Homemade microwave popcorn | Photo by Jonathan Blundell

I’ve been sitting on this idea for a while now but finally got around to doing it.

It’s true – you too can save a ton of money (and calories) by making your own microwave popcorn.

All you need is:

A package of regular yellow popcorn.
A brown paper bag (lunch size).
A piece of tape.
A microwave.

A full bag of popcorn | Photo by Jonathan Blundell

Instructions:

1. Simply measure out your popcorn – my bag says a serving is 3 tablespoons but you can do a full 1/4 cup (roughly 4 tablespoons) if you’d like.

2. Pour the popcorn in the paper bag.

3. Fold the open end of the bag a couple times and tape it shut.

4. Place the bag in the microwave, folded sided down.

5. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the popping is 5-seconds a part. (As you can see in the photo above – I cooked mine for 2:30 and it was a bit burned. Probably should have pulled it out closer to the 2 minute mark.)

6. Season with your favorite seasonings and enjoy!

I purchased my popcorn for $1.48 and a pack of 50 bags for $1.

$2.48 for 25 bags of microwave popcorn is pretty impressive in my book.

Fresh out of the microwave | Photo by Jonathan Blundell

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• A Thanksgiving Fast
• Black bean salad (four ingredients)
• My Life is on bed rest…

I’ll be honest with you – I’m not a big fan of St. Valentine’s Day.

I’m not a big fan of any gift-giving holidays.

Perhaps I’m just a cynic or I hate the idea that I’m expected to buy a great gift for someone.

Luckily, My Life and I both tend to agree on Valentine’s Day. We tend to let each other off the hook when it comes to gift giving.

Our Valentine’s Day tends to involve dinner somewhere and then the last two years I believe we’ve ended it at Target or Babies R Us by shopping for necessities like diapers.

But I appreciate the spirit of the holiday and with that in mind, I thought I’d share an idea for those of you (us) struggling to find the perfect gift.

I’m a much bigger fan of gifts that are created or come from the heart – so with that in mind, I’m sharing an adaptation of a gift I gave My Life a year or so ago.

Coupons of Love.

Simply download and print these coupons and then share them with your loved one and let it be the gift that keeps on giving through-out the year.

Just remember – your loved one may spring any of these coupons at any moment during the year, so be ready with a joyful heart

There are two sheets of coupons and I’ve left a few of them blank for your to get creative with. Have fun and let me know if you come up with some great ideas for your own coupons.

Coupon Sheet 1
Coupon Sheet 2
Single blank coupon

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• Father’s Day Gift Ideas
• The perfect Father’s Day gifts
• What will you be gifting this year?

We’ve looked at Five things you can start doing today, Five things you can stop doing today — and now for those who are willing — here are Five apps that are just waiting to help create a better you in 2012.

Not all of these apps are device (or operating system) specific but I use them all almost daily on my iPhone so I’m writing from my limited perspective.

Education

TED Talks – Formed in 1984 as a conference to spread great ideas within Technology, Entertainment and Design, the organization now boasts an amazing library of talks from people around the world, ranging from Mike Rowe of dirty jobs to Brene Brown discussing vulnerability and Sunitha Krishnan discussing the ongoing fight against sex slavery. The iOS apps offer access to the entire TED Talks library and the iPhone app offers TEDRadio, which streams a constant audio stream of previous TED Talks.

Diet/Calorie Tracking

MyFitnessPal – This FREE app is a must have in my library. I’ve used several other similar apps in the past and this one beats all of them. It’s what’s helped me lose 19 pounds over the last 100 days. It boasts an extensive library of foods and their calorie counts and allows you to scan UPC codes of all sorts of food products to instantly add the items to your daily food diary. It also allows users to create/add their own recipes to get the best information on how many calories are in your grandmother’s potato soup. The app is also available for Android, Blackberry and Windows.

Exercise

My Run Keeper – This FREE has been a super handy app as I’ve started walking and jogging every weekday this past month. It utilizes your phones GPS for accurate tracking of numerous activities including walking, jogging, biking, rowing, swimming and more. After your workout you get a number of great stats as well as a map highlighting where your workout took you. There’s also a nice social aspect to the app and corresponding website if you so choose. Available for Android as well.

Pocket Yoga – This has been a great addition to my library this year. I wouldn’t consider myself an experienced yogi by any means, but this app (especially it’s iPad counterpart Pocket Yoga HD) has added a nice change up to my routine in the comfort of my living room. You can view a vast array of yoga poses, or allow the program to lead you through a number of different yoga practices, from 30 minutes to an hour.

Finance

Debt Free – A simple app that I recently stumbled upon that helps track and see the benefits to paying down your debt via the snowball method. Whether you choose to pay off the lowest monthly payment first, highest interest rate or highest balance, you can still quickly visualize how only paying the minimum payment each month really hurts you – or how adding $100 or even $10 a month to your debt payoff can really make a difference in the long run.

BONUS: DIY

Pinterest – One of the latest social networks on the scene (in fact it’s still not completely open to the public – hence the “BONUS” tag) has folks every where creating (or at least dreaming of creating) some amazing things. Think of Pinterest as your dream to-do list and you can find all sorts of great projects and recipes to keep yourself busy with. As a note, the app could use some improvement (I stick with the actual website when I’m on my tablet) but it’s a great resource for tagging new and creative ideas.

There are loads of other apps out there that are geared toward making a better you — these are just a small sampling.

What apps do you like?

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• 30 days of purging meat – my plant based diet
• A question for vegetarians – Fool Month of Purging
• Fool Month of Purging 2011

Last week we looked at 5 things we should START doing for a better 2012. Today we look at the flip side…

• Stop procrastinating. There’s a reason this post includes the “today.” Putting things off reduces the chances you’ll actually do them. It also adds to stress and frustration later when you’re trying to get too many things done on deadline.
• Stop making excuses. The excuses stop today. Whatever it is you know you should be doing – do it! Don’t justify your lack of action. Simply act.
• Stop blaming others. Sometimes your ideas, your goals, your experiences are blocked by other people and their influence — but there’s only so much power others can have over you. Eventually we need to man (or woman) up and take responsibility for ourselves and find away to better ourselves. Forgive those who have wronged you and move on. Remember that refusing to forgive someone is like drinking poison and hoping the other person is hurt by it.
• Stop obsessing over emails (or Twitter, or Facebook or any other messaging services.) Check them once or twice a day. Reply, delegate or trash immediately.
• Stop eating on the go. I realize there are times the drive-thru is super tempting — especially when it’s you and two 14-month-olds — but the less time we spend eating, the more likely it is we’re eating junk food. Schedule your day in advance so you have time to sit and enjoy (and hopefully prepare) a healthy meal vs grabbing something you’ll scarf down in your car while running from errand to errand.

What else would you add to the list? What can we stop today for a better 2012?

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• 5 things to start doing today for a better 2012
• My favorite plant based meals
• A question for vegetarians – Fool Month of Purging

Happy New Year from the Blundells

The New Year always brings about a sense of renewal, of change, of “this year I’m gonna do better.”

For many, it’s also a time of resolutions that don’t often make it beyond Feb. 1. But in our continuing efforts to simplify — here are five things we can all start today to create a better tomorrow.

• Take a walk. The biggest idea here is — MOVE! Not only does a good walk help improve your physical health, it’s also is great for your emotional and mental health. Get out with your spouse or your kids and enjoy the walk (and the talk). Mary Ann writes that “walk and talks” can do a lot to improve communication in your marriage. In addition, try and find other opportunities to squeeze a walk in. Take the stairs, park further away from the door and get up and walk to co-worker’s desk instead of just making a phone call.
• Learn to say “No.” One of the easiest ways I’ve learned to reduce stress in my life is by learning to say “No.” When I come prepared knowing my priorities, it makes saying no far easier. Sometimes that even means saying goodbye to things you’ve agreed to in the past. Whatever it is, if it’s taking you away from the most important things in your life — learn to remove it from your life.
• Less red. More green. Cut down on your red meat (or cut it our completely) and start adding more green veggies to your diet. Reducing your red meat intake has continually been shown to improve your cardiovascular health as well as reduce your chances of cancer. On the flip side, green vegetables are less expensive than red meats and can improve your health in all sorts of great ways.
• Plan ahead. Perhaps one of the hardest things we’ve found to do is simply planning ahead when looking at the week to come – but when we do — it makes a world of difference. Whether it’s planning our weekly menus, planning our trips to the store or simply planning our social calendar, taking 30-minutes or so to prepare for the week to come makes a huge difference when life hits you on Wednesday afternoon.
• Pray or Meditate. Whatever your faith or affiliation, scientists have discovered some interesting findings when it comes to focusing our thoughts. The simple act of meditating and focusing can help sculpt our brains in ways we may have never dreamed.

  From a 2009 report:

  Neuroscientist Richard Davidson says you can change your brain with experience and training.

  “You can sculpt your brain just as you’d sculpt your muscles if you went to the gym,” he says. “Our brains are continuously being sculpted, whether you like it or not, wittingly or unwittingly.”

  It’s called neuroplasticity. For years Davidson, who is at the University of Wisconsin, has scanned the brains of Buddhist monks who have logged years of meditation. When it comes to things like attention and compassion, their brains are as finely tuned as a late-model Porsche.

  And from my own personal experiences, anytime I make the effort to pray for those problem issues in my life — something changes. It may be the person or the situation — but most of the time it’s me that changes the most.

What changes can we add to the list?

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• 5 things you should stop doing today for a better 2012
• My favorite plant based meals
• 10 easy ways to spice up your leftovers

Every year at this time, my something beautiful podcast crew attempt to put something special together for a holiday episode.

This year, busyness and all, we were able to put together our second “Nines” episode.

What is a “Nines” episode you ask?

It’s our Christmas episode based on a 19th Century liturgy.

From Wikipedia:

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is a format for a service of Christian worship celebrating the birth of Jesus that is traditionally followed at Christmas. The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is told in nine short Bible readings from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir music.

The format was based on an Order drawn up by Edward White Benson, later Archbishop of Canterbury but at that time Bishop of Truro, in Cornwall, for use on Christmas Eve (24 December) 1880. Tradition says that he organized a 10 pm service on Christmas Eve in a temporary wooden shed serving as his cathedral and that a key purpose of the service was to keep men out of pubs on Christmas Eve.

The original liturgy has since been adapted and used by other churches all over the world. Lessons and Carols most often occur in Anglican churches, but also in some Roman Catholic, Lutheran parishes, and Presbyterian institutions. However numerous Christian churches have adopted this service, or a variation on this service, as part of their Christmas celebrations. In the UK, the service has become the standard format for schools’ Christmas carol services.

It’s an hour long and features some great indie artists singing some great Christmas songs between nine different Scripture readings.

I hope you’ll take some time and give it a listen.

And either way – Merry Christmas to you and yours! Have a wonderful holiday week (or weeks) and I’ll see you back here in 2012!

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• Let the Advent Season begin
• Christmas Greetings
• Open Mic – Christmas edition

Ariah Fine has just published his second book – a children’s book – “Clean Water for Elirose.”

His first novel, “Giving Up” deals with a number of justice issues and his latest book, continues with the same theme but shares it in an easy to understand way for younger children — along side great illustrations by Don Robb.

The book compares the lives of Maria and her friends with Elirose and then shares how they join together to build a clean water well for Elirose and her community.

Amazing how stories can simplify so many complicated ideas — isn’t it?

The book also includes a brief discussion guide to help you and your children discuss the issues together.

You can order a copy of the book today – and a portion of the proceeds go to help build a clean water well through charity:water.

Order the book.

And if you’d like to see the book before you buy… can also read the entire book right from your computer screen – right now.

What’s even cooler — is the book is now available with a Pay-What-You-Can model. So you can pay $3 for the book or $50 and know that what you’re giving goes to make a difference in the lives of others this Advent season.

And finally….

Ariah is also giving away one book a day from Dec. 1st to Dec. 15th. And there are a few ways to enter each day:

• Like the Clean Water for Elirose Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/CleanWaterForElirose
• Refer someone to “Like” The facebook page (proven by them posting your name on our wall as the person who referred them)
• Follow @WaterForElirose on Twitter
• Tweet or post on Facebook about Clean Water for Elirose linking back to the website, facebook or twitter page
• Blog about Clean Water for Elirose on your blog (counts as two entries) – And you might want to post it on our Facebook or email info@cleanwaterforelirose.com just so he doesn’t miss it

What other books or stories have you used to help introduce heavy topics like this to your children?

UPDATE: I chatted with Ariah this past week about the book and will share the interview on my podcast later this week.

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• Help us give clean water
• Today ends our 2010 campaign
• Give thanks & give water

Our boys organizing our DVD collection | Photo by my mom

Well, there’s no denying it.

Our two boys are 13 months old and ON THE GO!

There’s so much to see, so much to explore, so much to get our hands on, in and around…

It’s funny that we can set out all their toys in one room — and they’ll have fun playing — but what really gets them going is anytime they have access to an area that was previously (or usually) off-limits.

An hour in dad’s office? Count us in!

Five minutes in mom and dad’s room to dig through their night stands? You got it!

Pushing buttons on the DVD player and stereo receiver? You better believe it!

And this is where our current struggle comes in.

How much do time, energy and money do you spend in trying to block access to everything vs simply growing a little patience and letting them explore?

Right now, our biggest frustration/annoyance/thorn in our side is they’ve discovered how to slide open the glass doors on our TV stand and love pushing as many buttons as they can. HDiddy has also figured out how to change the source inputs by pushing the buttons on the side of our flat screen TV.

We thought, “Well maybe if we give them a few days they’ll lose interest.”

So far – no dice.

Ultimately, we do really want to mount our TV on the wall or on a different stand of some sort so it’s less likely to tip over and land on someone by accident – but apparently none of the TV stand manufacturers see the need to put glass doors (or any doors) on their stands with mounts built-in – see here.

So we’re left with buying a new stand that has doors that swing towards the outside (so we can lock the doors together with their handles) and simply leaving the TV on top of the stand – or mounting it directly to the wall (which we’re not quite ready to do since we like to move our furniture around a lot).

Our other idea has been to buy several plastic component covers – but I give those 3 hours before our boys figure out how to take them off.

So there you have it… that’s our dilemma right now and what’s been keeping me up at night.

Talk about your #firstworldproblems!

But all in all — I wouldn’t trade these moments for anything.

So what about you? What’s keeping you up at night?

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• New children’s book focuses on clean water issues
• Lessons from fatherhood
• Photos of my boys

Nomad Supply - Photo via http://www.thenomadsland.org

A pretty cool venture taking place in Alabama…

From their website:

Nomad’s Land is an answer to prayer and a dream come true. We have prayed and hoped and dreamed of a place like this for over a decade. God’s plan and timing are perfect and we can’t wait to see how it will continue to unfold in the years to come.

We’ll offer short-term (a few days) rest for weary travelers and longer term (a few months) spiritual mentoring for people who want to settle in for a while.

Green building, organic gardening, daily community, Bible teaching, drum circles, outdoor concerts and community meals are all part of life at Nomad’s land.

Looks like a great way of simplifying, sharing and building community.

Which would you prefer staying at? Somewhere like this or a posh hotel along the interstate?

HT @TallSkinnyKiwi

UPDATE: I had a great chat with Joshua Hanson from Nomad’s Land on my podcast. Hear his story and hear how Nomad’s Land came to be. Listen.

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• Simple Manifesto #43 – Learn to decompress from stress
• 9 tech tools for living simply
• The Simple Manifesto #19 – Do what you love

wallet | Photo by MangPages http://www.flickr.com/people/mangpages/

Growing up, our youth pastor used to remind us, “You can tell where a person’s heart is by looking at their checkbook. For where your treasure and money are — so is your heart.”

At the time, I scanned my checkbook and it was easy to tell — Chick-fil-A was where my heart was.

(They were the only fast food restaurant that took checks at the time.)

Lifehacker has an interesting twist on this idea…

Once you’ve saved money, where should you spend it in order to maximize the usefulness of your money spent—or even your happiness? To answer that, just look at what you spend your day doing, proportionally, and allocate money accordingly. I’m going to call it the comfort principle.

By using the comfort principle we figure out where we spend the most of our time and then evaluate if the money we’re spending matches up with our time investment.

So for instance, I work from home at least one day a week, so I spend 10+ hours or so in the same chair once a week.

I’d love to have a high-quality, $800 chair to work in. But since it’s not my primary place to work (I spend 3 other days of the week in my cubicle), spending $800 on an office chair seems a bit ridiculous. That’s roughly $1.53 an hour to ensure my comfort for 10 hours a week.

But a $200 chair would break down to $.38 an hour, that probably makes a bit more sense.

A quality mattress, where I hopefully spend at least six hours a night, or 25% of my year can cost anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to well over $2000.

A $2000 mattress would cost me $.91 per hour of use. Where as a $1000 mattress would only cost $.46 per hour.

Is it worth the investment for either one? That’s up for each of us to consider.

Each person must decide if the financial investment matches the time investment for the improved quality and/or comfort.

And when we start taking this comfort principle into consideration, it can quickly make us a smarter consumer.

We can easily minimize splurging in areas that aren’t a necessity.

When the latest wave of tablet computers came out — I couldn’t see myself using it more than 30 minutes or so a day.

Using the basic iPad ($500) only 30 minutes a day, is equal to it costing $2.73 an hour over a year. It simply wasn’t worth it to go splurge on the purchase.

However, as the hardware (and software) developed, I saw myself potentially using it much more for both creating consuming content. And now that I’ve purchased one, the cost when measured against the time I use it is far more reasonable.

Another thing we could easily splurge on would be jet-skis.

We’d love to have a couple of jet-skis since we live a mile from the lake but can we really justify $7000 (or $14000 for two) for something we’d probably only four or five weekends a year? Even just using one, for eight hours, five weekends a year would cost us $175 an hour. The convenience doesn’t quite add up when I can rent one locally for less than $100 an hour.

So take a look at where your spending your time.

Are your purchases matching up?

Are you investing too much money in areas you don’t need to?

Where else can this principle apply?

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• Where is your treasure?
• How much is my clutter costing me? (A conversation)
• Leave some padding in your life