Finding Harmony When Working from Home

If you are anything like me, you occasionally struggle to maintain the balance between work and home life. It can be tough. For many people, myself included, working from home is a dream, but few understand the self-control and mastery that it requires. Finding harmony when working from home isn’t as hard as it may seem.

 

A full-time job demands that you show up at a specific time and work to a set code of conduct, which is challenging. A freelance-style job demands that you get work done on your schedule. Something that can be equally difficult. However, with practice and experience, you can find harmony when working from home.

First off, set up a space that is dedicated to your work. It could be an entire room used as an office, a desk in the corner or a little spot on the table. It depends on your home, but what matters is that you pick a defined zone where you can be productive. When you sit down here you are working, and when you sit down anywhere else you are not working.

 

Boundaries will help you to distinguish between work and home life, which can blur quickly when you work from home. It’s good to keep them separate where possible so that you can devote your full attention to both when the time is right.

You will also be responsible for your workflow, times and meeting deadlines. You will need to organize your time on a daily, weekly and monthly basis so that you can maximize your productivity while still enjoying life outside of work. People get into freelance work for different reasons, but for me, it’s always important to spend time with loved ones. Staying on top of work with self-imposed schedules means that I can afford to use the time off wisely.

Over time, most freelancers gain an understanding of when they like to work. Although it depends on your life situation as much as anything, working to your strengths where possible is great for productivity. Do you work well first thing in the morning or are you more creative after dark? Short bursts or long stints? Do you need a lot of breaks, and what can you do during breaks to keep yourself motivated?

However and whenever you like to work, work hard. I don’t mean to say that you wouldn’t, but the odds of becoming rich and successful are not too favorable, whether you are a poker player or a businessperson. You have around 1/200 odds of successfully starting a business, so make sure you are prepared to put in the work if you take this step.

 

With all this talk of hard work and commitment, let us not lose track of the freedoms of freelancing and self-employment. For starters, you don’t always have to be in the home. If you work online, you can head out to your favorite local cafe — the one that offers that cake you like — and work there for a couple of hours. Maybe you can meet up with friends that also work for themselves or at a local co-working space.

It can also be easier to free up a bit of time for yourself if you work from home. If you can deal with your workload, it’s totally fine to enjoy a couple of hours walking around the park or heading out for lunch. It’s more than fine. It’s pretty much in your job description. How you spend this time is up to you. With proper organization and workload management, you can have time to cook and clean, relax and pamper or to socialize and natter. It can be lovely to work from home.

 

How to easily start your own website or blog

If someone would’ve asked me over 7 years ago how to start blogging, I would’ve thought they were talking in a different language. Now, nearly 7 years later, I’m still no expert but get asked often how to easily start your own website or blog so I thought I’d share what I know about the subject.

Pick a Name

I guess the very first part of the process is to pick a name. After I found out what a blog was and that I could do it myself and after following a few people for a couple of years, thinking they were actual ‘websites’ and not just blogs, I decided to create my own blog solely for the purpose of keeping all my basic recipes together so the kids could refer to them when they left home.

I wanted it to be ‘domestic’ related so came up with the name Domesblissity. Little did I know, 7 years later, that I would have such a large following and thousands of people visit my ‘website’ every day from all over the world. That certainly wasn’t my intention at the start but that’s just how it’s grown. Domesblissity has become my business that I work on every day and my main source of income. 

If I would’ve known back then what I knew now, I think I would’ve gone for a name more recognisable with the content of my blog. There are many websites similar to mine out there that are way more successful than mine because their name describes exactly what their website/blog is about.

Give this a lot of thought if you have long term plans for your website/blog. For example, if you like writing about your life you might what to call it John Smith, as simple as that. If people know about you and want to read what you write, they will follow you anyway. But if you’re a photographer, for example, and like to write about photography and how to do it well and even sell your services, calling yourself John Smith won’t describe the website as one about photography nor will it help if you want to be found on search engines or social media. It would be better, in this example, to call yourself John Smith Photography or  John Smith Professional Photographer.

Check the Availability of the Name

If you think you’re going to be just blogging or writing about your every day and want to do it just for yourself, you may not need to do this but if you have a long term goal of getting yourself out there in the ‘cyber world’, check if the name you chose is available by doing a domain search like GoDaddy. This will check for all the variations available to you, ie .com or .com.au or .net for example. If the name you chose isn’t available, you can try different combinations until you find one you’re happy with.

Before you go and buy that domain name, which really isn’t necessary at this stage (I’ll explain why soon), check that the name you chose or a similar variation is available on all social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest etc. Even though you don’t think you’ll be using social media right now, you might find the need down the track. That’s what happened to me. I’m lucky in a way that Domesblissity was an unusal word and found they were all readily available when I was ready to go down the social media track. 

Which Platform Should You Use

So you’ve got your name, you can now easily start up a blog with one of two free options.

I started with Blogger.com. This was by far the most easy way to create a blog/website for me. It’s very user friendly and it allows you to have menus or different categories so you can categorise your content plus add images and so forth. You can style it anyway you want with the various options Blogger has.

I stayed with Blogger for many years but the trouble is, with a free platform such as Blogger, is that Blogger owns your content.  The same goes for my second option, WordPress.com. WordPress.com also has a free option and has a great selection of free themes, ie styles to make your website look nice but remember, it is hosted by WordPress.com not owned by you. You are just parking your information there.

There are other free platforms around that have limited free options to get you started on your own website or blog but if you want more advanced features, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee. The only one I know about but haven’t used is Wix. That has very basic features but if you want more advanced options, you’ll have to pay.

If you want to be in total control of your website, your content and everything that belongs to your website/blog, you will need to find a company to host your website which involves paying a monthly fee to the hosting company plus if you want to use WordPress (28% of the world’s websites are created with WordPress) you can pay for a WordPress theme or select some of the free themes available. A self hosted WordPress blog/website is created using WordPress.org which is different to the 100% free option available at WordPress.com.

It is relatively straight forward to set this up although I didn’t do this myself. I used my friend Abby from Autumn Street who specialises in website creation. She also made sure all my existing content on Blogger was copied over to my new WordPress.org website and put in all the necessary redirections. There is a cost for this kind of service but well worth it and most affordable.

You can always get started using either the free Blogger platform or WordPress.com option and follow the prompts, google any queries or read the help. It might be a bit daunting when you first start, as I found it, but once you’ve done it a few times, you’ll be game to see what this does or that does and you’ll be an expert before you know it. If in doubt, I always use Youtube to search for how to do something. It’s great to listen to someone explain the process as you go and you can pause the video while you’re actually doing it. There is a Youtube tutorial on just about anything these days.

Hosting Your Own Website

So you’ve decided you want to start your own website and have complete control from the start. You’ve decided on your domain name which is the name of your website, eg www.domesblissity.com like mine. Now you’ll have to find a company to host your website. You will have to pay for your domain which could be as little as a couple dollars per year to around $20 for 2 years. I buy my domains from GoDaddy.com.

To host my website, I use Bluehost (affiliate link) and I haven’t found any problems with them. It costs around $3 to $5 per month depending on how much you pay up front. I paid for a couple years in advance so got quite a good deal. When you’re setting up your website for the first time to be hosted by a company such as Bluehost, it is relatively straightforward. They offer step-by-step instructions for you to follow.

I’ve had technical questions (well, technical for me and I probably didn’t even know if what I was asking was the right thing to say) and their 24/7 Help chat always fixed the problem for me. 

There are many hosting companies in the world. It’s just a matter of doing a bit of research like finding the best hosting company. Some will even set this process up for you and most provide an email address with the hosting service, for example info@johnsmithphotography.com if your domain name is johnsmithphotography.com. 

Start Writing

Now you’ve got your blog/website name, you’ve chosen the platform and your URL (your website address), you can start writing. Depending what you write about, it could be an introduction to your services, yourself, what your blog/website will be about or just a general ‘gidday’. 

You choose how often you write. There are no hard or fast rules. You can post every day if you like, like keeping an online diary. Or you could choose once a week or a month. 

Adding Images to Your Posts

Ultimately, if you want to add images to your post your best off using your own images which you’ve taken with a camera or phone. They are downloaded to a location on your computer and then uploaded into your blog post.

You also might want to ‘watermark’ your images with your name or blog name as to protect them. There are many tutorials and software applications to do this but this basic tutorial from Microsoft using PowerPoint is an easy solution.

You can also use other people’s images as long as they specify that they are free to use. It’s very important not to use other people’s photos without their permission. Two particular websites I get free photos from are Pixabay and Pexels. You can find an image for just about anything.

You can also create your own images with or without text using Canva.  It’s really straightforward to use. There are options to purchase images from as low as one dollar but there are some free backgrounds, icons, frames etc to use. Its very user friendly.

There are also many stock image websites around that you pay a monthly subscription to, if using images are going to be your thing. I’ve managed for nearly 7 years with my own images and those from the free websites. If I am using a post and photo from another blogger, for example, in a round up of say “What to do with leftover bread”, I’ll make sure that I include a link to that person’s blog post where I got the photo from.

All of these types of things like images and links might seem daunting at the start, but once you do it, you’ll get it in no time.

After you Hit Publish

You’ve written your blog post, typed your recipe or tutorial on how to take that perfect picture, now what? Do you want the world to know about it or is it going to be for your’s or your family’s eyes only. You can make a Blogger or WordPress blog private so that no one but you or a person with your logon details will see it but if you’re creating a blog to get people to follow you, you’ll need to get it out there in to big worldwide web.

I wrote a blog post a little while ago about what to call your blog post. I don’t have much experience with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) which means creating a blog post that will easily be found if someone does a Google search for something and your blog post comes up. I don’t have any hard or fast rules for doing this but always seem to have a lot of success by naming my blog posts what I would typically search for if I did a Google search. 

This might not be relevant to you if you don’t want to be found and your blog is private but it’s a good habit to get into right from the start. I look back at my early days of blogging and find a blog post that I might’ve called something like “What I did on the weekend” when it was a super recipe for the best cookie I ever made. In this particular instance, I should’ve called it “Quadruple Chocolate Chunk Cookies” (not that I made quadruple chocolate chunk cookies but it sounds like a good idea). Over time, if people found my blog post by searching chocolate chunk cookies, Google would automatically put my post up high on the search results. That’s what has happened with many of the blog posts I’ve created over the years.

After you’ve got the naming convention of your blog posts down pat, you’ll want to share them via social media.

Getting Started on Social Media

When you were trying to come up with a name for your blog/website, you should’ve also checked if that or something similar was available on all the social media platforms. The most commonly used social media platforms today are Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Well, they’re the ones I use the most. You won’t need to go and share your post individually each time on these platforms as both Blogger and WordPress have a feature that will automatically post to your social media accounts. You should also put your social media icons on the front page of your blog/website so that people can follow you there as well.

If you’ve never used social media before, don’t worry. It’s not as scary as it might seem. If you’re wanting to get your message out into the world, you’ll soon find which social media platform is getting the most interaction and you’ll stick with that one. There are some scheduling tools that will post to these social media platforms automatically when you manually enter information, images or memes, for example but most of them have limited features before you have to pay.

In my experience, if you want to get more interaction, I post manually and keep checking a few times a day for any comments as I like to personally interact with people who comment on my social media posts. It creates a wonderful sense of community and forms longstanding friendships.

If you’re unsure of how to set up a Facebook page for your blog (which is different to your personal Facebook page), a Twitter Account, a Google+ account etc etc, there are many tutorials on how to do that. Facebook Help itself is a wonderful resource to learn how to do things. 

There are many more technical aspects of maintaining your blog, the world of ‘plug-ins’ and other technical jargon but this very basic overview will get you started. Another great place to get good advice from is by joining a Facebook Group on website beginners, Blogger beginners or something like WordPress beginners. Facebook Groups are usually filled with people who have the same problems as you and those that know will give you the answers you need.

Good luck on your blogging journey. If you’re doing this for yourself, have fun. If you’re doing this to get known and for business, ‘build it and they will come’. It might take a week, it might take a year. The best advice I ever read was to be consistent with your writing or post on a regular basis. I picture it like if people are interested in what you’re writing about, they’ll come back every week to check what you’ve written. They’ll have worn a ‘path’ to your website, similar to that of walking up to your front door. That’s what Google loves and Google will put your posts up front.

It’s not a race, it’s not a competition. You could pay thousands of dollars per month on Google Adwords or Facebook advertising to make sure you’re at the top of every Google search but people will get sick of that. I know I do. Every time I Google a recipe, up pops a website here in Australia called taste.com.au. I’d much rather find a tried and true recipe made by a Mum just like me so I scroll down until I find it. You don’t have to have the best looking or flashiest website either. If your content is worth reading, people will still want to read it. Do remember to keep it simple with no flashy background fluttering butterflies or loud music or automatically started videos when people land on your site. That’s just annoying and no one likes that.

There are many rules, many different ways of doing things, lots of advice and tutorials. There is just so much information out there about creating your own blog or website but I’ve just covered the basics here.  If you have any other specific questions, just comment below and I’ll be sure to answer every single one.

Enjoy the journey!

Which is the best email marketing service for my blog?

There’s no doubt, social media has definitely taken over most of our lives. There are still quite a few people I know personally who aren’t members of Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. What I do know is that they still receive email. So, which is the best email marketing service for my blog and how can you get people to subscribe?

What is email marketing?

Email marketing is a tool to communicate with subscribers so you can share information, sell products or courses. People subscribe to your blog or website through a subscription sign up form and you can then communicate with them via one email to those subscribers. You can have many sign up forms for different reasons.

Currently I have the Domesblissity Digest subscription form where people can subscribe to a monthly newsletter detailing the previous month’s blog posts, a subscription for crafters who like to make do with products they already have, a subscription for bloggers who want to stay in touch with posts about blogging (like this one) and a subscription for people who are on a waiting list for more information on my H.O.M.E. Program, when it comes to hand.

I don’t like my Inbox bombarded with emails so I don’t like to bombard my subscribers either. My emails are sporadic and people can unsubscribe at any time. I’m a busy Mum and try to be as active as I can on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but they all take time. Even scheduling posts on these platforms takes time but with an email marketing service, I can write the email and send it at any time of the day or night and my subscribers can read it at leisure.

Which Email Marketing Service?

I started subscribing myself to a few bloggers who offered a weekly or monthly newsletter. This was my first introduction to email subscription and I noticed a few different platforms they used. Some of the services were Aweber, Mailchimp and ConvertKit (aff link). I didn’t want to pay for a service until I knew exactly how it worked and if it would benefit me and my blog so I started with Mailchimp. Mailchimp was very ‘clunky’ especially when I didn’t understand how it all worked. I stuck with it at first because the service is free for your first 1,000 subscribers but then I heard about ConvertKit.

Why ConvertKit?

I did a bit of research on other email marketing services and good things were being said about ConvertKit. I looked into it and found this service wasn’t free but only US$29.00 per month for the first 1,000 subscribers. For the price of a couple of takeaway coffees per week, I could justify the cost and also because I found the system to be very user friendly and I love how it’s set out. It’s very straight forward, it’s a ‘what you see is what you get’ format so you can see immediately how your subscriber form looks. It has the ability to be custom designed using your own code (not that I would use that feature) but it’s been an absolute joy to use compared to Mailchimp. I’m not sure how the others services shape up in comparison but I’m happy with ConvertKit so will stay.

I’m about to embark on using the sequencing features in ConvertKit to set up email automations for upcoming e-courses I’m creating and I’m really looking forward to the process. I’ve been able to manipulate the subscriber information to suit my business, create the different forms for different subscriber interests and the statistical information is very thorough. I can see at a glance just how many people read and click through on the emails that I send from this service.

Why Make the Switch to ConvertKit?

If you’re unhappy with the email marketing service you’re with, I think you should give ConvertKit a try. Besides being a really easy to use service with many functions and informative data available, the support at ConvertKit is amazing. They are great at keeping you informed of system updates or problems. They give you heaps of fantastic ideas about blogging and how you can use the service to better suit your needs. The Facebook Group is really informative with many of the other ConvertKit users giving great advice as well as the ConvertKit team. There is so much online help available as well as interactive ‘live’ support.

Email is here to stay

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (as well as any other social media platforms still being used today) will still be around for a while. For as long as I can remember, since personal computing has been around, email has been the best way to stay in touch with someone. You can be as personal or as business like as you want. Subscription forms can be custom designed in your email marketing service to suit various topics. You can send email sequences automatically so that the service is working for you even though you may be tucked up in bed. Users can opt in or opt out at any time. You can still be interactive with your subscribers without having to be constantly on social media like you are with say Facebook or Instagram. 

7 ways to stay focused as a SAHM blogger

In the nearly 6 years I’ve been blogging, I’ve found it relatively easy to stay focused as a SAHM (stay at home mum) blogger. When your blog is about homemaking, creating recipes, cooking, baking and living a frugal life, it’s easy for me to come up with content. My blog is about what I do every day. But sometimes it’s hard to find time to actually blog about what you do so here are 7 ways I keep focused and up to date with my blogging schedule.

Create a productive work space

I’d like to think my work space is ‘productive’. It’s continuously a work in progress but it’s a designated work space nonetheless. My office is space is right at the front entry to our downstairs rumpus room. The spot where we all walk in from the car. Notes from school, dance class fliers, mail, kid’s art work and who knows what else, gets dumped on my desk. It’s about having spaces for all those things so as not to get overloaded with the mess. I have an in tray for all the incoming and outgoing mail. 

Ikea KVISSLE Letter Tray

There are spaces for all those things that usually get dumped. It means I can come to my desk at any time without having to start to reorganise it before I want to blog. There are exceptions to the rule though. Sometimes you just get so busy dealing with an argument that might’ve broken out in the car on the way home and I do dump everything on the desk. These moments can’t be helped but having convenient spots for all your incomings and outgoings is one step to creating that productive space.

Have your tools of the trade handy

You don’t need to me to tell you hard it is to keep a pair of scissors or your nice set of pens away from your husband children. It’s a daily struggle with me but my kids know that what’s on my desk is out of bounds. They have an endless supply of pens, pencils, erasers, scissors in their own supply. I know it’s easy for them to just grab stuff as they walk past but this is a rule that’s been in place for a while. 

When you’re blogging, you really only need the computer but sometimes it’s good to have the following on hand:

• a notebook to jot down ideas
• your phone/camera for downloading photos or uploading photos to Instagram
• pens, pencils, highlighters, eraser, pencil sharpener, Sharpies in various colours, ruler, scissors etc.

Stay well fed and hydrated

I blog in fits and bursts throughout the week but there’s at least one day of the week when I plan on a full day at the computer, just like a job. I make sure I have on my desk a bottle of water, my coffee cup (we have a coffee station set up downstairs), a piece of fruit, snacks like dried fruit or nuts. 

Have regular breaks

Even if you are planning a long session on the computer, you should have regular breaks. I like to go for no longer than 45 minutes before I get up to stretch my legs and take a walk around the house.

If I’m blogging during my regular housework days, I blog around the housework. For example, my washing machine cycle goes for 54 minutes. I know that’s a great stretch of time to get a fair bit of blogging and other social media business completed before I have to hang the washing out. In the evening, I wait until the kids are tucked in bed (even though I can still hear footsteps and taps running for the last drink of water or trip to the bathroom) and I plan on doing a couple of hours blogging work until then, remembering to still factor in regular breaks.

Maintain Momentum

Having access to Facebook, Pinterest and all those other bright, sparkly things at your fingertips on your desktop/laptop computer is so tempting. I’ve installed an app called Momentum on my desktop. As I think I need to check Facebook, I open a new tab and a beautiful scene photo is displayed with all the things on my ‘to do’ list plus Momentum allows you to set your focus for the day. I love it. You know that saying “do the hardest job first”? Well, Momentum stops me from going off track until I’ve completed all the harder to do tasks.

Stick to your plan

I don’t have planners or schedulers of any kind when it comes to blogging. I do, however, have a weekly blogging schedule that I try to stick to. I’ve got plenty of content to post about. I’m usually weeks behind. Because I blog about what we do here at Domesblissity central as a family, what I cook, what I clean and things I make, I never struggle for content. Sometimes there just aren’t enough days in the week to blog about everything I want but I stick to this basic weekly schedule.

Edit

Monday	Recipe, Craft, Giveaway etc
Tuesday	Recipe, Craft, Tip (can be no blog post)
Wednesday	Recipe, Craft, Tip (can be no blog post)
Thursday	Thriving on Thursday Linky Party
Friday	Blogging tips
Saturday	No posts
Sunday	Podcast (if available)

I also have a monthly schedule for creating newsletters to send out to subscribers. This is usually done on the first of every month so I never can forget that date. I use ConvertKit (affiliate link) to schedule all my newsletters and subscriber lists. I’ve found ConvertKit to be the best email/newsletter scheduler on the market for ease of use. I do have a month to a page calendar that I can also use to remind myself if I have say a giveaway finishing on a particular day or some other event I’d like to blog about like Valentine’s Day, Easter or Christmas for example.

Allow extra time for other jobs

If you’re a blogger you know that’s it’s just not about writing a blog post. It also involves sharing and scheduling information on social media. You have to have your ‘finger on the pulse’ when it comes to these things to keep on top of your game. Always try and factor in time at the end of your ‘work time’ for scheduling, pinning or sharing posts or other information. 

It’s also a great time to organise your photos, files, programs and give your desktop space a tidy up. I’ve got a lot of fiddly little jobs like checking links in my blog, updating photos on old blog posts and other things since I moved to WordPress. I allow at least 15 minutes at the end of my allotted work time to do these things. If I’m up to date with my blogging schedule I might spend a bit more time on this.

It’s also a great time to catch a webinar or course you might’ve downloaded during the week. I know I sign up for all these different webinars and things I’d like to read. I reckon I could spend the whole week catching up on them. If I did, I’d never have any time for blogging. Having that 15 to 30 minutes at the end of your blogging schedule will help you remain focused on your ultimate goal of blogging and keep up to date with the other information.

Summary

Just remember to always have fun with it. I’ve always loved blogging so it’s never been a chore for me. I have had periods of months at a time when I’ve not been near the computer but when I was ready, I was straight back into it. If I miss a day on my schedule, no big deal. I make up for it the next week or I don’t. Don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t stick to your schedule. It’s your life, your space. Good luck!

Using Pinterest as a search engine

I think there are two types of people in this world; those that use Pinterest and those that don’t. I’m one of those that do and I love it. One of those reasons is because I like using Pinterest as a search engine.

Back in the day of dial up internet, and before Google (which seems like an eternity ago), I would find a lot of information that I wanted to keep for future reference. I’d ‘file’ it away in saved folders in my Internet Explorer tool bar. Heaven help me if I filed it in the wrong folder. I’d never find it again. Along comes Pinterest a couple years later and I found my favourite web tool. Not many people were pinning back then but if those people I followed or my favourite web pages I did like pinned their information, I was able to ‘pin it’ it to my boards in an easy to find format. Sure you can still “bookmark” your favourite pages but I find it all gets a bit messy. Pinterest captures the photo and the subject in an easy to look at format which makes it more appealing.

I didn’t over complicate it. I started a board called “Food“, one called “Craft” and another called “Christmas“. That was about it back then. It has evolved a bit since then but I haven’t veered off these basic boards for years. I do have 62 boards but they are all relevant to my lifestyle and what I like. With so much information on the internet (which I seem to need) I create a new board for Christmas each year because there is always so much new stuff being posted.

I’ve never broken my Food boards up into say “Entrees”, “Mains”, “Cakes” etc because anything to do with food, no matter whether it’s a recipe or an article can be found in one easy spot. The main point I’m trying to make, is that I know I can open my “Food” board and search within it for say a cauliflower recipe or an article on healthy food for kids.

How to Start on Pinterest

If you’re a ‘surfer’ of the internet, it’s easy and free to start up an account with Pinterest. If you’re logged into Facebook, you can create a new account using your Facebook log in details or create an account with your email address and a password. Once you’ve done that, you’re set. You create a ‘board’, for example, “Recipes” and when you find a recipe you like, you’ll most likely find a “P” on the actual page that you’re looking at which will allow you to ‘pin it’ to your board. Alternatively, if you’re using Google Chrome, you can download a “Pin It” extension which will sit at the top right hand corner of your screen and any internet page you’re looking at will be pinned when you click that button. If you’re using another internet browser, there is help here to find the “Pin It” button.

Creating Boards

This is the fun part and is ongoing. You don’t have to create all your boards in one go. If you’re a teacher, for example, and you find some lesson plans you would like to pin, you can “pin it” and you will be taken directly to Pinterest. If you haven’t already created a “Lesson Plans” board, you can do so at this stage. I’m pretty fussy with my boards and don’t like to have too many (some might say 62 is too many) so give it some thought when you’re creating your boards.

If you find you’re going to be looking for a lot of lesson plans, you could create the one board or you may like to create one for each subject, for example. There really aren’t any hard or fast rules. You just want to be able to find your pin again when you want to refer to it.

Pinterest for Bloggers

Next to Google, Pinterest is my second highest source of traffic. Every time I create a blog post, I pin it to a board. Over the last few years, I have grown to nearly 24,000 followers and don’t ask me how. I don’t have any fancy algorithm explanation to offer or any fussy formulas. There is so much information out there on how to schedule pins for maximum optimisation or growth but I really can’t be bothered with it all. I really don’t have a lot of time to read all that

http://www.startupvalley.com/member/bensstiv

information.

I just love to look at pretty things on Pinterest like recipes, crafts, makeovers and DIY projects because I like to get inspiration from them. It really is a good way to save money by doing it yourself. Also, if you’re a blogger, it’s just another way to share your blog posts. I’ve found that if I really like the look of the pin, I will follow that ‘pinner’. You can only hope that those pinners will follow you back. That’s about my only logic for gaining more followers on Pinterest. That and creating really good content that people will be interested in.

Naming your Pins

Don’t forget to clearly name your pins so when people are searching for something in particular, your pin will show up. With such a big worldwide audience, you want to name your blog posts that are pinned something that the whole world will find. For example (being Australian, I’ll use an Australian example), if you wrote a post called “Best Aussie Cake Recipes”, I’m not sure too many people, other than those searching for “Aussie recipes” will find you. I would be more inclined to name this pin “Best Cake Recipes in Australia”. Your pin will most likely appear in a lot more people’s searches.

It’s also a good idea to create a “pinnable” image within your blog post. I haven’t always done that and have still received a lot of traffic from posts without that image and I’m slowly going back through old posts and changing that but you can find out heaps about how to do that if you search for it. I like to use Picmonkey to create a collage with either 1 or 2 images and text in a 2 or 3 cell vertical layout. There are many ways to do it.

Secret Boards

Another great feature of Pinterest is that you can keep some of your boards “secret”. This is especially handy if you do have a lot of followers and you like to keep things a bit personal or ‘secret’ from them. For example, when I was getting married, I created a couple “secret” boards just so friends or family didn’t see what I was planning. It was no big deal whether they saw it or not but there could be another reason for wanting to create a secret board. You could be pregnant and want to start searching for nursery designs or baby booty crochet patterns. Or you might be starting up a new business that you want to keep quiet for a while. (Not that I’m doing either of those!)

Pinterest is mobile

With the invention of ‘smart phones’, Pinterest is one of those apps that can be downloaded to your phone. Not only is it a time waster a great way to capture something while you’re out and about, you can refer to pins when you’re not at your computer screen. (I have been known to be pinning when I’m waiting at an appointment, at school pick up or generally wasting time.) This is great when you want to share a recipe with someone or some other information.

Also, I found it invaluable when I was going through a bit of a mid life crisis a couple years ago.  After the break down of my marriage and then 3 months later, the death of my mother, I found that I pinned a lot of motivational and inspirational messages to an “Emotional Rescue” board.  If I was really down when I was out and about, I could quite quickly refer to it to pick me up.  You can share your pins with your hairdresser, if you’re working out at the gym, if you want to take your crochet pattern with you while you’re on the bus or even listen to music. You can pin Youtube clips or any other forms of music. Just about everything is ‘pinnable’.

Check it out

I guess everyone has their favourite tools on the internet. Mine just happens to be Pinterest. It has enabled me to organise my ideas in one easy spot that is easy for me to find again. I’ve also gained a bit of traffic from my own blog posts and just fill in time. Just like reading a magazine (not that I need anything to fill in my time being a Mum of 2).

I hope you find Pinterest as good as I do and some of this information helps you. You can follow me there.

How to name your blog posts

When I started blogging back in 2011, it would never have occurred to me that I would have to give two second’s thought to what or how to name blog posts. I just called it what it was. Fast forward to a couple of years and all these internet terms were being thrown around that, to me, sounded like a different language, and still do. I’m certainly no expert but I just wanted to share what has worked for me. I want to give you some advice on how to name your blog posts.

Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine what? If you haven’t heard that term before you might’ve heard of the acronym ‘SEO’. Search engine optimisation is a term used to basically let search engines, like Google for example, find your website or a page within your website when somebody searches for it. 

Now, there is definitely some kind of science behind it but the golden rule I have always followed is this.

 

Name your blog posts what you would most likely search for.

 

That’s it. That is the process I use every time I write a blog post. What would I most likely search for if I wanted to find a recipe, craft or piece of advice? It doesn’t always work as some of the more popular subjects I blog about are often ‘beaten’ in the search results by organisations who pay to always be at the top of the search. For example, if I wrote a blog post about Chocolate Chip Cookies, you could only imagine how many other people and larger websites have published recipes for Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Based on my location, the chocolate chip cookie recipe by www.taste.com.au came up first.

It’s probably going to be a long shot if your recipe could ever beat that but what I’ve found in analysing search data used to bring people to my website is to put in another word or phrase. For example, I love easy recipes so I would more likely want to search for “quick mix chocolate chip cookies”. In this instance, a recipe from the Woman’s Weekly’s “Food to Love” website came up first. If I typed into my Google search bar “the best chocolate chip cookies” a recipe from AllRecipes.com is displayed first. 

If I was to search for “quick mix chocolate chunk cookies” (which is what I called my recipe for a crunchy cookie using chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips), my recipe comes up as number 9 in the search on Google’s front page. Still a little way down but you might find people searching for recipes are tired of the big company’s recipes and would much prefer to give a tried and true recipe from a home baker a go. That’s what I do.

Google AdWords Keyword Planner Tool

It really is a matter of trying out a few different titles but the Google AdWords Keyword Planner can help find out what’s hot and what’s not. This is where it gets too technical for me and I don’t understand it but there are plenty of tutorials and advice out there. I’ve never really had the time or desire to try to understand it. 

Organisations like The Hoth (affiliate link) can help bloggers and their businesses set up their websites to achieve the best search engine optimisation and assist in marketing campaigns.

It’s an absolute minefield, for me anyway, when it comes to things like SEO but after 5 years of blogging, I’ve been having success with well worded, simple naming conventions when it comes to naming my blog posts.

What is a linky party?

When I first started blogging over 5 years ago, I didn’t have a clue what a linky party was. Prior to starting a blog, I had followed a few blogs, just to read and get inspired by. I had my favourites but they didn’t host linky parties. It wasn’t until I had a few posts under my belt, a year’s worth in fact, that I started to delve into the world of blogging and I noticed a lot of bloggers, mainly those from the US were hosting these linky parties. I started to link my posts up to these parties and sometimes my posts would be featured. And that meant traffic to my blog.  

After a while I thought could I, in fact, host one myself? How would I do that? I did a bit of research and found out that there are two main players in the world of linky parties so I investigated who they were and how much they charged and I went for it. The Thriving on Thursdays linky party was created back on 4 January 2012. When I started, I didn’t think anyone would link up but they did. I didn’t worry too much about how many people would link up. I never have. What I did find, by hosting my own party, is that I have created a like-minded community of friends from all over the world.  I still have contact with most of the people who linked up originally. I get to hear about their lives, their families, the weather, their holidays, birthdays, and more importantly see the amazing projects they submit to the linky party every week. I always find so much inspiration from these people and have created many of their recipes and projects over the years.

Here’s a bit of a run down on the world of linky parties.

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

If you want to host your own linky party, the two main players that I know of are Inlinkz, who I use, and Linky Tools. I found Linky Tools a little bit ‘clunky’ so stayed with Inlinkz who have been fantastic all these years. They charge about US$20 per year to host a party where pictures will be displayed when bloggers post their links. It is free to host a linky party without pictures being displayed.  It is pretty straight forward to get started. You create an account and set the parameters, like what day and time you’d like the party to start, when you’d it like to end, how many linked up posts will appear on your blog, ie the smaller photo of the blog post and many more features. The help centre is very self explanatory at Inlinkz and they will help you along the way if you need it.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I HOST A PARTY?

I find that weekly linky parties work best. There have been a few times, over the years, when I just couldn’t get around to getting that blog post up. Whether it was illness, me or the children, a bad slump in my life or just being too busy but as far as my blogging schedule goes, hosting that weekly Thriving on Thursday linky party is a highlight of my week. It gives me a chance to interact with my friends. If they leave a comment, I always make sure I reply and get to know them a little better. Some friends have come and gone and that’s okay. Things happen. You can create one off, special event type linky parties for a special feature like Christmas Cookies or sharing your birthing story. I’ve linked up to a few of those over the years. No matter what the reason, whether you want a regular linky party gig or a one off, it’s entirely up to you.

WHAT SHOULD I CALL IT?

I’ve found that of the many linky parties that are hosted around the world each week, they seem to take place on the same day every week and they are usually named similar to the day of the week. Because I’m all about being thrifty I couldn’t think of a better name than Thriving on Thursdays for my linky party. Bloggers who host on a Friday could call it something like Frugal Fridays or Motivational Mondays. You get the drift.

One of the more popular linky parties which has been doing the rounds for absolute ages and it’s called “Wordless Wednesdays” where you get to post just a photo. There are linky parties specifically for crafting, food and probably many other things. You can create one for anything and call it what you like.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE LINKY PARTY IS FINISHED?

This is the best part for me because I get to go through every link and see what everyone has posted. I get to see the regular visitors and check out any new ones. A lot of bloggers go to every individual who linked up and thank them for their post, which I personally think is great, and a really nice thing to do but no matter how many times I’ve tried over the years, I’ve just been too busy to do that. It’s also an opportunity to feature your favourite posts. Because my party gets a lot of both recipes and anything else, I like to feature 3 food posts and 3 non food posts. Things like crafts, sewing patterns, drink recipes, kid’s activities, marital advice, beauty tips and just about anything goes. These features then appear at the start of the following week’s linky party post. How do I choose just 3? I know, it’s hard but I usually start by choosing posts that are going to save me a couple of dollars or save me time. I then try to choose posts by a blogger who hasn’t been featured before or for a while. I don’t just select posts with really nice photos but rather posts that are informative.

It also gives the featured blogger a chance to place a ‘featured’ button on their blog which in turn drives more linkers to your next party, or that’s what you’re hoping for. That’s not the reason I do it but it has brought new people to my party which I’m so appreciative of.

WHAT ABOUT LINKED UP POSTS FOR SPECIAL EVENTS?

What I love about the bloggers who link up, they’re so clever, they’re always one step ahead of the next big event, ie Easter, Mother’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Christmas etc and my linky party is always inundated with posts that are relative to these special events. I like to do a special round up of all those posts about a week before the event, just so all the posts are seen. I also like to keep these round up posts handy for myself when I’m stuck for inspiration.

WHAT OTHER LINKY PARTIES ARE OUT THERE?

I’ve never really delved into the world of linky parties outside of food and craft blogs but I’m sure they are out there. I like linky parties similar to mine that aren’t really specific to just food, for example, or craft. Sometimes I might write a post about something frugal and it doesn’t really fit into those two categories but you can find blogs similar to mine who host parties that will accept these one-off kind of blog posts. Some bloggers also create a lot of rules when it comes to hosting linky parties and that’s their perogative. Things like no giveaways, they must feature their ‘button’ to get featured, only two posts can be linked up etc etc but I don’t care about those things. I’m just happy to see familiar and new faces each week. I don’t mind if people want to share sponsored posts, giveaways or anything else. I’ve seen a few marital advice type posts and they’re okay too but as long as it’s family friendly, I’m easy.

Because I seem to be so busy these days, I sometimes find I don’t have anything to link up to my favourite parties or I just get too busy but here is a really good list of parties for any day of the week from My Joy Filled Life that will get you started.

Linky parties, to me, have been one of the best things about blogging. I’ve made so many friendships and discovered so many fantastic blogs, recipes, crafts and ideas. They’re friendships I’ll treasure forever. My days of really partying are over. Instead, I’d much rather put the kettle on and have a good old catch up with friends. That’s how I want you to feel when you come to my linky party, Thriving on Thursdays.

 

How I moved from Blogger to Wordpress

If you’re expecting a technical, well explained post on how to move your blog from Blogger to WordPress, keep moving. You won’t get it here. I did, however, look thoroughly into the process at great lengths and decided that it was going to be way over my head. I had over 1,000 blog posts over the 5 year period I’ve been blogging and I didn’t want to lose anything. I asked around my blogging circles and came across someone who did the migration for me and has been an immense help to me and the steep learning curve that is WordPress.

These 6 steps will help you get the process going should you be wanting to move from Blogger to WordPress but not do the job yourself.

1. Source someone to do it for you

I heard good reports about Abby Rudakov from Autumn Street here in Australia. Abby herself is a blogger at Things for Boys and is well experienced in web design, Blogger to WordPress migrations and site maintenance. I made contact with Abby and asked her what I needed, got the cost breakdown and she explained very promptly and clearly what needed to happen. Even though she is interstate, through the power of the internet, she was able to tell me exactly what I needed to do and she was onto it once I gave her the go ahead.

2. Decide on a company to self host

Abby suggested to use Bluehost (affiliate) as they have been very reliable for her. I paid a 3 year subscription which only worked out to about $4.00 per month. So far, I haven’t had any problems whatsoever. It’s just set and forget. They have an excellent affiliate program as well. If someone signs up with Bluehost using your affiliate link, you’ll get $65. That’s pretty good if you ask me and one of the reasons I’ve listed the link here.

3. Secure your.com domain name

I was lucky in this regard that I had already sourced and paid for my domain name, Domesblissity.com and just had to give Abby the details. 

4. Decide on a WordPress theme

When it came to themes, I didn’t have a clue what it meant. Abby suggested the “Magazine” theme to me and once I had a look at an example of it, I liked the way it looked. When you start looking at examples of themes it can get pretty daunting but working with someone like Abby, it was an easy process. There is usually a one-off cost to purchase this theme but there are some free ones out there too. One thing to take into account is how the theme you chose will look on a mobile device as that’s the way a lot of users look at your blog today.

5. Let someone do the migration for you

This was the easy part for me. I handed over all my passwords to Abby and she did the rest. You might want to take into account that some links may be broken or some categories aren’t copied across and I’m still working on getting those up to date but the bulk of the work is done for you if you pay someone to do it. There are quite a lot of tutorials on how to do the migration yourself but I just didn’t want to risk it. It is quite an indepth process and you don’t want to undo all that hard work you did on Blogger. I would’ve been lost without Abby doing this for me and I’m glad I spent the money. It wasn’t all that expensive and money well spent.

6. Tackle the world of WordPress

Probably the most difficult process in the whole move was learning WordPress. Everything was pretty much automated in Blogger and not much HTML coding was required. Signing onto WordPress looked like a completely different language to me but with my basic knowledge, it didn’t take too long to figure it all out. I haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg in what WordPress is capable of. I’m still navigating my way around all the different menus and what each of them does. The best part about WordPress is the “plug-ins”. There are so many developers out there in the world who have created plug-ins for just about every function you could possibly think of. For example, if you look in my sidebar, just about all of those features are plug-ins. It’s just a matter of googling for a plug-in, like “most popular posts” and you’ll be inundated with choices. Check out which one you prefer, select the “Plugins” menu from your WordPress dashboard menu, search for it, download it, activate it and then install it where you want it to appear on your blog. That’s a lot easier than trying to write the HTML code for a particular function like you might have to do in Blogger. Blogger is very limited with the features that you can perform unless you’re a whizz at writing HTML code.

My blog is definitely still a work in progress. There is a limitation of Blogger that when you migrate to WordPress, all the labels are imported as categories and you have manually sort through them. When you’ve got over 1,000 blog posts, that’s a lot of sorting and updating categories but it’s a great opportunity to repair any broken links, check photos and ensure you have the blog post assigned to the right category.

It doesn’t matter what part of the world you’re in, Abby from Autumn Street will be able to handle the whole migration process for you virtually. Her after sales service is particularly good and she’s fixed problems and answered them just about immediately. She has many years experience in IT and is more than competent to handle any job. She’s a busy Mum of two young boys but can juggle that and any queries you have with ease.

Don’t leave it as long as I did. I think you’ll find, even though it may be daunting from the start, the move to WordPress will give your blog more scope, you’ll be the rightful owner of your little space in the blogisphere and have total control over it.

Abby Rudakov
Autumn Street
Blogger to WordPress Migration

I Started a Blog with Blogger

Before I started my blog, Domesblissity.com, back in 2011, I had followed and read a lot of blogs. It was very much a form of relaxation for me as well as being a great source of information. I was inspired by a lot of bloggers but I also found there were many people out there who thought the way I did about homemaking, cooking, baking and making do. It was then that I thought I should blog as well as a way to record all my recipes for my children when they leave home as well as a place to record their birthdays, special events and other bits and pieces of information. What I didn’t know anything about was how to blog. All I knew was that there were two main players in blogging and that was WordPress and Blogger.

I did a bit of googling and everyone was raving about WordPress but when I logged onto WordPress, I thought I was looking at a completely different language. I didn’t have a clue how to get started, whether to get the free version or pay for the self hosted WordPress platform. When I looked at Blogger, it looked a little more user-friendly so I went with that.

I am no expert at all with HTML code, what the internet is coded with but I have had experience with a little computer programming on mainframe computers as well as having a lot of experience with business software and all the Microsoft applications. I thought I could muddle my way through Blogger and I did. It was very crude in the beginning.

By looking at a lot of other blogs, I saw that they all had fancy header graphics and smartly set out pages but I really didn’t know where to start. I really wasn’t out to impress anyone. I just wanted to start blogging. By looking at other Blogger blogs, I soon started inserting ‘gadgets’ and follow buttons. It wasn’t until I got my first couple of followers, I got a bit excited and started to look more into it. I also employed the services of a friend to design a logo, which is the same one I use today.

Blogger is pretty simple to understand. You don’t have to worry too much about manipulating HTML code but rather just use the standard gadgets that are provided with Blogger. Gadgets are like automatically programmed functions on the blog like ‘follow me’ social media buttons, latest posts, date, time, archives and blog roll type functions. It didn’t really steer much from that for the nearly 5 years I was on Blogger but over the years, I was still hearing about ‘self hosting with WordPress’ but still didn’t really know what it meant.

Blogger served it’s purpose well for me and I was sorry to leave it especially when I went to WordPress and I didn’t really have a clue where to find any of those ‘gadgets’ or how to personalise my blog. Over the weeks since late 2015, I’m slowly making progress with WordPress but there’s still a lot to learn.

Am I happy that I’ve moved to WordPress? Yes, I have to say I am. Even thought it’s costing me to self host with Bluehost and I had to pay for the transfer from Blogger to WordPress (I didn’t want to risk losing any old posts), there’s definitely a lot more scope with WordPress with what’s called ‘plug ins’. A more detailed post to come on that but if you’re thinking about starting a blog and have limited knowledge of HTML, plug-ins and self hosting, I’d give Blogger a go.

There are plenty of experts out there who give detailed descriptions on the differences between the two. Here are some interesting posts I found.

Blogger vs WordPress Comparison by Make Use Of

WordPress vs Blogger by WP Beginner

Blogger vs WordPress Comparison by How to Make My Blog

There’s no harm in trying so why not check Blogger out and start blogging now. It might be all you need to start your blogging journey.

What I learnt in 5 years of blogging

If you would’ve asked me 5 years ago what I’d be doing now, the last thing I would’ve said would be blogging. What started as a way of storing recipes and events that involved the family, has now turned into a full time job for me. (Well, being a Mum is my full time job but I’m turning my blogging knowledge into a business over the course of this year.) I’ve successfully learnt how to juggle my family and a blogging life and I couldn’t have done any of it without YOU! Everyone single person who visits Domesblissity.com has made this blogging journey such an interesting one and one that has given me experiences and opportunities I would never have dreamed of. I’ve got a few local blogging friends who I would never have met otherwise and a lot of my online friends have been met through this blog from all over the world.

Now it’s time to give back. I’ve learnt so much about blogging, mainly self taught or googling how to do things. I want to share everything I know about blogging and how I got to where I am. I haven’t made a lot of money from blogging. I guess I quite haven’t figured that part out yet but it has never been about the money. I’ve enjoyed quite a lot of traffic (which I guess I should be capitalising on) but the whole premise of Domesblissity.com is to not spend, to live a frugal life and to make do with what you have. I don’t feel right about advertising say Amazon affiliate links, promoting things to buy when that’s not what I’m about. I just enjoy the traffic I get.

I do, however, want to start selling my knowledge on how to live a frugal life and how you can live a rich and fulfilling life without a lot of money.

There are a lot of experts on blogging out there and they’ve had wonderful successes. These blog posts about my blogging journey are what I did and I want to share every single one of them with you. It might just be something you haven’t heard of before and if it can help you, I’m only happy to share it.

Thank you again for continuing to follow me here at Domesblissity.com. Stay tuned for regular blogging tips, tutorials, how tos and information from me. I can’t wait to share.

Welcome to Domesblissity.com!

Welcome to the new home of Domesblissity! I finally got around to making the change from Blogger to WordPress. Something that I’ve been wanting to do for absolute ages. I didn’t personally do it. Abby from the blog Things For Boys, a true professional, did it for me.

Become a "Friend" of Domesblissity

When my blogging journey started over 4 and a half years ago, never in a million years did I think it would go this long or did I think I would make so many friends from all over the world. It started as a place to store all of my recipes and tips for my children when they left home (and trust me, they will be leaving home when the time comes).

Along the way, it's become a sort of 'diary' if you will of life's happenings. There's been a death in the family with my Mother passing back in 2012, separation and subsequent divorce and now marriage again, things you'd only most likely share with friends. But that's what I've found on my blogging journey. Everyone who comes here are like close personal friends of mine. I'm happy to share what's going on in my life and how I live it every single day, whether that's what I cooked for dinner that night, what I've baked for the kid's school lunch boxes, how to save money in the home, how we celebrated one of their birthdays or how to live in domestic 'bliss'.

So you never miss a thing, I'd like to invite you, old and new friends, to sign up via email. Be the first to hear of competitions and special offers, new recipes, new projects and starting on the 1st of September, an occasional newsletter called Domesblissity Digest. A newsletter full of tips for the season and what's grabbing my attention around the interwebs.

I just love it that you've all come on board my journey. I look forward to catching up with you in your Inbox. Use the pop up subscribe prompt or the one below. Either way, it'll be great to keep in touch with you all and I promise I won't bombard you with emails in your Inbox.

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Become a "Friend" of Domesblissity

When my blogging journey started over 4 and a half years ago, never in a million years did I think it would go this long or did I think I would make so many friends from all over the world. It started as a place to store all of my recipes and tips for my children when they left home (and trust me, they will be leaving home when the time comes).

Along the way, it’s become a sort of ‘diary’ if you will of life’s happenings. There’s been a death in the family with my Mother passing back in 2012, separation and subsequent divorce and now marriage again, things you’d only most likely share with friends. But that’s what I’ve found on my blogging journey. Everyone who comes here are like close personal friends of mine. I’m happy to share what’s going on in my life and how I live it every single day, whether that’s what I cooked for dinner that night, what I’ve baked for the kid’s school lunch boxes, how to save money in the home, how we celebrated one of their birthdays or how to live in domestic ‘bliss’.

So you never miss a thing, I’d like to invite you, old and new friends, to sign up via email. Be the first to hear of competitions and special offers, new recipes, new projects and starting on the 1st of September, an occasional newsletter called Domesblissity Digest. A newsletter full of tips for the season and what’s grabbing my attention around the interwebs.

I just love it that you’ve all come on board my journey. I look forward to catching up with you in your Inbox. Use the pop up subscribe prompt or the one below. Either way, it’ll be great to keep in touch with you all and I promise I won’t bombard you with emails in your Inbox.

3,000,000 hits!

Numbers, schmumbers. When I started this blog just over 4 years ago, as a way to record my everyday recipes and handy hints for my children when they left home, little did I know that anyone else would be interested in it. I don't really pay much attention to numbers and stats. It's a bit of a necessary 'evil' sometimes when it comes to sponsorship opportunities though, which I've been ever so grateful for.

Anyway, while I wasn't looking Domesblissity had hit 3,000,000 hits! I'm ever so grateful for each and every one of you who has visited me here in this little part of the world. An average Aussie Mum with 2 children who has a passion for cooking, crafting, sewing, making do, recording happy family moments and some not so happy moments. There's nothing special about my life but if there's something that I can offer that will help someone else to make ends meet or make your daily routine that little bit easier, I'm happy to share it. I must be the world's worst blogger photographer and have no idea how to style my food. I'm too busy trying to get it on the table to feed my hungry lot. If it tastes good, that's all I worry about.

My most successful blog posts have mostly been the 'compilation' type posts I share. I get these hair brained ideas that I'm going to make all these wonderful projects out of all the old t-shirts, for example, so start pinning, forever to be lost on one of my Pinterest boards. So, I decided to create a blog post, just for my benefit so that when the mood strikes, I'll be all set to start searching for ideas. Little did I know other people would be interested in them as well. These are the top 5 posts of all time.

23 things to make from old t-shirts

16 ways to use quinoa

30 second self saucing chocolate pudding in a mug

28 homemade Christmas presents for children's friends

10 ways to use up strawberries

Thanks again everyone for making this journey such a wonderful one. The best part about the whole process is the fantastic friends I've made along the way from all parts of the world. There's no way our paths would've crossed if it hadn't have been for blogging. Heaps of love to you all!