I sound like your mother, but yes, you should take your vitamins!

I sound like your mother, but yes, you should take your vitamins!

For 15 days, we’re exploring the topic of making our health and well-being a priority as part of the 15 Days to a Healthier You series. You can read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here, Day 6 here, Day 7 here, Day 8 here, Day 9 here, Day 10 here, Day 11 here, Day 12 here, and Day 13 here.

I used to be one of those people who felt like you could get all the nutrition your body needs from food alone. But my husband encouraged me to start taking a high-quality multi-vitamin on a daily basis years ago and after I experienced the difference that it made in how I felt, I was sold and have been a faithful vitamin-taker ever since!

The truth is, when I take my vitamins, I operate so much better, get sick less often, and have so much more energy. Every once in awhile, I’ll be out of vitamins or forget to take them for a few days and I’ll begin to wonder why I’m feeling more lethargic and run down… and then I’ll realize I’ve not taken my vitamins in a few days!

If you’ve not been taking vitamins and you’re wanting to possibly start, here’s my encouragement to you:

1. Commit to Trying It

I encourage you to try taking a high-quality multi-vitamin for three months and see if you feel any difference. If you don’t, at least you know you’re not hurting anything to be getting some extra vitamins and minerals. ��

2. Do Your Research

There are lots of other vitamins out there to consider taking, but do your research before you just start popping pills. Too much of a good thing can sometimes be just that — too much.

In addition, I would recommend scheduling an appointment with your doctor to have routine bloodwork done to see if there are other vitamins or nutrients you’re deficient in. It’s very possible that your lack of energy is due to anemia or some other vitamin deficiency you’re experiencing and simply adding some additional vitamins or supplements might make a major difference.

3. Make It Part of Your Routine

I used to be really, really bad about consistently taking vitamins. Then, I learned a trick: I had to make it part of my routine. Instead of just trying to remember to take my pills sometime during the day, I made vitamin-taking part of my evening routine.

Now, it’s become such a habit, that I pretty much can’t go to bed unless I’ve taken my vitamins. And I feel so much better as a result!

Note: Many people will say it’s best to take vitamins in the morning. Because the multi-vitamin and 5htp sort of make my stomach queasy if I take them when I’m awake, so that’s why I’ve opted to take them at night.

Plus, I actually remember to take them then! I figure it’s better to actually get them taken — even if it’s not the ideal time — then not taken at all. ��

The Vitamins & Supplements I Currently Take

Over the years, I’ve come up with what the perfect vitamin combination is for me. I occasionally tweak it, but for the most part, I’ve kept it the same for quite some time. My favorite multi-vitamins are the NOW Foods Special Two Vitamins. I’ve been taking these for a long time and they really make a difference.

I also take a probiotic, Vitamin D-3, and 5htp.

I also LOVE essential oils! Some of my favorites are Balance and Calming, Immune Strength, Thieves, OnGuard, and Tummy Rub. I don’t use these daily, but more on an as needed basis.

Day 14 Project

1. Do you take vitamins and supplements? If not, I encourage you to consider adding at least one quality multi-vitamin as a daily habit.

2. Do your research and decide what multi-vitamin is best for you. Order or buy it.

3. Decide when you will take it as part of your daily routine. Let us know in the comments!

Looking for some more practical help?

• Want to work on getting more vitamins and nutrients from your food? Check out these Top 10 lists from Dr. Axe for ideas of what foods you should be eating.
• Wellness Mama has an extensive list of the vitamins and supplements she takes, why she takes them, and which vitamins and supplements she feels are important for kids to take, too. She also has a great post on Why You Can’t Out-Supplement a Poor Diet. I don’t agree with all of her conclusions in either article, but it provides some great food for thought.
• Looking for a gummy vitamin for your kids to take that is also fairly high-quality? We love the SmartyPants Kids’ Gummies.

(Note: The links in this post are affiliate links, and we will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking through our links. Read our disclosure policy here.)

For 15 days, we’re exploring the topic of making our health and well-being a priority as part of the 15 Days to a Healthier You series. You can read Day 1 here.

Before we go any further in this series, I think it’s important that we define self-care. It’s a term that gets bandied around a lot and I think it is often misused and abused.

The reality is this: I don’t want to just survive life. Thus, I’m not looking for survival tactics.

I want to thrive. I want to live life as my best, boldest, and bravest self. I want to live up to my fullest potential.

Yesterday I talked about the importance of making our health and well-being a priority, but I want to be clear: I’m not making self-care a priority so I can cope with life. I don’t want to limp along through life just trying to make it.

I want to prioritize self-care so I can succeed in life. So I can grow stronger, embrace life more fully, love more enthusiastically, live more generously, and serve others more wholeheartedly.

The Difference Between Self-Care & Self-Comfort

I heard Megan and Kelly on the Sorta Awesome show recently discussing the differences between self-care and self-comfort and I thought it was really profound. I think it’s important that we define what this looks like in our own life. It can be easy to confuse the two.

What Self-Care Is: Making our health and well-being a priority. Listening to and attending to what our body and soul needs so that we are able to live our lives with energy and purpose.

What Self-Care Isn’t: Numbing ourselves from reality, using coping mechanisms, or turning to addictive behavior to try to survive life.

To help you understand where I’m coming from with this, let me give you a really practical example. Let’s say your child fell down and skinned their knee and it was bleeding pretty seriously. Yes, you should comfort your child, but you also need to care for your child by getting the bleeding to stop, getting medical attention (if necessary), and bandaging up the wound.

Comfort can be very important, but it’s not enough if our souls are bleeding. We can’t just slap a warm hug or chocolate ice cream and a chick flick on as a bandage labeled “self-care” and think that all will be well.

No, we need to stop the bleeding. And often, that means we first need to determine where the bleeding is actually coming from in the first place.

To me, this is what self-care is. It’s not a temporary fix that might make you feel better in the moment but does nothing for you long-term. Self-care is dealing with root causes, healing from deep wounds, and working on permanent solutions to struggles.

Pay Attention to the Pain; Listen to Your Tears

Until you are willing to admit there is pain, you can’t figure out where it’s coming from or how to fix it. So today, I want you to get really honest with yourself and ask: What’s bleeding? Where does it hurt? Am I trying to cope with life because I’d rather avoid a painful situation? Am I self-medicating in some way in order to mask what I’m really feeling deep down?

That’s how you get to the heart of what’s hurting and discover where the pain points are. These answers might not be obvious at first. They might require some intense soul-searching. They might dredge up things you’d rather stuff down and pretend don’t exist. They might invoke tears or a knot at the pit of your stomach.

Pay attention to the tears. Pay attention to the anxiety rising inside of you. Don’t dismiss it. Don’t run from it.

Instead, when you feel the tears or the anxiety, stop and let yourself stay in it. Ask yourself, “Where is this coming from? What triggered this? Why am I feeling this?”

What Does Your Soul Need?

Remember how yesterday we talked about how taking care of ourselves will look different for different people and I encouraged you to make a list of what energizes you? Today, I want to drill down further and I want you to really ask yourself, “What does my soul need?”

This is a question I’ve really been asking myself the past 6 months as part of my Year of Rest.

I’ve talked about the Year of Rest multiple times on the blog and on social media. So many people have commented with things like, “I’m sure that’s been amazing!” Or, “Are you feeling all rested and refreshed?” Or, “It must be so incredible.”

The truth is: It has been wonderful — but not at all in the way I was expecting. I was expecting a year of rest to be filled with more sleep, more time with my family, more fun, more reading, more time for things I love. And it has been that… and that’s been wonderful.

But what has completely caught me off guard is that it’s also been a year of ugly crying. I’m not a crier, usually. I can be the only one in a group to experience something deeply touching without ever shedding a tear. I’m known to be stoic and non-emotional.

That’s all changed this year, however. I’ve probably cried more tears than I have in all the past 20 years put together.

As I’ve been weaning myself off my addiction to “hustle” and intentionally sought quietness and stillness in my life, I’ve struggled to figure out who I am without all of the noise, the accolades, and the accomplishing.

I’ve realized that the busyness was a bandage I tried to slap on. Instead of addressing deep wounds and aches and longings in my soul; I tried to medicate with productivity.

It felt good in the moment. It numbed the pain. It filled the empty spaces. And as long as I kept up the out-of-breath living, I didn’t have to confront the reality or deal with the broken parts of me I’d rather hide.

I realized that instead of dealing with the pain and hurt and hard situations of life over the past number of years, I’d stuffed them down deep, pretended they didn’t exist, and heaped on more busyness to distract myself.

What Self-Care Looks Like in This Season for Me

As I’ve asked myself, “What does my soul need?” I’ve realized that self-care in this season has been me allowing myself to cry. Allowing myself space to really feel. To acknowledge the pain. To open up with safe friends in safe spaces about how much my heart feels broken by situations in my past.

Self-care has meant letting other people see the under-belly of who I really am. It’s meant welcoming people into the authentic messiness and rawness and not apologizing.

It’s been ugly and real… and oh so healing for me! Allowing myself the space and permission to feel, the permission to acknowledge the pain, and welcoming people in to see that I’m a broken, hot mess some days, has made me so much stronger, happier, and healthier than I’ve been in, well, probably ever.

Self-care has also looked like making weight-lifting a priority, giving myself permission to gain a little weight, becoming more spontaneous, working a whole lot less, experimenting with new things, saying “yes” to what once would have seemed way too crazy for me, sleeping more, and making space for a whole lot more fun in my life. {Read more about all of this here.}

Note: Want to talk more about this with me live? I’d love to have you join me on Periscope (around 8 to 8:15 a.m. CT) and Facebook live (around 8:30 a.m. CT) every morning where we’ll be discussing each day’s topics more in-depth and you can bring your questions, chat with others, and we can share together what we’re learning! (You can watch today’s Facebook Live video here.)

Day 2 Project

1. Is there deep pain or past wounds you’ve been trying to stuff down, hide, or run from for a long time? Give yourself permission to acknowledge these, cry about them, grieve your losses, and process the hurt with a safe person. {If you feel comfortable sharing in the comments section here, I welcome that. You are also more than welcome to email me privately if you’d like a safe place to share. I would be honored to listen and pray for you.}
2. Ask yourself, “What does my soul need?” Give yourself time and space to really contemplate and ponder that question. If you feel comfortable, tell us in the comments section what self-care looks like for you in this season of life.

Resources to Check Out:

• Listen to this episode of the Sorta Awesome Show that inspired this post.
• Want to stop sleep-walking through life? Be sure to grab a copy of my online course, Make Over Your Evenings.

Subscribe for free email updates from Money Saving Mom® and get my Guide to Freezer Cooking for free!

Original article and pictures take moneysavingmom.com site

I Don’t Want to Build an Empire; I Want to Build a Community

I Don’t Want to Build an Empire; I Want to Build a Community

The year 2014 was huge for this blog and my business.

Social media numbers grew. Subscriber numbers grew. Relationships with other bloggers grew (at least on a surface level). Income grew. And traffic went through the roof to numbers I only dreamed I would one day see.

Other bloggers and even real-life friends began putting me on a pedestal. People said things like:

“You’re superwoman!”

“You’re famous!”

“You have built an empire!”

I even had people stop me in real life and say: “Are you Erin from the internet?”

Some people felt guilty or like they didn’t measure up when comparing themselves with their online image of me:

“Mmkay, I want to know how you run your blog, maintain a social media presence, work on a book proposal, cook all real food for your family, homeschool part of the week, read five books AND rest,” a college friend commented on one of my Facebook posts one day. “I really hope that’s what your book is about!”

When I look back over my 2014 blogging goals, I met them all.

But I began to feel empty.

By the end of the year, I was longing for deeper, more intentional real-life community.

When my blogging mentor–who is one of the top bloggers in the industry–told me she had not met many of her business goals for 2014 but had more margin in her life, deeming the year a home run success, I longed for what she described.

So for 2015, I designated my one word to be “deeper.”

Deeper online relationships (really pouring into a few specific online friends instead of the masses of acquaintances).

Deeper real-life community.

And, most of all, going deeper with my family and my faith.

This sentiment was only strengthened during my family’s time in Costa Rica. Although we were just there for five fast weeks, we embedded ourselves with the people. We lived with a Costa Rican woman for part of the trip, and we embraced the culture and the language.

Coming home has been difficult and a bit disillusioning, if I am honest.

Costa Ricans, like much of the world, don’t live with the stress that comes with the desire for more and more and more. Their lives are simple. The vast majority get by with the basics.

Yet, with little material possessions compared to their North American counterparts, they are happier than most U.S. citizens who live in excess.

I’m tired of the American rat race for more money and more stuff.

It’s not a problem isolated to the corporate world and suburbs. The pursuit of more things at the expense of relationships, health, and sanity has infiltrated every aspect of our culture, including blogging.

When I started this blog 4 1/2 years ago, the entire online atmosphere was different.

It was about community and encouragement. It was a whole lot more personable. Yes, plenty of bloggers were making money at the time, but they did not cheapen their work or disregard their dignity in order to do so.

They were real.

The blogosphere has taken a shift in recent years. The focus now is on more pageviews, more money, more fame.

Rich content has been replaced with cheap copycat round-ups.

Deep connections have been replaced with quick click-throughs.

Encouragement and ministry have been replaced with more money-making ventures.

As I listened to the keynote speaker at a blogging conference a couple years back, I cringed as she stated: “So what if I’m not the mom who bakes muffins with my kids? I can laugh at those moms because I’m making 6 figures on my blog.”

God has provided more financially through this blog than I ever imagined possible, but I ask myself: “When is enough enough?”

I can always make more money, but I can never regain this precious time with my girls. They are growing up fast, and I don’t want their childhood memories clouded by their mother’s laptop and her index finger held up, saying: “Just one more minute. I have to answer one more email or respond to one more comment on Facebook.”

I have not kept it secret that my family runs this blog as a business (and, for now, we will continue to do so), but I have purposely distanced myself from those bloggers who see their platforms as nothing more than wealth-building stages.

I’ve left Facebook groups and have narrowed my circle of influence to those who share my same value system and who place God first, families second, and readers next–knowing that it’s the Lord who provides the income from our work.

I want to see people over pageviews, moms in the trenches over money.

I don’t want to keep building an empire as if this relative success comes from me. When I’m in the spotlight, God takes a backseat. This should not be.

I’m not abandoning blogging all together, but I’m praying hard about how this next season will look. My firstborn is about to enter 1st grade, and my younger two are not far behind her.

These little years are so fleeting, and after this summer, I am more convinced than ever that strong familial relationships start now–not when they are teenagers.

I will continue to write. And I will continue to run a business to generate an income for my family and to bring God glory.

I don’t pretend to have heard God’s voice audibly, but perhaps one of the closest I’ve ever got was in the newspaper office of my college campus during my senior year. I told God: “I want to be a foreign missionary.” Immediately, I felt Him impress upon me: “Erin, you will reach more through writing.”

And so, I write.

I don’t know exactly what that writing will look like from here on out, but I do know this: I am done with the rat race. My desire is to sink my roots in deeper to this community, leave the empire building to others.

Have you felt a shift in the online world in the past few years? How can we grow deeper communities in the internet age?

p.s.

Earlier this summer, I watched this video clip of Joanna Gaines of the TV show “Fixer Upper.” In it, she talks about God’s hand in her life and business. I hope it will encourage you–no matter your season in life.

Original article and pictures take thehumbledhomemaker.com site

I Am Supermom

I Am Supermom

I was great with child exactly five years ago, sweltering in my hugeness with heat radiating from concrete, counting down the weeks until. Then on a bright and sunny afternoon in September I birthed a child and took the title, “mother”, just like that. Boom.

For all of these years since, I thought I was just a mama. Just an average mama with three babies in less than four years and significantly less sleep. Arguably less sanity, to be sure.

Actually I’m not “just” a mom. As it turns out, I am supermom.

Today I heaved a 15kg bag of rice up to the countertop with one arm while balancing a fussy, chunky one-year-old on my opposite hip, jiggling and kissing his head while measuring two cups of rice and four of water without spilling a single grain.

Yesterday I boasted herculean efforts in patience as my three and five-year-olds were caught drawing all over the walls with crayon (again) and I didn’t yell.

I also spent the morning doing approximately thirty-seven things simultaneously while negotiating peace agreements in the playroom with repeat offender toy tyrants, all while keeping them fed and stocked with clean underwear, and the other day I even went *ahem* number two while holding the screaming, teething baby rather than subject him to the torture known as The Floor. I know, I know. Amazing.

It doesn’t stop there.

I am a person-growing, baby-birthing, human-being-raising woman who loves with ferocity. Like a tribal warrior only with less piercings and more yoga pants.

The other day I hoisted up my heavy 3 and 1-year-olds, each on one hip, because they were both wailing for goodness-knows-what. Each. On. One. Hip. Combined they equal half of my weight, and there I stood in the kitchen with a bubbling pot and a beeping timer and eleventy billion urgent tasks calling my name, shushing and hushing and swaying, kissing their sweaty summery heads until their hearts calmed merely by my presence and my touch. My heart exploded a thousand times like tiny fireworks and I felt like supermom.

A few weeks ago I took four kids 5 & under (one is my niece) to Costco for groceries. If that doesn’t earn you a supermom badge, my friends, NOTHING WILL.

I have had more poop and pee and boogers and snot (every mom knows there’s a difference between those two) and blood, sweat, and tears (oh, the drama and tears) wiped on my shoulder and beyond than what I ever conceived possible.

Without fail every evening I muster up the patience yet again to walk the wandering wee one back to bed for “one more kiss” and a good night.

I juggle the grocery budget like the CFO of a Fortune 500 and I make (usually) healthy meals and snacks every. single. freaking. day (dear God, why do they want to eat EVERY DAY?!). I can balance 46 things in my arms while entertaining multiple children and stirring something on the stove, multi-tasking the dishwasher unload and reload times eleven.

I let them “help” make dinner, and I clean up from their “help” while thanking them profusely.

Staying up late. Getting up early. Oops, trying to get up early… to work and earn some extra income for our family. Sun-up to sundown it goes, around and around and around again.

I buckle them into carseats. And out. And in. And out. And in. And out AGAIN. I trudge up the stairs for the diaper cream when he’s getting rashy even though my legs are oh-so-tired, I rock and I rock and I breathe deep and nurse and try my best to drink it all in while simultaneously trying to avoid feel guilty for not enjoying it more.

I keep hearing the collective cry of my mama friends saying that supermom doesn’t exist. Supermom is a myth.

I beg to differ, dear ones.

I see supermom every single day when I look into the mirror and cringe at the tired circles under my eyes and the jiggly junk in the trunk. I don’t just see a doughy soft, exhausted mom. I see supermom staring back at me.

Those eyes may be tired and the frolic may be all but dimmed but I’ll be darned if I don’t see a little bit of it showing through. It’s the supermom magic leaking out, peaking out from the mundane liturgy of laundry and diapers and gobs of patience with unreasonable tiny humans that we love so tight.

Also? I believe you round out the superhero team in plenty of ways I lack.

You are a working mom, a special-needs-mom, a mom battling depression with every fiber of your unshowered being. You are an overwhelmed and stressed out mom. You are sitting in the carpool lane because your kids go to public school or you are staying up late and bleary-eyed into the night to prep for tomorrow’s homeschooling. You are a quiet mom, a mom-with-a-yelling-problem-trying-to-change, a mom whispering prayers for her kids and for her sanity all at once. Dear God, please let us keep a teeny tiny bit of the sanity. You are the super-duper tucker-inner and you have secret superpower handshake hugs that make little boys’ eyes twinkle with delight.

You possess magical powers for ice-cream-eating after the kids are in bed, and for this – I salute you. And join you.

We do incredible, mind-blowing things that strangers “out there in the world” gape at, slack-jawed and amazed. We are mothers, and we are amazing.

I am supermom.

And so are you.

Original article and pictures take redandhoney.com site

Huge List of Screen Free Activities for Summer Fun

Huge List of Screen Free Activities for Summer Fun

This is the point in the summer that my kids are too hot to play, too hot to work, too hot to move, and too hot to care. Therefore, reaching for a device to play a game or zoning out to Netflix feels like the best option.

Knowing this is true for kids of all ages {Laura raises her hand while trying to cool down with a Coffee Milkshake} I asked my friend Kim to use her brilliance and creativity to come up with a list of ideas we can suggest to our kids, all of which do not involve a screen.

Sounds good? Here we go!

List of Screen Free Activities for Summer Fun

1. Read, of course…

We’ve already talked about all the good books to read! (Did you see this list?) First and foremost, cooling off under the fan with a good book is a perfect screen free option this summer. Look over our list of great book suggestions. Join our Summer Reading Party. Read, read, read!

2. Have a Board Games Tournament

Select any of the following, making adjustments depending on your kids’ ages. If your kids are old enough, enjoying any of these games in tournament form could be a blast! Even if your kids are “too old” for little kid games, sometimes it’s fun to pull them out and have a “Throw Back Game Day!”

• Rummikub
• Checkers
• Monopoly
• Scrabble
• Headbanz

3. Have Fun With Bubbles

• Have Bubble Races – Hold your bubble on your wand and see who can go the farthest.
• Set up a Bubble Obstacle Course – Create an obstacle course and try to get through it without your bubble popping.
• Hold a Bubble Contest – Compete for who has the biggest bubble, smallest bubble, one that flies the highest, one that lasts the longest…
• Make Big Bubbles – Use lids from different sized cottage cheese, yogurt, or sour cream containers to cut into fun bubble rings. Dip the the rings into the tubs of homemade bubbles, made as directed below. This makes great big bubbles!

Need a Homemade Bubble Recipe?

4. Use Sidewalk Chalk in a Fun New Way

• Use Water – Dip your sidewalk chalk in water and see how that changes the color and consistency of the art.
• Have Sidewalk Chalk Contests – Compete for who can draw the silliest, biggest, smallest, brightest, largest, most accurate, etc.
• Use Sidewalk Chalk to Decorate Rocks – It is like dyeing Easter eggs, only with chalk and rocks!
• Spread the Love – Write a message of love, encouragement or fun on a neighbor’s sidewalk. Leave a Welcome Home message on a vacationing family’s driveway. (Note from Laura: This is my favorite of all the ideas Kim came up with!!)

5. Enjoy Outdoor and Backyard Games

• Hopscotch
• Obstacle course / Outdoor Olympics
• Hold jump rope contests, hulahoop contests, or roller skating contests
• Leaf, bug and flower collections or tree identification game
• Cloud identification and imagination game

6. Set up Some Water Games

• Jump on the trampoline with sprinkler underneath
• Fill a kiddie pool with ice cubes and water

7. Set up Sand Box Fun

• Use the sand to draw pictures
• Bury small toys in the sand box and let the kids hunt for them
• Add water to build castles and other creations

8. Go on New Adventures

• Park Hop – Go from one park to another in your town and surrounding areas, take a friend, have a picnic
• Have a Progressive Dinner – Start with salad at one house, hors d’oeuvres at a second, main course at another and end up with dessert at a final house
• Go Geocaching – With a smart phone and some hiking shoes, you can make this happen. Don’t have a smart phone? Try a handheld GPS. You will have to scout your locations in advance and bring a list.
• Go on a Treasure Hunt or Scavenger Hunt – Create a series of clues and a treasure at the end.
• Go a New Way – Have a destination to which you like to bike or walk? Try taking a different route.
• Look Online – Use the internet to find new, fun, free things to do in your area
• Camp out in the backyard – If you can’t do over night, then pitch the tent in the yard for an instant playhouse/fort/hideaway

9. Set up Creative Indoor Play

• Sensory Bins with Rice, Beans, or Salt – Let kids play in containers of rice, beans or salt. They can draw letters, shapes and pictures.
• Play with and draw in Shaving Cream
• Make Homemade Playdough (Mix 2 cups baking soda, 1 cup cornstarch and 1.5 cups warm water. Stir all together and bring to a boil over medium heat. Pour into something to cool. Once it is cool, knead it and you can play away. If you want to add color, put food coloring in the water before boiling the mixture.
• Paint with Water Colors – Cover the dining room table with large sheets of paper and let the kids paint away
• Make a Selfie – Take a large sheet of paper and trace the child’s whole body. Let them decorate and draw the shape to resemble themselves.
• Hold a Talent Show – Do Mom and Dad have talent? What about the kids? Show it off! Don’t forget the video camera!
• Get out Simple Art Supplies – Use pine cones, pipe cleaners and googly eyes to create a miniature family
• Have a Lego Contest
• Hold a Coloring Contest

10. Cooking Together

• Hold a Chili Cook-Off
• Make a Picnic
• Hold a Cooking Contest (i.e. Who makes the best cookies?)
• Take advantage of this time to Teach Your Kids to Cook

Fun Kid Friendly Recipes

What are some of your favorite Screen Free Activities to suggest to your kids? Leave a comment to share!

Some of these links are my affiliate links.

Original article and pictures take heavenlyhomemakers.com site

How We Save Money on Health Care Costs

How We Save Money on Health Care Costs

Save

Guest post from Joy @ Five J’s

Six years ago my husband and I had health insurance coverage through his work. But when the premiums started to rise, we realized we had to do something to save money because we were already struggling to stretch our dollars from week to week.

It was about this time I happened upon this post by Shaun Groves. Shaun’s son came down with a sudden illness that resulted in an enormous medical bill, and even though their family didn’t have insurance, their out-of-pocket costs for the entire bill was just $12! Needless to say, I was intrigued.

Shaun explained that they were members of a Christian health care sharing ministry called Samaritan. Samaritan isn’t insurance; instead a group of Christians share medical needs they have that exceed $300, and the members pay each others’ bills.

It sounded almost too good to be true, so I did a little investigating and talked to some current Samaritan members to find out whether it was a viable option for us. We determined it was, so in 2007 we cancelled our $500+/month insurance policy with a $3000 deductible and became members of Samaritan.

How Health Care Sharing with Samaritan Works

Each month Samaritan sends us the name and address of another Samaritan member and a summary of their medical need. We then write a check for our monthly share of $370, include a personal note, and send the money directly to the other member. This $370 ‘share’ is basically our monthly premium.

Concerning our own medical costs, we pay out of pocket for things like preventative visits, one-time doctor sick visits, and our ongoing prescriptions. But several times our medical bills for an illness or injury have exceeded the $300 threshold, so we submitted those needs to Samaritan members and the bills were paid directly by the membership.

One of these needs was an $80,000 hospital bill from when my daughter shattered her femur and had to undergo two surgeries and spent a total of seven days in the hospital. Samaritan negotiated discounts from several of the providers, saving thousands of dollars, and once we received all the checks from the Samaritan members, our out-of-pocket cost was less than $200. We paid for only her wheelchair rental and the purchase of a walker, definitely thousands of dollars less than if we still had regular medical insurance.

As I just mentioned, Samaritan is not insurance. But even with the changes to the health insurance industry under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), we are not worried. Members of recognized health sharing ministries like Samaritan are exempt from the individual mandate penalty, so even though we don’t technically have insurance, we aren’t subject to the penalty.

How We Save Money on Prescriptions

Not only do we save money on health care costs each month by being members of Samaritan, we’ve also discovered how to save money on prescriptions with GoodRX.com.

Since we have to pay for most of our prescriptions (Samaritan does cover some prescriptions following an illness or injury, but we still have to pay for some), we try to find the lowest cost for prescriptions.

GoodRX is a free website (as well as a mobile app) that allows me to look up both the cash-pay and GoodRX discount price for prescriptions in my area. It has allowed us to save quite a bit of money on our prescriptions, almost as if we had regular prescription coverage.

For example, I recently had to refill two medications for my daughter, and if I’d simply gone to Target as usual, I would have paid more than $60 for the two. But I logged on to GoodRX before requesting the refill and discovered I’d save quite a bit of money if I transferred the prescription to Wal-mart, which I did. I ended up paying just $20 for the prescriptions, and all it took was a little research on GoodRX.com.

Will This Work for You?

Being a member of Samaritan and going without typical health insurance coverage is definitely not for everyone, but it has been such a blessing for our family. So if you’re looking for ways to save money on your health care costs, you might want to investigate health care sharing ministries like Samaritan and discount prescription programs like GoodRX.com to see if they are a good fit for your own situation.

Joy Miller works from home with her husband, Jeff, doing book, graphic, and web design through their business Five J’s Design. She also runs a homeschooling website called Five J’s. In 2012, after being in debt for 18 years, Jeff and Joy became debt free (except for their house) and have recently begun a financial coaching business to help others discover financial freedom. Jeff & Joy live in Texas where they homeschool their three children, Jaden, Jerah, and Joely.

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Original article and pictures take moneysavingmom.com site

How We Reversed Asthma Symptoms in our Family

How We Reversed Asthma Symptoms in our Family

Guest Post by Daniele of Domestic Serenity

Many moms can relate to dealing with children’s health issues. In some way, we all act as Dr. Mom in treating often minor and manageable illnesses.

Our family has faced ups and downs in sickness, but it wasn’t until we dealt with serious asthma attacks that my natural medicine cabinet could no longer keep up.

At first, I was just grateful (and still am) for the level of emergency care available in our country. To race to the hospital, watching your child struggle for every breath and lose energy from fighting, is not a scene I’d wish on any mom. I was simply thankful for the help.

But to also watch him ingest overpowering drugs with known long-term side effects just to breathe? This pushed me to question. Surely, there must be another way; another path to consider?

There was a different direction.

We now have a little boy, hospitalized so many times due to uncontrolled asthma flare-ups, who has been free from asthma attacks for over 18 months! I’ll share what worked for our family.

image by deziner02

How We Reversed Asthma Symptoms

I’ve written a whole series on the topic with plenty of details, so today I’ll share highlights. The path we chose could be described in three steps: cleanse, strengthen, nourish.

CLEANSE the Body

We began by eliminating any possible food triggers. Asthma is basically understood as inflammation of the respiratory passages with extra mucus production and spasms of the muscles in the system. Not fun, huh?

Because asthma is often tied in with allergies (food or environmental), it seemed wise to us to take any of these triggers out first. By keeping a journal of what foods we eliminated and when, we could track the effect. You’ll find more tips on elimination diets here.

Then one day, I came across an article about the inflammatory effects of hydrogenated oils on asthma — this was so significant in our journey! We got an oil change overnight and immediately switched to using coconut and olive oil almost exclusively.

The anti-inflammatory effects of omega 3 oils in asthmatic children are incredibly beneficial, and we saw this firsthand. Our son’s body and breathing began to calm even more just after 2-4 weeks of change. We were hooked!

image by ghindo

CLEANSE the Home

Removing possible environmental triggers was the next step. We concentrated efforts on changing our cleaning products from conventional to natural (often homemade) and to controlling allergens in our son’s bedroom.

I started with the bedroom since so much time is spent in there between sleeping and playing. Early in our journey, allergy testing provided information on which environmental struggles we were dealing with.

Dust mites topped the list and so allergen-proof covers for pillows and mattresses helped. Many more steps and tips of cleansing the home can be found at my post.

image by Mae Cheverette

STRENGTHEN the Body

Taking the bad stuff out is great. But to then strengthen the body and replace with extra-good stuff is even better!

Knowing about 75% of our immune fighting ability is in our gut, our next focus was to give our child (and by this point, the whole family!) a strengthened intestinal tract and therefore stronger immune system.

While we didn’t do anything such as GAPS diet, simple steps and adding in one specific fruit key for asthmatics to eat often — we experienced continued major improvements!

NOURISH the body

The journey is not over as we continue to nourish and care gently for our son’s body — by treating any cold symptoms early, practicing some massage techniques, and many other natural approaches.

All of the details, including books, further resources and which natural products we used can be found in this series of posts.

Our hard work (and yes, it wasn’t always easy) paid off in benefits of a calmer, happier and less-hospitalized child. Less worry, less scary-crazy moments and many less days of breathing struggles. Not to mention money back in our pocket from less medical bills!

Is anyone dealing with asthma issues in children? Have you found other things to be helpful?

Original article and pictures take keeperofthehome.org site

How We Do Birthdays

How We Do Birthdays

Guest post from Sally of SallyLynnHall.com

Some years birthdays are big ol’ parties around our house — homemade elaborate cakes, lots of guests, games, activities, homemade decorations, and oh the food!

Mostly these are the milestone birthdays — 1, 5, 10 and so on — with a few random shindigs thrown in here and there. We’ve had dinosaur hunts, Elmo themed parties (three, to be exact), video gaming parties, picnic/old school kid games parties, and we’ll probably have countless more themes over the years.

However, the majority of the time we don’t. In fact, my kids have only had two big parties each. That does not mean we don’t celebrate — quite the contrary, actually. We just do it differently: we do it a bit more intimately during the “in between” birthdays.

Of course, I do not think blowout birthdays every year are wrong at all. We just choose not to celebrate that way (with multiple kids it’s hard on our wallet and sanity). Plus, we’ve discovered that simple does not necessarily mean less, it can actually mean so much more!

Let me explain.

Recently, my middle kiddo turned seven. It wasn’t a “milestone” birthday, but every birthday is special and we wanted him to feel that.

We started the festivities with a tradition from my childhood: three days of birthday. For three days — the day before his birthday, the day of, and the day after — he got to choose what we made for dinner, what TV show we watched at night, and usually, various family members would surprise him by doing one or two of his chores for him.

During one of those days we went to Cracker Barrel for our traditional “breakfast with the family”, followed by the birthday boy being able to pick one small toy in the shop for his present. (My husband started this tradition a few years back and it has quickly become a favorite. Even the adults take part on their birthdays! Whatever family members that are off work and are in town usually tag along to these annual breakfasts if they can, but there’s no pressure and it’s just as fun with only our clan.)

There are other little things that sometimes happen as well — we might bake or buy treats to take to our homeschool co-op, or an aunt or grandma might take the birthday kid out for ice cream or some other special outing.

But my favorite thing we do?

A very special bedtime story the night of their birthday. We sit down with pictures and scrapbooks of the kiddo we’re celebrating and while we look through years of firsts — baths, trips, foods, parties, Christmases and haircuts — we talk about the day they were born.

We tell the funny moments, the sweet moments, who was there, what was said and on and on. You would think they would get tired of this, but from the two-year-old to the ten-year-old, they soak it up. They could probably tell their birth stories for me. Well, not the toddler… not yet. And even though they know the answers already, each year it’s the same questions:

“And what did I say to the nurse who said that baby is so cute?”

“You said ‘That’s my new baby brother – go away!’ ”

And they laugh and laugh like it’s the first time they’ve heard it. And me? I bask in those first few moments of their lives with the blissfulness that comes years after the exhaustion of labor. I get to relive the good stuff.

So parents who can’t go big or even medium for each birthday, take heart. It can still be special and your child can feel just as spoiled. Maybe not with fanfare and presents, but instead, with cherished memories and special moments just for them that say, “I’m so glad you were born!”

How do you “do” birthdays?

Sally Hall is a part-time freelance writer, full-time wife, mom, and homeschooler, and a foodie at heart living in Texas. She has written for a series of women’s travel books, homeschooling publications, webzines, international ministries, and is currently finishing her own book! Follow her random musings over on her blog.

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Original article and pictures take moneysavingmom.com site

How We Developed a Morning Bible Reading Time With Our Family

How We Developed a Morning Bible Reading Time With Our Family

It might surprise you to know that what originally started our morning Bible reading time with our family was a bit of selfish need on the part of this mama.

What selfish need was my motivation? Oh, just a little something I like to call peace and quiet. The silly little desire for my four small boy children to actually stay in their chairs during a meal and not throw scrambled eggs toward the window or poke each other with forks. The desperate attempt to find some sort of order for our mornings when we were staring down a 7-year old, a 5-year old, a 3-year old, and a 6-month old.

Now truly, motivation for beginning our Bible reading time was the fact that we felt like good Christian parents should probably actually read the Bible to their kids. Funny that I didn’t at first equate Christ-like character and heart training with Bible reading. Good Christians just read the Bible, right?

I could interrupt myself here and ask what I even thought it meant to be a “good Christian” because what? Like there’s such thing as a “bad Christian?” Either you’re a Christ follower or you aren’t. But I digress.

So we wanted to be good Christian parents, and that surely must mean that we should read the Bible to our kids. And we wanted all the eggs and muffins to stay on plates and then get eaten, so it started to make sense to us that if we read the Bible to our kids while they were sitting at the table eating their food, we could get a two-for-one. The kids would sit and eat. The “good Christian parents” could read the Bible. Everyone brushes their teeth and moves on with the day.

Thankfully, before we got much farther into our parenting journey, God convicted us that shaping our kids’ hearts and character meant much more than simply “reading the Bible” to them. Of course, reading the Bible is a fabulous and necessary part of the journey, but it’s so much more than just reading words and moving on. We started talking with our kids frequently about God’s work in our lives. We started using scripture as a part of their training in ways that were fun and meaningful.

We learned that we needed to make Jesus’ life and and love a part of every aspect of our lives so that we, too, could live a life of love.

As parents, we learned along with our kids. There’s no magic formula for perfect parenting, but there is a Holy Spirit, the perfect guide. The more we listen to His leading and direction, the more we know what to say, how to love, and how to guide our kids.

As for our morning family Bible reading time at breakfast, it’s become a practice and tradition that we all hold dear. It’s much more than words in a book. It’s the Words from the Book. It’s Truth. It’s Life.

Reading to our kids during a meal began as a way to keep them focused on both food and words. It worked for us then, and works for us now as it brings our busy family of teenagers together for conversation and Biblical truth before we hit the ground running.

Keeping their hands busy any time I read to them when they were little

was a necessity if I wanted them to actually hear the words I was reading.

No matter how you choose to fill your kids with Truth from the Word, do find the ways that work for you. During meals, in the car, at bedtime – any or all of the above, as the Spirit leads you. Change your times and practices through the years as needed.

Don’t limit scripture training to be something your kids learn on Sunday mornings. Make it a part of every day of your lives, as parents, as individuals, and as a family.

And if you read the Bible at the breakfast table with your little ones, enjoy the added benefit that the eggs will be thrown at the window less frequently and forks will be poked at siblings less often.

Original article and pictures take heavenlyhomemakers.com site

How to use nettles for seasonal allergies

How to use nettles for seasonal allergies

A couple of months ago a wrote an article on helping children who struggle with seasonal allergies for The Bible Herbal Magazine which is a new online magazine. I shared quite a few ways to help your child keep seasonal allergies at bay. One of the things I shared was how we use nettles for seasonal allergies.

Yep, those weeds that sting bare little feet as they run over them are great for helping with seasonal allergies.

Several of our children struggle a bit with seasonal allergies and I often find myself with itchy eyes when the mold count is high. So each March we start supplementing our diet with nettles. Nettles work best for allergies if you start them several weeks before you start experiencing allergy symptoms.

We’ll start adding some dried nettle leaf to our smoothies but we also use it as a tincture, a glycertite, capsules and pastilles. Today I’m going to show you how we make each one. I like having it in different forms because some in our family prefer capsules but some prefer tinctures and, of course, Esther can’t take either one of those since she’s only 6 so the glycerite and pastilles are great for her.

The tincture and glycerite are made almost the same. I use the glycerite for Esther and any of our teens that want to use it and the tincture is for the older teens and adults. Yes, there is alcohol in the tincture but we’re not drinking it, we’re taking just a few drops at a time as needed. If you don’t feel comfortable making a tincture, a glycerite will work the same without the alcohol.

How to make a nettle tincture

20 grams of dried nettle leaf

100 ml vodka (I use 100 proof for my tinctures)

Nettle is fairly “fluffy” when it’s dried so I give mine a whirl in the coffee grinder that I keep for grinding herbs and make it a powder. Put the nettle and the vodka in a jar (a pint size mason jar is great), put a lid on it and give it a shake. Be sure to label the jar with “Nettle Tincture” and the date. Let is sit for 14 days and shake it daily. After 14 days, strain out the plant matter and put the liquid in a small bottle. I really the ones with the dropper tops for tinctures. We take about 2 dropper fulls a day. Some us take it straight and some take it with a bit of water.

How to make a nettle gylcerite

A glycerite is similar to a tincture but the compounds are extracted from the herbs with gylcerine instead of alcohol which makes it great for kids or anyone who doesn’t consume alcohol.

20 grams of dried nettle leaf

80 ml vegetable glycerin (be sure to not get synthetic glycerine)

20 ml distilled water (this NEEDS to be distilled only)

Grind the dried nettle into a powder and put it in a pint size mason jar. Mix the glycerin and water together and pour into jar. Put a lid on the jar, label it and give it a shake. Let is sit for 21 days and give it a shake daily. After 21 days strain out the plant material and put the liquid in a jar with a dropper lid. We take 1-2 dropper fulls a day.

How to make nettle capsules

Capsule making is something new I’m learning and I’m really liking it. We don’t take a lot of supplements but with 6 of us in the house supplements can get quite pricey. I first heard about making my own capsules from Chris at Joybilee Farm.

To make the capsules you just need the herb in powdered form (I just powder my own with the coffee mill), empty capsules and a capsule making “machine”. The capsule maker is wonderful because it holds the capsules, tamps the herb down and then puts the top on. Of course, all of this is manual so you still have to do it, but it’s much faster than I thought it would be. I got mine at Mountain Rose Herbs.

I bought size “0” capsules which hold 500 mg of powder. The capsule maker that I have makes 24 capsules so I needed 12 grams of nettle powder.

After you have your herbs in powder form, open up 24 capsules and put the bottoms (the thinner one) in the machine and then put the tops in the top holder. Fill the bottoms with the herb, tamping it down until you can’t get any more in. You might have a little bit of herbs left over, but it should be an insignificant amount. When the bottoms are as full as they can get, put the tops on. (Be sure to read and follow the instructions in your capsule machine.) Store in jar with lid.

We take one capsule, three times a day, to help keep allergy symptoms at bay.

How to make nettle pastilles

Herb pastilles are are great way to get herbs into your children and they’re super easy to make. You just need powdered herbs and honey. Yep, that’s it.

Weigh your powdered herbs (I had 4 grams) and put them in a bowl. Add some honey and mix until you can form balls with it. Keep adding a little honey until you get a play dough consistency. If you have some crystallized honey, it’s perfect for this project.

Roll the herb and honey mixture into balls that are about the same size. I had 15 balls so each ball has about 260 mg of herbs in it. Let the balls dry out over night and then store in an jar. I put these in the refrigerator but you don’t have to.

Disclaimer: I’m not a health care provider. I’m just a mom who is trying to keep my family healthy and have found nettles to be helpful. The information in this post if for educational purposes only. It is not an attempt to diagnose or treat any medical condition. If you are on ANY medication, have ANY heath issues or are pregnant or nursing, please consult your heath care provider before taking nettle supplements. You can learn more about safely using nettle in this article from the University of Maryland Medical Center.

If you’re interested in studying herbs I highly suggest the courses from The Herbal Academy.

Now it’s your turn, what natural remedies do you use for seasonal allergies?

Original article and pictures take www.schneiderpeeps.com site

How to Use Essential Oils to Stay Healthy This Winter

How to Use Essential Oils to Stay Healthy This Winter

With winter comes the onslaught of coughs, colds, and more…but does it have to be this way? Here are ways to use essential oils to stay healthy this winter…and beyond!

Note from Ann: We’re diving into the “sick” time of year, and I’m so grateful that Dr. Julie Bates is here with her tips for how to use essential oils to stay healthy. Though I like to think I know a lot about this, I’m taking notes and grateful for her guidance! Enjoy…and be sure to chime in with YOUR favorite ways to use oils to stay healthy!

So…how do you weather the winter months?

I meet so many people in my practice and my natural solutions classes and I hear people accept sickness in their life. They say:

“Every year I am going to have two sinus infections. That’s just the way it is.”

“Janie is sick at least once a month. We just go get our antibiotics. That’s just the way it is.”

“This time of year, everyone has the flu. Once we get it, my whole family will get it. That’s just the way it is.”

That’s just the way it is? Why? Why does it have to be that way?

I have a kiddo who started getting a cough every February. The first year, we did two antibiotics, a chest x-ray, a whooping cough test, and blood tests, and still she coughed for six weeks.

During our vacation to Disney, I had to find a pharmacy to refill a prescription in Florida! That is not the way I want her to live!

So the next year, I needed another option. In my house, that meant natural options so I began researching. Essential oils came into our lives during that year, we started chiropractic care, and I changed her diet.

I looked at the impact of sugar and glutens on her skin and her respiratory function. I added a probiotic that didn’t seem to help and then I found a better one this year that has made a world of difference.

Our second February, she coughed for around three weeks. Our doctor said she was doing so much better, the only thing she recommended was something for seasonal irritants. I added more oils. And then this past February, she coughed for maybe three days and we were past it.

Sick is not “just the way it is.”

We have to be active in our healthcare.

We have to go out and create health, not wait to react to health.

Our physical state and our emotional state work in tandem, so an insult to one will impact the other. Looking at how our emotions impact our health is an entirely different topic, so for now, I want to focus on building our immune system.

In my household, there are a lot of pieces to this puzzle: healthy eating, good sleeping habits, chiropractic care, emotional support, and essential oils.

Here’s how I use essential oils to stay healthy:

• For day-to-day immune support, my kiddos take beadlets with oils in them to support immune function.
• I put a protective blend of cinnamon, eucalyptus, wild orange, clove, and rosemary in the diffuser every night.
• When their systems are drooping, I put it on topically as well.
• If they start to feel peaked, I look at what oils can help them physically, but I also look at possible emotional causes.

Here are some additional ways to use essential oils for immune support.

Lemon Essential Oil

The essential oil derived from a lemon has incredible detoxifying effects on the body. Add a little to your glass of water each morning to help cleanse and clear out the blood, and rid the body of toxic buildup.

Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender can help support better sleep, which in turn will allow your body to heal and restore. Diffusing the oil in your bedroom or putting a little on your feet will help support you with an overall sense of well-being.

Frankincense Essential Oil

Frankincense is a great oil for helping the body repair itself on the cellular level. Simply apply Frankincense to the skin wherever the problem is to enable it to get to work at boosting the immune system and supporting the system of the body that is struggling. For example, if you have a cough, apply it to your chest.

A few more tips to consider with essential oils:

Diffuse!

Run a diffuser in your office to protect your immune system. I gave a diffuser with the protective blend to my school secretary. She says it has been life-changing. After all, EVERY sick kid in the school goes through the office!

Take them with you!

Grab a roller bottle and put your favorite oils in it and carry it with you. Apply for emotional boosting as needed. Roll on other people too if they are having a come apart! (I have a recipe for a spray mix I call “Ditch the Witch” posted on my Facebook)

Hand sanitize!

Make your own hand sanitizer spray. It will be so much better than the chemical stuff and will give you protection wherever you go.

Educate!

Get an oils coach. There is always more to learn and a coach will help you find the right options for your family. I’d love to be your coach!

Join my essential oils webinars.

In the next week, I will be starting a regular webinar to talk more about using oils for emotional concerns. If you would like updates about upcoming events, register by clicking here.

If you would like to know more about my specific regimes, send me an email at Julie@drjuliebates.com I would love to help you get started with proactive solutions in your home too.

HEALTH is the way it is meant to be!

What are your favorite ways to use essential oils for health?

Up Next:

Ann Timm considers herself blessed to be the wife of a Christ follower and mother to six amazingly cool kids. She strives to keep a happy, healthy home, although she openly admits to failing often. She loves to share her foibles and encourage other women on their journey to healthy living.

More posts by Ann Timm

Original article and pictures take keeperofthehome.org site