Kids & Family
**The Simple Home**

On The Simple Home Podcast, Jenna Arvidson from athomewithkids.com, provides practical solutions for busy families looking to live a simple life. Simple-living is more than just getting rid of the clutter in your home. It’s about letting go of expectations, creating routines and systems that work for your family, living intentionally, and using your time and money for what matters most. Jenna talks about minimalism, simple parenting, money and time management, along with other relevant content for busy moms looking for a better way. She shares her conversations with others who are on their own journey to a lighter, more joyful life. If you’ve ever felt like you don’t have time to enjoy motherhood because of the constant to-do’s and overwhelm that comes with, then this podcast was created just for you.

Latest Episodes:

Simplified Goal Setting for the New Year- Edit and Delete Jan 07, 2021

Show notes

Setting Goals for The New Year

It’s that time of year again where you start to reflect on the previous year. The things you accomplished and the things you wished you’d accomplished. You may have set a few goals for the new year or chosen one big new year’s resolution.

Or, if you’re like most of us, you have a list of a million things you want to do, accomplish, get better at. “This year I’m going to finally lose the baby weight, organize my house, learn to xyz, be a better mom, sister, wife, cousin, etc, and the list goes on and on.” Sound familiar?

The idea of adding more to your already busy life can be overwhelming, which is why many people fail to follow through with the resolutions they set on January 1.

In this episode of The Simple Home Podcast, we’’ll talk about a new way to look at setting goals for the new year.

Rather than going about the goal setting process as adding on new things, I want you to look at your capacity, and edit things out so you have the capacity to accomplish the things you want to accomplish.

Using this method of setting goals for the new year you will take out or delete things that no longer serve you and hold you back from reaching them.

You only have so much capacity.

You have a given amount of time, energy, mental space, and even physical space each day. If you’re already maxed out, there’s no way you can add more to your plate and still feel like you’re staying afloat.

With every area of your life, I hope this year, you’ll learn to take away the items that don’t add to your life, the things that are weighing you down and holding you back, so you can purposely pursue the things that are meaningful to you.

Give yourself some grace as you set goals for the new year and look at deleting things from your schedule, your diet, and your home instead of piling more stuff on.

Helpful Links For This Episode

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078: Saving and Investing Simplified (Interview with Laurie from Her Wealth Coach) Dec 31, 2020

Show notes

I know you have a lot on your plate. I know the topic of saving and investing tips might not be top on your priority list. It may even bring some feelings of fear, shame, or uncertainty.

But just like our physical clutter, mental clutter hinders us from being our best selves and money is often a primary source of mental clutter.

No matter what your circumstance is right now, you have the power and authority to change it. Whether you're struggling with debt, trying to make ends meet on a month to month basis, or feeling confident with your financial situation, you can take steps to make your money situation better for the future.

Today on The Simple Home Podcast, I talk with my friend Laurie from Her Wealth Coach. It's her passion to teach woman how to handle their money, make smart saving and investing decisions, and create a better future for themselves and their families.

I brought her on the show because I knew she could give us saving and investing tips that we would understand and be able to implement into our lives.

She gives practical advice and reminds us that it's never too late to start.

I hope you listen in this week, no matter where you are with your finances, because gaining an understanding of your money and getting it to work in your favor will lighten your load and give you more mental space to live with intention.

Links from this episode

The Get Organized Challenge- Start the New Year getting your finances organized!
Wealthy Talk for Woman- Laurie's FREE Facebook Group
Laurie on Instagram- @herwealthcoach
Herwealthcoach.com

If this episode inspired you in some way, please take a minute to leave a rating and review on itunes. Use this link, click the 5 starts, and write a short review of the show!

Find this episode of The Simple Home Podcast and others you’ll love on your favorite podcast player, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, and TuneIn or anywhere else you listen to podcasts! Remember to subscribe on your favorite podcast player so you don’t miss an episode.

077: Small Steps to Lasting Change- Simplify Your Family Budget and Spending Dec 17, 2020

Show notes

This episode is the 4th in a series I’m calling, small steps to lasting change and today we’ll talk about small steps you can make when it comes to your family budget that will have a lasting impact and hopefully simplify some things for you too.

Alright, let’s get right to it! These steps are not in order so take what works for you and start wherever will have the biggest impact on your family budget right now.

I want you to know a few things about me and my relationship with money before we get started. I used to be a spender. Like a major spender.

As a teenager, I worked at Walmart and every time I was at work, I’d make a mental list of all the things I wanted to purchase. Then, as soon as I got my paycheck, I’d cash it at the service counter and buy the things I wanted.

I went into my marriage with a large chunk of student debt and a car loan. My husband on the other hand didn’t have any debt. This motivated me to pay everything off quickly. We rented a tiny house, shared a car, and lived on one income even though we both worked. During this time, I realized just how little we could live on and still be completely fulfilled. I found that knowing exactly how much money we were bringing and where we were spending it was empowering. We set goals and continually tried to beat our savings.

Throughout the years, we’ve had moments where we got more relaxed, like right now, which is part of the reason I’m doing this episode. I know I need to re-evaluate our habits and focus on our financial goals for a bit and I’m hoping what I’ve learned over the past decade or so of us becoming debt free will empower you to meet your financial goals too!

You may not be able to change the amount of money you’re currently bringing in, at least not immediately, but you can take control of what you spend and be in charge of your money rather than letting your money be in charge of you.

Here’s a few small steps you can put in place for your family budget.

Small step one- know your numbers- where do you spend your money?
Small step two- check in with yourself every day.
Small step three- set goals.
Small step four- make it a competition with yourself.
Small step five- only shop with a list.

In this episode of The Simple Home Podcast, we’ll talk through each of the above steps so you can make lasting change in the way you spend and budget your money.

Links from this episode:

Money is a hard topic to talk about because we’re all in different positions financially and many of us have “money baggage” or negative emotions associated with money. I don’t want this episode to make you feel bad in any way, or cause you to freeze up and not do anything to change your current position. I want you to remember that most people are living paycheck to paycheck (like 80% of people), and most of the people who look like they have their finances in order are drowning in debt. If you want to live differently, no matter where you're starting from, you have to make changes and live within your means. Choose one small step you can do for your family budget and take action.

Small Steps to Lasting Change- Living Clutter Free Dec 03, 2020

Show notes

Welcome to the third episode of the series, small steps to lasting change. This has been such a fun series so far and I’m so honored you’re listening in this week. If you haven’t listened to the first two episodes in this series, make sure to check them out after you listen to this one about making small steps towards living clutter free.

In the first episode we talked about mindset and shopping. Then we talked about small steps in your daily tasks.

Today we’re talking about making small steps that will have a lasting impact on your clutter so you can live clutter free.

Have you ever spent weeks, months, or even longer decluttering and then looked around and felt like you haven’t made any progress? This is so common, especially in the beginning of your clutter free journey. And even if you’re a seasoned declutterer (I know that's not a real word!), you probably still have these moments.

What I want is for you to get to a place where you declutter just to maintain and not to find your sanity!

Small steps you can start today to live clutter free.

These are not in order so you can do whatever works for you.

Stop getting distracted
Put it on your calendar
Stop bringing stuff in
Make decisions

We go into detail about each one of these steps in this episode of The Simple Home Podcast. Putting these small steps into practice will keep you from decluttering every couple months so you can live in your house and not just manage your stuff.

Links from this episode

Now it’s time to go and do! Remember if you have questions or need support with anything we talk about on this show you can always DM me on IG, I’m @jennaarvidson or come join my FB group. It’s full of like minded people who are working hard to simplify their lives too! This work is easier done in community than by yourself so come over and join us!

If this episode inspired you in some way, please take a minute to leave a rating and review on itunes. Use this link, click the 5 starts, and write a short review of the show!

075- Small Steps to Lasting Change Series- Simplify Your Daily Tasks Nov 19, 2020

Show notes

This episode is the second in a series I’m doing called small steps to lasting change. Hopefully each of the topics we talk about will help you cement these small steps into your life so you feel the changes you’re making.

If you didn’t listen to the first episode, they don’t necessarily go in order so listen to this one first, but make sure to go back to episode 74 because we talk about mindset and shopping. With the holidays coming, this is an important one to think about!

Today we’re talking about simplify daily tasks which can have a huge impact on how you feel each day.

These are the things that have to be done continuously or you quickly feel like you’re drowning. Things like cleaning, cooking, laundry, paying bills, and getting yourself and your kids ready for the day. I know there’s more, but these are the ones I hear about most. The steps we talk about today can be applied to any other task you’re struggling with.

Sometimes I look around the house and just thinking about all the things I need to do just to keep my family alive and keep the house running, makes me feel tired and it’s not even 7am.

The only way I’ve found to minimize this overwhelming feeling is to set up systems and make daily tasks more automatic. Rather than being in reactive mode, running around at 5:30, trying to figure out what to cook for dinner. Or looking for your favorite pair of jeans only to realize they’re in the mound of laundry on the washer, I want you to live in proactive mode.

That’s exactly what we’re going to change today as we talk about small steps you can take to go from reactive to proactive.

Step 1- write down the tasks that cause you stress and how much time they take.
Step 2- write down how often you need to do them, daily, weekly, etc.
Step 3- decide when you’ll do the task and be specific.
Step 4- stay consistent until it becomes automatic.

There were several things I talked about in this episode that I could have kept talking about for hours.

If you’d like to hear more about my systems or more detail on how to set them up, I have several other episodes you may want to listen to.

Links from this Episode

Now it’s time to go and do! Remember if you have questions or need support with anything we talk about on this show you can always DM me on IG, I’m @jennaarvidson or come join my FB group.

074: Small Steps to Lasting Change Series- 3 Small Mindset Shifts Nov 05, 2020

Show notes

This podcast and my mission with sharing tips with you each week is not about your stuff. Although I talk about stuff a lot, my real hope is that you find a way to let go of the excess things in your life (both physical and mental) so you can live your life. I don’t want you to spend all your time managing your belongings and rushing from place to place. Instead I want you to create space for actually living life.

I also want you to hear me when I say, I am not perfect at any of this. This has been a journey of mine and my family’s for a while now and my hope is I can share what has worked for us along the way, but that you also understand I’m still on the journey with you.

This episode is the beginning of a series I’m calling, small steps to lasting change. Each episode will give you 3 small steps you can implement that will hopefully help you make lasting change in your home and your life. This week we’ll talk about mindset changes. Next episode in the series we’ll talk about day to day tasks, and then we’ll continue over the coming weeks.

Three mindset changes we talk about in this episode that you can make today :

1. Intentional shopping and list making

2. What do I want in my life- everything that comes in has to be managed (both physical stuff and the things you add to your calendar)

3. Self denial- the practice of self denial is, in my opinion, one of the best practices you can add to your adult life. Learning how to live with less, and not giving into every temptation will serve you mentally, physically, and financially.

Links from this episode
#1000things challenge
If this episode inspired you in some way, please take a minute to leave a rating and review on itunes. Use this link, click the 5 starts, and write a short review of the show!

073: Living Clutter Free with Kids (Interview with Joshua Becker) Oct 22, 2020

Show notes

This is one of my favorite interviews and one of the most popular episodes to date. I decided to bring it back to life so it wasn't buried deep in early episodes and could reach more people.
If you’ve ever felt like living clutter free with kids is impossible, this episode of The Simple Home Podcast is for you.

Minimalism with a family is possible and as we learn during this interview with Joshua Becker, it may even make the other parts of parenting a bit more enjoyable.

Being a minimalist isn’t about owning a certain amount of items or living in a perfectly clean house.

Minimalism is about owning the possessions that bring you life and getting rid of the excess. It’s about letting go of the things on your schedule that don’t fulfill you. Decluttering and living simpler with your family allows you to make room for what matters most.

In this episode of the simple home podcast, I interview Joshua Becker from becoming minimalist. He and his wife have been on this journey with their two kids for several years and his advice is invaluable. I left this conversation ready to continue simplifying and feeling more at peace with where I am right now.

For me, letting go of the excess stuff in our lives has opened up a new level of calm.

I’m not a perfect mom,

I still get frustrated and have days when being a mom feels REALLY hard.
My house is still messy most of the time.
I still end up bringing extra items into my house I wish I wouldn’t have.
I still feel guilty when I say no to my kids about a toy they think they can’t live without.

This has been my favorite podcast episode yet. You don’t want to miss it!

What we talk about in this episode

Joshua tells us how he got started with minimalism. His story really hit home with me and I think it will you too.
Why minimalism might be even more important for families than anyone else.
How you can handle the ‘envy’ your kids may experience when they see all the things other kids have. And how to say no without feeling bad about it.
Joshua’s best advice for moms looking for a simpler life. The one thing he tells us to do will literally change the way you start everyday.
So many nuggets of wisdom I can’t list them all here!

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of my links, I may receive a small commission.

Links for this episode

Find this episode of The Simple Home Podcast and others you’ll love on your favorite podcast player, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, and TuneIn! Remember to subscribe on your favorite podcast player so you don’t miss an episode.

072: SHR Workshop Day 4 How to Maintain Your Clutter Free Home Oct 08, 2020

Show notes

Creating a simpler life is one thing, but learning how to maintain your clutter free home is where the real magic happens.

Have you ever wondered how you got so much stuff in the first place? Then you purge and organize, only to feel like you're drowning in your stuff again just a few months later.

So many of us struggle with this.

It's because getting rid of stuff doesn't solve the root cause of why you've accumulated the stuff you have.

Maintaining a Clutter Free Home Takes a Mindset Shift

It takes a shift in the way you consume goods,
the way you look at your possessions,
and the way you talk to friends and family about your choice to have a clutter free house.

In this episode of The Simple Home Podcast, I'll help you understand how to shift your thinking so you can maintain your clutter free home once and for all.

Stop purging, organizing, and re-accumulating and start living in a clutter free home.

Links From This Episode

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[Bonus Episode] Teach Your Young Kids to Play Independently Sep 29, 2020

Show notes

If you have young kids, you know how hard it can be to encourage them to play independently.
Some kids might enjoy being by themselves, but some crave your constant attention. This can deplete your energy, your patience, and fill you with guilt.
In today's bonus episode of The Simple Home Podcast, I'll give you 4 actionable tis you can try today to get your kids to play independently.
Being able to be by yourself, learning to self motivate, and finding valuable ways to spend your own time, are life skills, I think we would all agree, would benefit our children in the long run.
You can use all of these tips to teach your children the joys of being by themselves, so you can have time for yourself as well. (Which is equally as important to your child's well-being!)
Links from this episode
Reignite Toddler Play FREE Virtual Conference

071: SHR Workshop Day 3- Make Your Life Easier, One Routine at a Time Sep 24, 2020

Show notes

If you’ve listened to my podcast before or spent any time around my website, you know I love routines and systems!

The bulk of what we do everyday can be automated, creating more time and mental energy for the things you really enjoy.

When I say automated, I don’t mean you’ll be living a life that feels robotic. When you start to implement routines into your day, you’ll realize that you’re getting many things done without much thought. This saves those precious decision making calories for more important tasks, like make believe play with your kids or planning your next adventure.

This week on The Simple Home Podcast, I talk about how to create routines that make everyday tasks flow seamlessly within your day. Rather than living in a reactive state, you’ll learn to take care of things proactively and enjoy the extra time you save as a result.

Links from this episode

Create Daily Habits that will Transform Your Life
SHR Workshop Day One
SHR Workshop Day Two
Morning Routines, Nightly Routines, and Daily Resets for Busy Families
10 Things in 20 minutes- 10 Things to do Every Night for Easier Mornings- FREE Download

If this episode inspired you in some way, please take a minute to leave a rating and review on itunes. Use this link, click the 5 starts, and write a short review of the show!