One question I get asked is “How do you find time to fit it all in?”

Really, I don’t.

I just pick and choose and make decisions to say no more than I say yes. For me, it really all comes back to my mission statement–what my purpose in life is and weighing all opportunities in light of that.

Homemaking and keeping my house managed do not come easily to me, but like anything, I’ve gotten better with practice! Right now, these are the best home management and life management resources I’ve found.  They are helping me organize time with God and family, staying up with laundry, plugging away at homeschooling, making meals, limiting my blogging, and keeping everything else that seems to pop up in life under control!

1) Homemaking Binder

My favorite home management helper is my Homemaking Binder. You can find out what a homemaking binder is and how I use it here. You can also still get my printables for free when you become an email subscriber!

2) Motivated Moms Chore Planner

For several years I used the Motivated Moms Chore Planner. I’m using the app version right now (available from the iTunes store or from Amazon), but I still kind of think I like the print version better. It’s more motivating to me to check off a printed list…than to cross them off on the app! I’m just a pencil/paper kind of girl!

Find out more about the Motivated Moms planner here.

3) eMeals

I’ve been using eMeals for a few months. I really like it and it was definitely helpful when I first started eating Paleo (they have a ton of specific menus like gluten-free, Paleo, classic, diet, and more). If you like trying new meals or have a hard time coming up with your own recipes, it may work for you. Also, it’s nice that they have specific stores you can pick from and detailed shopping lists for each week. You can find my review of eMeals here.

4) Plan to Eat Online Menu Planning

Lately, I’ve gone back to using more of my own menu plans–especially since I’m doing the Whole30. I think I’ve been living in the dark or something, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Plan to Eat! After reading about it on a few other blogs, I decided to give it a try. You can try it free for 30-days, but I went ahead and purchased a subscription. I still have a ways to go to get it set up, but I love how easy it is to add recipes from various websites and blogs. It is also so simple to drag and drop your menu ideas. Plus, I can plan for every single meal and a shopping list will be generated! I’m still working on figuring it all out, but I’ll share a full review after I’ve been using it for a while. In the meantime, I’ve been using my written planner to track my meals (see #1 above).

5) Blogging Binder

Blogging is definitely something that takes up quite a bit of time for me. I’ve found these four blogging planners to be so helpful! I just printed out the pages I liked and knew I would use. Then, I added them to a binder.

6) Homeschool Binder

This is still in process! Since our curriculum is pretty much planned out (except for God’s Little Explorers…which I’m planning), I’ve just been using the curriculum guides. We are in the process of rethinking our curriculum, so it will definitely look different next year. That will be a post to be added in the summer!

One a side note, I do like the Well-Planned Day binder (I picked it up when it was a steal for $4.99)! All of my homeschool papers are in there…just not very organized yet!

Those are just a few things I’m using to help manage my household more efficiently. I’m learning new things every single day…maybe at some point this messy mom will become an expert! Probably after all the kids are out of the house…

June 2012 Swim Meet

Last summer, my {then} five-year-old was a member of our town’s swim club. She went to practices for an hour each day and had the opportunity to participate in several swim meets. The first few meets she used a kickboard to make it the full 50m. By the middle of June, the rule was that she had to swim without a kickboard in order to participate in the meets…I was expecting that her swim season had come to an end.

Boy, was I surprised! When I got the news that my daughter was entered in a race without a kickboard, I actually panicked. “There is no way she can make it that far,” I told my husband.

O, me of little faith.

With my heart racing and tears welling up, I watched that little-bitty five-year-old make it all the way across the pool at the very next meet. She wasn’t fast, but she didn’t give up. She kept swimming and swimming and swimming. Her perseverance was amazing.

I could learn a lesson.

Her finishing that race didn’t come easy. She had to work hard to even be in the race. She spent an hour in that freezing cold water every day for weeks and weeks. She practiced and practiced.

So often, I begin something new and don’t persevere. I want the results, but I don’t want the pain and sacrifice it takes to get there. For example, I will begin a new eating and exercising regimen only to give up when it feels too hard–or I get too tired–or I want to drown out some emotion I’m feeling–or that beautiful carrot cake is just plain calling my name. I’ve gotten better at it over the last few years, but it’s still a struggle. I know I need a plan…

Here’s what I learned during week 2 of the Made to Crave book study:

1)  Get a Healthy Eating Plan

In Chapter 4 of Made to Crave, Lysa says we need to get a plan AND we need to pre-plan EVERYTHING we are going to eat. Much like my daughter had to have a plan {that the coaches made for her} and practice hard so she could eventually swim across the pool, we have to have a plan and make the choices each and every minute of the day to get where we want to go.

Back when I lost so much weight, I remember that I planned every single thing I was going to eat–and it was pretty much the same every single day. I don’t know how I missed this, I just hadn’t thought about it in regards to my current eating habits! Since I’ve been menu-planning for quite a while, this shouldn’t be too difficult…it’s just taking the time to plan my own eating separately from the family. They eat most of what I eat, but they also need snacks and a few extra carbs.

I’ve been trying to eat grain-free and dairy-free for six months now, and it has definitely helped with my allergies and illnesses. The biggest issue is that I have found myself slipping back into eating grains and dairy more frequently, and I know my chocolate and coffee addictions have not been helpful (even if they are “healthier” chocolate chips and organic coffee). Sleeping issues have also led to some late-night cravings which are definitely not helpful for blood sugar levels!

Because of all of this, I knew I needed something pretty strict to get me back on track, so I’ve chosen to do a Whole30 during the month of April. I tried it once and only made it 11 days, but I’m determined to be successful. This time I bought the book It Starts with Food so I understand the program a little bit better.

I’ve also been using the three things I shared last week, and it’s been a successful week so far.

One day at a time, my friends!

2)  Be Accountable for Your Choices

After getting that plan, I need to find a way to stick to that plan. Chapter 5 of Made to Crave is really about accountability. In order to be successful with anything we want to do, food-related or not, we need to be accountable to someone.

Whole30 is offering that to me this month! Poor food choices or slip-ups are not allowed.  In fact, they are so strict about it that if you make a poor choice, you have to start your Whole30 over again….

I pretty much don’t want to come on here and tell you I’ve messed up, so I guess you’re my accountability for April! I’m still praying about and hoping to find one person I can be accountable to in the upcoming months.

3)  Remember You Were Made for More

Chapter 6 ended with a reminder that we are made for more! More than being stuck in our old habits and patterns….more than beating ourselves up when we fail…more than finding our worth in the scale or that skinny pair of jeans we wish we could fit.  We were made for so. much. more.

You are forgiven. (Ephesians 1:7 HCSB)

You are set free. (Romans 8:1-2 HCSB)

You are a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17 HCSB)

You have eternal hope. (Titus 3:7 HCSB)

YOU WERE MADE FOR MORE!!

Find the introductory post to this Made to Crave series here.

I have always been fascinated with the weight-loss saga of Oprah Winfrey.  Here you have a woman with access to the best money can buy–personal trainers, chefs, nutritionists, gym equipment, supplements–and yet, she has a raging battle with her weight.   Why?

I’m convinced it’s about way more than just diet and exercise.  It’s about way more than just feeling full.

I know how to lose weight.  I can tell you exactly what to do.  Because I’ve done it once.

And twice.  And three times.  And four times.  And five times.  And…..well, you get the picture.

About twelve weeks after my second daughter was born, I was at the heaviest weight I’ve ever been (except during pregnancy, of course).  With the motivation of our town’s weight-loss competition, I lost 45 pounds.  A few months later, I was pregnant with our third daughter.  Again, I participated in our town’s competition after she was born, and I ended up at my lowest weight I can remember (I may have been near that number as a middle school girl)!

Fast forward five years, and I’m up seven pounds.  I know it’s not really that much, and I’m definitely not even close to my highest weight.  But I just don’t like it.  I just don’t feel well.  I just don’t want a muffin top.  Is that too much to ask? 

That’s where this Made to Crave study comes in.  I know how to lose the weight.  The missing element for me right now is my “want-to”.  I know I can’t just do it for physical appearance, I can’t just do it for health, and I can’t just do it for energy.  Although those are valid, I know I won’t stick with it if those are my motivating reasons.  I’ve tried in the past, and it hasn’t worked!  I’ve been asking for wisdom and deeper insight into why I’m struggling with this.

Made to Crave

In my reading of chapters 1-3, I was just struck over and over again with the idea that we were made to crave.  “Uh, duh, Stacie!  Isn’t that the title of the book?”  I know that’s what you’re thinking…but hear me out!

Ultimately, our hearts were made to crave God, but we have this problem with misplaced cravings.  Some of us crave food, others crave material possessions, others crave love, some crave fitting in, some crave alcohol, some crave significance.  Sometimes, we crave all of those things!

I never really thought about my cravings for food as spiritually significant.  I’m a stress-eater.  I also eat when I don’t want to think about or talk about my feelings.  While I know those are not healthy choices, they’ve become a pattern of coping in my life–but not something I really thought God cared about.

Until I read the book.  And then, I completely identified with this:

“But I did need to make changes.  I knew it.  Because this wasn’t really about the scale or what clothing size I was; it was about the battle that raged in my heart.  I thought about, craved, and arranged my life too much around food (emphasis mine).  So much so, I knew it was something God was challenging me to surrender to His control.  Really surrender.  Surrender to the point where I’d made radical changes for the sake of my spiritual health perhaps even more than my physical health.

Part of my surrender was asking myself a really raw question.

May I ask you this same raw question?  Is it possible we love and rely on food more than we love and rely on God?”   (Lysa TerKeurst, Made to Crave, page 28)

I asked myself that tough question, and the honest answer is yes.  Yes, I run to food for comfort more often than I run to my loving Father.  And I feel so stupid admitting that.  Yet, I’m not going to beat myself up over it.  I’m just going to recognize we all have something we run to–we all have something we crave.

I want to crave God tremendously more than I crave food!

One my own, I can’t do that, but these three things from the book have been helping me:

1)  Whenever you have a craving use it as a chance to pray.

The magazines and experts all tell us to distract ourselves when a craving hits–go into another room, go for a walk, read a book.  I’m making a choice to “distract” myself with prayer.

2)  Change your mindset.

Instead of feeling deprived that I can’t have something, I’m trying to change how I think about it.  I’m trying to look at each good food choice as empowering.  I can change…I can make a better decision…I’ve got this (empowered by the Holy Spirit, of course)!

3)  Quote scripture.

One of the most helpful verses Lysa has shared so far (and a quick, easy one to quote to myself when I feel tempted to overeat or eat the wrong kind of food) is 1 Corinthians 10:23:  “‘Everything is permissible’–but not everything is beneficial.”

Do you think food is spiritually significant?  Where are you at in your journey this week?

Please note:  I do know that there are medical issues that make it hard to lose weight, and I’m in the middle of being helped by an amazing doctor for hormone and adrenal issues (it should definitely help in the weight area once I get those under control).  I know the frustration of physical issues well, but I don’t think we should just give up and say we can’t do it.  We can cheer each other on!!

About a year and a half ago, we refinanced our house with a much lower interest rate.  We also cut it down to a 15-year mortgage (and we still have a huge goal of paying it off as fast as we can in the next few years).  Before we submitted the paperwork, I wanted to get an idea where our credit score was, so I checked it on freecreditscore.com.  It was easy to do, and pretty accurate when I compared it later with our bank’s score. 

If you are needing to check your score, you can do so at freecreditscore.com. Plus, they currently have a big contest running where you can win some great prizes!  If you head over to the freecreditscore.com, you can find out about a fun contest called “Make A Better Commercial Than We Did.”

There are several ways to enter the contest.  You can write in and suggest your own ending to the commercials to win one of six $2,000 weekly prizes.   It looks like you could also win a couple pounds of expensive honey (non-video only) or “something just as intriguing.”

If you want to really go for the gold, you can create your own video and upload it to the website and you could win $25,000!

Check out this video for more details:

To get started, head over to freecreditscore.com.  If you write in an entry, it doesn’t look like it will take long at all.  Of course, you could get pretty creative and make your own video ending…and win $25,000!!

Legal Info:  No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Contest sponsored by ConsumerInfo.com, Inc., an Experian Company. Open to legal U.S. residents 18 & older. Contest Ends 3/28/2013. One (1) $25,000 prize awarded for top scored video entry, based on skill. Other prizes for video and non-video entries based on skill. For Official Rules, visit www.freecreditscore.com/contest.

I also wanted to share one other benefit freecreditscore.com has on their site.  They have recently introduced a new tool to help you be smarter about understanding your credit called the Score Planner.  This shows you how positive, negative, and other credit behaviors will impact your future credit score.  This may be helpful for you if you have a home purchase or other large purchase on the horizon.

*Score Planner is free to everyone. Free score applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com.

Disclosure:  This post contains sponsored content, but all opinions are my own.  Please see my disclosure for more information.