For all my blogging friends, I am offering these printable and editable tabs for free. 

All you need to do is click on the like button below to like my facebook page. You will get the automatic pdf download with all the files and directions.

When directed to the google site, the download pages will appear on screen.  To get the editable version just click on the arrow (located at the top left corner next to the printer icon).  This will give you the current and editable version.  Click on "open with adobe".  Simply follow the easy directions and you are ready to roll!  Ready to roll in the dough! 

You are going to love these! 

Even if you haven't really set up an envelope system or know much about it, this is a no brainer, easy way to get started. It's time to get control of your spending!

Get more information about the tabs here.

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How To Organize Your Cash Envelope System

 

On a budget? Still over-spending? Trying to figure out the best way to organize your cash and spend wisely?

Have you ever heard of Dave Ramsey?  He is the guy who is crazy and passionate about getting out of debt.  My husband and I have taken his Financial Peace University Class. It cost us about $100.00 and it was the best money we ever spent!  Once you take the class you and your family can go back to any class the rest of your lives.  We have attended it a few times, just to keep refreshed and motivated.  The second time we went we took our teenage and young adult kids to a few of the main classes.  It was good for them.  I wish I would have known and done things differently at their age!

The classes run for nine weeks.  You can go to this site and find a class near you.  I highly recommend it!

We have also done a cash envelope system online for 6 years that we love.  It is called mvelopes and this is the web page. There is a monthly fee that we paid until we became a lifetime members and now it is free for the rest of our lives.  Well worth the money spent.  We save so much money every month, the fee is irrelevant. You can sign up for a free one moneth trial.  Give it a whirl, what have you got to lose?


All it takes is setting up a simple system.
Grandma's way to handle money still works. People used to always use cash envelopes to control their monthly spending, but very few do in today's card-swiping culture. The envelope system is a key component of the Total Money Makeover plan because it works. Here are a few simple basics for starting a cash envelope system:

Kris Karr & Nick Ortner Chat about EFT

Here is another short video clip explaining EFT.
Love this stuff.  Give it a try!

You might also want to check out Kris Karr's website here.
I just ordered her recipe book and am excited to learn all she has to share about food.
She is a spunky one, and very inspiring.

How to Clean Your Yoga Mat?

All you yogis, has it been a while since you cleaned your yoga mat?

It was a beautiful warm day yesterday so I took advantage of it, and washed all four of my mats. I know my mats had not been thoroughly cleaned for quite some time. They really didn't LOOK dirty, but I was amazed at how disgusting the water in the tub was when I was finished.

I thought some of you might be interested in knowing how to go about washing your mats.  So here is low down.

Craftsy Class Updates- April

A great basic class and for FREE!!!!!!

I just thought I would occasionally share some of the awesome classes that are available on Craftsy.  What I love about Craftsy classes is that you can view them anytime, at your own pace, and as many times as you would like.  I have started a great video library collection of some really informative classes.  Check them out.

This would be a great class for those just getting into sewing AND for those of us that could use a few new sewing tips!

What a fun class!  Look at what fun purses you can make.

Get the most out of your serger.  Sergers really are amazing machines, and most of the time we don't even know half of what you can do with them. 

Fitness

Yin Yoga

Movement

Herbs

Comfrey

Yarrow

Rosemary

Nick Ortner's Appearance on Dr. Oz Postponed

I was notified today that Nick Otner's appearance on the Dr. Oz show has been delayed due to programming issues!  It is going to still air sometime in the near future.  I will let you know as soon as I find out.  
However, it looked like he had someone else on this month talking about emotions and health.  It looked like good stuff as well.  I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but what I did see looked awesome.  Check it out here.
Iyanla Vanzant’s Guide to Fixing Your Life

I will keep you posted.

How to Maintain a Clean, Orderly Home.......without going insane.

After the long winter is anyone ready to dig in and do some SPRING CLEANING? I sure am.  

Before you put on your rubber gloves and cleaning aprons, stop and think about the how you handle all the tasks that need to be done around your house.  Do you have a plan or do you randomly dive into a job here and there only to find yourself going in circles?

Do you have a tendency to get all gung ho and attack too many projects at once, leaving you feeling OVERWHELMED and FRUSTRATED?  I used to, until I created a system for myself and my family that allows us to get things done a little at a time.

I have purchased and tried other lists and systems, but none of them really fit my lifestyle and didn't quite jive with the tasks that I needed done at MY house.  The per-formatted lists would never get completed and  I would find myself feeling like a failure, overwhelmed again by all the things that were not getting done.

My Story: How releaseing trapped emotions has helped me heal.

Fifteen years ago I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called ITP, (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura).   This is when the body attacks and kills the platelets in your blood. Western medicine had no cures or answers to offer me, only treatments to help back off my immune system.  This ranged from harsh pharmaceutical drugs, splenectomy, to chemo therapy.  All not guaranteed to work.  After much research and personal study, I did not feel good about any of these treatments.  However, after my platelet count continued to drop to 12,000 I figured I needed to do something.

With much hesitation and dread, I started on Prednisone, which I hope to never have to take again because of the terrible side effects I experienced.  I was hoping to buy me some time while I began intensely searching for an answer to why my body was attacking itself.  Western medicine did not have any answers, so I began my experience with holistic health and alternative healing.

How to Felt Wool Sweaters

I had a good day at the second hand store last week!  Look at the amazing wool sweaters I found.  I frequently make stops at the thrift stores in town to see if they have any GOOD sweaters.  As you know, I love making things from upcycled sweaters, wool in particular.  Wool because when you felt it, (shrink it down) the fibers get tight and dense and has a texture that I find irresistible! Felted sweaters are great for all kinds of projects from slippers, mittens to baby toys and hats.

Alternative Remedies

Skin Brushing

Cold Shower

Lemon Water

Healthy Eating

Fall Harvest

Cornbread Sauce

Quinoa  Salad

Morning Muesli

Bean Burger

DIY Wicker Basket Drawer Tutorial

The nightstand in my bedroom today is the same nightstand I had growing up.   I love the simple design of it, so we just keep painting it. It has a great place to store books and things, but because of the deep shelf, books would fall back in there and it was a hard to keep it organized.

Easter Bunnies!

It's Easter time!

"SEW" cute, and easy to make using old wool sweaters or fleece scraps.

Healthy Eating

Garden Goodness

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Happy Cookie Bars

This is one of my favorite desserts!  Simple, basic ingredients and YUMMY!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25-30 minutes

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6 Simple Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups crushed graham crackers (1 1/2 inner packages)
• 1 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips ( I like to mix half semi sweet and half milk chocolate)
• 1 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup walnuts (chopped)
•  13 x 9 pan (20 square cookies)

Put crackers in zip bag and crush with rolling pin.

Melt butter in pan while preheating oven.  Sprinkle crackers and pat down.

Drizzle the condensed milk over the crackers. Leave a little for the top.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips, nuts and coconut on top of that.  Drizzle the remaining milk over that.

Cool and cut into squares.

Enjoy!

Upcycled Sweater Birds

I love birds and especially at this time of year.  They are starting to appear in my yard and I can hear them chirping when I open my windows to air out the stale winter house air.  It has been a long winter here in Utah and the gray days are about to put me in the looney bin.  Seeing them flit around on the snow topped shrubs gives me hope that SPRING is on it's way.  HOORAY!
 

If you haven't noticed already, I enjoy making things out of recycled and felted wool sweaters. I thought it would be fun to see if I could use up some scraps and make a robin, after all I had the perfect orange sweater that would be ideal for the belly. 

Comfrey, a Must in Everyone's Garden!

photo by amortize

Comfrey

The genus name for comfrey is symphytum, and means to "heal together".  It is well known to assist healing in any part of the body that is torn or broken.

Comfrey is a perennial herb (comes back every year), that we grow in our garden and use frequently.  The plant is VERY easy to grow.  You may need to get a start from someone who already has it growing, as I have not seen it in any nurseries or garden centers.

The plant will get quite large, 3 to 4 feet wide and tall, so leave some room for it to grow. It has a little pink or purple flower, and very big, fuzzy leaves.

I have seen it heal chemical burns, sunburns, and assist rapid healing in deep wounds with no scaring.

Just last week my son hit his face pretty hard on a rail while skiing and his lip was pretty messed up (not the first time this has happened), he asked if we had any comfrey to put on it.  Even my kids know the many benefits of this plant.

Usually we would just go out and pick a leaf from the garden, but the comfrey plants are currently under two feet of snow.  Luckily I had some already blended up in the freezer.  

Last fall I took a bunch of comfrey leaves and washed them and blended them up to make a thick paste.  I then spooned it out into ice cube trays and froze it.  Then I just popped them out into zip bags and put it in the freezer for times just like this. Then all we have to do is take a cube out, thaw it and apply where needed. 

My son just took a blob of green goop and placed it all over his top lip, and sat there while he did his homework.  He did this a few times and by the third day, you could hardly tell he even had an injury.

I could go on and on about this amazing plant and give you several more personal experiences on how it has helped us.

In a nut shell, comfrey leaves and roots are used externally as a poultice or ointment for:

• bruises
• broken bones,
• wounds
• pulled muscles and ligaments
• reducing inflammation
• sprains
• and more. 

I use comfrey to make a wonderful healing salve, which is very easy to make.          The recipe to make this salve is in my little book, which is available in my etsy shop.  This is a fun collection of my tried and tested alternative remedies that really work. 

Having this herb growing where you have easy access to it is a good step in being a little more self reliant.  I feel much more at peace with my comfrey plant just outside my door!

Spring is just around the corner and it will be soon be time to get your hands in the dirt.  Yea, I can't wait!

So be thinking of a place in your garden where you can plant this baby.  If you live in Utah, I would love for you stop by and I can give you a start. Just send me a note if you are interested.

Valentine Ideas