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Handrafted

Handrafted

Creating the life you dream of, one essential oil at a time. Your complete guide to everything Young Living Essential Oils. Located in Dallas, Texas, USA.

Tag: to do list

10 Steps To Simplify Your Home And Office

As I get older it becomes more apparent how many things we purchase with no specific need in mind. Although I can see it happening, for some reason, it seems…

As I get older it becomes more apparent how many things we purchase with no specific need in mind. Although I can see it happening, for some reason, it seems impossible to stop! 🙈🙃 Today we are talking about ways to consciously simplify life at home and the office. Baby steps, if you will, towards living the minimalist lifestyle. 

5 Steps to Simplify at Home

  1. Empty out and organize your handbag or wallet.
  2. Empty out and organize your Junk Drawer.
  3. Thoroughly review your book/cd/dvd collection and downsize.
  4. Minimize stacks of paper by switching to paperless billing and recycling old magazines. 
  5. Clear off ALL the horizontal surfaces in the room, one room at a time. 

How Do I Decide What to Keep?

Ask yourself these 5 questions:

When was the last time I used this?
(If jt’s been more than 9 months – donate).

What is the worst thing that could happen if I donate this item?

Can life go on without this item?

Could this item be MORE useful to someone else?

Does this item bring joy to my life?

5 Steps to Simplify at The Office

  1. Take the time to organize all the files and photographs into proper folders on your computer.
  2. Unsubscribe from email lists that no longer interest you (or entice you to purchase more 😈).
  3. Work to minimize the number of tabs you have open at any given time.
  4. Create a follow-up email folder to keep you organized and on top of your tasks.
  5. De-clutter your work desk.

 

These steps are only the beginning but at least we’re stepping in the right direction. 👣

How did you go Minimalist? Let me know below.

 

xo,

C

3,737 Comments on 10 Steps To Simplify Your Home And Office

How To Invest When You Feel Like Your Broke

I’m at the point in my life where I know I should be saving, planning for the future – yet I’d prefer to spend my money on a new life…

I’m at the point in my life where I know I should be saving, planning for the future – yet I’d prefer to spend my money on a new life experience. Does anyone know when my adult programming will kick in and I will actively want to save for my future? Please let a girl know. 🙋🏻 For the time being, I have discovered a life hack. A way to plan for my future without affecting my present. By downloading the Acorns App and connecting it with my spending habits I have been able to continually save for the past six months.

How It Works

Acorns is an app that is easy to download in the iPhone App Store or Google Play Store. Once downloaded the app is super user-friendly and easy to navigate. Within the app, you can link your bank accounts, credit cards, and even PayPal accounts. Everywhere you spend money on the daily you can link. There is no limit to the number of accounts. Once your accounts are linked Acorns will automatically begin investing your spare change. 

Spare chage or “Round Ups” (as they’re called in the app) are the cent’s left over from every purchase.

Invest with Acorns

For example, if you go to Starbucks and spend $ 3.86 on your favorite hot beverage, Acorns will automatically round that transaction to the nearest dollar and invest the change ($ 0.14).  Acorns will keep track of these roundups and then withdraw them when your round ups total $ 5.00. 

Acorns does charge a service fee of $ 1.00/month. This fee covers the administrative cost of your account. It is also good to mention that this monthly fee does increase once your account totals more than $ 5,000.00.

Slow and Steady Growth

As someone with zero investment experience or knowledge Acorns has given me the opportunity to dip my toe in the water. I opened my account on December 1st with $ 5.00 seed money and now today my account totals over $ 300.00. Penny by penny I have built an investment/savings account. The best part is because it’s fully automated – I literally set it and forget it. So easy.

Invest with Acorns

One of my favorite aspects of this app is the “Potential” tab. This tab shows you a hypothetical picture of what your account will look like in 5, 10, 30+ years if you continue to save at your current rate. In addition, you can set a goal, say $ 100,000 by the time you are 65. You can click the “Change My Future” button, plug in your goal and it will show you what you need to save to meet that goal.  Now, of course, the chart displayed is not guaranteed, but it is helpful when planning for the future. 

Invest with Acorns

Of course, the goal of an investment account is to continually add money and then to ride the market as a way to help with long-term goals – but, if/when you need to pull from your Acorns account you can. Not only can you withdraw the money, there is no transaction fee (this service is covered in the monthly dues).  🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

Investment Options

Acorns let’s you choose from five investment profile ranging from Conservative to Risky. When you open your account the app will walk you through a brief survey to identify the best investment profile for you. You can, however, chose a different profile if you disagree with the result of the survey. Once again everything is so easy. In the realm of #adulting, I’ll take alllll the easy options! 💯😂

Free Seed Money

This is the BEST part of Acorns! By clicking the link below Acorns with GIVE YOU $ 5.00 for FREE! Not only that, but by clicking below, I also get $ 5.00! That’s what I call a win-win! 💃🕺

Once you set up your account you’ll also receive a shareable link so you can share Acorns with your friends and family!

 

Invest With Acorns

 

 

 

 

4,101 Comments on How To Invest When You Feel Like Your Broke

101 IN 1001

I am always a fan of a good list, but when I stumbled on Design Darling’s list of 101 things to complete in the next 1,001 days I was hooked….

I am always a fan of a good list, but when I stumbled on Design Darling’s list of 101 things to complete in the next 1,001 days I was hooked. The concept of 1,001 days (2.75 years) really intrigued me.

What was realistic in that amount of time?

To come up with the list I actually had to write down what age my family and I would be to help me visualize that far out. By the time this list completes Aaron and I will have been married for 7 year and together for 11. Adreena will be starting college, and I will be starting my 30s…🙈.

So excited to see how and where this collection of tasks will lead.

1. Come up with 101 things 🙌🏻
2. Inspire someone to write a list of their own
3. Launch my blog
4. Throw a pool party
5. Learn to make ravioli from scratch
6. Alphabatize my address list and create a digital copy
7. See Justin Timberlake in concert
8. Visit my brother in NYC
9. Find a family physician
10. Practice my daily gratitudes
11. Learn to use our espresso machine
12. Reupholster my office chair
13. Host an exchange student
14. Get paid to write a blog entry
15. Increase my essential oil collection
16. Train the cat (Ollie) to walk on a leash
17. Purchase an electric car
18. Enroll our nephew in football camp in Texas
19. Get the piano tuned and start lessons
20. Add a band to my wedding ring for our 5th anniversary.
21. Reduce revolving credit balances to zero
22. Get a huge canvas print of family friend, Klaus Priebe photography for the living room
23. Complete a craft project on a vintage globe
24. Find a chiropractor for my family
25. Replace my washer/dryer set
26. Host a Halloween Party for Adreena and her friends
27. Install turf around the pool in the back yard
28. Visit a pumpking patch
29. Improve the landscaping at our home
30. Celebrate our “0s” with my bestie somewhere awesome! (My 30th her 40th birthday, 2019)
31. Get my office moved upstairs and organized
32. Purchase a leather tote bag
33. Create an IRA
34. Hit 1K followers on Instagram
35. Visit the Perot Museum of Nature and Science
36. Purchase a professional camera using profits from my blog
37. Finish and post about Adreena’s bathroom reno
38. Take a weekend trip with Aaron to celebrate an anniversary
39. Go horseback riding
40. Take a trip with my mom and Adreena
41. Visit Brytny at least 5 times
42. Add a Bose sound bar system to our living room
43. Take my family to see a Denver Bronco game at Mile High
44. Add $10 to my Stash Account for every thing crossed of this list
45. Get hired to do someone wedding invitations cards and/or envelopes.
46. Go to a TCU football game 💜
47. Take my family to see a Cirque du Soleil show
48. Visit Florida with the fam
49. Install a solar pool heater
50. Visit the Dallas Arboretum
51. Do #ModernismWeek in Palm Springs with @brytnyshea and her hubby
52. Hit 5K followers on Instagram 🌟
53. Clean and organize every drawer in the house
54. Make a concrete kleenex box holder 🙂
55. Fly on a chartered plane
56. Visit another city for dinner
57. Switch to a Nespresso Coffee maker
58. Commission paintings of Lillie and Ollie
59. Build a succulent hanging garden
60. Go on a romantic get away with the hubster to Hawaii
61. Visit the Dallas Aquarium
62. Buy someone flowers, “just because”
63. Set up an electronic birthday calendar and send cards to everyone for a year
64. Take family photos
65. Get a robot vacuum.
66. Dye my hair
67. See President Barack Obama speak🇺🇸
68. Go horseback riding
69. Visit the Dallas (or) Fort Worth Zoo
70. Purchase a fiddle leaf fig
71. Try cool sculpting before a vacation
72. Get back in the gym
73. Visit at least three colleges with Adreena (at least one in another state)
74. Read 6 books every year
75. Learn to use the ProCreate App with an Apple Pencil
76. Offer a FREE Printable on the blog
77. Visit Six Flags with the Family
78. Complete a Master Closet and Bathroom Reno
79. Post complete details of the Master Closet to my blog
80. Post complete details of the Master Bathroom to my blog
81. Complete our beverage bar
82. Post complete details of the beverage bar to my blog
83. Go Boating with the family
84. Replace the windows in our home
85. Hit 10K followers on Instagram
86. Take Adreena to Waco to visit the Silos
87. Put in at least 150 volunteer hours
88. Give Adreena the BEST senior year/trip ever and host a great grad party 👩🏼‍🎓🎉
89. Build a cat tree with the hubster
90. Host the entire family for Christmas
91. Purchase a Mac Book Air – with proceeds from my blog
92. Build our bed and put in a statement wall
93. Solve a rubix cube
94. Ride in a hot air balloon
95. Purchase a strangers Starbucks order
96. Throw a Birthday Party for my MIL
97. Feed a giraffe
98. Visit 5 new states!
99. Get some goodhYOUman gear
100. Go to a concert
101. Style Adreena’s College Dorm Room

If you are inspired to create your own list let me know, I’d love to see what you have planned!

xo

Carolyn

5,524 Comments on 101 IN 1001

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