Wifestyle Hustle

Today we talked about a topic that really doesn't get addressed enough with moms. We discussed the importance of ditching your family and having fun with your friends sometimes. Time spent with friends is so worth the investment. These are relationships that can last a lifetime and see you through the good times and the bad.

Getting away with your spouse is also important and a really great way to run away. But that isn't always possible if you don't have family or close friends who can watch the kids. There is is also just something fun about going with your friends whether it be out to dinner or and over night. You get a chance to miss your family and come back refreshed.

Running away for a whole weekend isn't always possible. You may have to take your mental break where you can get it. For me, getting away can be as simple as getting to grocery shop by myself. Or it can be the ride back from dropping a child off at an activity. I also love when my husband takes our youngest to the playground or library for a little while. It is lovely getting to be in our house alone. You have to take your mental breaks where you can get them.

Have you listened to our talk on our upcoming winter episodes? Give that a listen HERE.

Do you ever get a chance to get away with your friends or with your spouse? Tell us about it over on social.

Do you have a show idea for us? Send it an email to [email protected]

Music is by Oliver Massa. It is called Weekend Chores.

Today we got into a new topic that we've eluded to a few times. We talked about our desire to be sustainable. This can mean different things for different people. For us, it means to grow as much food as we can for ourselves and purchasing as much as we can locally from people we know.

Chances are good we will always use Amazon delivery for things we can't get locally. But we do try to do as much for ourselves as we can. We try source what we can locally and not sweat the rest too much.

The reason we do this is because we realize how delicate our systems are. And we decided we wanted to take as much control over our lives as we could. This means planting a huge garden and saving seeds. It means buying produce we can't grow from people we know. It means getting to know our neighbors and sharing resources between friends. Try new things and hope for better results. Keep good records of what works.

We mentioned dropping a few YouTube channels to help you get started.

The first is Self Sufficient Me. This guy is fun and entertaining and so knowledgeable.

The Second is Roots and Refuge Farm. Jess does it all in the garden and then brings her produce inside and show you what she does with what she grows. I love her!

Have you heard our talk on how important it is to build community? Check it out HERE

Do you try to be sustainable in your life? What do you like to grow? Do you try to shop locally? Tell us about it over on social.

Do you have a show idea for us? Would you like to hear us discuss some other area of sustainability? Send us an email to [email protected]

Music is by Oliver Massa. It is called Weekend Chores

Listen to First Jobs For Kids HERE

Today we talked about our kids' first exposure to employment. When your kids are young, their only real employment opportunities are the ones you create for them. Maybe it is helping around the house or the yard. Or maybe it is a helping an older neighbor or family member. But as your kids get older, they can start find money making opportunities for themselves.

For young teens, babysitting and lawn mowing are easy money making opportunities. In some areas, snow shoveling is a great way to make a little extra money. I told my young teens, the more loathsome the job the more people are willing to pay someone else to do it. It served them well in finding employment.

Older teens and young adults get to experience their first real job. It is so exciting and a little scary to send your teen off for their first real job interview. When they come back employed, there really isn't a better feeling.

The last thing we talked about today was giving your kids opportunities to volunteer. So many organizations need volunteers. And kids love to give back to their communities. We highly recommend getting your kids plugged into the community to help out.

Along the same lines as today's episode we bring you Allowance, What We Do. Here we discussed how we handle money with our kids. Listen to that HERE

Do you have kids looking for employment? Where have they found jobs? What do they do to earn money? Tell us about it on social.

Do you have a show idea for us? Send us an email to [email protected]

Music is by Oliver Massa. It is called Weekend Chores

In this episode, we discussed how we are doing as we are a few weeks into the new school year. This was a pretty Lauren centric episode. We both home school, of course, but this the first year for Lauren home schooling all of her kiddos. We are into our 10th year of home school so there is a lot new for us.

This episode is an encouragement for new home schoolers. Lauren spent the end of last school year and the summer getting ready to bring her kids home. And her hard work is paying off. Her kids are doing so well.

We also discussed a little about our co-ops and what an enrichment it has been to our home school lives. We highly encourage other people thinking about home school to find a co-op to plug into. It is so good for the kids and their parents to get out of the house and see other people once or twice a week. If there isn't a co-op in your area don't despair. Most local libraries have a story hour or a teen night for local kids. Also the library might be able to help you connect with other home schoolers in your area for field trips or play dates.

One of the things you have a little more time for when you're home more is cooking with your kids. Check out our talk about it HERE

Are you a home schooler? Are you thinking about it? Reach out to us on one of our social accounts and tell us about it. We would love to help you along on your journey.

Music is by Oliver Massa. It is called Weekend Chores

We wouldn’t want you to think we’re good at every thing we touch from the very first day. Actually I think that has been pretty well established already. But as further proof, we offer today’s episode. Today, we discussed just some of our many failings in the kitchen. It really was hard to narrow it down to just these. These were the winners or losers as the case may be. HAHA!

We hailed all the way back to the beginning of our marriages for this episode. We ate a lot of bad food in the early days. Thankfully we and our husbands saw potential in each other and stuck around through the burnt food.

We also talked about some cake fails, bread fails, jam fails and canning fails. Truly we laid is all bare here. If you want to feel better as a cook and as a person go ahead and give today’s episode a listen.

Did you think that was funny? Well have we got another episode for you. Click HERE to listen to Things I Was Wrong About: Parent Edition. You’ll feel better about your parenting after a listen.

How have you failed in the kitchen? Do tell! Don’t let us have all the failing fun. Head on over to one of our social media pages and tell us about it.

Do you have show idea for us? Send us an email to [email protected]

Music is by Oliver Massa. It is called Weekend Chores

Listen to Cooking with Kids. The Good. The Bad. The Ugly HERE.

Want to make a big mess and not get a whole lot accomplished? Get your kids in the kitchen to ‘help out.’ Just kidding. Letting your kids help in the kitchen isn’t very helpful at the beginning but so awesome once they get a little older.

Today we discussed the days at the very beginning when all they can do was stir. We got into what we did when we first cooking with our kids. Then we offered a little encouragement to those whose kids are in the making messes stage. If you can stick with it, your kids will eventually be able to make whole meals without your help. This is so helpful for busy moms who just need to put something on the table.

Lastly we talked a bit about our first days of being young wives and adult cooks. Even though we both spent years helping our own mother in the kitchen, we both had much to learn once we started our own homes. We’ve both learned a lot since then.

Want to hear a little about how we keep busy all winter? Check out our teaser episode HERE. We definitely have more time for cooking with the kids in the winter.

Do your kids help in the kitchen? Hop on over to our social account and tell us about it.

If you have a show idea for us send us an email to [email protected]

Today, we talked about the evolution of decor in our kid's rooms. You start out with complete control over their room. You decide on the theme and placement of everything for the baby's nursery. Then, You sit and are calm in the little slice of peace you've carved out for yourself to enjoy your baby. It all goes amazing for a few years. Then they come to you and ask to have a little control over their space. Maybe it is just to move the furniture around. It could be a garish paint color. Maybe your kids have better taste than mine did. But I bet not.

A few years later, they ask again to have a little more control. And then a little more. Before you know it, you don't even recognize the room anymore. You enter another world every time you go in their room.

Updating kids' rooms can be stressful but it is also fun to watch their personality come out and on to their walls. I found it a bit nerve wracking to hand over the paint brush.

We mentioned several things we've done with our kids' rooms through the years. Please finds links below.

decalmile Construction Transportation Wall Decals Car Truck Plane Boys Wall Stickers Kids Bedroom Baby Nursery Playroom Wall Decor https://a.co/d/41YUvlU

ANBER Giant Jungle Tree Wall Decal Removable Vinyl Sticker Mural Art Bedroom Nursery Baby Kids Rooms Wall Décor (Brown and Green) https://a.co/d/hwFAqgr

Large Pink Sakura Flower Cherry Blossom Tree Wall Sticker Decals PVC Removable Wall Decal for Nursery Girls and Boys https://a.co/d/5uKV2nW

Colorful Flower Wall Stickers with Butterfly and Bee 88 Pcs Removable Flower Wall Decals DIY Peel and Stick Art Wall Decor Mural for Nursery Baby Kids Bedroom Living Room Kitchen Home Decoration https://a.co/d/hlepLex

What do you allow in your kids' rooms? Have you handed over complete control to their whims? Or do you still have some control? Hop on over to our social media pages and tell us about it.

Have you listened to our episode about kids and pets? Listen to that HERE.

Do you have something you'd like to hear us talk about? Send us an email to [email protected] and let us know. We'd love to hear from you.

Music is by Oliver Massa. It is called Weekend Chores

Link to lauren wall stickies. Multiple wall stickies

decalmile Construction Transportation Wall Decals Car Truck Plane Boys Wall Stickers Kids Bedroom Baby Nursery Playroom Wall Decor https://a.co/d/41YUvlU

ANBER Giant Jungle Tree Wall Decal Removable Vinyl Sticker Mural Art Bedroom Nursery Baby Kids Rooms Wall Décor (Brown and Green) https://a.co/d/hwFAqgr

Large Pink Sakura Flower Cherry Blossom Tree Wall Sticker Decals PVC Removable Wall Decal for Nursery Girls and Boys https://a.co/d/5uKV2nW

Colorful Flower Wall Stickers with Butterfly and Bee 88 Pcs Removable Flower Wall Decals DIY Peel and Stick Art Wall Decor Mural for Nursery Baby Kids Bedroom Living Room Kitchen Home Decoration https://a.co/d/hlepLex

What do we do all winter? Well, I'll tell you. A whole heaping lot of indoor things. Our houses get pretty neglected during the summer months. Winter is for home for us. Today we talked a little about what you'll hear from us during the next few months. Our social media and episodes for the last couple of months has been pretty garden and kid centric. Over the next few months we will step away from the garden and move into our homes. Today we are teasing what the heck we do inside all winter

We will still talk about the kids. They're a constant for us. Haha! We will also talk a little more about home preservation. As we let go of fall and move into winter, we will talk more about winter food. YUM!! Be on the look out for some more recipes for soups and casseroles. We are going to share a few methods for making your lives easier on busy nights.

Home school becomes a priority in the winter. All of our many activities pick up again. And through all of that we still feel like we have more down time. We get more time together. The weather is dreadful so we are all stuck together inside. All. The. Time. We play games! That is a favorite winter activity. We play in the snow. There's so much fun to be had.

Another thing we have a little more time for in the winter is our side hustle. Check out this episode where we talked a little about it HERE

What do you do in the winter time? Do you feel like you have more family time? Hop on over to our social media pages and tell us about it.

Today, we talked about allowance for our kids. We went through the different ages and stages, from the first quarter you give your little guy to what allowance looks like through the teen years. For us, allowance is tied to help around the house. In those early years, it is given for not much actual help. As our kids got older, allowance was given and help was actually helpful.

Every family handles money differently and there really isn't a right way to do it. We do believe it is important to teach your kiddos to be fiscally responsible. And that has to begin before they have their first job. Allowance is a good place to start to teach that.

We talked a little about a few of the first jobs/chores our kids helped us do. One of the ones Lauren mentioned was the use of her cordless vacuum. Here is the link for that HERE

How do you handle allowance? Have you started it yet with your kids? Are you in the teen years where help around the house is helpful. Tell us about it. Feel free to comment on our social media pages. We would love to get some new ideas.

Link to cordless vacuum

There are so many little things that go into parenting, today we are going to talk a little about one of them, allowance. We will share what we do, what our parents did, and some other ideas when it comes to how much money to give your kids. 

This episode definitely goes along with kids and chores which was our episode 5 . In my view allowance is payment for something, usually chores. 

Today we talked about a few jobs we did while staying home with our kids. For us, our primary responsibility is our home and kids. And it is a full time job! But it is nice to earn a little extra money for the family budget. It is also good to get out of the house and away for a little while and do something on your own.

If you have a skill set that lends itself to employment, that is probably a great place to start looking for side hustles. If you're like us, you'll probably have to work around your husband's schedule. It is a challenge to find something flexible enough to work. For us, self employment or contractor type work is best. We get to pick our hours to work. And can work around our husband's schedule.

The other thing we discussed in this episode is volunteering. So many organizations are hurting for volunteers. This is a great opportunity for mothers to get out and start to build a community. We discussed a few places we have volunteered.

Have you done any side hustles after you had kids? What sort of things have you done? How did you make it work? Let us know on social. We would love to hear from you.

Send us an email to [email protected] if you have a show idea for us.