She Made Herself a Home

In today's episode, I talk about how to use your time wisely. This topic is inspired by a very busy week I've had, taking care of sick baby, trying to sort out podcast scheduling and thinking about the upcoming school year. We have a lot of things to do, but it's important to center ourselves, allow for proper rest and really think about how we use our time.

• The importance of taking a day off (1:57)
• Taking the time to schedule your life makes it a whole lot easier (3:21)
• What taking better care of my family looks like (4:15)
• How to plan your week more efficiently (5:11)
• Understand how many hours in a week you have for yourself (8:47)
• Plan your free time wisely - wherever you can find it (10:41)

Links mentioned:

https://planningwithkids.com/2015/02/27/create-weekly-schedule/

This episode is sponsored by She Made Herself a Home, my book that will help you discover how to create a home that is inviting, beautiful, functional and uniquely personal all while staying on budget. It is a home decor planner that features beautiful photography from more than 40 real homes and contributions from other successful home decor bloggers. I promise it will make home designing an exciting, un-intimidating process. My hope is that these pages spark your passions, guide you to create spaces you love and most importantly give you the confidence to try something new. Anyone, no matter age, status, income level or past can make a home for herself and those she loves. Because no one has to break the bank to bring new life, intention and purpose to a home. You can buy your copy anywhere books are sold or at crateandcottage.com/book.

Connect with me on Instagram at @crateandcottage Visit my website: crateandcottage.com/

In today's episode, I talk about the home, what it actually means, and how it's not always the picture-perfect fairytale you see on Instagram. Instead, I want to share with you the idea of creating an intentional home, a home that is centered inside your mind and heart. Why you should focus on creating a "home" that comes from your heart and not something you see on or is influenced by interactions on social media.

• Simple encouragement from the bible and a few other realizations this week (2:10)
• A message from Matthew 5 on mindfulness, being blessed, and being connected to God (4:01)
• How can we be blessed when we've lost someone we love? (5:20)
• Being content with who you are (6:30)
• Being blessed when we are in our lowest places and when we being to care (8:37)
• Dealing with unkind people on the internet and the daily stresses of life (11:11)
• The importance of being truthful and content in your mind and heart (14:40)
• Focus on controlling your reactions and responding to someone instead. Why you should let go (15:38)

This episode is sponsored by She Made Herself a Home, my book that will help you discover how to create a home that is inviting, beautiful, functional and uniquely personal all while staying on budget. It is a home decor planner that features beautiful photography from more than 40 real homes and contributions from other successful home decor bloggers. I promise it will make home designing an exciting, un-intimidating process. My hope is that these pages spark your passions, guide you to create spaces you love and most importantly give you the confidence to try something new. Anyone, no matter age, status, income level or past can make a home for herself and those she loves. Because no one has to break the bank to bring new life, intention and purpose to a home. You can buy your copy anywhere books are sold or at crateandcottage.com/book.

Connect with me on Instagram at @crateandcottage Visit my website: crateandcottage.com/

In today's episode, I talk about the "I need to" statement, something that I always find myself saying over and over again. Today I share with you some of the "I need to's" I've been dealing with and I am sure you guys at home may be going through the same. As a mother with three homeschooled children, and a business I am dealing with a lot. I hope that by speaking about my personal experiences with you, it brings you the same clarity it provides for me.

• As a mother and business owner, it seems there is a lot of "I need to's", primarily the centered around maintenance, the kids, and the home. (2:36)
• The desire to organize family photos from iCloud into properly printed albums, how to organize homeschooling this year, and how to make things easier as a mom. (3:51)
• Take the time to find a moment to declutter your mind and figure out what is stressing you out. (4:27)
• You know what stresses you out, identify them and speak to someone about it and sort out a solution. (5:34)
• Home and work life often weigh women down, it can be tough to balance organizing your home, caring for kids, and growing your business. (7:28)
• Break down what is breaking you down instead of allowing them to pile up. (8:41)
• Look at your support network and see who you can reach out to help you out. (11:54)
• It helps me to know my expectation for the day and what other people have expected of me. When you can figure out what the source of stress is then you can address it. (14:21)
• My generation struggles with trying to have it all, chasing dreams and passions and then also being a homemaker, and have this mounting "I need to" list. (15:57)
• I encourage you to try each each to think about your "I need to" and then finding a way to address it head-on. (17:13)

This episode is sponsored by She Made Herself a Home, my book that will help you discover how to create a home that is inviting, beautiful, functional and uniquely personal all while staying on budget. It is a home decor planner that features beautiful photography from more than 40 real homes and contributions from other successful home decor bloggers. I promise it will make home designing an exciting, un-intimidating process. My hope is that these pages spark your passions, guide you to create spaces you love and most importantly give you the confidence to try something new. Anyone, no matter age, status, income level or past can make a home for herself and those she loves. Because no one has to break the bank to bring new life, intention and purpose to a home. You can buy your copy anywhere books are sold or at crateandcottage.com/book.

Connect with me on Instagram at @crateandcottage Visit my website: crateandcottage.com/

In today's episode Rachel asks the question, what is something that you want to embrace but you're a little bit scared? Rachel shares questions to ask yourself to help work through the fear and do the hardest part, start. There are all kinds of things you can physically do to put one foot in front of the other to achieve the goal, so today Rachel encourages you to begin. If we don't take the leap, we'll regret it and if we fail, we can still be proud of ourselves for trying.

• Rachel shares from a vulnerable place as she puts off the one thing that she needs to be focusing on but is scared to do and that is her next book proposal. (1:30)
• Even when told no and doors close, remember to keep conquering your dreams no matter what because other opportunities will come when looking for them. (4:37)
• When you're dealing with something you're scared of it feels like there is a physical wall that you can't get through to do it. (6:28)
• The hardest part of doing something that scares you is to start by investing time in it, whether it's putting pen to paper or researching an idea. (9:32)
• Make sure to embrace what you're scared of, do the tangible things that you need to do to investigate and then decide if it's something you want to do further. (13:28)
• Surround yourself with people that encourage you and are walking the great paths of life because you are who you surround yourself with. (17:37)

This episode is sponsored by She Made Herself a Home, my book that will help you discover how to create a home that is inviting, beautiful, functional and uniquely personal all while staying on budget. It is a home decor planner that features beautiful photography from more than 40 real homes and contributions from other successful home decor bloggers. I promise it will make home designing an exciting, un-intimidating process. My hope is that these pages spark your passions, guide you to create spaces you love and most importantly give you the confidence to try something new. Anyone, no matter age, status, income level or past can make a home for herself and those she loves. Because no one has to break the bank to bring new life, intention and purpose to a home. You can buy your copy anywhere books are sold or at crateandcottage.com/book.

Connect with me on Instagram at @crateandcottage Visit my website: crateandcottage.com/

In today's episode Rachel shares scripture near and dear to her heart, the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5. She has spent a lot of her life learning what it means to be a Christian and have the fruits of the spirit be the characteristics of a life that is submitted to God. Rachel encourages you to spend time this week digging deeper into these spirits and pray to be shown where they can be reflected more. Pray to be shown, examples are guaranteed to come to mind. Let us be better humans with these nine gifts.

• The nine fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. (1:55)
• Even though anyone can display the fruits of the spirit, Christians are to be known by these attributes being reflected in their way of life. (3:57)
• Rachel breaks down each word because it is easy to brush past the words and sometimes we need to reflect on definitions to allow the meaning to sink in. (8:03)
• Living with the fruits of the spirit is a choice, the Lord wants us to choose these spirits as representation of who He is in us. (15:48)
• There are a few fruits of the spirit Rachel believes the Lord is trying to teach her and show her and put confidence in Him. (18:14)

This episode is sponsored by She Made Herself a Home, my book that will help you discover how to create a home that is inviting, beautiful, functional and uniquely personal all while staying on budget. It is a home decor planner that features beautiful photography from more than 40 real homes and contributions from other successful home decor bloggers. I promise it will make home designing an exciting, un-intimidating process. My hope is that these pages spark your passions, guide you to create spaces you love and most importantly give you the confidence to try something new. Anyone, no matter age, status, income level or past can make a home for herself and those she loves. Because no one has to break the bank to bring new life, intention and purpose to a home. You can buy your copy anywhere books are sold or at crateandcottage.com/book.

Connect with me on Instagram at @crateandcottage Visit my website: crateandcottage.com/

In today's episode Rachel continues the conversations about women's boxes and how women and men are different. It can be difficult to work with differences but if your loved one has a specific love language or simply if they're introverted or extroverted, feed into that. In the end, while men may have many less boxes, that doesn't make them any less capable of understanding our own and us understanding their boxes.

• An ongoing conversation about women's boxes and a discovery that men have a box they can go into and close everything off around them and think about nothing. (3:16)
• Richard's desire to be a man of integrity and how their transition to leave their church home was to discover what the Lord means to us outside of the church doors. (6:27)
• A simple exercise to identify what your spouse's boxes are and be able to care for them well by knowing the answer. (10:45)
• Women have only recently lived in an era to pursue things they love and it's important to be thankful and grateful for this amazing decade. (12:23)

This episode is sponsored by She Made Herself a Home, my book that will help you discover how to create a home that is inviting, beautiful, functional and uniquely personal all while staying on budget. It is a home decor planner that features beautiful photography from more than 40 real homes and contributions from other successful home decor bloggers. I promise it will make home designing an exciting, un-intimidating process. My hope is that these pages spark your passions, guide you to create spaces you love and most importantly give you the confidence to try something new. Anyone, no matter age, status, income level or past can make a home for herself and those she loves. Because no one has to break the bank to bring new life, intention and purpose to a home. You can buy your copy anywhere books are sold or at crateandcottage.com/book.

Connect with me on Instagram at @crateandcottage Visit my website: crateandcottage.com/

In today's episode Richard takes over the podcast and shares his struggles as a man. His main priority is to be a godly husband and father to Rachel and the kids. Unfortunately there are things that pull at his attention but it's not possible to be perfect. So instead of trying to be, he surrenders them to God to help keep his eyes on Him.

• One of the biggest things for me that has always been there is rooted in faith, being a godly father and husband. (2:50)
• Being a godly father is a matter of getting your priorities straight and keeping your family first. (6:32)
• A godly man lifts his wife up to God daily and asks for God to watch over her, take care of her, protect her mind, protect her heart, and everything about her. (9:12)
• Richard's perspective and insights on Rachel's intimacy guilt and how he sees romance in their marriage today. (13:07)
• As an extrovert, Richard really enjoys getting out of the house and spending time alone or with friends, especially on his boat. (15:30)

This episode is sponsored by She Made Herself a Home, my book that will help you discover how to create a home that is inviting, beautiful, functional and uniquely personal all while staying on budget. It is a home decor planner that features beautiful photography from more than 40 real homes and contributions from other successful home decor bloggers. I promise it will make home designing an exciting, un-intimidating process. My hope is that these pages spark your passions, guide you to create spaces you love and most importantly give you the confidence to try something new. Anyone, no matter age, status, income level or past can make a home for herself and those she loves. Because no one has to break the bank to bring new life, intention and purpose to a home. You can buy your copy anywhere books are sold or at crateandcottage.com/book.

Connect with me on Instagram at @crateandcottage Visit my website: crateandcottage.com/

In this episode, we'll dive into how women feel. I think a lot of us can relate on how our lives affect us or emotionally what we're dealing with inside that we don't often project on the outside or that comes out as anger or irritation when we're really dealing with heart stuff. We'll cover a few of the aspects like mom guilt, pressure to look a certain way, balancing all of our roles in the household, and relationships.

• My personal list of all the things I deal with, all of the roles we take on, and the struggle of remembering our personal passions and using our creativity (4:44)
• Entering a new wave of womanhood, and the challenge of balancing pursuing our passions with the mom guilt (7:31)
• The difficulty of relationships and making close friends as we get older and the comparison game we fall into (9:18)
• Communicating with our spouses all of the things we are balancing on the inside they may not be able to see (13:39)

This episode is sponsored by She Made Herself a Home, my book that will help you discover how to create a home that is inviting, beautiful, functional and uniquely personal all while staying on budget. It is a home decor planner that features beautiful photography from more than 40 real homes and contributions from other successful home decor bloggers. I promise it will make home designing an exciting, un-intimidating process. My hope is that these pages spark your passions, guide you to create spaces you love and most importantly give you the confidence to try something new. Anyone, no matter age, status, income level or past can make a home for herself and those she loves. Because no one has to break the bank to bring new life, intention and purpose to a home. You can buy your copy anywhere books are sold or at crateandcottage.com/book.

Connect with me on Instagram at @crateandcottage Visit my website: crateandcottage.com/

In today's episode we wrap up the "how to" series with how to navigate negativity. As someone who tends to live in a negative headspace, I know it expands and can become bigger so that we fall into the anxiety category. A lot of us are dealing with negativity in the social media space and trying to navigate those difficult situations. Today I share some ways I am countering the negativity from strangers in my life and I hope it encourages you with a few tips.

• I let you in on a secret; I tend to be a constant, pessimistic person, always on the negative side of things and have learned ways to battle against it. (2:05)
• The first tip to strangers being negative towards you is to remember that a negative voice comes from negatively hurt people. (6:00)
• Another tip in approaching negativity is to ask yourself questions that will help identify what the problem is, whether it's with a product or situation or conversation. (10:54)
• A third tip is to decide if the negativity needs to be addressed or if it can be let go of and you can move on in a healthy way. (17:07)
• Take the time to take out the bricks you are carrying from your past and navigate how you can forgive yourself for them. (22:33)

This episode is sponsored by She Made Herself a Home, my book that will help you discover how to create a home that is inviting, beautiful, functional and uniquely personal all while staying on budget. It is a home decor planner that features beautiful photography from more than 40 real homes and contributions from other successful home decor bloggers. I promise it will make home designing an exciting, un-intimidating process. My hope is that these pages spark your passions, guide you to create spaces you love and most importantly give you the confidence to try something new. Anyone, no matter age, status, income level or past can make a home for herself and those she loves. Because no one has to break the bank to bring new life, intention and purpose to a home. You can buy your copy anywhere books are sold or at crateandcottage.com/book.

Connect with me on Instagram at @crateandcottage Visit my website: crateandcottage.com/

In today's episode I have another requested "how to" topic, how I balanced my work life and home life and all the things. Simply, I don't. Listen in as I share what balance means to me in this season and how it changes depending on what's going on in our lives. And remember, if you only get one thing accomplished today, celebrate it, and focus on what you can do better tomorrow.

• I think a lot of people assume you live your life a certain way based on the few minutes of a day they see on social media and assume that that's exactly how it is. (01:47)
• An example of my ideal day and how I break things down into tasks and time slots so that things get done even though it's not always in order. (3:07)
• Different questions to help you identify what you need help with and then what to do next. (7:23)
• Remember as you identify how to balance it all, make sure that your people feel loved, taken care of and enjoy the life you're working so hard to create. (11:21)
• When you're aware of how your day is being spent, you're more apt to invest in something for yourself and figure out where to place things. (16:46)

This episode is sponsored by She Made Herself a Home, my book that will help you discover how to create a home that is inviting, beautiful, functional and uniquely personal all while staying on budget. It is a home decor planner that features beautiful photography from more than 40 real homes and contributions from other successful home decor bloggers. I promise it will make home designing an exciting, un-intimidating process. My hope is that these pages spark your passions, guide you to create spaces you love and most importantly give you the confidence to try something new. Anyone, no matter age, status, income level or past can make a home for herself and those she loves. Because no one has to break the bank to bring new life, intention and purpose to a home. You can buy your copy anywhere books are sold or at crateandcottage.com/book.

Connect with me on Instagram at @crateandcottage Visit my website: crateandcottage.com/