Christina Tiplea

26 Productive Ways to Use Your Free Time

July 1 by Christina Tiplea Filed Under: Productivity

Regardless of how busy everyone is these days, we all have at least several minutes each day where we have free time on our hands.

Whether it’s 5 minutes while you’re waiting for your coffee to brew, 30 minutes on your train ride home from work, or a few hours on Sunday afternoon, we all have free time that we could be using more productively.

While I fully condone relaxing and spending time with your loved ones during downtime, sometimes it’s also nice to feel productive and as though you’re making the most of your day.

I know that I personally always feel proud and accomplished after I use my free time in a productive way instead of just wasting it watching TV or browsing the internet aimlessly.

I’ve put together a list of 26 productive ways to use your free time; I hope you enjoy it and find this to be motivating 🙂 [Read more…]

Tips for Saving Money When Hosting a Party

June 29 by Christina Tiplea Filed Under: Family, My Life, Saving Money

This past weekend we finally celebrated Little Miss’s 1st birthday with our families! She was sick on the original party date so we had to reschedule for a week later, but ended up having even more family members able to attend once we changed the date so it actually worked out better for everyone!

We had a great time seeing everyone and it made her birthday a bit more “official” feeling. Although I’ve hosted parties before, this was the first time I’d ever pulled off a birthday party like this entirely on my own. [Read more…]

Lessons I’ve Learned in My First Year of Motherhood

June 23 by Christina Tiplea Filed Under: Family, My Life

Today marks exactly one year so far into my journey of motherhood. Little Miss came into our lives the morning of June 23rd, 2014 and I haven’t been the same since.

Motherhood has so far been the most joyful, heart wrenching, and humbling experience of my entire life. The highs are beyond that of which I could ever imagine heaven to be, and the lows feel like your heart is being crushed into a million pieces that will never be able to be put together again. [Read more…]

Inexpensive Ways to Make Your Home Cozy

June 22 by Christina Tiplea Filed Under: Home, Saving Money

Since adding a baby to our family last year, we’ve been spending significantly more time at home. My home has always been my happy place that I enjoy being in, but I’ve been really wanting to decorate a bit more and add a touch of more coziness to our house.

We purchased the house we’re currently in over three year ago and still haven’t done much with decorating. I think that part of it is I have a difficult time spending money on any decor unless I’m completely in love with it, which I suppose is a good thing overall! It just leaves our house feeling a bit empty and lacking of character or a cozy factor. [Read more…]

Five Friday Favorites

June 19 by Christina Tiplea Filed Under: My Life, Weekend Reads

The happiest of Fridays to you!

Hope you had a fabulous week and are gearing up to have a great weekend too. I’m doing something a bit different today and sharing some of my favorites from this past week. I was inspired by Five Friday Favorites that Ali over at Anything You Want shared last week, and decided to shake it up a little bit and create my own version of some Friday favorites to share! [Read more…]

Affordable Ways to Celebrate The 4th of July

June 15 by Christina Tiplea Filed Under: Family, Holidays, Saving Money

I really look forward to most holidays, but 4th of July is probably the big one (next to Christmas) that holds so many special memories for me from my childhood. For my family, it’s always just a relaxing and laid back day and I enjoy how casual it is compared to preparations that need to take place for other holidays.

4th of July usually involves simple BBQ food, fun outside activities, and just good quality time with our family celebrating our amazing country and our freedom. Doesn’t get better than that! [Read more…]

6 Reasons You Need to Unplug from Technology

June 12 by Christina Tiplea Filed Under: Health, Intentional Living, Simple Living

My name is Christina, and I am a technology addict. TV, computer, smart phone… if it has a screen, I am obsessed with it.

This obsession I have with technology actually makes me feel pretty angry with myself at times. Like when my urge to always check my phone comes up when I’m playing with my daughter. I have a tough time setting boundaries with myself and technology, especially since I work from home and am always trying to find that balance between making sure I pay enough attention to my family, but also get everything done that I need to.

While I do need to check my email to a certain extent throughout the day, I’ve noticed that I have a strong compulsion and almost physical craving to need to check it even when it’s really not necessary. I’m the same way with Facebook, especially if I have it on my phone. It sometimes can feel almost like an itch that needs to be scratched, and that I can’t relax until I’ve “plugged” back into technology for a little bit. It all sounds terribly unhealthy to me, especially as these thoughts are showing up on my screen and I’m reading them back to myself.

I decided to create a list of great reasons you need to unplug, thinking this would be a good list for me to come back to when I need a little extra motivation to put the technology away and just soak up life more. I thought I would share with you all too, because I know that I can’t be the only person addicted to technology 😉 . [Read more…]

6 Ways to Deal with Money Envy

June 10 by Christina Tiplea Filed Under: Intentional Living, Saving Money

No matter what your income level may be, we have all had moments at some time or another where we have felt envious of someone else’s ability to afford more than we are able to.

Whether it’s the expensive vacations you see a friend taking, witnessing someone who is able to retire at an extremely young age, or that beautiful new home a family member just purchased.

Even when you feel secure with yourself and your own financial situation, and may not even desire some of the things you see others being able to purchase, it is completely normal to experience feelings of jealousy or envy. [Read more…]

Productivity Habits to Streamline Your Life

June 8 by Christina Tiplea Filed Under: Productivity, Simple Living

Lately I’ve been on a mission to streamline my life as much as possible. I just feel so much more peaceful and in control when I’m not running around in a million different directions like a chicken with my head cut off.

I’ve discovered some productivity habits that really help me to streamline my time and my life in general. I find that by cutting out a lot of the unnecessary, or decreasing how much time I need to spend on my to-dos, I’m left with a lot more time and energy to devote to what I truly love and enjoy doing. [Read more…]

20 Easy & Healthy Snack Ideas

June 4 by Christina Tiplea Filed Under: Health

One thing you should know about me is that I’m a huge snack advocate. I am a “can’t go more than 2-3 hours without eating” type of gal. I get real hangry otherwise and have no plans to give up this habit anytime soon.

I think that incorporating more healthy snacking throughout my day really helps me to not get too hungry and overeat at meal times. It also gives me some sustainable energy to be able to keep up with my routine as a work-from-home Mom and juggle my freelance work while chasing after my 11-month-old. [Read more…]