We want to give parents the tools they need to truly disciple their kids through their most trying discipline situations. With these tools, parents can guide their kids’ hearts towards the God who loves them deeply, and survive those pull-out-your-hair parenting moments. We pray that PUT THE DISCIPLE INTO DISCIPLINE will help parents to connect with their kids in a heartfelt way so that their kids, in turn, can connect with the God who created them to be truly and imperfectly His.
Kathi and co-host, Erin bring you a very special episode of Clutter Free Academy. Author Ellen Schuknecht, who is also Erin’s mom and co-author, discuss their new book, Put the Disciple into Discipline, Parenting with Love and Limits.Erin and Ellen wrote the book to give parents tools to deal with some of the most difficult challenges of parenting- also known as every single day.
The everyday ins and outs of parenting toddlers, to boundary pushing elementary schoolers, to moody pre-teens, to rebellious almost adults is trying and just plain hard. Erin and Ellen talk about dealing with our kids using not just using justice, but also mercy, and grace- the very ways God deals with us. They discuss why these options give us and our children a better foundation for living out the life God intended for them and help us to truly get to the heart of our kids.
Book Giveaway!
Comment to win. What is your biggest challenge when it comes to the justice, mercy and grace of disciplining and raising your kids? Comment below for your chance to win a free book!
Ellen Schuknecht has been working as an educator for more than 35 years, with experience ranging from early childhood education, to high school advising to family ministries counseling. She currently serves as the Director of Family Ministries at Veritas Academy in Austin, Texas where she mentors parents, teachers, and students on a daily basis. She uses her blog, www.familywings.org, as well as her many speaking engagements as a platform to help parents learn how to lead their children to Christ in a way that’s not only authentic, but that also builds the relationship between parent and child. Ellen has been married to her husband Glen for 39 years and lives in Austin, Texas near her three grown children, their spouses and– her pride and joy– her eleven precious grandchildren.
Friends, I hope you are staying cool somehow in this crazy heat (at least in California we are having an epic heat wave).
I am excited to share with you that Focus on the Family is running an episode in which I share tips on “How to Have a Happier Husband”. I love helping marriages become everything you wished it would be before you were married. If you need a re-direct on focusing on you marriage or want some new ideas on how to make your husband feel loved, respected, care-for and important, this episode is fun and helpful. I hope you enjoy and share with your friends.
Feeling overwhelmed? Wondering if it’s possible to move from “out of my mind” to “in control” when you’ve got too many projects on your plate and too much mess in your relationships?
Kathi and Cheri want to show you five surprising reasons why you become stressed, why social media solutions don’t often work, and how you can finally create a plan that works for you. As you identify your underlying hurts, uncover hope, and embrace practical healing, you’ll become equipped to…
trade the to-do list that controls you for a calendar that allows space in your life
decide whose feedback to forget and whose input to invite
replace fear of the future with peace in the present
You can simplify and savor your life—guilt free! Clutter, tasks, and relationships may overwhelm you now, but God can help you overcome with grace.
Kathi and Cheri Gregory, co-author of Overwhelmed, are here for Part 3 of the series, What We’ve Learned Since Releasing Overwhelmed. They discuss how decluttering is ongoing. It isn’t one and done; it is a day in and day out process.
As our recent Spring Fling participants have tackled their clutter, they realized that it wasn’t just a two-week project. It is something you have to keep working at. And each person has their own hurdles to work through. Our hosts discuss what some of the ah-ha moments were for them as well as participants. AS one clears her clutter, what once brought emptiness is now viewed as spaciousness. Kathi and Cheri discuss the discovery of how getting rid of the clutter provides room for new opportunities.
Listen for tips to get the support you need to deal with clutter and being overwhelmed.
Mentioned In the Podcast
Trello – Great for organizing projects and keeping everyone on the team on track.
Cheri Gregory is a teacher, speaker, author, and Certified Personality Trainer. Her passion is helping women break free from destructive expectations. She writes and speaks from the conviction that “how to” works best in partnership with “heart, too.”
Cheri is the co-author, with Kathi Lipp, of The Cure for the “Perfect” Life and Overwhelmed.
Cheri has been “wife of my youth” to Daniel, her opposite personality, for twenty-eight years and is “Mom” to Annemarie (25) and Jonathon (23), also opposite personalities.
Cheri blogs about perfectionism, people-pleasing, highly sensitive people, and hope at www.cherigregory.com.
I’m so excited to fling 1,000 things with you between now and July 14. Are you ready to suit up and show up over the next five weeks or are you still on the fence? If you haven’t committed to the Five-Week Fling, what’s holding you back? Fear of failure? Shame? Or are you too overwhelmed to know where to begin?
Well, let me tell you, friends. I have been there and back, and here’s what I have to say about all of that: Take my hand and let me lead you out of despair.
Ground rules for the five-week fling
I know. 1,000 things in five weeks sounds daunting, but we’re going to tackle it in bite-size chunks. More importantly, we’re going to do it together. But before we begin, let’s set some ground rules:
Progress beats perfection. Whether you fling 10 things or 1,000 things, you’re one step closer to winning back your home – and your life – than you were before you began.
No blame, no shame. We are all at different stages of our Clutter Free journey, and that’s OK. We’re going to jump in where we’re at with a focus on moving ourselves forward.
Weekends off (if you want). The program is built around the idea of taking weekends for rest, but be flexible. You can use all or part of your weekends to catch up or, if you prefer, average out your flings so you’re tossing 30 a day every day instead of 40 a day five days a week.
Pick your pain point. Every single one of us has a part of our home that makes us cringe. The place that allows Clutter to scold you. Start thinking of that place now so you confront it first when we begin.
Join us on Facebook. The No. 1 perk of this program is the 24/7 support you receive from our private Facebook group designed for you by people just like you. This is where you see how Clutter Free changes lives, and where your life changes as well.
Now that you know the ground rules, you can jump into the Five-Week Fling with the confidence of knowing you’ll succeed. Make sure you subscribe to our blog so you don’t miss out on program updates and other resources related to Clutter Free. Are you ready to fling 1,000 things? Join us today.
We’ve been flinging clutter left and right this year. Between our Clutter Free Bible Study during Lent and the Spring Fling we just wrapped up in May, I’ve noticed a few things.
First, you are all a bunch of rock stars. Fling 200 things in 10 days? Piece of cake. Our Facebook group is overflowing with the most astonishing before-and-after photos of your successes. I’m thrilled to see not just what you’ve done in your homes, but also the freedom you gained from flinging the stuff that no longer brings you joy.
Here’s what else I’ve noticed. Life doesn’t stop just because you’ve decided to gain control over this area of your life. Stuff keeps coming in the house – sometimes faster than you can release it – and it doesn’t always belong to you. If other people live in your home, their stuff can pose an even bigger challenge than your own.
How to eliminate 1,000 things in 5-weeks!
So here’s the deal. We are Clutter Free because we love a good challenge, and we work best when we’re under the gun. Starting June 12 and ending July 14, we’re hosting a Five-Week Fling to help you eliminate 1,000 things from your home. Gone for good.
Here’s how it works:
1. Over five weeks (weekends off to rest or catch up), we’re going to work together to eliminate 40 things a day from various parts of your home.
2. In our private Facebook group, you’ll share your victories and progress photos, and get accountability, encouragement and support every step of the way.
3. To participate, just make sure you are signed up to receive our blog, and then join our Facebook group.
So let’s see, only five weeks and 1,000 things out of your house? What a great way to launch your summer.
Feeling overwhelmed? Wondering if it’s possible to move from “out of my mind” to “in control” when you’ve got too many projects on your plate and too much mess in your relationships?
Kathi and Cheri want to show you five surprising reasons why you become stressed, why social media solutions don’t often work, and how you can finally create a plan that works for you. As you identify your underlying hurts, uncover hope, and embrace practical healing, you’ll become equipped to…
trade the to-do list that controls you for a calendar that allows space in your life decide whose feedback to forget and whose input to invite replace fear of the future with peace in the present You can simplify and savor your life—guilt free! Clutter, tasks, and relationships may overwhelm you now, but God can help you overcome with grace.
Do you ask for what you need or want?
Cheri Gregory, co-author of Overwhelmed, joins Kathi for the second podcast in a series about “What I’ve Learned Since Writing Overwhelmed.”
They have learned a number of things and one thing that Cheri found profound, “Women are bad at articulating what we want or need without feeling guilty.” As women, we are always preventing problems for other people instead of focusing on our own wants, needs, expectations, and communication.
Listen in to learn about their tips for handling our own wants and needs guilt free.
Cheri Gregory is a teacher, speaker, author, and Certified Personality Trainer. Her passion is helping women break free from destructive expectations. She writes and speaks from the conviction that “how to” works best in partnership with “heart, too.”
Cheri is the co-author, with Kathi Lipp, of The Cure for the “Perfect” Life and Overwhelmed.
Cheri has been “wife of my youth” to Daniel, her opposite personality, for twenty-eight years and is “Mom” to Annemarie (25) and Jonathon (23), also opposite personalities.
Cheri blogs about perfectionism, people-pleasing, highly sensitive people, and hope at www.cherigregory.com.
Do you need to find whispers of rest and love from God?
Life gets overwhelming fast, doesn’t it? Our hearts and bodies and mind and souls are designed by God to rest at times. We all need to take a break at times. But more than just a day off, we need time to restore our souls and to rest in the presence of our God who loves us more than we can ever know. That is why I am excited to share with you my friend Bonnie Gray’s new book and book club – Whispers of Rest.
If your heart needs to find a place of rest and wonder at God’s love, join a Whispers of Rest book club this summer. Check out Bonnie’s invitation to you here. And visit whispersofrest.com to learn more about joining the book club and to get free bonuses!
Win a free copy of Whispers of Rest
Would you like to own your own copy of Bonnie’s new book? Comment below with how you hope to find rest in God this summer for your chance to win one of three copies of Bonnie’s new book.
Many of us who struggle with clutter are reluctant to part with certain items because of the money we spent on them. The problem is, we won’t recoup even a fraction of what we paid for those items.
And that’s OK.
There is no better deterrent from bringing new items into your home than seeing that candle you bought for $24.95 re-sell for only $2.50. This is the Clutter Tax we all pay for excess stuff. If you’re ready to face the music and rid yourself of the surplus items in your home, a garage sale is a great de-cluttering option.
Hold a clutter-free garage sale
Here’s a no-fail, step-by-step strategy to make it work.
Strategize. First, sit down with your family and talk about the possibility of a yard sale. Are they willing to participate? Do they have old clothes, toys, or books to donate to the sale? I’ve found it’s easier to get buy-in from the whole family if you have a common goal in mind. Perhaps you’re looking to save for a family vacation or a play set for the backyard. Get your kids excited about contributing to the family goal.
Plan. Next, put a “Garage Sale” date on the calendar. Make sure it’s at least a month out. This gives you and your family time to go through closets, drawers, basements, and garages and come up with the items you’ll sell. (What a great goal in decluttering!)
Organize. Start off with some empty boxes in an out-of-the-way place in your home (the garage, the laundry room.) Then as you come across items you no longer need, add them to the boxes.
Plan a day to work with your kids in their rooms. If they waffle about whether to sell an item, encourage them to put it in the garage sale box. If they want to retrieve it and play with it, great. If they never think about it again, then it’s probably safe to sell. I can’t guarantee there won’t be a change of heart on the day of the sale, but often the excitement of selling something makes letting it go much easier.
As you start to gather more and more items, sort them by type (kids’ clothes, kids’ shoes, toys, books, household gadgets, DVDs). Items will be easier to price and display if similar objects are grouped together.
I encourage you to start pricing items a few weeks before the sale. It’s easy to print price stickers on your computer’s printer. Younger kids will have a great time putting stickers on things.
If your kids part with some toys that have a lot of little parts, gather up everything in a resealable plastic bag to keep things together.
Start collecting paper bags for shoppers to use to take home their treasures.
Advertise. There are several ways to get the word out for successful clutter-free garage sales.
On the web. The best way to know where to advertise is to google “garage sales” or “yard sales” (whichever is the common terminology in your area) and the name of your city. You’ll see where most people look for the information and then announce your sale there. But don’t spend a lot of money doing this. Most of your traffic will likely be of the drive-by variety. Be sure to highlight the kinds of things you’re selling (tools, kids’ clothes, furniture, etc.) so you attract the right buyers.
On the street. Signs most likely are your best means of getting people to your sale. While it’s tempting to let your kids create the signs, you should manage this project. Cute is not your objective—readability is.
My favorite kind of sign is made of neon poster board (think hot pink or neon green) cut in the shape of an arrow. Clearly label your cross streets. Kids can definitely be part of the sign-hanging process the night before. Make sure you bring copious amounts of clear packing tape, scissors, string, and even some balloons to attach to each sign.
Your friends. Tell your friends about your sale and even the goal you have in mind. Your kids will have a lot more fun if they know some of the people who stop by. Be sure to let your Facebook friends know as well.
Newspaper. Running a cheap ad in your local newspaper or an online classified service will bring you more shoppers.
Merchandise. Before I was an author I worked as a sales rep in the gift industry, and now as a speaker, I have a book table wherever I go. One thing I’ve learned in both these roles is the power of merchandising—staging items for sale.
Clothes. You are going to sell a lot more clothes for much better prices if you have a garment rack to hang them on. Even a shower rod hung from your roof or garage door is a big help. The next best option is to fold clothes neatly on a table (this is a great option especially for kids’ clothes). Unless you have a stash of wire hangers you’re dying to get rid of, be sure to put up a sign that says “Hangers Not Included.”
Books, CDs, DVDs. Drag a bookshelf out of your house as a temporary display. If you have enough shelf space, place the front covers face out. To keep the shelves looking full, put one of your kids in charge of moving items from the bottom rows to the top as books begin to sell.
Put the wows up front. You want items up front that literally stop traffic. Furniture, tools, and electronics are your best bet for getting hubby to pull the car to the curb.
Group items. It’s helpful to have similarly priced items on one table. You can have a dollar table, a fifty-cent table, and so on.
Capitalize. When the kids were little I would help them set up a lemonade stand to serve those thirsty shoppers in the summer heat (and for my kids to make a little extra cash). This was great for the kids when they were young. They could still be a part of the action, but they didn’t have to negotiate with hagglers. Who is going to dicker over a fifty-cent lemonade?
The only problem was that running a lemonade stand is as much work as the actual garage sale. Finally, I wised up. For our next garage sale, I went to Costco early in the week and bought sodas and bottled waters. All we had to do was ice the drinks and replenish the supply throughout the day, both of which my kids could do without my help.
The kids were thrilled to see their bank grow, and many of the adults were just as excited to get a cheap soda in the middle of a July day.
Improvise. Garage sales aren’t rigid. You aren’t working for Sam Walton, so things don’t have to go a certain way. So if something isn’t working, improvise!
Tired of sorting through piles of trinkets that are really worth nothing? Give them away for free with a purchase. Or set out a free box for people to sort through. Better them than you, right?
Play music to encourage people to stay a while.
Put out a plate of cookies or some lemonade.
Have a plan for the end of the day. The objective is to get rid of everything–do not, under any circumstances, let it back into the house.
At the end of the day, figure out what you are going to do with the leftovers.
Last Call: In the last hour or two, let people know that you will be selling everything for a dollar. Your objective is not to make money, it’s to get rid of stuff. Bringing it back in defeats the purpose of having a clutter free garage sale.
Make Arrangements:At the end of the day, have a plan to make everything go away. Load up the van and take everything to the donation center. Don’t let it come back into the home!
Don’t be fooled. Having a garage sale is a lot of work. But if you are looking for a way to recoup some of your Clutter Tax, this is a great way to spend a day. Pad your bank account and clean out your house at the same time.
Now it’s your turn–tell us your best tips for clutter-free garage sales!
Build your own dreams or someone will hire you to build theirs. ~ Farrah Gray
Co-Author of Overwhelmed, Cheri Gregory, joins Kathi for a four week series to discuss what they have learned since writing Overwhelmed. This week, the authors discuss the one that that has stood out to them the most: “Women turn over their power to external sources too often.”
Often, we let what we think we should do for others dictate what we spend our time and energy on. But what if God isn’t surprised by what our circumstances are and has called us to more anyways? Kathi and Cheri discuss ways they’ve let others take over their time and emotions, and ways they’ve changed their own behavior to better handle situations that overwhelm their relationships, time and energy.
What are the steps you can take to take back control of your life?
Cheri Gregory is a teacher, speaker, author, and Certified Personality Trainer. Her passion is helping women break free from destructive expectations. She writes and speaks from the conviction that “how to” works best in partnership with “heart, too.”
Cheri is the co-author, with Kathi Lipp, of The Cure for the “Perfect” Life and Overwhelmed.
Cheri has been “wife of my youth” to Daniel, her opposite personality, for twenty-eight years and is “Mom” to Annemarie (25) and Jonathon (23), also opposite personalities.
Cheri blogs about perfectionism, people-pleasing, highly sensitive people, and hope at www.cherigregory.com.
It could be just one more thing to pack into an already overwhelming summer.
“A Bible study? Whose got time for that?”
Welcome to the least overwhelming Bible study you will ever do.
No travel required – you are part of this study from the comfort of your own home (or on the beach, or locked in a car for eight hours going to grandma’s…)
No child care – you can do this study while the kids are asleep (or while they are hanging off you on the couch…)
No extra study guide to purchase – you just need the book.
No snacks to bring – you can just have a stash of your own favorite snacks at home to bust out when the kids are actually in bed.
Sound good? Here are the details:
Women’s Bible Cafe has chosen Overwhelmed as their summer Bible study! We’ll start the study the week of June 19th and finish the week of August 21, 2017. r
My very favorite partner in crime, Cheri Gregory, and I will be working together to bring you fresh insights and great tools to get you to a place of peach this summer. I can’t wait.
We want to give parents the tools they need to truly disciple their kids through their most trying discipline situations. With these tools, parents can guide their kids’ hearts towards the God who loves them deeply, and survive those pull-out-your-hair parenting moments. We pray that PUT THE DISCIPLE INTO DISCIPLINE will help parents to connect with their kids in a heartfelt way so that their kids, in turn, can connect with the God who created them to be truly and imperfectly His.
ad this free and fantastic resource, 10 Easy Ways to Connect With Your Kid (Even When Your Kid is Making You Crazy), for inspiration to press into your relationship with your kiddo, especially during the tough times.
