We are not expert movers yet, but we have had our fair share of moving, downsizing, deciding what to keep, and unpacking into new homes. Today I am going to share my 6 tips for moving! Listen in:

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My tips we discuss today:

Invest in tubs + buy a label maker

Downsize EVERYTHING.

ONLY invest in pieces for your new house that are 100% favorites.

A place for everything - even if that means getting creative.

Unpack immediately. Don't wait 6 months.

Make the place YOUR HOME, even if it's temporary or a rental.

We are diving head long into our new mini series here on the podcast: A Practical Homemaking Deep Dive! We've got some fun & practical episodes coming up to help all of us in the practical parts of running and managing a home, but of course, all for God's Glory! We are going to dive into cleaning routines, time management, hospitality, morning & evening routines, and so so much more. I'm also hoping to have some fabulous guests for you too coming up soon :D

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Practical Homemaking Q&A:

As we dive into this series, many of the episodes will be a deep dive into specific questions and topics. But today, I put together a list of questions that we are all shorter that we can dive into. In today's episode we discuss:

Bringing your children into "big Church" - and ideas for training toddlers!

Our new laundry routine (and how it's going)

Ideas for what to do with toddlers while homeschooling olders

Balancing between kids and chores

Starting a garden - where do I begin?

How I do it ALL?

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Looking for ways to cut costs has been on all of our minds this year. Rising gas prices, rising food prices, and a supply chain that feels unstable as led many of us to ask, "what else could we be doing?" In today's episode, I'm sharing some FUN life updates for the Balmet family as well as sharing 5 things I'm actively doing this year to cut costs, but not quality in my home (especially when it comes to food)!

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1. Focusing on building my bulk pantry 

Examples: Real salt prices, bulk beans, and bulk spices.

10oz shaker of salt is: $6.35

26oz refill pouch I usually pay: $8 ($0.31 an ounce)

25lb bag for $99.99 (I got on sale for $85 + free shipping). $0.21 per ounce ($0.10 per ounce savings!)

25lbs = 400 ounces. Which comes out to a $40 savings!!

PLUS, now I have bulk salt on hand and don't need to worry about any kind of supply chain issues, prices going up for a while, etc. If I can, I'd like to order a second bag early when this bag gets to be about half full. Then when that first bag runs out entirely, I'll order another bag. This way I've always got a full extra bag on hand. But I'm not sure how fast we will work through this bag or what my other bulk needs will be, so we'll see how it goes this year.

Another example is bulk spices: Another area I'll slowly be working on adding to again is bulk spices. When you cook entirely from scratch, and you want flavorful food, you end up going through a LOT of spices. Since RV living, I've pretty much just been buying single use containers of spices which get so expensive at $3-9 a bottle. I'll be adding a few different spices at a time to my monthly Azure order while I slowly build this up. For example, I can get an Italian seasoning mix from Azure for $8.89 for a pound! A pound of dried herbs is a lot. Now I can just refill my seasonings as needed. The trick to this, is really keeping track of what bulk spices you have on hand, because you can easily forget and lost track.

2. Building my at home Emergency and first aid kits 

Example: Slings, butterfly bandages, bleed stop, and over the counter things to help so we don't have to go to urgent care. I want to brush up on my skills so I have the knowledge to help in a situation.

3. Growing a garden

I'm starting with SEEDS this year, instead of going the easier route of plant starts. And I'm not getting fancy. I'll be focusing on the produce my family actually uses: tomatoes, potatoes, onions, squash, watermelons, all manner of herbs, etc. When I look at the seed catalogs, there are so many fun and fancy things I could grow. But I'm trying this summer to just focus on the needs that will really help my family! I just need to get on the planning part of it all now! ;)

4. Cutting out the grocery store

Example: We will be purchasing a whole cow sometime this year to put in the freezer, I'd like to do a couple of pigs as well. We don't have the ability right now to do chickens or eggs, so we will do what we can!

Another example: We finally are able to find raw milk from a local farm again. We just picked up our first 3 gallons today! With the ability to get raw milk, I can make so many things from home that I either can't buy in stores, or that is ridiculously expensive. I love making cultured butter, maple syrup sweetened whip cream, a gallon whole yogurt, kefir, and so much more. This eliminates the need to buy hardly any diary products from the store and they are way healthier and higher quality than I could get elsewhere. Also cuts out the need from buying expensive and processed nut milks or alternatives.

Here's what my ideal pantry will look like over the coming year: Bulk grains + dried goods from Azure each month (while building up a pantry so I'm not buying 3-5lbs a month of each thing but rather 25-50l...

We are continuing our Family & Culture series today with an important chat about finding (and creating) peace in our home in unstable times. Instability can come in the form of emotional, every day instability and larger, world instability. How do we protect our homes in the midst of instability? Join me to discuss 5 ways we can begin. Let's dive in!

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Learn how to manage your own attitude

Do what you can to preserve peace in instability (in wisdom)

Trust what you can't do, or what's not in your control, to the Lord

Find the tension between being aware and the need for prayer, and neglecting your own duties in your home

Build your home in JOY.

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Do you ever feel like you open your mouth and out comes complaints? Do you feel like you too often dwell on the negative and want to focus more on the positive? Today Jami will dive into 6 ways we can turn from being a complainer into a praiser! Listen in:

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Talk often comes out of what is already in our hearts. —> What is our internal monolog doing?

We often get stuck in a rut of complaining (even when it’s not out loud).

Focus on GRATITUDE and THANKSGIVING

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” - 1 Thess 5: 14-18

4. When in conversation, THINK about some things you can say beforehand, instead of letting complaints just come out. THINK through some things you can specifically say you are thankful for, share something interesting you hear this week, etc.

5. In a world that sometimes feel crazy, learn to meditate and talk about different subjects.

6. Learn how to LISTEN better in conversations.

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;” - James 1:19

For further study on this topic, I have a few recommendations.

Trusting God by Jerry Bridges if your complaining comes out of fear and anxiety

Learning Contentment by Nancy Wilson

Comparison Girl by Shannon Popkin

Past podcast episodes:

Are you feeling discontent? 3 questions to ask yourself… – Hf #198

The Key to Finding True & Lasting JOY – Hf #315

Hf #33: Anxiety, Worry, and the Biblical Response

Hf #35: Practical Ways to Trust in the Lord More (and Deal With Anxiety)

Hf #36: Finding Joy in All Aspects of My Life

Hf #270: Facing anxiety and the unknown

On battling anxiety with Phylicia Masonheimer – Hf #328

Hf #323: Cultivating a Serving Heart

I've loved tackling some BIG issues in our family and culture series this year. Things like fear, anxiety, social media, a good perspective on the future...but today I want to turn a little more practical. I want to discuss some ways we can put our heads down and get to work. And I'll be kicking off the discussion by sharing 4 personal things I want to work on in our family this year. Let's dive in!

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4 things we are working on:

Cutting our dependency on supply chains where we can

Stocking a depression era pantry

Growing a garden

Increase family devotion time

As a reminder, we do not do any of these things out of fear. We don't become dooms day preppers or such. But there is wisdom in preparing solidly for the future. And for some many of us, we are concerned with inflation, rising food prices, rising gas prices, and possible disruptions to the global supply chain.

So in wisdom, many of us are looking for ways we can make that supply chain more local and how we can be wise with our finances and food in the future!

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this topic and some goals your family has. PLEASE come over to our free community and share your thoughts on any of my 4 goals or other goals you have for yourself!

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We need some real talk this week ladies. Who else is feeling overwhelmed with ALL the news going on? I've had a heavy heart the past 2 weeks and it can be a struggle to get online. SO we are having an honest chat today about where we draw the line with social media, when it's right to carry other's burdens, and when it's not actually our responsibility. Let's dive in (it's encouraging, I promise)!

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Family & Culture Series Pt 1: The Joy & Duties of the Christian Household 

Family & Culture Series Pt 2: Learning how to be BRAVE women

Family & Culture Series P3: Learning how to be BRAVE families

Jon our free community to discuss this episode (and more): Finding Joy Community 

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This is a fun and (hopefully) inspiring episode. Whether you find yourself homeschooling or supporting your child's education while they attend another form of school, one thing is certain, moms play a vital role in their children's education. I want to inspire a love of learning in my kids that lasts a lifetime. So in this episode, we are going to talk about ways we can make their education fun AND exciting. Instead of chiding you to do more, I am going to encourage you to approach it all from a place of rest. Let's jump in!

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How to make school so much more fun and exciting

1. First thing to remember - you don't have to be a crafty Pinterest queen mom to accomplish this.

2. Ditch the Textbooks that aren't working

Education is so much more than a textbook

think outside the box with things like math. (Simple Charlotte Mason offers a really cool 1 year math program that teaches math through the kid running a fictional pet shop! So cool!!) They offer a pet store edition, book store edition, and sports store edition. Grades 3-6

Ideas: Ditch the science textbook and drive four hours and spend time at the tide pools.

Ideas: Buy the kids some kites ad spend time learning about real world gravity and how things fly.

Ideas: Ditch the astronomy textbook, let the kids stay up late, make some popcorn, and lay out under the stars identifying constellations.

3. Let each kid choose an area of interest

This year I have a kid who wants to learn all about wood working. And another child who wants to learn how to fly a plane.

4. Other good skills are educational too

Our cooking experiment

A dad taking his kid along on his construction sites

Our Christmas present to the 4 older boys this year: their own tool sets to build a playhouse with their dad

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THIS is an important topic for me right now as I'm 11 weeks pregnant and TIRED. I've done a version of this talk in the past, but each time I feel like it gets better as I go through more stretching and busy times. Does any else feel like each passing year just gets faster and faster? I've felt this from around the time I turned 20.

It's always so important to evaluate our use of time. Are we squandering it on social media? Are we feeling exhausted and burnt out? Are we using rest the way God intended it? Today we are going to dive into how we can make sure we are using our time for God's Glory! Let's jump in!

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Well the title of this episode kind of gives it away! We are expecting our 7th child in September 2022 and as I'm in the throws of the first trimester, I thought I would share a little bit of the journey with you.

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Favorite Pregnancy Books:

Taking Charge of Your Fertility

The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth

Awakening Fertility: The Essential Art of Preparing for Pregnancy

Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way

Husband-Coached Childbirth

Betsy Bosom’s Baby Book: A Girlfriends Guide to Using Essential Oils From Bellies to Babies

Gentle Babies: Essential Oils and Natural Remedies for Pregnancy, Childbirth, Infants, and Young

Morning Sickness Remedies: 

Sea Bands – Motion sickness bands

High amounts of vitamin b – my two favorite Vitamin B complexes are Dr. Axe’s Vitamin B complex & the one I use now is Super B by Young Living (it’s AMAZING!!)

NEW in this pregnancy: A cell salts protocol from Her Homeopathy. Her website is a wealth of information!!!

Heartburn remedies: 

The only thing that has ever worked for me for heartburn is: Alkalime supplement by Young Living

Genexa

Pregnancy tea:

Mama’s Red Raspberry brew – My favorite pregnancy blend!!

Mama’s Milk tea – Great for lactation and milk production!

Earthley also makes a great pregnancy tea

Pregnancy workout dvd:

Lindsey Brin’s pregnancy workout DVD set

Vitamins and supplements:

Take a good prenatal – I use Master Formula + Super B as my prenatal vitamin (both from Young Living). You can read about this combo here.

Dr. Axe also has a great prenatal I recommend

I also take a good probiotic. I switch between Young Living’s Life9 and some of Dr. Axe’s probiotics. It’s a good idea to switch up your probiotic from time to time to get different strains. Dr. Axe has a bunch of good ones but I recommend his Women’s once a day as well as his SBO probiotic.

You will also want a good omega/fish oil supplement for pregnancy. No surprise here but I recommend one of Dr. Axe’s Omega’s but all four are currently sold out. The one I take now is Young Living’s OmegaGize. A good omega supplement is crucial during pregnancy, but a GOOD one from a good source is going to be expensive. Just keep that in mind. I usually take mine 3-4 times a week instead of every day just to lesson that expense a bit.

I also take Magnesium and iron – see my favorites below

Other supplements I LOVE:

TriLight Health has an entire line of pregnancy herbal blends that are affordable and rock! Their ingredients are outstanding. I recommend getting their Pregnancy essentials kit for everything you need.

Earthley is my next favorite store to recommend. It’s owned by a mom who has a passion for providing home remedies at an affordable price. Here are a few of my favorites from Earthley:

Pregnancy tea -a Premade blend for pregnancy

Fertili Boost herbal extract – Want help getting pregnant? This tincture might help.

Post Partum balance – I am SO getting this tincture for this time around – helps balance things out after pregnancy

Mama’s tummy relief – I wish I had seen this during my first-trimester sickness

Nourish her naturally – Another possible option for a prenatal

Magnesium Lotion – Another great one for pregnancy! I use this every night. Dr. Axe has a good supplement if you want a pill instead of a lotion.

Iron supplement  – I LOVE Earthley’s iron supplement. Make sure to look for an herbal iron supplement though if using a different brand.

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