5 Significant Changes We're Making in 2024 + the habit tracking app I can't stop talking about

A marriage book, a cornbread recipe, and a brand-new menu plan! Hi, Friend! I've been loving starting my day with a brisk 8-10 minute walk in the cold and then watching the sun rise while I read my Bible. It has been so calming to my soul and feels like it really kickstarts my day well. I can't wait to see what this commitment to sunlight before screens does for my health -- emotionally, physically, and spiritually -- over the course of 2024. It's been a wild week here -- not only with a lot of unexpected challenges that I can't talk about online, but also with Kaitlynn, Silas, and David going back to school, prepping for Kierstyn to start preschool next week, our stove breaking, trying to recover and unpack from 10 days in Kansas, and getting all of the Christmas things put away + finding homes for the new gifts! Oh and we also had a BIG launch -- did you see our [brand-new 10 Weeks of Money-Saving Menus product??]( It's on sale for just $7.50 through midnight tonight! More on that below! One of the goals I made for 2024 ([see my goals here]() was to only eat refined sugar twice a week. This is a big one for me, as I have a major sweet tooth and love homemade desserts and sweet breads. I started experimenting with this idea of making this a goal in 2024 in December, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be! It helps that I’ve found some yummy replacements for sweets that don’t have refined sugar — thanks to things like [Zevia](=)and [Lily’s Chocolate](=)! I’m also okay with having honey or maple syrup. Plus, instead of setting myself up for failure by saying no refined sugar at all, I’m setting the goal to only have two items with it every week. So I can carefully choose what I want to splurge on instead of just mindlessly eating lots of carbs and sugars like I tend to! I also set a goal to eat 90 grams of protein per day and I'm finding that eating more protein has really helped me have a lot fewer cavings for carbs and sweets, too! I'm having fun experimenting with new recipes and one I tried and we loved this week was for [Honey Cornbread from Cookie and Kate](. We love sweet cornbread (my apologies to all the people who don't like sweet cornbead; you are missing out!) and I used maple syrup in it and it was delicious! I finished my first read for 2024: [Lovin' With Grit and Grace by Jessica Ronne](=). I loved how honest and forthright Jessica was in this book. She didn't sugarcoat the hard parts of marriage -- especially if you have a blended family, lots of kids, and/or a child with disabilities/medical complexities. The writing was a little choppy or hard-to-follow in places and I felt like maybe she was a little too blunt in others, but I'm giving this book 4 stars because I felt so seen and encouraged by the sections on how to keep your marriage strong with you have a child with disabilities and the reminders of how much strain that + a large family/wide age range can put on your marriage. I've been using the [Strides app (iPhone only)]( to track my goals for 2024 and just love it. There's a free version and a paid version. I started out with the free version and quickly moved to the paid version once I realized just how helpful it would be to keep me on track goal-wise. I love that you can track a goal over a long period of time and see how you're doing on it -- if it's green, that means you're on track or ahead, if it's red, you're behind. I started using it 6 months ago and can't recommend it highly enough. I've been told that [Loop Habits]( is a similar app for Android. Links You Might Be Interested In: - [25+ Ways to Make $150 This Week]() -- Do you have some big financial goals for the new year? If so, this list of 25+ ways to make $150 is sure to give you some creative ways to stretch your budget! - [My 22 Goals for 2024]( -- In case you missed it, here's my LONG post with all the details on my 22 goals for 2024! We're kicking off this year with [a podcast episode sharing about five significant changes we’re making in our lives/schedules to be more intentional and purposeful.](=) Because Kierstyn is starting preschool (she'll be going to a little Christian Classical school 4 mornings a week), we are tweaking our daily routine in three significant ways: getting up and out the door by 7:25 a.m., getting our younger three to bed by 7:30 p.m., and me turning off my screens at 8:30 p.m. This isn’t just about change for the sake of change, it’s about aligning our lives more closely with our priorities, and we hope these adjustments will help us do just that. We also discuss other tweaks that we will be making in 2024, such as changes to my [blog]( and our commitment to ABC date nights! Creativity will reign supreme as we aim for 26 creatively-themed date nights throughout the year. [Listen to the episode here.](=) We Launched 10 Weeks of Money-Saving Menus! Did you see the news?? We launched a brand-new product this week to save you time and money! Here’s what you’ll get with [10 Weeks of Money-Saving Menus](: ✔️ [10 weeks’ worth of dinner ideas for your family]( – I’ve packed EACH and EVERY week’s menu with our family’s favorite, tried-and-true, budget-friendly recipes! (And none of the recipes repeat, so you get 60 unique recipes!) ✔️ [Six recipes per week made with SIMPLE, easy-to-access ingredients]() (the 7th day gives you some freedom for leftovers or a fun night for frozen pizza or another family favorite!) ✔️ [Weekly grocery lists](=)! Yep, you get a full grocery list for every week of recipes — divided into sections of the grocery store to make it super quick & easy to shop. 💃 ✔️ [Side dish ideas](=)! 🥳 Not only do you get complete menus each week, you’ll also get simple side dish ideas to go along with every single recipe. Psst! Have any other questions? Be sure to [check out the FAQ section over here](=) where I think we covered all of the most common questions! And through SATURDAY ONLY, you can [get it for the LOWEST price we’ll offer this product](=) — just $7.50 for all 10 weeks of menus! At just $0.75/week, that’s such a deal to have it all done for you! I'll be sending a video out with more details in a bit + a reminder email tonight in case you were meaning to purchase and forgot! I don't want you to miss out on this fantastic deal! Have a wonderful weekend! -Crystal [Unsubscribe]( Money Saving Mom, LLC 2020 Fieldstone Parkway, Ste. 900 #313 Franklin, Tennessee 37069 United States