the take home folder vol 122

The second week of summer brought with it

a cool breeze that allowed us to keep our windows open all week (huge win for our electric bill)

a pool day with a gaggle of fun kids

outdoor walks with an audiobook playing in my ears

me already forgetting to water the flowers

2 golf lessons, 5 baseball games, 5 morning hockey camps, endless games of backyard soccer

my son’s playlist on repeat in the car

a lost debit card ughhhhhhh

an expensive drive through lunch for my kids at McD’s for those darn World Cup meals

a very…lived in house

and a happy mom. it was a good week.

I hope you’re doing well and settling into your version of summer life.

What is something I can do for our home?

What is something I can do for/with our family?

What is something I can do for myself?

Today for me it’s cleaning out/organizing the fridge, cheering on my son’s team in their baseball tournament and holding down the fort while Todd enjoys a round of golf with his dad, and getting my ducks in a row administratively ahead of the week.

Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads out there. I am lucky to have been raised by an amazing dad and be married to an amazing dad. The impact good dads have on the next generation is endless.

here’s this week’s take home folder, enjoy!

We have this open area of our family room that we refer to as the staging area. Backpacks naturally land there after school. Packing for a trip? Items to remember are set there. The pool bag finds its way there even though there is room for it in the hall closet. Returns are set there to grab on the way out the door.

Recently I was watching Minne Thrift Co’s IG stories and had a lightbulb moment. Most days, she shares a cute photo of a bench they have in their home with the family’s bags packed for the day. And I realized that a bench would be perfect in our natural staging area! So I found one on Facebook Marketplace to give it a try and it’s been exactly the ticket to get things off the floor and add functionality to an open spot. Little thing, big impact.

A decide once: For anything that happens more than once a year, I make the next appointment before I leave. Things like the dentist, hair appointments, etc.

This saves me the mental energy of having to remember to schedule. It also ensures I get a preferred day/time. Worst case scenario? I have to reschedule, but that’s rare. Yay for making and keeping the appointments.

Shoutout to OxiClean White Revive - it has kept my boys’ baseball pants looking sharp all season long. This week I used it on my son’s white sneakers that I was convinced would never come clean and they came out of the washing machine looking great.

For the sneakers, I scrubbed under hot water with a brush. Then, I put them in the washer with OxiClean and powdered Tide for a warm water wash and added on the “soak” option. I dried them on our boot dryer but you could also air dry, dry in the dryer on the lowest setting, or dry them in the sun!

This week I took time to prep chicken salad and a farro salad1 for lunches and enjoyed a fancy lunch every day. I don't get to this every week, but gosh it’s nice (and I eat a much more balanced lunch) when I do.

What’s your lunch situation? Do you have a system for this? Could prepping something for lunch ahead of time serve you well?

I used to make a lot of money from Amazon.

If I brought in a certain amount in sales, they would give me a bonus on top of affiliate commissions.

It was the first time I made significant money with Begin at Home.

They raised the bar.

Now I had to sell more to get the bonus.

Linking something most days.

It was a stretch but the bonuses helped our family so much.

Then they raised the bar again.

Now to get the bonus I needed more clicks. The biggest way this happens is by posting click bait links (not showing the actual item, with the goal of getting the consumer to tap the link.)

The bonuses grew bigger.

Now the only way I could get an Amazon bonus was if I posted a link/multiple links daily and some of them had to be click bait type links.

I didn’t really have any new stuff to post.

I didn’t want to clutter up anyone’s house with random stuff.

And I don’t really shop on Amazon all that much myself.

Then one day I just…stopped.

It didn’t sit right with me nor align with my lens of conscious consumerism.

Now I make very little money from Amazon.

But I sleep better at night.

see you right back here next week,

recent favorites

Artifactify - the perfect spot to jot down a memory from each day. Bonus is it’s a small, woman-owned business.

Spanx - I have a couple pieces from Spanx - this stay cool active dress, these wide leg track pants (soooo good and on sale), and couldn’t pass up ordering a half zip at the sale price. The clothes fit well, wash well, and are great quality. They offer sizes xs-3x and petite/tall.

strawberry protein powder 26g protein and 6g fiber per serving and I can get it at Target, a win. Perfect in smoothies!

My Costs Have Gone Up and My Income has Gone Down - my favorite read this week! So real and refreshing. Carly is one of the best IG follows too.

Some of the links in this newsletter are affiliate links which means that I get a small kickback from the retailer at no cost to you. Thank you so much for using them, it supports my work and allows me to continue providing free content each week.