for creating your own pet stockings this holiday season. Also, be sure to be sure to click here for more #ToPetsWithLove pet gift giving ideas as well!

Just remember that when it comes to buying treats to fill those stockings, by choosing quality Purina products you’ll have all your pet’s nutritional and play needs to be met. After all, they’re family and family deserves the best!

So from our furry family to yours, we wish you have a wonderful holiday season filled with lots of love and delicious pet treats from Kroger!

Please note, the above statements cannot be taken as professional veterinary advice. Please consult your veterinarian for recommendations and practices appropriate for your pet.

4 Comments

DIY Holiday Cuticle Oil Tins

Is there anything more lavish than a good tin of cuticle oil? The way it feels on the nails is second to none. You may also not know how super simple it is to make your own all natural version at home, but what’s even better is that cuticle oil tins make for a fun and frugal stocking stuffer or last minute holiday gifts as well.

I always like to give away DIY cuticle oil each holiday season as I can make them not only in advance but for under three dollars I can prepare a dozen tins and give the gift of being pampered to in my life that needs it the most!

This is also an awesome zero waste project as the tins themselves are made from recycled Altoids boxes. This project is just a win-win all around.

Here’s how you can make your own giftable DIY All-Natural Cuticle Oil Tins too:

Isn’t that super simple to make? Now if you are considering giving cuticle oil tins this holiday season be sure to also give your recipient an orange stick, file, in a small pouch, for a holiday manicure kit, to go along with your tins as well. Also, be sure to pin the above instruction for reference later while making these awesome cuticle oil tins!

Here’s to the holidays,

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DIY Crochet Cowl Neck Scarf

There’s nothing that epitomizes Fall fashion more to me than a cozy crochet cowl neck scarf. Cowl neck scarves are amazing in that they look great on all body types and can be styled in endless ways making them an essential go-to cold weather accessory for everyone, especially those with capsule wardrobes!

The only drawback to these rocking scarves? They often come with very uncozy price tags. So today I’ll be sharing with you a super simple pattern to help be your most stylish self this fall and winter, with your very own chunky crochet cowl!

You can crank out a few up in any of your favorite colors to help cheer up an otherwise cold, rainy or snowy day. Also, cowls make fun and frugal holiday gifts! Consider making several to stock your gift closet with this holiday season!

The best part? Each cowl is a true one-skein project and can be made in just under two hours. Don’t you just adore quick crafting projects?

This cowl pattern is perfect in its simplicity, as the piece is worked back and forth in rows and whip stitched together at the end, turning it into an crochet infinity scarf. Also worth noting, this scarf is very long and is meant to be wrapped 2-3 times around the neck to create a bulky look.

For the pattern, I used Caron One Pound Yarn in Sunflower. I purchased my yarn for $2.94 using a half-off JoAnn Fabrics mobile coupon. This skein gave me enough yarn to make three cowls, making this a truly affordable project at only $1.00 a cowl!

You might want to also consider going through your yarn stash and seeing what leftover project skeins you may already have on hand to create this cowl as well. Keeping in mind that any bulky acrylic yarn will work for this project, keeping in mind that for this project you’ll need about 350 yards in total.

Here’s what you will need to get this project started:

-1 Skein Carson 1-Pound Chunky Yarn in Sunflower
-Size 9.0mm crochet hook
-Scissors
-Yarn or upholstery needle

7″ wide x 76″ inches long.

HDC: Half Double Crochet
Ch: Chain

So I hope you will enjoy trying your hand at making your own cowl neck scarf. Be sure to pin the pattern instructions above for easy reference while making your own scarf, and if you do try your hand at making your own, be sure to tag me on Instagram or Twitter to let me see how awesome it looks!

Also for those looking to purchase their own pre-made cowl they are also currently available in my ETSY shop. Enjoy your crocheting!

Here’s to the holidays,

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Please note, though an app affiliate, I was not compensated by Motivated Moms for this review. All opinions are mine alone.

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURES

MEET YOUR HOSTS

Sharing is Caring:

This is a sponsored post for Groupon. All opinions are my own.

Sharing is Caring:

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ToPetsWithLove #CollectiveBias

Please note, the above statements cannot be taken as professional veterinary advice. Please consult your veterinarian for recommendations and practices appropriate for your pet.

Sharing is Caring:

Sharing is Caring:

Sharing is Caring:

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