Archive for November 2015
What Living With Purpose Actually Looks Like
Several years ago, when I had piles of dishes, overflowing counters and far too many pieces of furniture, I determined to live with less so I could do more. Before I would sit down to play a game with the kids and I would be haunted by the piles of clutter surrounding me. I…
Read More6 Reasons To Avoid Shopping On Black Friday
About 12 years ago, I decided to shop on Black Friday. I got the paper, wrote out a list, decided what stores to go to. I got up at 4:30 in the morning, picked up a friend, and fought for parking spaces, and stood for hours in lines, surrounded by throngs of people to acquire…
Read MoreNon-Toy Gift Guide For The Children In Your Life
Gift giving holidays are just around the corner, and we all want to give to the children in our life, but the plastic toy excess is not something we want to contribute to, is it? I love giving experience gifts, which is something I reference a lot in my clutter-free gift guides. But I know…
Read MoreGetting Teens Involved In Holiday Traditions
Teens are at the point in life where they’ve experienced family traditions many times over and are disenchanted. When we’re young, everything is big and amazing, and it’s romanticized in our memory. As we age, the magic fades a bit. And as we mature, the magic takes on a different form — but we’ll get…
Read MoreA Minimal Approach To Holiday Obligations
For most of us, the Christmas season has become two months of stress and busyness wherein we work, plan, shop, attend parties, host parties, bake, cook, wrap… and BOOM! It’s over. We then switch to “aftermath” mode, a dreary several weeks of cleaning and organizing, punctuated by pondering creative ways to serve leftovers from the…
Read MoreSimplify The Holidays, An E-book
Why are some people able to smile, anticipating the holidays with joy in their hearts, while others are facing them with tight chests and anxious minds? Why are some people able to get their shopping done, presents wrapped and cards sent by Dec. 1, while others are staying up past midnight on Christmas eve trying…
Read MoreDealing With Over-Abundant Gifting And Excess Toys
This post is 3 of 3 in my Simplify The Gifts Mini-Series Toys and an overabundance of gifts is its own special challenge. One thing we can do to slow the piles of presents is to redirect well-meaning family members toward alternative gift ideas. Start the conversation with “I have some fear in telling you this.” Try…
Read MoreAddressing Gift-Exchanges With Extended Family and Friends
This post is part 2 of 3 in my Simplify The Gifts Holiday Mini-Series The easiest way to simplify this is to not give any gifts. But we may feel like that’s not really an option. Buying gifts should be done from the heart. If you do not enjoy giving gifts or cannot…
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