Finding Joy in Your Home

It's been a bit of a stressful year so far. We've had sickness and lots of unusual things going on and we are moving. Yet, there is also a ton of other stuff we've had to get done. So today's episode is going to be all about: how to get things done (and be productive) in a busy season! Listen in here: Listen to the Podcast: You can find important links & info below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Terrific decluttering blog: A Slob Comes Clean. Her book: Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle Take a peek inside my weekly baking plans Our Sponsor: Get TWO WEEKS of free meal plans from PrepDish! PrepDish.com/Homemaking

We have some very exciting plans coming up for 2020! Our family is planning on starting full time travel around the United States. Our goal: to visit all 50 states. In this podcast episode, Jason will be joining me to share our plans and do a fun Q&A on what's ahead for the Balmet family. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find important links & info below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Interested in traveling full time? There is a great FB group: FullTime Families Follow us for now over on Instagram to hear more about our travels How to get mail on the road: Escapees Mail Forwarding More info about the RV park pass we will get: Thousand Trails Our Sponsor: Get TWO WEEKS of free meal plans from PrepDish! PrepDish.com/Homemaking

Loving our husbands feels like something that should just come naturally. But once you've been married for longer than 10 minutes, you realize that loving your husband takes real, intentional work and thought. Today on the podcast we are going to be discussing some practical ways you can love your husband...for a closer marriage. Listen to the Podcast: You can find important links & info below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Book recommendation: 100 Ways to Love Your Husband by Lisa Jacobson Book recommendation: 100 Words of Affirmation Your Husband Needs to Hear by Lisa Jacobson Book recommendation: 100 Ways to Love Your Wife by Matt Jacobson Book recommendation: 100 Words of Affirmation Your Wife Needs to Hear by Matt Jacobson Our sponsor today: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50

Do you want to raise your children to be readers? In this episode we are going to dive into encouragement and resources for creating a culture of reading in your home - for kids and mom! Listen to the Podcast: You can find important links & info below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Book links by reading ages mentioned: Reading to your baby & toddlers: Board books and visually pleasing books (The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, The Little Engine That Could, etc) The early reader: This is the 5-8 range. With emerging readers of my own, I know that this is a long process. Read aloud ALL the time during this age. The Usborne My First Reading Library Our very early reader books: Dash Into Learning More suggestions: Ralph S. Mouse, The Ramona Books, Henry and Ribsy, The Magic TreeHouse Books) The Middle grade reader: Ages 8 and up. Let them choose what interests them. Help guide them but let them explore worlds and ideas! Keep reading aloud at these ages. (The Redwall series, How to Train Your Dragon book series, etc.) Your Teen Reader: Keep an eye out for books labeled YA. You will still want to keep a close eye on what they are reading while also letting them explore! Help them explore reading outside their school requirements. As adults: Do the same thing!! Find the books that make you excited and don't want to put the book down...and ditch the others. Especially as busy moms, life is TOO short!! Links: Our homeschooling picks for this year (and how to instill a love of learning) – Hf #239 Get TWO WEEKS of free meal plans from PrepDish! PrepDish.com/Homemaking Resources for learning more about morning basket time: Your Morning Basket Podcast with Pam Barnhill – an entire podcast dedicated to this topic! How We Homeschool – Morning Time – by Read-Aloud Revival Simple Morning Time Plans – by Read-Aloud Revival Books to recommend: How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo The Read Aloud Family by Sarah MacKenzie Book Girl by Sarah Clarkson Honey for a Child's Heart By Gladys Hunt Jim Trelease's Read Aloud Family Handbook - New 8th edition Sources for books by age: SonLight Sources for books by age: (many are preprints of old classics) The Good and the Beautiful Library Meal Planning Help for Eating Healthy: I am really excited to share with you the sponsor of today's podcast episode: PrepDish! If you ever feel like you wish you had a little help in your meal planning, then I highly encourage you to check out PrepDish. They offer gluten-free meal plans and paleo meal plans. But you don't have to eat a gluten-free or paleo diet in order to take advantage of all that PrepDish has to offer! In fact, almost half of their customers don't eat those diets. The meals are healthy and non-processed and work well for anyone who is trying to eat a healthy diet. And PrepDish is offering a super special TWO week free trail when you sign up through this link (how awesome!!) When you sign up, you'll receive an email every week with a grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. After only 1-3 hours of prepping on the weekend, you'll have all of your meals ready for the entire week. I absolutely love how easy they make it. Free TWO week trial of PrepDish

The Bible calls us to encourage one another in Christ. We are to be there for those in our lives and we are to encourage them. But what does this look like on a practical level? This episode will explore how we can be encouragers to those in our life and what the Bible calls us to do in this regard. Listen in here: Listen to the Podcast: You can find important links & info below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Article by 9 Marks: Encourage One Another: Giving Grace with Your Words Book recommendation: 100 Ways to Love Your Husband by Lisa Jacobson Book recommendation: 100 Words of Affirmation Your Husband Needs to Hear by Lisa Jacobson Book recommendation: When a Woman Inspires Her Husband by Cindi McMenamin Book recommendation: Loving Well (even if you haven't been) by William P. Smith Book recommendation: The Peacemaker by Ken Sande Jump into the Instagram discussion about this topic here. "WHAT IS ENCOURAGEMENT? Biblical encouragement isn't focused on complementing someone's haircut or telling them how good their homemade salsa tastes. That kind of encouragement is important, but the encouragement the Scriptures refer to is explicitly Christian encouragement. Encouragement is shared with the hopes that it will lift someone's heart toward the Lord (Col. 4:8). It points out evidences of grace in another's life to help them see that God is using them. It points a person to God's promises that assures them that all they face is under his control. The New Testament reveals that encouragement was a regular part of the early church's life together (Acts 13:15, 16:40, 18:27, 20:1-2, 27:36). They shared Scripture-saturated words with each other to spur one another on in faith (Acts 14:22), hope (Rom. 15:4), unity (Rom. 15:5; Col. 2:2), joy (Acts 15:31), strength (Acts 15:32), fruitfulness (Heb. 10:24-25), faithfulness (1 Thess. 2:12), perseverance (Heb. 10:25), and the certainty of Christ's return (1 Thess. 4:18). Encouragement was and is an essential way of extending grace to each other." - 9 Marks article: https://www.9marks.org/article/encourage-one-another-giving-grace-with-your-words/ Scripture used today: We are told to be encouragers: 1 Thess 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." Being an encourager takes time and investment: Hebrews 10:23- 25 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." Encouragement comes largely from our mouths and how we communicate with those around us: Ephesians 4:29 "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." We are to be there in good times and bad: Galatians 6:2 "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Do it all in patience and love: 1 Thess 5:14 "And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all." 1 Peter 4:8-10 "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace"

It might sound funny to assign goals for my spiritual disciplines this year. But I want to make sure I'm being intentional with my relationship with the Lord in 2020. So here are my 4 spiritual goals that I'll be working on this year. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find important links & info below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Want a simple method for Bible study? Listen to this episode: #115 Bible study book recommendations: Jen Wilkin & Katie Orr's Bible studies My spiritual disciplines notebooks I use Follow me on Instagram and join in the discussion for this podcast episode here Get TWO WEEKS of free meal plans from PrepDish! PrepDish.com/Homemaking

One of my big goals this year is to establish a better morning routine. I have 3 areas I want to tackle in my new morning routine and in today's episode, I'm going to share my new 21 minute morning routine that is simple to implement! Want to join me, listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find important links & info below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Our Sponsor: Get 50% off your first Care Of box by going to TakeCareOf.com and using promo code home50 at checkout! Podcast Episode: Setting up a good evening routine Podcast Episode: Establishing a morning routine with 3 minutes (an interview with Kat Lee) Join me on Instagram where you can share your morning routine and join in on the discussion. See the post here.

This week on Instagram we've been chatting a lot about routines, getting more done, and saving time. So in today's podcast episode, I'm sharing my 5 tips for how to be more productive...when you have no time. Listen to the Podcast: You can find important links & info below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Look through our meal planning archives here Need help investing in yourself? Start here. Join me over on Instagram: Instagram.com/JamiBalmet Our Sponsor: Get 10 free meals plus free shipping with Hellofresh.com/Foundation10 and use coupon code Foundation10

If you are looking for the MEN'S companion reading challenge for 2020, you can find it here! Happy reading!! Welcome to the 2020 reading challenge! It's my favorite time of the year and I am so excited to see how many books we all read this year. This is our 4th year in a row running our reading challenge and it's been a blast. Jason and I have always been big readers, but having 5 kids (and one on the way) and running our own business started to squeeze the love (or the time) out of our reading life. So in 2017 we decided to run a little challenge for ourselves (and invited you to join in) and the result has been three fabulous years of reading! We have both read more in the past 3 years then we could have thought possible with this busy season of life we are in. So we are back in 2020 with our 4th reading challenge...and it's our best one yet! Below you will find out 2020 reading challenge, lots and lots of amazing book recommendations, as well as a podcast episode all about the reading challenge this year that you can listen in to! Listen to the Podcast: Listen in to my podcast episode from this week to find out more about why I developed this reading plan, tips for following along, and the reasoning behind the books and categories I chose. Or skip the podcast and head down below for all the info ? And don't forget to subscribe to my podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. While this is our 4th reading challenge, all of the books in the actual challenge below are all new! That means if you've been following along these past 3 years, you won't have any repeats!! However, we do have categories down below if you want to pick other books to read – or feel free to swap out and put your own books in the categories. I'm ALL for broadening my reading horizon, which is why I was so excited about this new reading challenge. I think we often reach for the same kinds of books over and over again. But I want to stretch you and challenge you to reach out and pick up books you wouldn't normally. Plus, doing a challenge like this will make you read more throughout the year. So wanna join us?!? Grab the Toolkit: The very best and easiest way to follow along is to grab my toolkit right here! The toolkit includes the full reading challenge for 2020 (for both men and women) as well as tips for finding more time to read (even when you are super busy) and how to find more books for free or cheap. Grab the Toolkit! Subscribe to my new reading challenge newsletter to follow along throughout 2020 AND get my 2020 Reading Challenge Toolkit for FREE! Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription. There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again. First Name Email Address We use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer. Subscribe Powered by ConvertKit /* Layout */ .ck_form { /* divider image */ background: #fff url(...