Simple Saturdays

How do you want to spend your time? Your energy? Your space and money? When you decide in line with your values you will feel intentional and purposeful with all your little and big decisions.  Knowing your personal values helps you learn more about what matters to you, how you want to show up and how to make confident choices in your day and life.  But many of us are out of touch with our values, or we have lost touch with them when we entered into motherhood. I want to help you uncover what matters to you, what your personal values are - and I want to do that without the overwhelm that comes from looking at a blank slate.    Knowing your values helps you with: Handling the world of 'too much' and decision fatigue (episode on that here) Saying your BEST YES, owning your decisions Feeling like you are living with integrity, purpose and contentment  In this episode, we talk about Times when we aren't in touch with our values, how we lose touch with them, how we adopt other people's values instead

Family traditions are something we often think about as we start having kids. Many of us are looking for traditions to bring into our holidays that help us make memories with our kids. Sometimes we even feel an urgency to find the 'right ones, right now'.   As we start to incorporate these new tradition ideas, sometimes they don't always work. But here is why I think it is worth spending the effort doing some trial and error with traditions. . . .      In this episode we cover: the ways that traditions help us express our values as a family the role of traditions in family heritage finding stability in the routine of traditions the urgency we have to establish our new family traditions traditions we tried that DIDN'T work traditions that DO work for us  what I've learned about having Christmas traditions as a young family  The Christmas Pajama Stockings The blog post with all the Christmas tradition ideas is right here Simple Christmas Series Simple Christmas Podcast Episodes Episod

Would you like to be more intentional with how you use your phone? Do you want to set boundaries and take back control of what your relationship with your phone looks like? In this episode, I have tips on how to do all of this, and I share my own personal phone boundaries that you might like to try too. Make sure to get the worksheets to help you create your own plan for creating intentional phone habits.    Follow up to the last episode on the phone habits and addictions that are made on autopilot.  Do you have a motivation for changing your current phone habits? What do you want more of? Less of?  If you want to understand your current phone habits, get the worksheets from the last episode right here.  In this episode we cover: What we are trying to GET from our phones, what we turn to them for.  Getting our needs met in REAL LIFE and not just by our phones How to be intentional with your phone Setting boundaries with how you use your phone I share my own personal phone limits and chall

I get messages from moms, and coach women who feel like they are addicted to their phones. They share how it pulls them out of their presence with their kids and their lives. It sucks up their time and they feel like they never have enough time. It draws in their attention and they are scrolling social media that does NOT make them feel any better about themselves.  It seems that our phone usage isn't getting us what we want. I want to unpack this relationship we have formed with our phones, by letting it be on autopilot.   Make sure to get the worksheets that help you assess your relationship to your phone and better understand the exact impact it is having on you and your life.  The goal with all of this is not to villainize our phones (I like my phone!), and not to bring more judgment and shame onto ourselves (lasting positive change does not happen from a place of negative judgment) - the goal with this is AWARENESS - what is going on and is it working?   In this episode you will hear: the g

I knew I had to share this episode as I heard more and more coaching clients tell me how much they appreciated hearing me say that I don't always enjoy my kids, that I was a mom martyr, that pregnancy was hard.  I keep hearing how much it matters to hear that they aren't alone in these struggles of motherhood.  In this episode I am talking about: Feeling like you aren't 'normal' Welcoming the resistance you might feel to the idea that you aren't alone What I have seen in coaching groups of women and moms The struggles I have in my own home, maybe you have them too  Sibling rivalry Having compassion for ourselves allows us to have it for others Being honest about our struggles Allowing people in, and offering support to others Stop by the Facebook community group or send me a message through Instagram.                View this post on Instagram                         A post shared by kristen bell (@kristenanniebell)     The list of links you might like/mentioned in

We hear a lot about the mental burden that moms carry. We have so many things on our minds about all the people and all the things that need to happen PLUS all the things we want to be doing for ourselves too. It is a weighty mental load that we are carrying around.  I want to talk about a concept that will help you see some ways you can lighten this mental load. The concept is decision fatigue, which is the overwhelm we feel from having to make so many decisions in our day.  And if you pay attention, you will notice how almost every moment we have another decision to make about what to eat, how to respond, how to spend our time, how to act, what to do next. And by the end of the day, we are exhausted by it.  I want to talk about practical ways to manage decision fatigue, so it is one less contributor to your mental load as a mom.      In this episode we cover: Three ways that having too many choices impacts us and our satisfaction The three ways we respond to too many choices How struggling with

There is a type of clutter we ALL have in our home. It is identity clutter - you know those items that for someone we are not - but rather for different versions of ourselves: our past self, our aspirational self, our socially-compliant self, and our test self.  I walk you through these four types of identity clutter, how they challenge our sense of self and what we can learn from them.  Make sure to get the download worksheet of the four types and clutter questions you can ask to help you decide what to do with the identity clutter.    What is identity clutter? Identity clutter are things in our home that are  Who we used to be (past self) Who we wish we could be (aspirational self) Who others think we should be (socially-compliant self) Who we think we are, but we aren’t sure, probably just following a trend (test self) How do trends contribute to identity clutter? A lot of our identity clutter comes from trying out trends. And it makes sense that we, as humans, would follow trends. There is s

We all feel this sense of  'ideal self' that we want to be moving towards. It is safe to assume a lot of us desire some change on some level in some area of our lives. But we need to consider what change will cost us. We can't ever change if we aren't willing to make some kind of investment in it.    Seeing where we need to make an INVESTMENT in the change we want This episode started out with me wanting to share on INBOX ZERO, but the issue became about the TIME it would take to accomplish inbox zero This brings up the issue of making an upfront investment in the change we want for later in our life.    We want to make changes As I have worked to live my life 'on purpose' (intentional living), it meant making a lot of change in my life.  And in almost every coaching session I have, I am working with someone on a change they want to make: change in relationships, in approach, in time management, in how they handle their health, etc.  But we need to be mindful of how easy we expect it to be.  DO WE WAN

Feel like you are shopping too much? Want to bring a minimalist approach and mindset into how you shop? Every season we seem to be bombarded with the latest fashion trends - a marketing strategy that fast fashion uses to get us to keep buying all the latest colours and patterns.  I know I feel like I need to buy a new wardrobe each season and need to remind myself of everything I already DO have in my closet.  In this episode, I will talk about WHY we shop, how to know when it is causing a problem for you and how to bring a mindful and minimal approach into your shopping.  Make sure to get the free downloads that go with this episode, right here Why it feels good to shop The neurochemical payoff In her great book Tame Your Anxiety by Loretta Breuning outlines the neurochemicals we like to get (serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine). I share my view on how I think we get each of these neurochemicals from shopping.  Control and choice Shopping is also something we can turn to feel in control, which is a de

I challenged you to get uncomfortable this week. Now I want to dig into doing simple things that serve a bigger purpose. Giving your discomfort a purpose to work towards the vision and goals you have for your life. I want to break it down, keep it simple, and encourage you to drop your all-or-nothing mindset.  This past weekend  I did another Abundance Day  (aka Yes Day) with my kids.  Last year I did this and shared my takeaways in this episode "I let my kids do whatever they wanted all day"   Discomfort on purpose Last week I shared how we are building lives of comfort but discomfort can serve a purpose. In the episode, I shared my own experiences with this and challenged you to do something uncomfortable ON PURPOSE (#uncomfortableonpurpose) I love to hear what you are working on (on Instagram and in the Facebook group)   Let's build on the purpose we can give our discomfort There is value in going out of your comfort zone, practicing that, and growing your tolerance for feeling uncomfortable There i

I love comfort (#typeninevibes) and I know that a lot of my comfort-seeking is more the AVOIDANCE of discomfort.  I don't want to be uncomfortable.    What things make you uncomfortable? For me they have been things like:  Taking my small kids out in public Working on the conflicts in my marriage Exercise Getting up in the mornings Doing dishes Decluttering and organizing my home  Seeing my kid struggle or be upset Go to a social event I was nervous about Sitting with all the stress and anxiety I felt about motherhood and life Paying attention to how my body was feeling No matter how simple these may seem, they were things I was avoiding because they were uncomfortable.  But staying in what felt COMFORTABLE was coming at a cost.  What does 'staying where we are' cost us? It has a cost to our relationships, to our health, to the state of our home. This complacency costs us something.  When we realize what we have traded for comfort, it can make us feel shame.  When my eyes were opened to

Looking for ways to have more fun in motherhood and BE more fun as a mom? I have asked myself this question too.  Inside of our FB Group - Simple on Purpose Community, there comes a great question. The question was in essence, I can DO fun things with my kids, take them to swim, skate,  and stuff, but how do I HAVE fun with my kids?  How do I BE fun?  In this episode, I’m going to elaborate on how I responded to that question. When motherhood becomes too serious and the fun mom you once were disappears into the background, it’s time to take an honest look at the things that are stealing the fun.  These days, there’s a lot of pressure on us to be both extremely involved and the perfect amount of detached. And while we were thinking about how to manage everything, there is one thing we seem to be missing — FUN.   We are all different types of moms, we all have different values we want to bring into motherhood. And let’s be real — sometimes we are in no mood for fun.    If fun is one of those values you

It’s back to school time! Are you ready? I know we have been enjoying the slow pace of summer and will need to put ourselves back on schedule to make back to school run more smoothly.  Over the years we have developed routines that we rely on in our school and workweek. I want to share our three favourites with you as you think about how you want to start out this new school year as a family.  How routines help our kids and us for school days We can rely on routines to get stuff done.  It gives us the momentum and predictability and these habits set for us. I know what’s going to happen, and the kids know what to expect. There's less drama over making transitions or how the kids are spending their time. If you have a kid who struggles with anxiety, knowing their part of the routine helps relieve a lot of that anxiety. How to make routines more effective Introduce this system to your family, and coach them by creating that as a habit, reminding them repeatedly. Give our kids reminders that are

How did your summer go? Anything you wish you that you did more of or less of? Today I have a PROMPT episode for you - where I will prompt you through some helpful questions that I hope will help you live more intentionally.  Specifically, having a summer on PURPOSE. So let's take a minute to stop and reflect on the ways you want to improve next summer by noting what you learned from THIS summer.    I share a bit of my story about having my kids close together in age learning I had the CHOICE to declutter and facing the basement of shame.  wanting to live ON PURPOSE and let go of complacency becoming a life coach who walks other women through living with more peace, purpose, and presence in their lives   THIS IS A PROMPT EPISODE The power of a prompt You take the time to slow down and access your PFC (prefrontal cortex), the part of your brain associated with long term planning and rational decision making You ask your brain a really good question You tap into the answers that are there wit

Procrastination is an avoidant strategy and there are so many layers to it, why we do it, how to redirect it, how to accept it, and so on.  It is also something almost everyone does and something that can cause a lot of shame, especially for moms    What is procrastination? It is putting something off for later.  We all do it, everday. We put off phone calls and chores and errands.  So how do we know if we simply PRIORITIZING our time and energy of it we are procrastinating?   Why we procrastinate There is a reason that deep down it is preferable to us to put off the task. Some reasons might include overwhelm, avoidance, all or nothing perfectionism, or we deep down don't want to do it.    How the brain responds to pending tasks The brain has three jobs: seek pleasure, avoid pain, stay efficient.  When we have the thought about a task we 'should' do the brain responds inline with this criteria - will it produce pleasure or pain? does it require a lot of energy?   Procrastination is not always a bad th

When an actor is typecast, they are locked into being cast for a certain TYPE of character, always a version of the same thing. And as parents, we can typecast our own kids. We give them labels on what they are - difficult, athletic, flighty, dramatic.  We can also give them seemingly positive labels - like smart, pretty, nice - and those can have impacts on them as well.  I want to empower you with: awareness around the labels you might give your kids, how it can impact your parenting experience, how it can impact them, and what to do about it    Products recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and take action I will be compensated at no additional cost to you.  Do you typecast your kids? Do you give them labels on who they are? We all do it, we label each kid. Especially when there are sets of siblings, we somehow have a need to categorize each of them like they are gang in a sitcom.  Our labels are not facts We feel like our labels about our kids are true,

I have been researching goals and habits since we started setting them in 2015. You can hear Conor share his take on doing this work as a couple in this episode.  Over the years I have searched to the ends of Pinterest and tried a lot of strategies to create habits for myself. I was doing this work fueled by the notion that I had to become a morning person now that I was a mom. I was thinking that habits would make me the optimal human, efficient and productive.  I have since learned to bring grace into it. Chase habits that make me feel purposeful rather than productive, and to set goals and habits in line with my personal vision for the areas of my life.    Four simple habits that make my momlife better 1. Having vegetables for breakfast.  This is part of my 'food uniform' that I try to have for breakfasts and lunches.  What I used to eat was sweet and carby and I was feeling crappy and shaky after breakfast. Then I did the Whole30 (here are 11 things I learned doing the Whole30) and weaned myself off

Andrea is a Registered Dietician who is here to talk with me about our relationship to food and teaching our kids a healthy relationship with food I also had a secret motive in asking her on because I had questions about how to handle food with my kids. I know I’m undoing a lot of cultured rules, how I was raised, my own biases, and I want to be mindful about how I teach my kids, especially my daughter, about the health of food without the food guilt or body shame.       In this conversation we will cover: Common struggles that women have when it comes to their relationship with food Emotional eating can be a common situation that happens in motherhood The ‘diet culture’ pressure that moms have to ‘drop the weight’ can lead to restrictive and unsustainable approaches to food Using food to manage our emotions (my own experience with emotional eating in motherhood) Using food as a way to control our bodies   Healing a heritage of food guilt and body shame We know enough about attachment to know

This is a Q+A episode featuring questions from the Simple Squad (the Simple on Purpose Facebook Community). We are talking about feelings, marriage, seasons of life, parenting and family chores. These answers are coming at you from my life coaching point of view. I am a mom of three kids, trained Life Coach, practical minimalist, and I help moms with intentional living.   Questions covered in this episode: 1. Can you talk about the seasons of life and how we can't do certain things at certain seasons? Related posts with more information on this topic Simplify your life series All posts about Mom Life Expectation overwhelm   2. How do I change my parenting style when my husband is not on board or how can I get him on board...? Related posts with more information on this topic: When your spouse doesn't want to declutter Teaching our kids emotional intelligence Emotional Intelligence 101 (and by Enneagram Type) Book review: Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child   3. Meeting adult friends

Expectation overwhelm is when you have a to-do list that is so long that it overwhelms you. This starts a defeating cycle of hustling, beating ourselves up for not doing 'enough', and not really feeling empowered to live a life of purpose.    Feeling productive and the beliefs we have about how we spend our time Coach women a lot on productivity and procrastination They feel like they can’t get things done in the day They want to be better at getting things done.  And it is the same issue on both ends of the spectrum - they are about how we FEEL about how we spend our time.  Did we FEEL we were productive? did we FEEL they procrastinated? Remember our FEELINGS come from our thoughts. So the story we tell ourselves about how we have used our time is going to matter. It will change our experience of how we use our time.    What is expectation overwhelm? Expectation overwhelm is when we have such a long 'should do' list that it constantly overwhelms us. We walk around thinking something is wrong with us th