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Are you craving a slower, more handmade life?

There is so much more to life than the rush, stress, and chaos of the modern world. Is this what we’re really meant for? Overworking and then stuffing ourselves with fake food, spending all our money on poorly made junk, and then numbing ourselves with TV every night?

There has to be something better than that. I know there is.

We’re so desperately missing community and connection. It is so normal for everything to come premade and prepackaged that we’re losing basic skills that our ancestors have nurtured and maintained for thousands of years.

I’m not saying that the past was perfect in any way. From a daily living perspective though, our ancestors were much more connected to the earth and each other. They knew where food came from. They knew how to make the most of their money and fix things when they broke. Their trash disappeared without a trace instead of polluting our oceans.

We need to take a step away from this highly processed, prepackaged life and refocus on what matters.

• Our families and communities.
• Learning and trying new things.
• Making and fixing things.
• Growing and preserving food.
• Feeding and nourishing our families.
• Saving money and living within our means.

Tools for Your Journey

Ready to take a step backward with me? Here are some tools to help you on your journey.

Cooking from Scratch

This is one of the most important skills to reclaim! You’ll use it three times a day and it’s an excellent way to save money, spend time with your family, and achieve your health goals.

It can also feel challenging at the beginning. My goal is to help you cook from scratch every day! (With less stress, of course!)

• Visit my recipe index to see all of my recipes & posts
• The simple cooking skill holding back most beginners
• How to afford local produce on a budget
• Learn how to set up a real food pantry here
• Sustainable baking essentials for beginners
• Check out my favorite source for organic pantry staples

If you want to cook from scratch with less stress…meal planning makes a huge difference! I love, love, love helping people set up simple, sustainable meal planning routines!

Meal Planning

My workbook Make Over Your Meal Plan was made to help beginners set up a realistic meal planning routine that works for them! This is a great way to minimize your food waste, save money, and of course, eat better.

• How to simplify meal planning
• Setting up a minimalist meal plan
• Zero waste meal planning
• 7 things to do when you feel overwhelmed meal planning
• 5 last minute dinners you can make from your pantry

Modern Homemaking

Homemaking is not just about cooking, cleaning, and folding the laundry, although that’s part of it. Instead, modern homemaking is about reprioritizing the home. Instead of thinking of maintaining a home as a chore, modern homemaking reframes this perspective and sees them as daily rituals of love and connection.

Personally, I feel calmer, more peaceful, and grounded when my home is in order. Life just feels a little easier when the sink is empty, the clutter has been put away, and the meal plan is ready for the week.

Plus, it’s really important to me that my home is physically safe. Since I am sensitive to synthetic fragrances and have struggled with sensitive skin my whole life, non-toxic living is very important to me.

In addition to that, I love the challenge of setting up and decorating a frugal, sustainable home. You’ll see that I’m a big fan of thrifting and updating used furniture! I love antiques (ahem, milk glass). I even sell my favorite vintage finds, handmade products, and planners in my Etsy shop!

Green Cleaning

• Zero waste cleaning swaps worth the switch
• DIY toilet cleaner
• See my Sal Suds review to learn about my favorite cleaning concentrate
• Find a plastic-free, zero waste dish soap
• Zero waste toilet cleaning 101
• Make DIY toilet spray (just like Poo Pourri)

Visit my shop

Sustainable Living

Reducing my carbon footprint is so important to me. I don’t make any decisions without evaluating if that choice is good for my wallet or the environment. It’s an inextricable part of my identity and motivates all of these other parts of my life!

I’m on a mission to go zero waste. Right now, we’re living a low waste lifestyle, which means we are still producing some trash. In a zero waste model, we’d shrink that even more by refilling containers at the bulk store, etc.

This is such a passion for me that you will find a lot of posts about sustainable living here!

Starting a Sustainable Lifestyle

• Why I Refuse to Buy Costco Toilet Paper (my most popular post of all-time)
• 20+ sustainable living bloggers share their favorite sustainable living tips for beginners
• How to be sustainable in everyday life
• Read my green mattress guide to find the right eco-friendly mattress for you
• 7 important questions to ask yourself before buying something new

Going Zero Waste

• Setting up a real food zero waste kitchen
• Zero waste pantry staples
• Zero waste bathroom essentials
• 60+ easy zero waste swaps for beginners

Sustainable Home Decor

• Why and where to buy used furniture that lasts
• Our 1930s kitchen table update
• Where to buy affordable farmhouse cabinet pulls

Gardening

After starting my first garden in 2013, I became hooked on growing my own food! This passion led to me to working at a local farmers market, and I stuck around for 4 years. In that time, I learned so much about local food, growing my own food, cooking with seasonal produce, and more! I even found myself harvesting on my friends’ farms during the summer.

Local or homegrown food is so important to me! I love to simplify gardening for beginners so they can realize just how easy it really is.

Grow your own

• The Best Plants for Beginner Gardeners
• The Best Flowers to Grow in a Vegetable Garden
• Basic Companion Planting Tips for Beginners
• 15 Must-Have Crops for the Fall Garden

Preserving the harvest

• How to make green onion salt
• Drying green onions in the oven
• Freezing raspberries and other berries
• Make your own extracts like vanilla extract, lavender extract, cinnamon extract, and more
• Infuse sugar with fresh lavender for this delicious lavender sugar
• Ferment your own spicy garlic sauerkraut with homegrown produce

Let’s do this together!

Life is better with other people. I’ll help guide you through the process of setting up a simple, sustainable home. Here’s how to find me: