Claiming Simplicity | Simple Life, Natural Living, Cooking from Scratch, Intentional Living, Save Money, Simple Systems

3 Simple Truths to Lose Weight Fast for Moms That are Always Worried About Their Body Image

Hello Friend!

Have you ever struggled with finding the right diet or exercise to lose weight fast?  I have done the yoyo diets since I was probably 15 years old.  Always worried about others think and low self esteem until about 3 years ago!

I did the keto diet for about 1 1/2 years until I had an abnormal EKG and I knew that even though it was effective, it wasn't worth the health risks and since I quit keto, the last 2 years my EKGs have been normal!  Praise God!

Today, I will give you 3 truths about weight loss to help you in this journey.

Enjoy the episode and I would love to hear your feedback! 

 

Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com

Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/

 

Blessings,

Monica

How to Save Money on Halloween with Kids for Busy Moms that Dread Getting Costumes Ready for Everyone

Hello Friend

I grew up with an amazingly crafty mom-she can make anything out of anything!  My siblings and I always won first prize at every Halloween event because her costumes were always homemade and original.  For instance, I was an elephant one year and she made the head out of a gray piece of carpet!  It was cute and I have never seen anything like it, but all 4 of us kids always had the best costumes every year because my mom loved making them!

I will be honest though….after having kids, halloween was a dreaded holiday-probably mostly because my brain doesn’t work like that and I am not that imaginative.  I couldn’t buy any store boughten cheaply made costumes because of having such great costumes growing up, and I couldn’t make them because I have very limited sewing abilities. 

Here was my solution….I would look for items on clearance after halloween of wigs and accessories or find items all year long at thrift shops and I would keep rubbermaid bins with the items in so that when Halloween came around, my kids had a variety of items to choose from.  They aren’t always original, but it beat the scramble of getting an outfit before Halloween and also, the kids enjoyed putting together things that they wanted.

I suggest you make a bin or 2 for halloween and gather items after Halloween this year when they are clearanced and then start looking throughout the year on swap and shops or thrift stores for fun items you can add to the bin!

 

I hope this helps you to have less stress with Halloween for years to come!

 

Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com

 

Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/

 

Have a great week!

Monica

 

 

How to Process all the Potatoes from this Year’s Harvest. 4 Simple Ways to Preserve Potatoes to Last You for a Year!

Welcome Friend!

 

Because it froze last week, we have been working hard processing what could have potentially froze and now we are starting to dig our potatoes since they are underground and we didn’t have to worry about them freezing.  Have you seen the price of potatoes in the grocery store lately?  This should be the time of the year where they are quite cheap as we are harvesting them, but they have at least double in price in the last few months.  It makes me curious what they will get up to in the winter here in Minnesota when they are out of season. I’m thankful i will not have to worry about that because we have so many potatoes, I’m curious if we will have room for all of them in the freezer! 

 

We do like to make fries and hash browns and this year I am also going to freeze mashed potatoes as well.  With all the sports our kids are in, we have to have several meals ready to go when we are running so much because you know that I don’t like to waste money on fast food or convenience foods and homemade is so much healthier!

 

1.  If you have a cellar or cold storage, the potatoes should keep most of the winter
2. Make french fries with french fry cutter, blanch them, dry them, and freeze them and then bag them.
3. Hashbrowns do the same as the fries, just cube them instead!  We did shred some hashbrowns, but didn’t like the way they turned out as well!
4. Mashed potatoes- I will let you know how this goes and what we think of them!

 

I don’t think I will get around to it this year, but next year I want to can stew which will be another way to use the potatoes.  It is really nice to have the meals all made up and we can just dump and heat for a quick meal when we need it. 

 

There are so many different ways you can preserve potatoes and they are good with so many different meals!

 

Send me a message and let me know your favorite ways to preserve potatoes!

 

Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners

 

Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com

 

Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/

 

Monica

 

 

Do You Need Help with Time Management in Your Home to Make Sure Things Get Done When You Get Distracted Easily. 5 Simple Hacks to Help You Get Things Done Consistently Everyday!

Happy October Friend

Wow!!!! It was another fantastic weekend at a Christian Women’s Conference with one of my best friends!  We don’t get to see each other too often, but we do schedule at least twice a year at conferences to catch up and I cherish every moment with her!!  We grow in our faith and we get to catch up and It is always an incredible time!

 

I don’t know about you, but a schedule seems to backfire for me and every planner I have ever tried has never worked for me. 

Prepare the week on Sunday evening with everything that is happening throughout the week along with meals, meetings, and activities so there are less surprises that come up or you feel like you are scrambling!  When you have this planned, it makes each day run so much smoother.

Another key tip to time management is getting up early!  If you follow what successful people do, they do not sleep in!   When I sleep in until 6:30, I feel like I practically lost half of the day!  So this tip is to create a morning routine that you can do every day and get up early!  

It is really easy to put something away when you are done with it right away.  If you choose not to do this, your house may feel like chaos at all times!  If you use the blender in the morning, rinse it out and put it away.  When you use your toothbrush, put it away where it belongs, it can be learned to be a regular habit just as it is to brush your teeth every morning! (or at least I hope you do!)

Create a simple way for you to keep track of what needs to be done and appointments.  I can not keep a paper calendar consistently.  I am that person that likes to buy them and start out the year really good, but then I don’t always have it with me when adding appointments, so I always go back to putting it on my phone calendar with alerts and that works wonderful for me!  If I have to pick up something from the grocery store or make something for a potluck-it all goes into my phone calendar with an alert.  It is super simple to do this and then things don’t get forgotten or late and you look organized-even if you aren’t!!!!!!

And #5-Make sure your kitchen is clean every night when you go to bed!  There is nothing worse that waking up to make coffee and feeling defeated already becuse you didn’t do the dishes from the previous day and it honestly starts you off on the wrong foot! 

 

I hope you are able to take one of these tips and start implementing it into your routine to get things done at home consistently every single day!

I would love to hear from you and get your feedback!  What do you want to learn about?

 

Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com

Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/

 

Love Ya! Monica

 

 

Quick Tip to Eliminate Fruit Flies When You are Harvesting and Preserving Your Garden and Have So Much Produce Around Your Home

Hey Friend!

Here is a very simple solution to eliminating the pesky fruit flies when you have so much produce sitting around while you are harvesting and preserving.  I was out in the dark after a volleyball game for my kids last night trying to gather all the tomatoes as we had our first frost, so I have a ton of produce in my kitchen as I can only do so much at a time and those darn fruit flies seem to come into the house as well, so I just wanted to pass on this simple and easyt tip to get rid of them because I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t like them in my house!

 

First, you will put a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar into a little mug or cup-I like to use one we don’t drink out of! Then you will add a drop of dishsoap and then I use the kitchen sink sprayer to make a little layer of bubbles.  The fruit flies come to the cup for the apple cider vinegar and then they get caught in the bubbles and when the bubbles go away, you will see them in the bottom of the cup. I keep this near my sink and usually once or twice a day, when the bubbles lessen, i just give it a little squirt to make more bubbles.  This is a fantastic tip and it is quite satisfying when you see how many are in the bottom of your cup!

 

I just wanted to share this with you if you have never heard of it before because I have been doing this for years and anytime I have produce on my cupboards, I like to have a cup out and ready for the fruit flies!

 

Happy Harvesting!

Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners

Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com

Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ 

 

Monica

 

Are You a Mom Feeling Busier Than Ever? 3 Steps to Take to Simplify When You Feel Overwhelmed With So Much to Do

Hello Friend

I had to take a few steps back and re evaluate all that I have been doing lately!  I have so many irons in the fire and I was starting to feel like I was just barely staying above water this last month!

 I love to do so many things and have so many passions!  Sometimes my body can not keep up with my mind as I am a visionary but I do know that I need my 8 hours of sleep and I can’t do all things even though in my mind I would like to do it all! 

I have been testing a new product out this last week  and I am blown away at how much energy and mental clarity I have gained so that has been super encouraging-not to mention being able to sleep better!!!!!

 I couldn’t have predicted/planned some of the things we have had happen in the last month, but I do know that even though I teach you how to live simple,  I had to go back and ask myself these questions again and reevaluate and you may have to do the same if your season is crazy busy too!

 

1. Why are you feeling so busy?  
2. Where can you make changes? 
3. What do you value and is your time matching up?  
   

   So, make sure to ask yourself these questions when you start to get busier than you want to be or your life starts to get a little off balance.

   
   

   I just want to leave you with a few verses for this week to give you more peace.

   Matt 11:28

   Psalm 73:26

   John 14:27

   
   

   Follow me on Instagram at Claiming Simplicity and send me a message and let me know some changes you are making to your life to simplify!

   Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners

   Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com

   Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/ 

    

   Talk to you next week!

   Monica

 

Do You Want to Know How to Ripen Tomatoes Quickly Before it Freezes? Another Great Gardening Tip and a Failure I Had This Week to Help You!

Hey Friend!

What a fast week it was!  I was very blessed to spend part of the week in Utah with some great friends!  God has really surrounded me with the best Christian Women and I sometimes have to seriously hold back the tears when God reveals all that He is orchestrating.  I have learned to be patient and wait on Him as He leads each and every step.  I can only do what I am doing through Him and I truely give Him all the glory!!!!!

This week I want to pass on another amazing garden tip that I learned a few weeks ago and tested it out!

Did you know that you can ripen green and orange tomatoes within 2 days and you don’t have to set them on a table or a window seal to ripen them?  I used to put mine in a single layer on a patio table this time of the year and then bring them into the garage at night in case it was going to freeze, but not anymore!  This is another game changer in addition to my freezing tomato tip and I can’t believe how well it worked!

We had frost here one night last week and because of our crazy schedule lately, I hadn’t had time to pick all the tomatoes, but I thought that I better pick as many as I could before I left for Utah!  It is really late for our tomatoes because we werent able to even plant them until early June!

I picked a few boxes of tomatoes and I froze all the ripe ones and had a full bag of unripened ones, so what I did was put my orange and green tomatoes in a paper grocery bag along with a few ripe tomatoes, I closed it tight, and I put it in the basement.  After 24 hours, about ½ of the tomatoes were ripe, and the green tomatoes were starting to change color, so I froze the ripened ones and I thought that maybe a few extra days would be ok for them to ripen, but I was wrong!  A few of larger tomatoes must have ripened and rotted very fast, so when I got home and picked up the bag, it totally bottomed out and my tomatoes splatted everywhere!  It was a great learning lesson that it probably only takes 2-3 days for the tomatoes to ripen in the paper bag and not to leave them any longer. 

I only lost a few tomatoes because most of them were big roma tomatoes, so they are thicker, but it sure was a mess to clean up!  I guess it is better than having frozen tomatoes though!  Im just really excited to know this tip and I hope this will help you with your harvesting as well

 

Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners

Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com

Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/

Have a great week!

Monica

 

 

Does the Thought of Starting Your Own Homestead Make You Anxious with All the Things That You Want to Do? Keeping it as Simple as Possible is Key for Busy Moms with Little Time

Hey FriendStarting a homestead does not have to cause you anxiety and it should not be stressful!  If it is a dream of yours to begin a homestead but you are not living in your ideal place, start right where you are at!  It doesn’t matter if you live in an apartment or live on a city lot, you can start learning the skills so that someday when you find your perfect property, you can grow your own food and raise your own livestock, but you will already have some of the skills needed.  I hear it all the time that people don’t start because they can’t homestead where they live now, but that is the wrong way to look at it.  Homesteading is about a lifestyle and it can start with your mindset!  Stop looking at instagram because the people that seem to have it all have most likely been homesteading for many many years, they didn’t just do it all at once.  Write down the dreams of how you want your life to be someday and then decide what you could do right where you are at. I am living the life that I wrote about over 20 years ago….but I certainly had no idea how I wasa going to get here at that time.  Some of the things you can learn no matter where you are at are some cooking from scratch skills, sewing projects, preserving food, making your own natural cleaners and laundry soap, reading books about things you want to learn. It can be as simple as  having something to cook with, so begin there!  Maybe someday you want to milk animals to have your own milk to make your own butter, sour cream, yogurt, and cheese.  For now, buy milk to learn the skills and then when you have animals, you can learn about how to raise them because you already know how to make the items from the milk!  Build upon your skills~I tell people all the time, you can’t do it all at once, so enjoy the journey~it is incredibly rewarding!  Maybe you want to learn how to sew or make your own quilts, take a class and learn it!  There are so so many things you can do to enrich your life!  If you want to learn how to grow herbs and make your own remedies, you don’t need a farm to do that, learn all you can about it from where you are at.  If you want to learn how to preserve food, you don’t have to have a garden.  I started canning food about 25 years ago when I was working full time with 3 kids under 3 and I didn’t have time or energy for a garden, but I did have friends that always had an abundance and they also taught me to preserve~we didn’t have pinterest or you tube back then (or at least I wasn’t on either of them at that time.)  It was all about community and sharing which I think we all need to do more of!  I love helping and teaching friends something that I know and I love to learn from them.  It is so nice to have like minded friends that have similar values!  Some other things you can learn is have to make sourdough, fermenting, and so much more! I think of it as an adventure!!!  I truely love teaching these skills to my teens that still live at home and my grandkids.  I wan

them to fall in love with this lifestyle and be able to have skills that they can pass on from generation to generation.  I want to make an impact and I know that you can do the same!  Remember, enjoy the ride, and if something is too overwhelming to you, don’t do it.  Do what you love to do so you can live with joy every single day! 

 

Reach out and let me know what kind of projects you are working on~I would love to hear about your homesteading journey!

 

Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners

 

Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com

Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/

 

See you next week!
Monica

 

Are You Feeling Overwhelmed with all the Stuff that Needs to be Done and the Kids Starting School? 2 Tips to Add More Peace in this Busy Season for the Whole Family

Hello!

With the start of the new school year here in the United States, it seems like so many people are really scrambling to do all the things. Summer is winding down and now people have begun the shopping for school clothes and supplies, preparing for the homeschool year, and then adding new schedules such as sports and youth group, ect.~all the new activities the school year brings. Plus trying to get all of your produce harvested such as canning and freezing and it all can really be a very busy time.  It all adds up and can make you a little overwhelmed.  I totally understand! We have had to say no to several things in the next week because of all that we have going on right now!  My kids love sports and since we homeschool and live 20 minutes from town, it tends to be alot of running with them both being on 2 separate teams. It is a way for them to see their friends every day and If they didn’t love it so much, our lives are full in so many other ways, that we probably would have to say no, but for right now, we are making the sacrifice.  We did take a break in the summer as we don’t think they need to play year round and we have so many other interests and I’m not really sure where they would have fit that in.

 

First tip to finding peace in this season is to stop being so hard on yourself - social media and pinterest give us many ideas, but much of what is on there is very unrealistic. Do not make comparisons-there is so much pressure to try to keep up with the world, but you do not need to-give yourself permission to break free from the normal and simplify your life!!!!  You don’t have to have the notes in the lunch box every day, or even pack your child’s lunch every day if they go to school.  Let them eat hot lunch or if they are old enough, let them make their own lunch.  Just have items on hand and most likely more of it will get eaten if they pack it themselves anyway!!!!!!

If you are trying to harvest your garden right now, try to schedule that to do a little each day because that will help with trying to do everything at once.  Once day we froze corn, one day we made green beans, another day pickles, and so on!  Another tip I have shared before with that is my best tomato tip ever…..cut the core out and put in the freezer and make your sauce in the winter.  This has helped me so much with being too overloaded with garden work!

 

The second tip is to plan the week on sunday evening and have the week at a glance where the whole family can see it.  This helps my family so much!  I have talked about this before, but I just have a monday-sunday magnetic board from the dollar store on my fridge and each week, we write what is going on each day with the times such as games or practices and we also have our meals on there so we always know what needs to come out of the freezer or made ahead of time if we are gone most of the day.  It has become so automatic that my 12 year old daughter that likes to be prepared and organized does the calendar before I even get to it sunday evenings!!!!!  I don’t have anywhere in my home for a command center, so this seems to work amazing for our family and it is super simple!

 

Just remember friend-if you simplify, you are more likely to have more peace and know that you do not have to do everything everyone else is doing.  Everything in your life can change once you learn to step back, slow down and make the decision to take your life back to what matters most.

See you back next week!
Monica

Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners

Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com

Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/

 

 

3 Simple Ways to Save Money if You are an Impulse Shopper so You Can Stop Purchasing Items You Don’t Need to Save You Thousands of Dollars

Hello!  Welcome to Claiming Simplicity and if this is your first time listening, I am Monica H. Baker and I am so glad you are here!  I am very passionate about helping you find more simplicity and meaning in your life to truely live the most enjoyment every single day!!!!!!  

 

This was a super duper exciting week on our little farm as we added a newborn nigerian dwarf goat to our household!!!!  She was born a week ago and is it is like having a new born baby around again with bottle feeding every 4 hours! We had to really decide if we wanted to add another kid to the herd since I have some things for the business  in Utah next month and Colorado in October, but she will be old enough and thankfully we have some wonderful people that enjoy helping out!!!   She is so so loved and is our snuggliest goat yet adn her name is Mildred, but we call her Millie, so now we have Fern, Mable and Millie.  Im not a fan of having animals in the house, but we did have a box of hay for our newborn her first few days of life since she was only a few pounds and so tiny and I didn’t want her to be scared in the goat shed. I sure wish I would have known about goats years ago because they are my favorite animals I have ever had -plus, there is such a learning curve to goats that we want to learn as much as we can this next year and a half before we start milking them so we can make yogurt, sour cream, ice cream and cheese with all our own milk.  Life is all about the journey and I hope you are enjoying it as much as we are!

 

This week I want to give you 3 simple ways to save money if you are an impulse shopper so you can stop purchasing items you don’t need!  Have you ever purchased something and then a few days later wished you wouldn’t have?  I have done this a few times and when I look back, I had to really examine why I purchased this item.  As you know, I am not someone that has to have expensive things or brand names items or even care what brands are popular because I am just simply way too practical, but there was a short time in my life where I thought if I bought stuff to make me look good, it would make me feel better, but that is the absolute furthest from the truth!  Thankfully it didn’t last, we had newer vehicles with loans on them, a very fancy home that we built with all the bells and whistles we could afford and we were living paycheck to paycheck. I absolutely hated not having a saving and I hated having debt hanging over our heads and we were not able to travel and enjoy experiences with our family because we had too much debt!  And then my husband lost his job and it was very stressful.  He took another job sometimes working in other states, but we knew we didn’t want to live a life like that.  It was one of the hardest times in our life, but one of the best things that  could have happened to us and I thank God for that experience because we learned so much about what we valued and what we didn’t.  Once we put God first and knew our priorities, there was no need to impress anyone else.  You don’t need brand name clothes or anything expensive-that does not impress God.  We give all the glory to God in whatever we do as we live

for eternity now and know that everything we have is God’s, not ours.  Keep and open hand friend as it is not ours to clench.  As you keep your hands open to giving and receiving, God will give you more than you could ever imagine.  Make sure to give him the glory-there is not anything we can do on our own.  I seriously could not have even imagined this life we have even 10 years ago-listen to God’s Will and He will Provide-trust Him with everything!

 

Ok, so the first thing to do to save money is take your credit card number off of any online shopping apps.  It makes it way too easy for you to just put in your cart and pay automatically.  That extra step of having to go and get your card number could save you alot of money!  Also, if you do shop online, make sure that if you do put an item in your cart, leave it there for a few days before purchasing, so that you really have to think about if you want the item or not.  Is that item in your budget?

Second way to save money is to avoid going in the store when shopping.  Most stores allow you to order online and then pick up.  If you are going into the store, you will usually come out with alot more than just the items on your list and you tend to spend alot more.  It also makes it much easier to stay within your budget because you can delete items if you are over budget and rethink your purchases when entering them online.  Also, d

not use credit cards.  Most people do not pay off their credit card balance every month, so if you are purchasing items without paying attention to the allotted amount, you could be going over your amount allocated and can easily slip into way more debt than you want to.

 

And lastly, ask yourself if this is a item you NEED.  Is it something you could borrow?  Do you have a place for this item?  Is it in your budget?  Will it improve your life?  I think about our patio furniture.  We have an old table and chairs that we bought used several years ago.  It is comfortable and not broken, but it is very ugly!  I could purchase a new set and bring this to our cabin which could really use some more old furniture, but I haven’t put it in the budget because right now, we are building some little sheds for our animals and even though the furniture is ugly, it still works great and I certainly wouldn’t want to go in debt for it.  Also, when buying something, I do like to purchase quality items so they last a very long time, so I wouldn’t want to purchase something that we would have to replace in a short amount of time.  I have had my kitchen rugs that I purchased at a craft fair about 15 years ago-they are heavy duty weaved rugs that we can wash and they may just last my lifetime because they are very durable.  I usually buy a general color too instead of a fad item or color so I don’t have to try to keep up with having a modern home!  If I pay good money for something, I want to use it for many years!

 

I hope you enjoyed this episode and you can use some of these money saving tips.  Enjoy your week friend and really think about what is really important to you this week!  Remember, when you look at where your money is spent, that is your value!  Where are you giving your money? 

XOXO,

Monica

Join our Facebook Group -> Simple Gardening, Homesteading & Holistic Home for Beginners

Email -> claimingsimplicity@gmail.com

Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/claimingsimplicity/