Blog – Page 9 of 16 – Simplified Motherhood

How to Thrive as a One Income Family Post-Baby…

May 9, 2019May 14, 2020
by Jessica Whitney

I’m going to tell you right now, this post is less about specific tactics for how to live on one income with a baby and more about encouragement and mindsets you absolutely need to live on one income with a baby.

I remember when I was considering quitting my job, I was afraid of going down to one income. “Would we be able to pay the bills?” was actually keeping me up at night, but there were other fears there too. Not only because my husband had a variable income, but because I was afraid our lifestyle would have to significantly change as well.

I decided to unpack and discover why I was so afraid to become a stay at home mom and to live on one income.

I’m here to share with you that if you desire to stay home with your beautiful babies, raise them yourself, and enjoy a stay at home mom life, then you should do it!

You shouldn’t let the fear of not being able to live on one income get in the way. Let’s discover some mindsets that will help you get there!

Mental Load & Mindset

7 Parenting Questions to Ask Yourself (for Parenting Leaders)

May 7, 2019June 4, 2025
by Jessica Whitney

I think many people would agree that leadership and parenting have a lot in common. There are also SO many parenting books out there, where do you start? Here are 7 parenting questions to ask yourself as a leader in your family raising future leaders.

This article focuses on parenting advice to develop your kids as leaders. There are many leadership traits and tools that can be used to help you develop your own parenting style. With these questions, hopefully, you can help your kids realize their full potential as well as develop them into future leaders.

Below are a few questions to ask yourself and your spouse, as leaders of your family. These questions will hopefully help you identify areas you could improve upon your leadership as a parent and identify your parenting style. Continue Reading

Budgeting

How to manage a budget at home for busy…

April 15, 2019April 30, 2019
by Jessica Whitney

Yaaaassss! I’m so excited you decided to start a budget! This post is all about how to manage a budget at home successfully even when you’re super busy.

I used to think that budgeting created more work for me – and I suppose it still does. But I associated that work with frustration and wasted time. Instead, I found the opposite! Budgeting brings peace and comfort and confidence in our financial situation, whether good or bad.

That’s why I’m here. I’m here in this blogging world because I want to help families like YOURS start budgeting with confidence in order to help you to stop feeling terrible about your spending habits and to start living a more abundant life!

If you’re new to budgeting, I encourage you to start with the Beginner’s Guide to Budgeting as well as this Simple Budget Template Printable.

Budgeting

6 Half-Way Good Reasons for Budgeting

March 9, 2019March 27, 2019
by Jessica Whitney

According to Gallup, 32% of Americans do not keep a detailed household budget. This fact combined with the average household debt level of $135K paints a picture of the perfect financial storm brewing on our home fronts. This worries me you guys!

I think I can safely assume you wouldn’t mind someone coming alongside you to support you in starting and sticking to a budget.

Let’s talk 6 real life reasons you need to start a family budget today.

Baby Tips

15 Best Baby Tips for New Parents

February 28, 2019October 22, 2024
by Jessica Whitney

There are so many unknowns in parenting. My goal with this blog is to hopefully simplify motherhood for you. Part of the way I do that is by collecting input from lots of other moms in one place to provide you good, solid advice.

When you read that other moms are going through the same problems as you, it creates a sense of community.

When your struggles are the same as other moms, it’s comforting to know that it’s not just you!

First-time parents struggle with confidence that they are doing it right, so here are some thoughts from other moms just like you on how to take care of your new baby!

Budgeting

The Beginner’s Guide to Budgeting for Families

February 27, 2019May 14, 2020
by Jessica Whitney

I’m passionate about helping moms live life abundantly by overcoming mom burnout. While this can mean many things, living by a budget reflects a life lived with intentionality, purpose, and a focus on the important things.

Ask any of your mom friends what’s one thing they wish they could change about their life, and they would probably say something like:

feel less stressed about money

This is why I think budgeting is too important to not talk about for young families. Well, really any family, but if you’re here on my blog… I’m guessing you might be a young mom just like me (Oh heyyy!).

In this post, I simplify the budgeting process and give you all the basic tools to start budgeting.

Here’s a Free Simple Budget Template Printable to get you started! Or, if you’re looking for something more detailed and customizeable, here’s a budget spreadsheet collection for families.

Declutter + Organize

How to get organized as a stay at home…

February 20, 2019January 30, 2025
by Jessica Whitney

How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Like many people by the time the end of January runs around, you sometimes feel defeated. But as Lara Casey always says, “There’s nothing magical about January 1.” It’s okay to reengage and make actionable small steps towards your big dreams eveeennn when it’s not January.

Ask any one of your mom friends what she wishes she could change about her life, and I’m guessing it would be some variation of this:

Feel less stressed

Family Routines

[Free] Printable Weekly Planner PDF

February 15, 2019December 11, 2024
by Jessica Whitney

Yaaassss! I’m so excited for this printable. A simple planning tool for moms that actually works. THAT is the reason I created a free printable weekly planner to be used by busy moms to organize the chaos. If you don’t have the time to draw a pretty bullet journal every week or your to-do list gets lost in every single app, then this easy free printable is for you!

I encourage you to download this printable with caution! Only download it if you want to practice gratefulness, stay focused, and prioritize your list. Okay, that sounds a little extreme I must admit… but since there are blocks for you to write all those things down, then I thought I would say it… haha.

As a reminder this is a weekly planner.

If you’re looking for a daily planner, you might want to read how to make an effective to do list for moms because there’s a great printable over there too!

Productivity + Planning

6 Secrets to Create More Margin in your Life…

February 7, 2019December 11, 2024
by Jessica Whitney

This post is for the moms who want to overcome alll the mom burnout in order to create more margin in their life as a new mom! I’m talking like 1-2 more hours per week…nothing crazy! This post is not for the moms who have it all figured out and have plenty of time on their schedule to do whatever they want (I can’t even imagine this… sorry!)

As many of you know I have 3 kids – 5, 3, and 9 months. But I also have many hobbies and goals too (re: blogging, running, photography, church volunteering, etc.)

So how do I find margin in my life to do the things I LOVE rather than just the things I have to do? I wanted to share some of my tips and tricks to find more margin below!

Budgeting

10 Tips to Save Money Fast Plus a 52-Week…

January 28, 2019October 29, 2020
by Jessica Whitney

I totally prefer to take a problem, and then break it down into bite-sized pieces to make it easier to digest. This is probably why I love money challenges so much. They are such a good way to save money fast!

The money challenge I have for you today, is especially good if you’re saving for a vacation on a tight budget, or if you simply want to build a $1,000 emergency fund because you’ve recently started a budget.

To start the challenge, here’s the free money challenge printable.

Do you have a copy of the free simple budget printable?