20 Life Hacks Learned in Married Life

Since being married for only two years, I’ve had to figure out a lot of things for the first time – mostly with cooking (since I didn’t do much of that before), but a few other things too. You will probably find these silly, but maybe (hopefully) you will appreciate some of my new found discoveries, too.

1. I don’t cut my strawberries anymore. I get a straw, stick it through the strawberry from bottom to top and the nasty stem-part pops off!
2. When it’s too cold outside to grill, I make my steaks and burgers in the oven – and I think they taste even better!
3. I have no patience for cooking potatoes in the oven. (Does anyone have time to wait around for an hour+ for dinner anymore?) So I wrap them up in foil and stick them in the crockpot on low all day. They’re ready when I get home!
4. I soften my butter by putting it in a cup and setting it on top of a warm stove while I’m preparing other things.
5. The key to cooking rice on the stove without it sticking to the pot is mixing in a chunk of butter and not lifting the lid for at least 20 minutes.
6. It’s actually possible to make a perfect, yellow omelet in the oven with a greased cast-iron skillet in just 5-6 minutes.
7. Setting a wooden spoon on top of a boiling pot of water will keep it from overflowing onto my stove.
8. My ice cream scoop doesn’t get ice cream stuck all over it if I dip it in warm water before scooping each scoop.
9. I make tea in the coffeemaker by running hot water through the coffeemaker into a pot with tea bags dangling in the water.
10. Homemade whip cream tastes way better. I just pour some whipping cream and powdered sugar into a bowl while mixing it with a hand mixer simultaneously. So fluffy!
11. I eat my berries with a toothpick so I don’t have to clean silverware or stain my fingers.
12. I fold my sheets and then stick them inside the matching pillowcases to keep the sets together.
13. Amazon Prime and Target REDcard make my shopping experiences so much easier.
14. Slicing up a little bit of fruit and cucumbers to put in water is an inexpensive way of serving refreshments to guests and making them think you’re fancier than you really are.
15. Buying bulk paper towels, toilet paper, plates and cups twice a year from Sam’s keeps us stocked for the entire year.
16. The step trashcan is God’s gift to cooks with their hands full.
17. Ikea silverware lasts longer than the expensive silverware we got as wedding gifts.
18. When going to a party, the key to giving a great gift is packaging it creatively – it’s half of excitement for the other person.
19. Spending time with Jesus each morning puts me in a much better mood for the rest of my day.
20. Keeping a magnetic notepad on my fridge has helped me to remember what I run out of, and better ensures that I restock it when I go to the store later that week.

I’m sure the list will continue to grow! Thanks for reading. :)

New Year, New Plans!

The New Year is upon us and we are all feeling an extra BOOST of energy to make big plans, challenging goals, get our life in order and attempt to establish new habits that we think will make our lives better.

I'm feeling the excitement, too! My husband, Ben, and I have made all kinds of goals...working out, eating healthy, saving for a house of our own, etc! And it is SO easy to get so excited about all of these new ambitions that we can easily forget to consult with the Creator of the Universe: GOD! What does HE want us to do?

As we go into this New Year, yes it's important to establish goals and plans. But as Christians, we are to prayerfully go about making these decisions.

Before I even began making a goal list, I spent about two or three hours in prayer, just asking what God would have me do this year, that He would give me peace about different decisions, etc. I'm not saying you have to spend that much time, but it certainly doesn't hurt. :)

In the silence of just being in God's presence and Word, you begin to develop peace about certain things, and new God-honoring goals you would've never thought of on your own come into your mind. Write those down!

Anything that is good and beneficial to your walk with Christ, aligns with His Word and glorifies God is FROM God. A few things He placed on my heart was to (1) join an exercise class and befriend a lost person and share Jesus with them and (2) Be a sponsor for one of the youth trips at my church this summer.

Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3

The heart of a man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9

On the topic of planning, I invite you to check out my Etsy shop. I have a $2 calendar download that is designed with gold dots, beautiful script and functional in serving as your everyday planning calendar! You get 12 pages for each month. And best of all, each month has a different encouraging Bible verse from the ESV Bible. The picture above is an example of the calendar being used.

Happy planning and goal setting!!