Wifestyle Hustle

Today we continued our garden editions of our saving money series. Saving money in the vegetable garden is so important to make the garden a sustainable enterprise for your family. I try to make the vegetables I grow be as cheap as possible. This often means a little more work and elbow grease for me. But that is OK. The work is good for me and makes my vegetable garden all the more rewarding. If...

Today, we dove into a topic we have only touched on in the past. Meal planning helps so much with taming the chaos in a busy household. Whether you're the kind of person who has every meal for the next two weeks planned or the kind person who just keeps the ingredients for your most made dishes in the house, this episode is for you. Knowing what is for dinner early in the day can make the who...

Today we got a little personal about our decision making process on our families sizes. It can be so hard to decide when your family is complete. For some people nature helps with the decision. But, for most people, it has to be a conscious choice to stop having more kids or not. Some families never make the choice officially and usually have large families. We talked a bit about big families toda...

Today we continued our saving money series with a gardening episode. The garden season is almost here and we are so ready to dig our hands in the dirt again. Depending on where you hail from, you might already be outside. For us, we have to be patient a little longer. That doesn't mean we can't start thinking about and planning for an amazing harvest. In fact, the best way to save money...

We took on a big topic today. We discussed how we handled our kids being online through the ages. It is so hard to know, as parents, how to let go of the reins and let your kids start to go online. For us, it was something we avoided for a long time. There was no reason to let our preteens loose on the internet so we didn't. Did we handle it correctly? We think so for our kids. But that doesn...

Buying a car can be such a stressful experience. Hearing the horror stories for other consumers is enough to send shivers down your spine just thinking about it. But it is something everyone has to do eventually. Going into it prepared is so crucial to saving money Today we discussed a few strategies to make car buying a little more bearable. These tips can help you get the best deal on your next...

The effect of birth order has been studied through the ages. You've heard them. The oldest is an organized leader. The middle child is a peacekeeper. And the youngest is a free spirit. These generalizations seem to hold true across many families. Today, we compared these findings to our own families to see if it all holds true for us. Over all, the generalizations held true for the most part....

Few things are more pointless than guilt. Sure, we should feel guilty about truly wrong things we've done. But too often we beat ourselves up about things that really weren't worth feeling guilty about. Mom guilt is especially difficult. I believe most moms are doing the very best they can to be the best they can. However, we look around at our lives and our kids and feel bad for things...

Today was a fun little trip down memory for us. Having a baby in the house can be so stressful. Taking care of the every need of a person who can't even hold up their own head is a challenge. But it isn't all bad. There's so much good here. Today we talked about it. There are so many unknowns when you bring home a new baby. A lot of parents have a bit of trepidation about this littl...

Listen to Raised Bed vs In-ground Gardening HERE This was such a fun episode and a testament that we don't agree on everything. Today we talked about our different gardening methods. We discussed the pros and cons of each method. Raised Bed Gardening I (Ellyn) love my raised bed gardens. They're beautiful and so productive but they are a little more work on the front end. They must be bu...

Today we went way back to the beginning of motherhood for us. We talked a bit about how we handled transitioning from working woman to SAHM. This was a the good, the bad and the ugly episode. Switching from being a contributing bread winner to being home with the kids can be really hard for some women. But the good outweighs the bad in many cases. Many new stay at home moms struggle with still fee...

There's a saying that goes, "Happy marriages begin when we marry the one we love, and they blossom when we love the one we marry." And another, "A successful marriage is falling in love many times, always with the same person." Today, we talked about being married to the same person for a long time. We are not experts. Far from it, in fact. What we are are people in commit...

Can you feel it? Those little changes in the air. The days are a little longer. It is still chilly but it isn't bitter anymore. The snow is melting. The mud is taking over. It is time to start thinking about the new growing season. Today we discussed how we handle the very start of our summer gardens. Starting your seeds is a great way to make sure you get what you want. Too often, nurseries...

It is sometimes overwhelming to make sure your home schooler gets all the stuff they need. Today we discussed some very worthwhile activities for you home schooler. But, really, this list is good for all kids. Let's face it, kids in school aren't getting as many field trips as they used to. It is so important to make sure you get your kids out of the house sometimes. The walls start to c...

You may be asking yourself, how can two people talk about houseplants for an entire episode?? There just isn't enough there. Oh, but there is! We are very passionate about our plants. In deepest darkest winter there is really nothing better than getting dirt under your finger nails. Plants brighten a space in a way nothing else can. We believe it is best to start small but with an eye toward...

This wraps up our series on sustainable homemaking. We hope you’ve enjoyed our perspective on it. If you have anything you do that we didn’t mention here please leave us a comment on one of our social pages or on our website. Until next time;.. By incorporating these practices into your daily routine, you can contribute to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle at home. Remember...

Time management in a process and something that needs to be revisited often. As your kids get older the need for you to manage their time changes in a more support and oversight role. The trick is to know what to let go of and when. Until next time.. We all get the same 24 hours. What we do with those hours is up to us...Mostly. Learning good time management is so important to having a stress free...

Being a kid is tiring business. All that running, jumping, playing, wrestling, thinking, learning and fun will wear a person right out. They need their rest. If you've ever been around a kid who hasn't gotten enough sleep, you know it isn't pretty. They don't know yet how to regulate themselves. And that tiredness can show in a lot of different ways. The best way to avoid these...

Today we started a series on sustainable homemaking. We will revisit this story again in the coming weeks so make sure and check back for more. We talk a lot about homemaking here. It might seem like we have our act all together with our whole homemaking journey. Well, I'm glad we give that impression. But, we are working through the process too. There are things we always do. There are thing...

What's better than warm fresh sour dough bread? Well, nothing! Nothing is better. Unless you have warm fresh sour dough bread with butter slathered on it. That's better. As you might have guessed we are discussing our love of making sour dough today. You might have heard how difficult it is to make it. All the steps, all the kneading, all the pressure! Then you have the forming and bakin...

It is that time of year. The holidays are over. The hubbub slowed down. Here we are in the January funk. Everyone enjoys the glow of the holidays but it can be really hard to deal with the pull back from all the hustle and bustle of having so much to do all the time. It seems every night of December is packed with something fun. From the recitals to Christmas plays to the shopping, wrapping, cooki...

Oh hi! Welcome back! We hope everyone had a restful and joyous Christmas season. We sure did! This leads us right into our topic for today. We discussed how we handle going back to all the things in January. It is so nice to take a break and enjoy some time at home with no real commitments. Most activities stop for the week between Christmas and New Year. That frees up some time to enjoy your fami...

Unfortunately not all pictures we took 15 years ago are amazing. Please forgive the blurriness of this one. No one knew back then we would someday need it for our podcast. Today we discussed some of the places we've gotten to spend Christmas. Not every Christmas gets to be one you remember fondly. Unfortunately, not every Christmas do you get spend surrounded by family. Some you have just get...

Today we discussed some of the fun stuff we have coming up after the frenzy of the holiday season is over. Right now we are in the thick of it with you all. But we know soon we will get our sanity back. When that day comes, we are going to need some new topics to discuss with you all. We teased out a few of those today. One of the things we are going to tackle right after the holidays is coming of...