Love Your Life

This years Hearts at Home Conference was themed Love Your Life.
For the first time I really struggled trying to find sessions that I was really looking forward to.
There were a few that I was a little bit excited about but not like in the past.

I didn't recognize many of the speakers and there were less 'practical' sessions like home organizing, personal styling, etc.

Here are some key notes that I took from my sessions this year.

"Grieve what is not and accept what it is."
Jill talked a lot about trying to get rid of the 'perfect' image in your head about how things should be.  Let go of the control and stop dwelling on things that weren't done or didn't go the way you had hoped and live in the moment to accept your story the way it is at this moment. 


Winning the Battle in your Mind
Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.
Worrying accomplishes nothing.  Worry doesn't add hours to the day or dollars to the bank account.
We have far more interesting things to do with our lives.  The goal for this session was to take the Two-Week Challenge to Saying NO to Verbal Slams. 
Stop trying to 'be good enough', you ARE good enough.

How to Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half
 This session was put on by the Money Saving Mom:  http://moneysavingmom.com/
1.  Create a budget ($20-$50 per person per week, then set a goal to decrease that by 1-3% per month).  Only use cash to pay for items.
2.  Menu Planning.  Write out 30 meals and then rotate.  Here's a  Recipe Blog
3.  Rotate your stores (based on deals, items)
4.  Buy in bulk
5.  Use Less
6.  Use your freezer
7.  Purchase groceries online.  Subscribe to sites for deals and then cancel subscriptions
8.  Serve meat as a condiment so you are not eating that as a main dish 

Overall the conference wasn't as good as it has been the last two years but as always, I am still glad I was able to come.  I'll be back next year, for the whole weekend this time!