Essential oils aren't just for home remedies or cleaning. Did you know that you can incorporate essential oils into your beauty routine--with great results? Here's how to get started.This post is sponsored by Oils by Katelyn. Katelyn is a wonderful resource if you want to learn more about using essential oils to improve your health! Smart women know that what you put on your skin doesn't necessarily stay there. It's true that your skin acts as a protective barrier from your environment, but it's also extremely porous. Chemicals in your body products can enter your blood stream, tissues, and organs via absorption through the skin, ... Continue Reading
5 Old-Fashioned Ways to Nourish and Moisturize Your Skin
Old-fashioned skincare never goes out of style! Here are 5 natural ways to nourish and moisturize your skin that are a throwback to simpler times. This blog post was sponsored by Wilder Supply Co. All opinions are genuine and are enthusiastically my own.Do you want to be like the average American woman and spend over $200,000 on skincare over the course of your life? Or would you like to opt for a simpler, more frugal route?I vote the latter.In a society with a dizzying array of skincare options, I'm glad that we always have the option to choose simplicity. Women have been showing their beautiful faces for thousands of ... Continue Reading
10 Popular Essential Oils and Blends (and 25+ ways to use them!)
This post is sponsored by Oils by Katelyn. Katelyn is wonderful to work with and has taught me so much about essential oils! I’m glad to pass on to you what I’ve learned!Essential oils are something I never got into because they seemed too complicated. I had friends who raved about them but I didn't have the least idea how to begin using them in my own home.Thankfully, that's changing now!For me, the key to simplifying essential oils was to get an essential oils mentor--someone with experience in using oils safely and educating others about effective usage. I introduced you to my mentor, Katelyn, in my first post on essential ... Continue Reading
Essential Oils, Simplified.
I've been in love with the idea of essential oils for several years, but I haven't fallen in love with the actual oils until very recently.I found essential oils intriguing, promising...but overwhelming.With no idea how to distill the vast stores of information on essential oils into applicable, practical uses, I stalled with a hodge-podge of bottles from various brands, all barely used.I finally starting moving forward with essential oils when Katelyn Neil contacted me a few months ago. A former firefighter and paramedic, Katelyn now runs a work-at-home business selling essential oils and educating other women on how to safely ... Continue Reading
Using Seaweed and Botanicals for Happier Hair and Skin
I've been on a long and sometimes painful odyssey to healthy, happy hair. I've tried a range of shampoos from the cheapest conventional options, to slightly more pricey concoctions, to bottles with varying percentages of "natural" ingredients.The conventional shampoos dry out my hair, increase my dependency on shampoo (the more you use, the more you need to use), and dull my hair's natural colour. And to make matters worse, they're full of toxic chemicals that are either entering my skin or flowing into the water supply (or both!)On the other hand, I've had very mixed results with the natural shampoos. Some of them have mysteriously ... Continue Reading
Top 10 Posts of 2016 (+ a Short Blog Update)
The year 2016 was one of renewal and rootedness. After so many exciting changes in 2015 (new baby, new job, new home, new church, new blog design, new book...whew!) we were ready to enjoy some sameness and routine!Well, we did have one major change--our move to our first full-sized home! We're now just five minutes from my husband's school, which will simplify life immensely. We're reveling in the extra breathing room that this home provides, and enjoying the pleasant challenge of gradually decorating and arranging our space. Craigslist and the local thrift stores are our go-to sources for home furnishings! It's entirely possible to have ... Continue Reading
8 Superfoods and Supplements to Add to Your Real Food Pantry
You hear about dozens--maybe hundreds!--of different supplements and superfoods from books, blogs, health websites, and magazines. Have you ever wondered: what does one family actually take?Today, instead of giving you a catalogue of all the supplements and superfoods you could take (because God and man have made many!), I'm just going to give you the details of eight things my own family actually uses and loves.Our everyday diet includes what you might expect from anyone with a simple, balanced approach to healthy eating. Over the five years since our marriage, we've added a few things to our real food pantry that pack an extra ... Continue Reading
How to Simplify the Switch to Natural Living
Do you want to adopt a more natural lifestyle, but feel it's too expensive + overwhelming to get started? I have a solution for you today that will address both problems!Five years ago, when Eric and I became more interested in reusable, natural alternatives for our home, we didn't have much extra money to invest in buying new products. So we made the switches gradually, over the course of a few years. We spent a little money here and there on reusable snack bags, non-plastic water bottles, glass storage containers, and the like. This slow and steady approach ending up being a perfect fit, because we were able to fully assimilate each ... Continue Reading
5 Ways I Use Coconut Oil in My Home
A few years ago, I had never even heard of coconut oil. Now? I use it almost daily!Chances are, you've heard of coconut oil, too, since it's been getting a lot of press lately. If you've wondered what to actually do with it, let me share with you the main uses I've found for coconut oil.Although you'll find coconut oil in the health food store--and even in many local grocery stores now--it's usually just sold in small jars and it's on the pricey side. If you want coconut oil to become a staple in your pantry, buy a jar in a larger size, online. I currently get mine from Amazon. The prices for different brands of coconut oil change, so ... Continue Reading
7 Things We Did to Reduce Our Sugar Intake
Let me begin by disclosing that I have always had, and always will have, a sweet tooth.But you know what? I've discovered that it's actually possible to have a sweet tooth and not eat much sugar.If you've followed this blog from its inception, you know that I began it largely to share my journey to what I call a "real food diet." (Here's my Food Manifesto and here are 20 Steps to a Real Food Diet).As I worked to eat healthier, I knew that sugar would be a particular weakness for me since I enjoy sweets so much! But I also became convinced that a sugar cutback needed to happen.Sugar affects so much more than our weight. It can ... Continue Reading
