With a new baby on the way, I am bombarded with tasks that I feel must get done before her arrival in late March. I need to clean the baseboards, organize the stockpile, purge every room in our home. I need to schedule blog posts, hire in home and online help, clean up the office. There is so much that my mind is telling me that I need to do, when really, I want to do nothing.

I want to lay on the couch and relax, feeling my baby kicking me from the inside. I want to make Play-Doh castles and colour with my 2 and a half year old. I want to watch more movies. I want to go on dates with my husband. I want to enjoy my life before this new little person comes into our World and completely shakes it (in a good way, of course).

With about 6 weeks to go until the birth of our little girl, I have decided that it is time for me to slow down and enjoy every moment with myself, my family and everyone else that’s around me. I have declared these 6 weeks my “time of calm”. I will no longer rush, I will no longer worry, I will no longer try to cram 30 things into my days.

I am hopeful that these habits will continue once the baby is born, but as any of you with children would know, life is majorly shifted when you have a child. There will be many sleepless nights, many unfinished to-dos and more than likely, very few moments of calm. But – when those moments do come, I am going to savour every second of them.

So, how do I plan to slow down, relax and enjoy life more?

That’s just it – I can’t plan it. The only thing I can plan is to take it one step at a time.

Every day is a new beginning. A chance to start over and find some peace in my life. And today? Today I am going to sit. I am going to do a lot of sitting. I am going to read with my son. We are going to build forts and Lego houses and draw pictures of cats and hearts and circles. I am going to forget the laundry, forget the dirty dishes in the sink and forget what it’s like to be a work at home mom. I am going to enjoy the company of this little boy that we welcomed into the world almost 3 years ago. After all, he is the reason for everything that I do.

As for tomorrow, who knows. Ask me then.

When things start to get crazy in your life, how do you relax? Share your tips in the comments!

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Back in December of last year, I posted a menu plan that included a photo of one of our snack bins. Since then, I’ve received numerous emails from readers, asking me how to create one and what kind of snacks we keep in ours.

Having snack bins in our home has made snack time so much simpler. I highly recommend them.

Why should we have a snack bin?

I strongly believe that having a snack bin (or 2) in your home will ensure that you and your family are eating healthier. Before we had snack bins in our home, I found that we were eating junk when we craved snacks – not because we wanted to eat junk, but because junk was the most convenient to grab.

By having a bin full of fresh fruit & veggies that are divided into individual portion sizes, it’s now much easier to grab something healthy when we’re hungry. We no longer have the excuse that grabbing a bag of potato chips is faster.

Of course, this only works if you actually fill your snack bin(s) with healthy snacks. It’s okay to throw in the odd “bad” food as well, but at least 75% of your snacks should be healthy.

Where do I keep our snack bin?

Keep your bin(s) where you will see them and use them the most. For us, we have a snack bin in the refrigerator for things like fruit, cheese, yogurt, and veggies. We also keep one in the pantry for snacks that don’t need to be refrigerated, like crackers, granola bars and popcorn.

There is also a fruit bowl on our kitchen counter where we keep produce that isn’t meant to be kept in the fridge (bananas, pears, peaches, etc.).

Having your snacks easily accessible is very important. Otherwise, you will just grab something that is easier to get to – something that likely isn’t the best food choice!

What kind of bin(s) should I use?

Really, any type of bin works would work. Make sure it’s a decent size and can hold enough snacks to last your family a week or so. Try to avoid using bins that are too big – some snacks may end up getting lost at the bottom of if you do this.

Measure your pantry, fridge or whatever other area you decide to keep your snack bin to find out the right size bin you need. The dollar store is a great place to pick up bins (that’s where we buy most of our smaller ones), but take a look around your home first – you may find something that works and can save a trip to the store. When we first created the bin for our pantry, we used the small box that came with a 12 pack of water bottles. We soon outgrew this box, but if you’re single or have a very small family, this size may work for you.

How often do I need to fill our snack bin?

I suggest filling your snack bin once a week to ensure that everything gets used and you can continue to offer fresh snacks.

I like to fill our snack bins on the weekend, right after we do our weekly grocery shop. This way, everything is at it’s freshest and can be eaten right away. It’s also less stuff that I have to put away when we come home from the grocery store.

There are so many benefits to having something as simple as a snack bin in your home. Save time, money (by eating your food before it goes bad), and your sanity… just by having a bunch of snacks ready to go when hunger strikes.

If you have not tried using a snack bin, I encourage you to give it a try. I can’t promise it will completely change your life, but I can promise that snack time will be much smoother – at least for a week!

Do you have a snack bin in your home?

Are you one of those people who is fairly active in the spring and summer months, but once winter comes around, exercise goes out the window?

I am.

In an effort to be more active this winter, I have been brainstorming ways that I can stay fit for less and not let myself slowly add on the pounds while I sit around indoors because it’s “too cold” to go outside.

Here are a few things that I came up with:

1. Go for a walk.
I’m going to be honest – I really don’t like working out and avoid it at all costs. I’m not sure what it is, but lifting weights and riding an exercise bike really just don’t get me all that excited. However, I do love walking (and running) because they are activities that don’t feel like workouts.

Going for a walk in the winter is a great workout because it’s a bit more strenuous to have to trudge through the snow.

2. Go skiing.
Skiing is an excellent way to burn calories and lose weight. It also helps to speed up your metabolism and the rate at which you burn calories.

Oh top of that, it’s a ton of fun! (Of course, this fun activity will have to wait until next year when I’m not pregnant!).

3. Build a snowman.
When it comes to staying fit and/or losing weight, the most important thing you can do is just keep moving. You don’t have to do an intense workout, just keep your heart rate up!

Try something as simple as building a snowman or snow fort in your front/back yard.

4. Go tobogganing.
Tobogganing is another fun way to stay fit this winter. Sliding down hills is the easy part, but what will really get you in shape is constantly making your way up those steep hills.

5. Shovel some snow.
Unless you have a snow blower, shovelling show is something that we all have to do many times throughout the winter months. The good thing is that not only will you have a clear sidewalk and/or driveway when you’re done, but you’ll have just had an excellent workout, too!

6. Go ice skating.
Lace up your skates and do a bit of ice skating this winter to get in some cardio. If you can, try to find an outdoor ice rink and make your body work a bit harder (it’s more difficult to skate when you’re all bundled up in winter apparel).

7. Exercise indoors.
If there’s a bad storm or you’re really just not a fan of being outdoors in the winter, you can always just get your exercise done indoors. Despite what many people think, you don’t need fancy exercise equipment to work out at home.

Run up and down the stairs a few times, do squats while you watch TV, or pop in an exercise DVD and get down to business.

Just because the temperatures have dropped, doesn’t mean you need to hibernate until they go back up again. It’s easy to stay in the house instead of getting outside and pushing yourself to be active, but if you don’t find some way to be keep moving during the winter, it’s almost guaranteed that you will have some extra weight to lose come summer time.

I encourage you to try to find a way to be active every day, whether you do a full-on workout, or something as simple as vacuuming your house (A 150 pound person can burn approximately 238 calories per hour vacuuming the house) – just keep moving! Living an active lifestyle is one of those things that’s going to keep you around for a very long time.

How do you get fit in the winter months? Please share in the comments!

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Christmas is one time during the year that causes much stress for many people. Not only due to the financial issues that may arise, but also, Christmas can be a bit chaotic. You have parties, work events, school events, decorating the house, holiday baking… not to mention Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as well.

Let’s face it – Christmas can be pretty overwhelming. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be.

Following are ways that you can enjoy a more simple Christmas holiday this year.

Be Selective With Invites
If you wind up with a bunch of invitations to different holiday parties and events, cut yourself some slack and avoid trying to attend them all. Weigh the pros and cons of each event you’ve been invited to and figure out one or two that you would like to attend the most.
As for the others, a simple “thank you, but I have other obligations” is a good enough response. Remember that you don’t have to attend everything, and people shouldn’t expect you to.

Stick To Homemade Gifts
To save mega money this Christmas, try your hand at giving only homemade gifts this year. Not only is this an inexpensive alternative to the prepackaged, over-priced gifts you find in the store, but many people appreciate the effort that goes into a homemade gift much more than they do a gift that you picked up at the mall the week before Christmas.

Don’t limit yourself to just food gifts, though. There are many things you can make from home that lots of people would love to find under the tree. Jewelry, lip gloss, body scrub, bath salts, holiday ornaments… and so much more. Check out this list of 50 Homemade Gift Ideas From Around The Web for inspiration.

Stay Home
Many families travel to visit relatives during the holidays, and while this is a great time to connect with family and friends, consider visiting before or after Christmas to avoid having to drive/fly all over the place. Travelling can be very stressful and we’re trying to have a stress-free holiday, remember?

For us, we usually have 5 invitations during the holiday. My mom, my dad, my grandparents, Richard’s mom and Richard’s aunt. Even though we love our family and appreciate their invitations, we simply cannot visit all 5 houses in just 2 days (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). Richard often works on Christmas Eve until late afternoon, so we can visit one home during the evening and then we usually visit one home on Christmas morning and another Christmas evening. That’s it. We visit our other family members before or after the Christmas holidays to make up for those missed invitations.

Once our kids are older, though, we plan on staying home on Christmas Day. I think it’s important to have your own family traditions once you have a family of your own. Not only does staying home allow you to connect with your immediate family, but you will save time and money from having to travel to all of those other places.

Limit Gift Giving
Christmas has become so commercialized that all anyone can think about this time of year is what Santa Claus is going to bring them.

Christmas is about giving, not receiving – but the media has us thinking otherwise. We need to change that! Don’t let the big box stores lead you to believe that your child needs to have 20 different toys under the tree this year, or that your spouse needs an iPad or some other crazy expensive electronic item.

Remember the reason for the season and focus on that.

My favourite holiday of the year is Christmas (more so than my own birthday!), and that’s because I enjoy seeing the look on the faces of my family members, when they open up a gift I made or purchased with them in mind.
More so than the gifts, the best part about the holidays is spending time with family and enjoying being surrounded by love.

What do you plan to do to have a more simple Christmas this year? Let us know in the comments.

So many people seem to think that having stuff equals happiness and I’m here to tell you that that isn’t necessarily true – most of the time.

Sure, it’s great to have fancy clothing, high-quality furniture, overflowing bins of toys for our kids.. but really, when is it ever enough? When will we finally realize that it isn’t stuff that creates happiness, but the people and memories that do?

I’m a firm believer in the quote “less is more”. I really do believe that less is more in so many situations.

Clothing
The less clothing that you own, the more often you will wear things that actually fit and look good on you. It’s also much faster to get dressed in the morning when your clothing options are limited.

Furniture
You don’t need to fill up every single empty space in your home. An empty spot here and there is actually quite refreshing. The more furniture you cram into your home, the more likely it is to look cluttered.

Home:
Although the average Canadian family size has gone down in the last 30 years, the size of family homes has grown. In the early 1970′s, homes were an average size of 1,500 square feet. Today, with less family in one home, homes are an average size of 2,500 square feet. Why are we buying bigger homes for smaller families? With bigger homes come bigger hydro and heating bills. Not to mention all of the extra cleaning that needs to be done in a larger home.

Portion Sizes (Food):
Have you noticed how large the plates are when you go out to eat dinner at a local restaurant? Not only are they enormous, but they are usually packed full of food. Yummy food, sure, but do we really need as much food as they put on our plate? Of course not. Scale back your portion sizes and you will see so many benefits. Weight loss, more energy and of course, smaller grocery bills (when you make meals at home).

Possessions:
Of course, the fewer things you own, the fewer things you need to take care of. Don’t try to impress others with how much stuff you have. Impress them with your personality! Less possessions means less time cleaning, fixing and picking up those items. Use that time for something more exciting like spending time with your family and friends.

You can improve your life in so many ways by simply eliminating the excess that’s holding you back from being happy and successful.

Analyze everything in your life and determine the things that you can get rid of to make your life easier.

“Less is more” is not just a phrase from a very well-written 1855 poem, it’s a way of life.

I received the following question from Tammy.

Shopping with little ones can be a challenge, but it’s certainly possible to do so without someone having a meltdown.

Here are my tips for shopping with children.

1. Find child care.
I know, I know. This post is supposed to be about shopping WITH children. However, I just wanted to stress how much easier shopping is when you’re alone. If you can’t seem to find someone to watch your children while you shop, that’s okay. There are still ways you can shop peacefully.

2. Bring snacks.
This is something that we have always done with Elliott and it works very well at keeping him distracted. Make sure you have a few different types of snacks, because if you don’t, it is possible that they will get bored of the snack you have chosen. If you have an infant that is not yet eating solid food, I suggest bringing a few small toys instead. These items are especially important in the checkout line.

3. Shop with a list.
I always recommend shopping with a list for any type of shopping that you need to do because it’s not only a money saver, but a time saver as well – and when you’re shopping with children, the sooner you are finished shopping, the better.

4. Tell them “no” before you shop.
Make sure that your child knows why you are going into the store before you do so. Show them your list and let them know that you will only be buying the items you have on there and nothing more. This usually helps with the “Can I have this?! Can I have this?!” issue in the store.

5. Let them help.
I’ve noticed that Elliott is really only upset when I don’t let him help with the shopping and just strap him into the seat of the grocery cart. If I let him walk around and get the items that I need off of the shelves for me, he’s usually very happy, quiet and cooperative. It takes a bit longer to shop this way, so I don’t recommend it if you’re in a hurry, but if you have the time, try letting your child help you collect the grocery items and put them into the cart.

6. Give rewards/praise.
If your children behave well while you are shopping, always remember to praise them. A simple “thank you for being so well behaved” is all that’s necessary, but if they were exceptionally good, give them a small treat. I usually have a cookie or two tucked away in my purse that I will give to Elliott if he was a good boy at the store.

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Thanksgiving is this weekend, and I am very much looking forward to turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, and apple pie. Lots and lots of apple pie. I am also looking forward to spending time with loved ones. It feels like it’s been forever since I stepped away from the computer and enjoyed some bonding time with our families.

I’m really looking forward to it.

Since it is a time of thanks, I thought it would be nice to list off 10 things that I am thankful for this year.

There are so many things in my life that I am thankful for. I could sit here for hours listing each and every thing, person and place that make me so very happy.

This Thanksgiving is going to be special because I will be enjoying it with family, good food and lots of laughter… and there’s not much better than that!

What are you thankful for this year?

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Paper clutter is the bane of my existence. It doesn’t matter how hard I try, the stuff just seems to multiply overnight and my house is littered with paper!

When I was talking to a friend about this problem a few weeks ago, they suggested that I try to go paperless at home. I never really considered this option before… I just assumed that paper would always be in my life – but, I’ve since learned that it doesn’t have to be.

I tried a few of my friend’s suggestions right away and then went a step further and tried some of my own ideas. Now, only 3 weeks after that conversation, I’m well on my way to a paperless home – and it feels great!

Here are 8 tips for making your home paperless.

1) Pay bills online.
Most banks allow you to pay your bills online and it is extremely safe to do so. Sign up for online banking and tell your bank to stop sending you paper bills and statements.

2) Cancel magazine subscriptions.
Many magazines are actually available for free online, believe it or not. If you are just reading them for inspiration, check out Pinterest or Real Simple instead.

3) Cancel newspaper subscriptions.
There is an abundance of news available online – for FREE! There really is no need to have a newspaper subscription anymore.

4) Don’t keep all of your child’s artwork.
Try not to be too sentimental about the artwork that your child creates. Only keep your absolute favourites and get rid of the rest. Take some photos before you toss them.

5) Purge your coupons.
I love using coupons to save money, but those tiny slips of paper can really start to take over if you don’t get a handle on them. Remember to go through your coupon stash on a regular basis (weekly is best) and get rid of any that are expired or that you don’t anticipate using.

6) Purge your books.
You should also go through your book collection a few times per year and get rid of books you no longer wish to keep. Do this not only for your own books, but children’s books, cookbooks – everything.

7) Don’t let receipts take over.
If you hold on to receipts for entering into your monthly budget, keep them all in one spot in your home. Update your budget weekly and then throw out the receipts (or file them away if they are important).

Remove yourself from mailing lists.
Stop that junk mail from entering your home. Remove yourself from mailing lists to prevent this “junk” from showing up in your mailbox.

Making your home paperless is a great way to get organized, save money, and live a more simple life. Not only that, but the less paper you have, the less of an impact you’re making on the environment.

Though it takes a bit of time to create a paperless home, the benefits of doing so are well worth the time spent.

Do you have a paperless home? Leave a comment with your tips!