Homemaking Deep Dive | Planning Your Homemaking Year

Today, Jessica Fisher is going to share her system for planning the year ahead with purpose, not to do more and be more, but to align our monthly, weekly and daily rhythms with our values, our strengths and the path of faithful stewardship God has called us to for His glory and our good. 

In This Episode:

How this planning benefits your marriage and your walk with God.

Prevent emotionalism from sabotaging progress and growth.

5 Steps to Planning Your Homemaking Year. 

SHOW NOTES & RESOURCES

For full episode notes and resource links see corresponding blog post at theartofhomepodcast.com/blog and search "planning your homemaking year."

Connect with Jessica   

goodcheapeats.com | lifeasmom.com | @lifeasmomdotcom | @goodcheapeatsblog 

The Print & Go Planner (basis for today's episode)

Related Blog Posts from Jessica

A Self-Assessment for a New Year 

Principles & Goals 

Future Thinking 

Dreaming for the Future 

Transcript

Allison 0:02

Hello, homemakers, and welcome to the Art of Home podcast, where we are exploring how homemakers cultivate a place to belong. I'm your host, Allison Weeks. I'm a wife, a mom, a granny, and I've been practicing the Art of Home since 1992. Welcome everyone, new listeners. I'm so glad you found us, and old friends alike. It is a brand new season on the Art of Home. I kicked off winter 2026 on this past Monday with a new Monday motivation about gently entering the new year. And I promise to bring you some helpful content about dreaming and planning for the year ahead. That's exactly what I will be chatting about today with former guest and honorary co-host Jessica Fisher. But before we get to that, let's check the mailbag, shall we? This is the part of the show where I respond to messages and answer questions that you all have sent me either via email, voicemail, or one-way text message. This mailbag segment is brought to you by listeners who support the Art of Home through Buy Me a Coffee. Buy Me a Coffee is a virtual tip jar where you can show your appreciation and support for the show by giving a one-time tip or by becoming a Titus Two Women supporter and setting up a recurring tip of $5 per month. Titus2Women supporters receive my undying gratitude and the occasional perk, such as free printables and free registration for the recipe exchange and other fun things. Whichever way you choose to give, I'm grateful for your support. Bethany from Texas sent in a message saying, Found your podcast recently and have listened to so many of the holiday homemaking episodes. Such a joy and encouragement as I prepare for Christmas in our home. Thank you for encouraging me and keeping an eternal perspective on all the work keeping a home entails. I set up a gift wrapping station for the first time ever in my bedroom, which was a huge success. Oh, I'm so glad to hear that, Bethany. Thank you very much for your message and thank you for listening. Haley in South Dakota writes, I have an idea. I'm wondering if you've ever considered an episode on mothers slash daughters-in-law relationships. I have a great mother-in-law, but I see so many struggling with their daughter-in-law or mother-in-law. So much passive aggression and bitterness and a lack of compassion and humility on both sides. Also, for young middle-aged moms, it might be helpful to start thinking ahead to what kind of mother-in-law do I want to be? Just an idea. This is an excellent topic for discussion, Haley. I also have a great mother-in-law, daughter-in-law relationship with both of my daughters-in-law, but um, and with my mother-in-law, but I agree based on people I know and what I see online, many are struggling in those relationships. It's complicated, it's it's a complicated relational issue. And I agree we we definitely need to talk about it. So I put it on the deep dive list for this year, but I want to hear from you guys. What is your relationship like with your mother-in-law? What works well, what doesn't, and how would you like that relationship to change? And for all of you mother-in-laws out there, what is your relationship like with your daughters-in-law? What works well, what doesn't, how would you like that relationship to change? It will be helpful for me to hear all of your pain points and your positive points before I move forward into planning an episode and a and a discussion on this topic. You can email me your answers or text them to me using the link in the episode description. It is a one-way text, remember, so I cannot text you back and I can't see your name or anything. So please include your name and your email if you would like a direct reply. Also, let me know if you want to keep it private. Otherwise, I may share it in a future mailbag segment. I look forward to hearing from you all about the state of your mother-in-law relationships. Now on to today's episode. Hopefully, you have carved out some time this month to rest and reflect before making any resolutions about the year ahead. Today, Jessica Fisher is going to share her system for planning the year ahead with purpose, not to do more and be more, but to align our monthly, weekly, and daily rhythms with our values, our strengths, and the path of faithful stewardship God has called us to for his glory and our good. We will look at what we are and are not planning for with this system. This type of planning can strengthen your relationship with the Lord and with your husband. And it can prevent emotionalism from sabotaging your progress and your growth. It is not, however, new age manifesting or name it and claim it theology. And we do address that in our discussion. After laying the groundwork of the what and the why, Jessica shares five tips to planning your homemaking year. We both pray that this discussion will be helpful and encouraging, not overwhelming or shaming in any way. But take what feels doable and applicable to your unique situation in the season you're in right now. The important point is to live with intention rather than just floating aimlessly through your days. It's not about adding more to your plate, but rather gaining clarity on what really matters and moving forward towards that goal with a plan. As Jessica says, it's not so much a to-do list as it is a to live list. Thank you for trusting me with some of your valuable time today. I pray that it will be time well spent for you. Whatever you are applying your hands to as you listen, I know you will enjoy this deep dive into planning your homemaking year. Welcome to the Art

Laying the Groundwork to Plan Your Year-What It Is & Is Not

Allison 6:17

of Home. I am here with former guest, my favorite um partner in crime here on the show, Jessica Fisher. I'm a little loopy because we have like 15 days left till Christmas, and I have so much to do. But that's okay. We're gonna talk about the future today. We're gonna do a deep dive into future thinking and planning. This is something that Jessica practices herself. She loves to nerd out over this topic, as do I. And you have a bit of a different system than I do, Jessica. So I'm excited to talk about your system today. And we specifically want to look at making plans, thinking through, sort of creating a vision for where you want to go with your home, with your family, with your own personal growth, in line with what God is leading you to do, and then how to take actionable steps to do all those things and hold yourself accountable. So we have a lot of ground to cover today. Um, but hey, welcome back to the podcast. Thank you. I love I love nerding out with you. And yes, it's so fun. It's so fun. Okay, before we jump in, I mean, we've been on the show now like for this is like your fourth time, maybe. I don't know a lot. But just real quick, give me like the you know, 35 second Jessica Spiel of who you are.

Jessica 7:36

You know, I feel like that's a moving target as your kids age. You you how you identify yourself really changes, right? I was once the homeschool mom of six kids. Um, and now that my oldest or my youngest is um graduating high school in the spring, um, I can't I can't label myself that way. Um, I am a wife of almost 32 years. I have six kids aged 17 to 28, and one bonus daughter, um, my daughter-in-law. And um I spend my days managing our home. We have seven of us still live here. And um I write at Good She Beats and Life is Mom and poke my head into The Art of Home whenever Allison will let me. I'm always happy to have you. And you have some books.

Allison 8:31

Jessica also has cookbooks. You should check now.

Jessica 8:34

I've I've written um four cookbooks for the Harvard Common Press, which is um now owned by Corto. And I have self-published um a number of guides and money-saving um helpers to people who who really want to get a hold of their finances.

Allison 8:54

Okay. So we have talked about that in the past here with you on the show. And today we're gonna sort of shift this economy discussion to more like an economy of our of our time and and our um accomplishments, if you will. One of the titles that we were just sort of mulling over what we want to call this episode is perhaps planning your homemaking accomplishments. Um, but let's talk about that. Let's talk about what we're going to talk about today. Let's give some definitions. What are we thinking and planning for with this practice that we're going to discuss today?

Jessica 9:32

So I think that everybody, you know, the new year comes along, and the traditional approach is to say, okay, what what are my goals for the year? Um and I think that's helpful, but but I like to just cast a vision just a little bit bigger. Um, and this kind of started many years ago, 2013. And I I had this imaginary conversation with my husband because I was really frustrated about something. And I I would role play the conversation in my head so that I could be prepared to have the conversation. And oh, you do that too. And his, you know, I could hear his voice saying, Well, what do you want? Because I was full of things I didn't want. And and it was like, oh, I need to be able to to articulate what it is I want. And so I started this process of of taking some regular time each year to to look at what kind of habits I wanted to develop, what kind of systems to refine, what kind of experiences I wanted our family to share. Um, and that kind of morphed into this communication tool as well as like a task managing system that I would have this reminder. Because I think in my younger years, I might make a list of quote resolutions, but then I might not look at it ever again until maybe the next December 30 something and go, oh, well, none of that stuff happened, right? What was I thinking? You know, and and so just wanting to get like a big picture to cast a big picture of what would I like my days to feel like? Yeah. Um, what do I want my home to feel like? And and then drilling down into specifics as the days went by.

Allison 11:30

Okay. And we are going to talk specifics after we make do some defining and talking about the why, um, the why of this. So never fear, we will get to the new grid and give you very detailed specifics about how to do this process. So, habits to develop, let me make sure I'm hearing you right, um, systems to define, put into place, and experiences that you want to share with the people in your life. So, what are we not thinking about planning for with this process?

Jessica 12:04

I think as a mom, you have to keep, as a mom and as a homemaker, you have to keep in mind that there are many things outside of your control. And so I can't say next December I will be doing X, Y, and Z because I don't know what next December holds. Um, when we look forward a whole year, that's that's just not realistic. Um illnesses, financial changes, um, different things that the people in our lives may be working through, struggling with. Um, we we can't predict those things. So it's more this big picture um that we're gonna like kind of carve into being as the days go by, but but having kind of a goal in mind and then being willing to pivot because life God will God will God will make you pivot if you don't uh um willingly do so. So um, but but looking at, you know, yeah, I would like to have a better um cleaning schedule that I don't avoid doing, you know, or I would like to travel more with my family, or I want to have dedicated time in the Word more. Um those are big things, but then then this process kind of helps me drill down and go, okay, how do I make this happen? How do I put feet to this big vision?

Aligning Yearly Plans with Personal Values

Allison 13:44

How do you think that these things line up with like values? Because that's one of the pillars of homemaking that we I've talked about a lot um over the years on the show is this the the pillar of values and priorities, which comes after the pillars of identity and um no, that's the second one. Yeah, the identity and then values and priorities is the second pillar.

Jessica 14:05

I I think it's very, very closely aligned. And I think um because I I feel like when I when I spend time, um, like I've already started my 2026 vision page, and we're gonna talk about that specifically, I think, in a little bit. But um I look back at my 2025 one, and um, it's characterized by things that that I feel like God's laid on my heart um over the last year, that you know, I really want faithfulness to be a defining characteristic for me. Um I want to remember, um, I think it's Proverbs 3. Enough is good. Like I don't need more than I need that that this is this is a lesson I've learned in the past that I want to take forward and remember. So I think um that our values really are gonna help kind of give shape to to the plans. They should, I hope, that our values give shape to the plans that we make. And if we're making plans that are in conflict with the things that you truly value, then you shouldn't be planning those things. Like they don't deserve your time. So I think it's you know, how we've talked in the past about knowing your why helps you say no to the things um that may not be a good fit for you. I think this is just another iteration of that, that same concept.

Allison 15:36

Okay, good. That's good. So we're not talking about um like the minutia and the specifics of the day to day in this process that we're gonna cover today. Yeah. And then we're not talking about things that don't align with your personal and family values. So okay, so let's move on to the why. Why are we why is it a good idea to think and plan about the future? Um,

How Planning Helps us Follow the Lord

Allison 15:59

how does this process help us follow the Lord more faithfully?

Jessica 16:03

I think kind of what we've already said, like it gives you a clarity and purpose. It it reinforces the values that are most important to you. Um, it can help you grow in the strengths that he's given you. Um, and I think when you identify what what you want and what you think you want, um, you can pray about it, right? Like that keeping things top of mind. I think as homemakers, especially if there are children in the home, it's very easy to get distracted by the urgent. And um this process for me helps keep it top and top of mind um to be able to submit those plans to to God and and be mindful of where he is leading in acting them out.

Allison 16:58

Yeah. I I'm as you're talking, I'm thinking about like during my homeschool years, you know, I always and I am a type A person, so maybe everybody doesn't do this. And we lived in a few states where it was required. Um, I always made a plan at the beginning of the year for my kids' schooling. Like I wouldn't, it would have been odd for me to start the year without some sort of plan of action and you know, goals for them. Like these these are so I did that for my kids, and I wonder how many how many moms out there are thinking, you know, homeschool moms are listening that you do this for your children, for their education, but perhaps neglect it for your own growth.

Jessica 17:41

And I think that's that may be why some women fall into that trap of thinking they've lost themselves.

Allison 17:49

Yes. Wait.

Jessica 17:51

Well, if you're not growing and learning and and developing into the woman that God wants you to be, yeah, you are gonna be lost. You know, and and so the I think it it can be just a clarifying that purpose of of of who you are and who you want to become is is really valuable. I don't think it can be underestimated.

How Does Planning Help Marriage?

Allison 18:14

So, what about marriage? How does this process help our marriage? And how does it differ from like family planning?

Jessica 18:24

Well, like I mentioned, it became a really good communication tool for me to be able to articulate different things, um, just about how we ran the household, how we um discipled our kids, you know, just very like, oh, you know, I I think this would be good. And I would have more concrete ideas already written down for myself to be able to talk about. I think um, you know, men and women don't always speak the same language. So the more specific you can be for your husband, I think that that can be helpful because he cannot read your mind. 32 years into this, I I know this. He cannot read your mind. And so being clear on on your own preferences is gonna help you communicate in planning together. Um, and and be able to follow his lead because you you you you're able to be clear on on your preferences and he can understand you. And so so he's not leading you where you really don't want to go unless he has a really good reason for it. You know, I think it's just being having that transparency with each other um can be can be really helpful.

Allison 19:46

Yeah, for sure. No, he definitely can't read your mind. And a lot of times, guys, they just want to like be helpers and fixers. Like, you know, if if you're frustrated with something that's not working well in the home or in the family, I I I just it's been my experience that my husband's desire has always been he really just wants to help and fix it. And sometimes it's not like a fixable issue, but a lot of times it is. And and like if if I'm hearing you correctly, we often, and and I know I I've done this, we often just don't even, we're just frustrated and we don't even really know, like you said earlier. I don't even really know what I want. Like I just know that I don't want this. Like this is not working, whatever, you know, if it's the chore system or or the way we're disciplining a particular child or whatever it is. Right. Um, so being clear on that for sure would be helpful all the way around.

Jessica 20:40

Yeah. And and I think it also helps you dream together because then you're able to say, hey, what if we went to Japan for a month? Or what if we, you know, took everybody on this trip, or what if we started doing this thing, right? Like when you've got some ideas already to bounce off him, then he's not, you know, then it doesn't become a well, what do you want to have for dinner? I don't know, what do you want to have for dinner conversation? Like it's we've got some some ideas already to to bounce around.

Allison 21:11

That's

Preventing Emotions from Sabotaging Progress & Growth

Allison 21:12

really good. So, how does this process prevent our emotions from sabotaging our process, our progress? Our progress.

Jessica 21:20

I think it goes back to the values, right? Yeah. Like, like if you're clear on the things that are important to you in this season of life, right? Like I don't mean Christmas season or New Year's season, but just wherever you are in your your homemaking and the your family life. Um, if you're clear on your purpose, um then when your emotions get a little on the fritz, you can revisit um the notes that you made to your future self and go, Oh, yeah, I remember that now. And and it kind of can be that. You can give yourself the kick in the pants that you may need in the future or that shot in the arm, like, hey, this is going to be okay. Because yeah, remember I was thinking about this, and this is what I want. Um, and I I just think that that can be just a really I love journaling and I love scrapbooking back in the day. You know, I think those things remind us of who we are and and the people that we love. And so um, you know, being intentional about how we want to go forward. Um it it can help us stay, stay the stay on the path.

Allison 22:44

Yeah, uh I think also I don't remember, it was one in some of the notes, I think from one of our earlier documents where we you had said something about like unmet, I'm thinking how this relates to unmet unmet expectations. Um like if we get all emotional about we have certain expectations that we might not have communicated well, either to ourselves or to our spouse or to our family, related to some goal we have, um and it's not met, then we may sit around being. I just remember you had a grumpy gus. You had the word grumpy gus.

Jessica 23:25

Yeah. Um that that knowing what what you want as opposed to what you don't want or like.

Allison 23:33

Yeah.

Jessica 23:33

Um, when you know what you want, you can give it a positive reframing and you can kind of see a path forward instead of just sitting here grumpy, like a grumpy gus, like, oh, I don't like this. You know, it's like, well, that doesn't help anyone. Yeah, you know, and and so knowing being able to say, well, how about this or how about that, you know, and to kind of have this menu of ideas in front of you um in how to grow and learn and change. Um that I I find it very motivating. I find that that's more I'm more willing to put in the effort when I instead of just navel gazing and oh, this kind of stinks right now.

Allison 24:14

Okay. So the progress is stalled when you don't really know what you want. Um and you don't really put in the effort to to flesh that out and pray through that and figure, figure out what it is. You just stay mad all the time or yeah, irritable or whatever.

unknown 24:30

Okay.

Allison 24:31

Those are you're certainly not gonna make you're certainly not making any progress if that's where you camp out. Yeah, yeah. Okay, I understand.

What We Are NOT Talking About; Manifesting vs Selective Attention

Allison 24:38

Um, okay, this is a super important part that I want to make sure. Turn up your volume, people listen. Please hear what we're about to say. I would like for Jessica to clarify and explain the difference between manifesting and selective attention and why the latter is a good thing and the former is not.

Jessica 25:03

Okay. So I think we could somebody, somebody could look at my vision page from 2025. And and I can look at it. I see pictures of Japan and Disneyland and a savings bank and the Bible. I can see all these things that I made an intention toward last year. Yeah. And somebody could say, oh, she manifested it by putting it down on paper. And I don't know exactly what they mean by that. I think they mean like Shazam, I made it happen because I mean it.

Allison 25:40

Yeah, they mean like speaking it into the universe and speaking it into existence, and somehow the universe will bring it back, bring it to fruition.

Jessica 25:51

Right. And I don't believe that's how things work, but I do believe that God gave us amazing brains. Um, and that there is this thing called selective attention. Um, and it is when your brain starts noticing new information more often because it has become of more personal significance and relevance to you. So it's similar to when you learn a vocabulary word. Yes. And and you think it's a new word to you, right? And then the next week you see it like 50 times and you're like, what in the world? Right? It's just your brain learned to recognize it.

Allison 26:37

It's like when you when you're looking for a um a white Mazda, you're gonna buy a white Mazda, and now every street you turn on, you see white Mazdas everywhere. Yes, same thing.

Jessica 26:50

Yes, yes, exactly. And so we're just telling our brains where to look. Right. Um, because without a target or a specific goal in mind, we're going to wander. That is just how, you know, oh, look at this thing I saw on social media, and and blip, you know, 20 minutes are gone. We've wandered, right? But when we hone in on specific good things in our lives, we can end up finding ways to make them happen because it's top of mind, right? And so, so this idea of of thinking through what you want your life to be like, we are not Shazam making it happen. We are thoughtfully, intentionally, prayerfully creating ideas that that we want to put feet to. Right. And and by remembering, you know, that's how we make that that we can achieve things, that's how we can accomplish things. Someone doesn't just overnight become a good homemaker, like we've talked about this before. Like to where scripture says you're supposed to teach, teach the younger ones to love their husbands and children. Like that's something we have to learn. But if we don't ever put that on the list of things to do, if we don't ever put in the time, yeah. If you don't practice it, it's not gonna happen.

Allison 28:23

If you don't flex that muscle, if you don't train that muscle, it's not going to grow. And so, yes. And this is also again, I want to be clear. We're not talking about prosperity, um, gospel naming and claiming either. We're not saying if you lay this list out before the Lord, then he's obligated to answer it, make it happen for you. Um, and if it doesn't happen, you don't have enough faith. That is not what we are saying at all. Um, you are saying that there is this concept that exists in the world, like we see it all the time of it's top of mind. You're thinking about it, you're thinking about, okay, what steps do I? I have this goal, I have this desire, I have this thing that I want to accomplish or do, or you know, buy a house. Right. If you're gonna buy a house, you think, okay, we want to buy a house. Well, you're going to take steps that are necessary in order to make that a reality. You're not just gonna go and get on your knees and say, Lord, give me a house and not do anything to make that happen. You know, you have to save money so you have a down payment, you have to start looking, you have to put feelers out with real estate agents or people that you know who might know somebody selling a house. You know, you have to do your market research and find out what the price is. If there's a lot to do.

Jessica 29:37

If it's not top of mind though, but once you make that an intention, those opportunities will become more obvious to you. They become because you're looking for them.

Allison 29:46

Yeah. Not because subconsciously, not because the universe is sending them your way. It's because you're actively noticing that those opportunities are there.

Jessica 29:55

And and I think our brain, God gave us these amazing brains that we don't even know the half of what our brains are capable of. And I think just giving those teasers to to our minds, like, okay, yeah, I'm I'm, you know, I did read the Bible from cover to cover last year, right? But but would that have just happened? No, no, it didn't because because I had to put in the work to make that happen. But but that was a that was a goal and accomplishment that I wanted to achieve last year. And and that that happened, quote unquote, but it didn't, it wasn't a Shazam moment.

Allison 30:40

Right. You had to set aside the time, you had to be paying attention when the Lord nudged your spirit and said, Hey, you've got 15 minutes right now. Why don't you sit down and catch up a little bit on that chapter? Right. You know, the opportunities are there to reach the goal. You just have to be paying attention. Yeah. So okay. Yeah. Good. I hope we were clear on that. And if we weren't, then send me a text message. I'll try to be more clear. Um

How to Plan Your Year in 5 Steps

Allison 31:08

okay, now let's get to the how. How to set up your future thinking in five easy steps.

unknown 31:15

Yeah.

Allison 31:17

Okay. Um, we're gonna talk about dreaming, identifying positives, identifying systems, creating monthly pages, and creating weekly pages. So let's start with the dreaming.

Step 1: Dreaming-Get it Out of Your Head Onto Paper

Jessica 31:31

Okay. Um, so I I do it in pictures and in words. Okay. Um I am more a word person, but um, one year I started just clipping pictures and things out of magazines and it like, oh, this is kind of fun. And it became this artsy creative process that I think does engage different parts of your brain. Um, I am not a neuroscientist, so so I can't tell you what it's doing, but I think it's good. I think it's a good thing to do. Um, so I currently do mine digitally in um the Good Notes app. And I'll just grab either pictures from my camera roll or from the internet. I make stickers on Canva to use, and I just combine different things. Um, and then I also kind of just do some journaling, like, like how do I want to grow? What do I want? Um, so some examples from last year were to trust God more fully, um, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. That was a lesson from um a year of Bible study. Um, I think we were doing Matthew, you know, and just thinking about what does that look like? Um, and wanting to flesh that out more fully in my life, like not really knowing exactly how that would happen, but but just wanting that, right? Um, I don't, you know, and I I think I put a little, I had a fruit sticker on my okay.

Allison 33:14

That was my next question. Like, how would you how would you show that visually?

Jessica 33:18

Yeah. So I had a fruit sticker. Um, I said I wanted to lean in and really master my responsibilities as a homemaker as well as better equip my daughters. And I I found a fun vintage image of, you know, a 50s housewife doing her thing. Um, I wanted to make bookkeeping and budgeting and cleaning bathrooms a regular habit, not something I cringe and avoid. Um I had travel goals on here, I had nutrition goals on here, um to dig deeper into the word through reading and Bible study, to enjoy more time as a family, um to feel more relaxed more regularly, right? Like, like big things, like kind of vague, like what is to feel more relaxed, you know, but it just just kind of throwing out those different things um so that I could become more aware of how to make those reality in my life. And um, I had a verse that just really hit me hard. Um it was it was actually from Tilly Delahay's scene green. She talked a lot about this verse, and it just was just so meaningful. It's it's actually 10 verses, but um, you know, and so I copied and pasted that onto my vision page and kind of use that as my guiding framework for the year to think about things. Um, and so it it doesn't have to, it can be however you want it to be, but that's just how I've worked it is just think about what what do I want? What do I want? Yeah, and and to think big, but also to think small, um, you know, in terms of like um we went to Disneyland, like I put that on the list. That was something I wanted to do with all my kids.

Allison 35:19

And well, and you live near there, right?

Jessica 35:21

We're an hour away, yeah. Okay, so for you that is not a huge thing to go. No, but we also went to Disneyland in Tokyo. In Tokyo.

Allison 35:29

Yes, that was the big part of that.

Jessica 35:32

Yeah, we the big part we did Disneyland three times, once in once in California and twice in Japan. But yeah.

Allison 35:41

Okay. Um so this is a visual reminder. It's kind of it's like a collage, it is a very popular thing to do at the beginning of the year. All kinds of people do vision boards. Um, and a lot of it, I will say, and I'm gonna stop beating this drum, but I recognize because there are some of you that are clutching your pearls right now, maybe, and I recognize that this is something that is is closely tied in uh in other circles to that whole manifesting new agey stuff. And that's not what we're talking about. No. This is a visual aid for you. That's all it is. It's like if I was gonna redesign a room, I would make a mood board for that room. I would make a design board, I would pull in, you know, scraps of fabric that I love and paint samples that I love, and some images of furniture that I think will work in the room, and I would create probably digitally, but maybe even an actual board, and I would put all of that together before I set about doing any work on that room. This is the same concept.

Jessica 36:39

Yeah. It's an idea board. It's an idea board for, yeah. And we could call it that.

Allison 36:44

We could call it idea board. Yes, if vision board makes you like have the vapors, you can call it an idea board. But um, so what is an alternative if somebody is not so much a visual person and they just like they don't want to do that? Could they do this like an outline form?

Jessica 37:02

Do you think I mean I think anytime, you know, it can be a brain dump, it could be like I know there's lots of different ways that people learn, right? And and so maybe if for you you like to build something with your hands, right? Like it it doesn't have to be very minute like mine is. You know, I've got pictures of them, I I've got lots of different images on here, and I've got probably 10 or 15 things on my list that I wanted to just keep in my mind more often. Um, but but it could be just a general um, you know, maybe it's a fruit of the spirit that you really want to guide this next year, right? And so for me it was faithfulness. I really wanted to to to explore more what does that look like in this season of my life? Um, and so it it doesn't have to be like either of these. Um, but but it's really it's not as much a to-do list as a to live list, you know, like how do I want to live? Yeah. Um, how how do I feel God is calling me to live? You know, and and I think that's what we're talking about, really, is is what are those things that are are has God blessed me with, and how can I make better use of those talents? You know, how how do I want to turn a profit on my life?

Allison 38:36

On my life, yeah, on what he's given me. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay. Um, would you say, and I think maybe we're gonna get into that when we go to the step number two, which is identifying the positives. I remember from your notes, um, examples that you sent me, you kind of have, would you say that it's it's helpful to sort of have buckets, like like uh category buckets when you're doing this vision planning? You know, sort of like, okay, let me just say the way that I would normally do it is I would have sort of my um spiritual growth goals, and then I would have my physical, like health goals, um relational goals, and um what else? There's there's like five of them, and I can't remember right now what they all are, but I would have buckets and then I would yeah, I always call them spheres, okay.

Jessica 39:28

Um, you know, like this different spheres of my life because there's, you know, for a long time um homeschooling was one of them, and it's not so much anymore, right? So I've kind of replaced it with traveling um because that's what we all like to do together, and it's a way for our whole family to do something together. But um, so I have personal health, spiritual and intellectual, because they're different, but they overlap a little bit. Um, relationships, family, home finances. Um, because we've spent a long time trying to, you know, at first we were in debt, and then we were trying to get out of debt, and then we're trying to build our finances and and stewardship, um, hospitality and friendship I have together, work I have together. Um, and then kind of that bonus travels um one. But for someone else, it might be um, you know, some other hobby or right, or um philanthropy volunteering, you know, different different things. Ministry or whatever. Yeah.

Allison 40:35

Yeah. Okay. So it is helpful to identify some some spheres or buckets or whatever you want to call it.

Jessica 40:41

Yeah. And in this last couple years, I've I've added in a section in my planner to

Step 2: Explore What's Going Well & Identify the Positives

Jessica 40:49

to explore what's going well and to identify the positives. Because when I first started doing this, you know, I was a grumpy guess and I don't like how this is going down right now. Right. And and and it's like, okay, but let's let's look at the positives, let's count our blessings. Like God commands us to do that, but and and it's also proven neurologically to be a good thing. Like science is catching up with God, finally, in some ways, you know, that that recognizing your strengths is a good thing. And um when I read, I it was this exact time last year, I read um seeing green, um, color, don't let envy color your joy um by Tilly Delahay. And I had really, really been struggling in this area. And she has one chapter um for each of the for for some of the main ways that you might envy someone else. Okay, but also she flips it and points out other people are envying you for some of these things as well. And so it was just a wonderful deep dive into that. And and so what she she called it um borrowed glory, because the things that we admire in God in other people, the things we admire in other people are really attributes of God that are manifest. I don't want to use that, I don't want to use that word, it just means showing up. Yes, yes. Attributes of God showing up in other people that we see. And so to recognize that that that my strengths are borrowed from God, that that God has blessed me with these strengths. So, yes, I need to recognize them and feel good about them and thankful for them, but also recognizing that that they don't come from how wonderful I am, they come from how wonderful God is. Yes. And and so, you know, I think a a helpful, uh helpful thing um from that book, she says, God has put you in the field in a certain row and made agreements with you about the terms of your employment. Looking over into the next row is never going to do anybody any good. Keep to your task, do it with all your might, and be joyful in your work. Be grateful for the reward that he's promised, and don't even begin to imagine that those tasks are somehow setting you up to be independent of the loving taskmaster. This is yet another borrowed glory, friends. Even your obedience was given to you. And and I just found that just super, super humbling and kind of grounding. Just like, okay, like these things are going well, and they are gifts to be thankful for, and they are um they are talents and resources to turn a profit on to God's glory. And so, what does that look like? Look like in my life. And I think that that really has transformed how I think about my planning. You know, just really grounded it a lot more instead of, oh, I want to have this thing and I want this pretty thing. And I'm going to make this tasty thing, you know, just to really bring it back to what does it look like to be faithful with what God has given me.

Allison 44:27

I I think that is a wonderful uh countercultural way to begin your, you know, we'll call it annual planning. Because what do we usually do when we set resolutions at the beginning of the year? You know, like it's all what we're gonna stop doing. Like what we kind of start with what we're doing, what's going badly. Right. Right. I need to lose 20 pounds. I need to stop this, I need to change this, do this, right? You know, all these things that are wrong that we need to fix. And I'm not saying there aren't things that are wrong that need to be fixed, but coming at it from this perspective first of saying, okay, what has God given me to work with? Like, yeah, what are the tools that I already have, the strengths that I already have, the borrowed glory, and what's going well with those right now? Because that's the question you ask on this on this step two of identifying the positives. What is going well? What are my strengths? And then you go from there to recognize. So at that point, would you say, What's going well? Okay, um, and then what how can that be even better? Like, do you look to ways to even improve what's already going well?

Jessica 45:31

Yeah, yeah. Cause then what I have done is like maybe give us an example of a particular thing. So this, these were I even carried them over from the previous year because I was like, oh, this really works. Um, but for personal health, um, just trying to rethink and reframe the how I think about my body, right? Because in the past, it was just way too easy to think about the things that I didn't like or needed to change or I was doing wrong or whatever. Um, but to say I am thankful for my body and what it has accomplished, I want to enjoy its capabilities until my 90s, right? Like to to to revisit how I think about that. Um, because God gave me this body and it he gave me six kids through this body, and to be just so thankful and then to go, okay, how how can I optimize what's left of this body so that it still works for as long as long as I can make it work.

Allison 46:44

Yeah, you know, yeah, that's a good example. You had one too about your house. Um, it was something about this house is great for entertaining or something. And then yes, this is a great house for hospitality. And let me just preface that by saying you guys rent.

Jessica 46:58

Yeah.

Allison 46:58

And so it's not an ideal situation because you live in California, it's very expensive. Housing is one of your biggest expenses. Yes. You are on a limited budget. So that some people would look at that and think of that as a very negative thing, and from you know, look at it, look at it from a very negative perspective. So give us this positive perspective.

Jessica 47:16

Yeah, and I think that and too, some of the the extra backstory is that we lived in the same rental for 14 years prior to this house, and it was cheap, it was so cheap. We were we were paying, you know, 2008 prices in in 2023. Like they didn't raise the rent, but you know, 100 bucks over the 14 years that we lived there. And so, and and about a year before we were supposed to move, um, we were kind of worried. Like, are they gonna renew when or when you know, we didn't know it was a year before we were supposed to move, but yeah, the lease had been renewed, and and I really felt God saying, You will have this house as long as you need it. And so then a year later, they said, Yep, we're taking the house back, we're moving back. And it was like, okay, we don't need it anymore.

Allison 48:17

Yeah.

Jessica 48:18

And and we found this house, which I had kind of a like spiritual moment when I saw this house, like, wow, this is our house. Like, even though we're renting, I knew this was our house. I knew this is where we would be. And it has become this place that we can we we host weekly game nights for our kids. My husband has volunteered to host um Life Group in the new year, like like instantaneously, we're able to use this house um for hospitality, hopefully to God's glory. Um and and so it's not uh oh, I wish we owned a house or I wish this house was ours. It's oh I want this home to be peaceful and and to exude God to people. Like I want them to know that when they come.

Allison 49:15

Okay, good. So that's step two. Um, after you dream and make your vision board or whatever you want to call it, your idea board. Idea board. Yes, idea board or idea outline, whatever. Um then you're gonna identify the positives, identify your strengths, your borrowed glory, identify what's going well. And then step three,

Step 3: Identify Systems or Targets

Allison 49:37

identify systems or targets. So tell me about this.

Jessica 49:41

I I just go through each of those buckets and I think about okay, what what are things that I'm doing currently that are working? And I I write those down so that I remember, like, yeah, I want to make sure that I continue daily journal and Bible study. I want to make sure that I'm reading so many books a month or right. And and I for me, if I write something down, if I write down a recipe or I write down directions, I am more likely to remember it. For someone else, they need to speak it. Yeah, they need to say it. Um, someone else, you know, there's different different like tell somebody you mean, like speak like I need to speak this out loud to my husband or my best friend.

Allison 50:27

No, no, I didn't mean yeah. I guess you could that could be memes.

Jessica 50:31

No speaking it to the universe, is that what we're talking about?

Allison 50:34

Okay, we'll stop. I promise we'll stop. Um, but tell somebody that's for for some of us, that verbal, like getting it out there and telling another person as a or even my kids have memorized, you know, poetry and stuff more easily if they say it out loud.

Jessica 50:50

If they say it out loud.

SPEAKER_02 50:51

Yeah.

Jessica 50:51

For me, if I write it, yeah, and I see it with my eyes in my handwriting and my hand wrote it, that's what helps me memorize. So it's it's finding that different, you know, learn being in tune with how you learn best. Yeah. And and and that's what we're talking about, really. This is a system for learning. Like this is how do I want to learn? How do I want to grow? How do I want to change? Um, and and what's going to help me do that? And so, so I write it down if if you want to, you know, make a memo, voice memo to yourself or tell someone else or or however it works best for you, but but just to kind of kind of drill it in your brain, how what are the things, what does this look like to you? So, so for me, it was jotting down different protocols for my health, um, getting 800, you know, like example, getting 800 grams of fruits and vegetables every day, right? Like that's just been something that I've actively been working on because it's it, it's I feel like that's gonna be helpful to me. I feel better, I sleep better, you know. Um, you know, so it could be different things, but but what are your priorities? What what are the things that you want to see happen within those different buckets? Sure. Um and and getting more specific from that first idea page. Um so like that the bit where I talked about leaning in and mastering my responsibilities as a homemaker, right? So then having kind of a list, what what are the things that you know, getting a better um like I researched more bathroom cleaning tools this year because that's the job I hate to do and I avoid. And Mr. Clean has a new bathroom eraser that is just for tile and it cleans grout. Interesting. And I I used it and I was like, dang, and then my husband's well, give me that. And so then he did it, yeah, and then one of my boys he was cleaning the downstairs bathroom. He's all give me those, give me that eraser, you know, and he's like, dang, that was amazing, you know. So it was just I I may or may not have been mindful of the weird commercial I saw on Amazon about Mr. Clean's bathroom erasers, but have been subconsciously influenced, but I paid attention because I I was able to admit to myself I hate cleaning the bathrooms and I need to make I need to make this easier. So then I paid attention when I saw the ad and I tried it and it was like, oh my gosh, I never would have thought that this could work.

Allison 53:44

Absolutely. And it doesn't necessarily apply to an ad. I mean, it could be that you have a friend who is really good at that thing that you are really not being doing well at. And you go and you ask, hey, what's your secret sauce? Like, I need help in this area, so please go to, you know.

Jessica 54:02

Right. I think it's like because you're putting it on your your mental to-do list now. Yeah. Right. And and so then then you're you it's top of mind to let me solve this. How can I solve this? Um okay. Yeah.

Allison 54:18

Um, okay, so you're cre so you're going bucket by bucket and you're you're looking at the systems that have been successful and how you're gonna keep implementing those and then looking for new new systems, new targets. Um and now we're gonna

Steps 4 & 5: Create Monthly Pages, Create Weekly Pages

Allison 54:34

pair this down to a monthly level with creating monthly pages. So how do you do that?

Jessica 54:42

Yeah. So so in my planner, I have at the beginning, I have my idea page, um my idea pages, you know, the picture as well as the um the written thing. And then I have my drilled down buckets, and then I I really kind of focus on my monthly page. I have relationships, home, personal, which covers a lot of those buckets, um, finances and work. And so then I I I each month will pull some action items off of that bigger page. You can't do it all. I was gonna say, you pull some. I don't pull them all. It's just okay, what could what could be what could what's doable, right? And so one of the summer months, it was um I I I have a room. Um I guess it's supposed to be um the linen closet, but it's my office storage because when we moved to this house, I lost my office and it became this catch-all for everything. So, so that was my one of my summer projects, right? Yeah. Like it wasn't, you know, I don't have to do everything in January. I just kind of spread out what are the things that I want to happen in the next few months in my buckets, then you each month can pull a couple of those tasks forward. Um, and so I'll I'll kind of think about what's going on that month. How, how do I wanna, you know, what are some, I guess you could say like calling these big rocks. Like these are some big rocks to remember to put into my weeks and my days. Because if I don't, then they're not gonna fit. Yeah. Because every day is gonna has enough, every day has enough trouble on its own. Um, so if I identify a big rock before the before those days come, um, then I have a better shot at it. And so I'll identify some pri you know, a handful of priorities for the month, and then each week pull a couple of those into the weekly page and then plan out how where is this gonna fit, you know, how can I how can I work this into? And sometimes it's just building a daily habit of something, like my Bible reading, like that's just a non-negotiable bay daily thing. Um, but others it's like, well, I don't need to clean the bathrooms every day, but I do need to schedule a day that that is gonna happen. So um it's just kind of a progressive approach, you know.

Allison 57:34

Okay. All right. Well, that was it. That was the five steps because after it's create monthly, and then from the monthly, you create weekly. And again, it in both of those steps, you're not trying to do all of the things.

Some Practical Questions

Jessica 57:48

It's a few of the things, and and some months I some months don't obey. Yeah. Like this month, December. Some months don't obey, and you go, oh, okay. And I just copy and paste it to next month and we move on. Like, don't beat yourself up because life has a mind of its own. And so we try and and we do our best. And and if things happen, you know, but I think it's having that bigger idea of what are the big things I want to happen this year, um, and and having putting them in the front of my mind.

Allison 58:36

So, okay, how do you do that? What when when do you create your monthly and weekly pages? Um like do you have a set time of when you do those? Some months.

Jessica 58:51

Um so I will try I spend a fair amount of time, like like I started my yearly idea page last month, you know, like I chew on it a little bit.

Allison 59:06

Um your 2026 one you started last month. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

Jessica 59:11

And and you could do it in a day. It doesn't you don't have to spend a lot of time, but I just like to, you know, think it through a little bit. Um, and it's and then I'll go back and edit and I'll add stuff or I'll take stuff off during the year. Like, oh no, we're not, you know, if Japan, if for some reason Japan hadn't happened, you know, like there would have been a good reason for that not happening. But we'd we'd had it in mind for several years that we were gonna do it. Um but I will try like the last couple days of the month to be mindful of okay, things are winding up. Um now's a good time to reset. And and I do look at it as a reset, like not to beat myself up over things that didn't happen, but just go, oh, you know, I wasn't as intentional about this thing, and I wonder why. And so then you ask yourself, well, is it really that important to me? Yeah, is that why? Is it too hard? Right, unreasonable, un you know, yeah, just not for this season of my life, or or is there something else going on, you know? And so that even that process can be very insightful to learn kind of more about yourself and how you're operating in the current climate of life. Um, and I think that I like I will use a different colored pen. I sometimes will revisit, you know, usually at the halfway mark, but it looks like I even the end of February, I added and deleted. Um I I added in in August, you know, just kind of like refining it. Um because like it not 12 12 months is a long time in your childbearing years. You could get pregnant and have a baby in in that same year and not have known that that was gonna happen when January rolled around. Right. Um, you know, a friend and I joke, like, that wasn't on my bingo card this year. Yeah, you know, like those those those things are gonna happen. Um, and so it's just very flexible, but it's a system that works to just go, oh, you know, are these goals still do these still work for the life we're living right now?

Allison 1:01:44

And if not, to tweak them. Um so tweaking throughout the year is a good practice. Um and then you said monthly you look at it usually before before the beginning of the month, like near the end of the previous month, you start thinking about resetting for the the coming month. Yeah. Um and then weekly, so like on a weekly and a daily basis. And then this sort of lends into my next question, which is where where do you keep all of these plans and sheets? And you know, how do you develop a regular habit of checking in weekly and checking in daily?

Jessica 1:02:19

So for a long time I have been a planner person. Um, whether I had it printed, um, what I found was most successful for me was that I would print it and have it spiral bound. Oh because binders didn't work for me. But I loved to write things down because as I mentioned, if I write it down, I learn it. So, so this is a way that works for me. And I know some people say, Oh, planners don't work for me. And and and so I say, Well, what does work for you? Let's talk. And and and so, so for me, having a planner, um, when I had it printed, um, getting it spiraled round so it could lay flat, yeah, was really key for me. Um currently I I loaded my planner into the good notes app, and I have a tablet with an with a pencil. Um, so I do all my writing on my tablet, and because it syncs to my phone and my computer, then I have it wherever I am. So it's very easy. Yeah, there's no reason I can't check my planner. Um, and that's one of the reasons why I went digital. Um, but I found there were a couple years that I will, oh, I don't need a planner. I've got I've got Google Calendar, I've got, you know, all these other things on my phone. I don't need a planner. And and I felt just totally scattered and overwhelmed that whole year. So for me, this is really a very grounding process. I designed a planner for myself that that kind of incorporates all of these things that we've been talking about, um, and has places to write all the things that we've been talking about. Um, but if you aren't a planner person, then you could make regular reminders, like if you have some kind of calendar system. Right. Um, my husband's not, he doesn't do planners, but but he loves calendars. And so he'll he'll make a regular reminder or a regular alarm to do that thing. Um, so that's what works for him. Um I don't know how other people operate outside of those two things. So I I'm having a hard time gathering it.

Allison 1:04:54

So something that I have done in the past is for for what we've talked about today, for the the the the goal, the big buckets, you know, yeah, the idea board and the buckets, yeah, is actually I've done it in my notes app. I used to write it out. I used to write out like an outline with my with my my bucket headings, and then I would do little subheadings underneath each one for like actionable, measurable ways to reach those goals. Um and then I a few years back, I started doing it in my notes app because again, I'm an Apple user, and so I can always access that on whichever device that I happen to be on. Um, but pen and paper absolutely works. Um if you keep like a wall calendar, yeah you could flip to the back page and you know, write this out. If there's a blank area, you could write it out and do it.

Jessica 1:05:41

And a bulletin board would keep it if it it's we get blindness. Yeah, we get you know, you you you look at your refrigerator and go, Oh, this this This has been here for six months and I don't even see it anymore. The soccer schedule is from two years ago. Yeah, exactly. So we do get. Blind to those things. So I think it's keeping it um keeping it fresh for doing a whatever something to keep it fresh. Yeah. You know, and and maybe it's you switch it up every so often. I had a friend who used lots of post-it notes across a a surface. Um, and she would just move them around.

Allison 1:06:22

Um, so something people might want to use like um like notions, like Notion app, the Notion app uh or Trello.

Jessica 1:06:30

Um those sort of boards on Trello can be yeah.

Allison 1:06:33

Notion is similar to Trello because you can you it reminded me of it with the sticky notes because you just you create a board and then you can just move things over. It's how I do my collective stuff.

Jessica 1:06:42

And yeah, and there's plenty of tracking apps if it's if it's something that you are gonna be doing on a daily basis. Yeah, there's lots of different trackers out there that you could use too.

Allison 1:06:53

But like a good old notebook works too, you know. So what I what the way that I plan now is I just I have a notebook. I have like a it's like a moleskin. It's not actually a mole, it's not a mole skin brand anymore because their paper is too thin, in my opinion. Um, but it's like a dotted journal. And I don't know the A, I don't know what size it is, maybe A5. It's like a five by seven size. And I I sort of plan out quarterly in that thing. Um it's it's kind of a hybrid bullet journal, is what I do. And I do my quarter at the beginning of the quarter. I have like several pages for planning out some goals and ideas based on my annual goals. And then um from there, I I do like a monthly page and then at and then I do I do a weekly spread. So for me, it's a it's a how I plan, it's how I keep myself accountable to all sorts of things, my schedule, my goals, and whatnot. But also I keep a record um in there. So like at the end of the day, usually I do like a little bitty on the side column, I do a little bitty bit of notes about almost like shorthand of the highlights of the day or something good that happened or something bad that happened. Right. So it's almost like a planner journal memory keeper in one.

Jessica 1:08:06

Yeah, and that that brings to mind um the ta-da list. Not the to-do list, but the ta-da list, like ta-da. Yeah, yeah. Because I think especially in those seasons when you maybe have little kids and the days feel hard, like like this kind of project can sound like whoa, no, can way too much. But it is really important to keep track of the things that you do accomplish. And so I I've started the last couple of years, like every couple months, writing down my wins of the last quarter, say, and just go through my mind, go through my calendar. What are things that that were really great that happened that that either I accomplished or God just gave them to us or whatever. Um, but to make that to da list um, because maybe it was never on your to-do list, but you actually rocked it. Yeah. You know, so it's not it's a little bit like like um, you know, adding something to your to-do list just so you can check it off and say you did it, right? So, but but I find that that is really, really helpful because we can like the first time I did it, I had just felt really discouraged about the last few months. And then I just started writing and it was like, whoa, the last three months have been really busy. And and it may not have been what I thought we were gonna do. But God is never surprised. And look at all that we did, you know, look at what I did, look at what we did as a family, look at, you know, and I find that that that's just as important as that casting forward, like, oh, let's do these things. It's well, what what have we what have we weathered? Yeah, you know, that's valuable too.

Allison 1:10:10

Yeah, that raises such a good point, too. That I I think we already touched on this at the very beginning, but I think it's a good place to land the plane. Is this idea of be put your plans, lay them out before the Lord, right? Do this whole process very prayerfully, revisit it prayerfully. You said be willing to pivot, um, which is the same thing as what I'm about to say, is to be willing to be interrupted. Like you can have, you know, what is the the verse? Um, a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. You know, it's good to plan, it's good to have these these idea boards and these sort of visions for what you would love to see happen in the coming year or or five years or however far ahead you're planning. But the Lord is gonna direct your steps and your path. And the destination might not be exactly what you were expecting. And that's okay because if you're seeking him continually and you're always bringing it to him, he's going to lead you where he wants you to go for your good, for your best good.

Jessica 1:11:10

Yeah. And it may not be what you want in that moment.

unknown 1:11:14

Right.

Allison 1:11:15

It may not be. So, um, okay, you do have this resource available, correct? But remind me what format it's in on your website.

Jessica 1:11:25

It's a PDF as well as print on demand.

Allison 1:11:28

So it includes they can work through everything we just said, doing the overall major um idea buckets, all the buckets, right? Yeah.

Jessica 1:11:41

It it it has it has um the what I want, what's going well, priorities, um, the goals and systems, all of those are the bucket pages.

Allison 1:11:52

It's got um Does it have the monthly pages and weekly pages?

Jessica 1:11:55

It has the monthly pages, it has the weekly pages, it has quarterly um, you know, what are the what's quarterly recap, like what went well, what does it go down to the daily as well? Yeah, it goes down. Um it's a weekly page that has a to-do, a daily to-do. Daily, okay.

Allison 1:12:12

Yeah. Okay. So if this process resonated with you, listener, and this sounds like the way your brain works, this might be a good resource for you. And they can get that where where can they go to get that, Jessica?

Jessica 1:12:25

Um it is learn.goodcheepbeats.com.

Allison 1:12:30

Okay, and we'll link it below. Yeah. Okay, awesome. Well, thank you very much for being here.

Jessica 1:12:35

Yeah, yeah. It's always fun to chat.

Allison 1:12:39

Okay, we could go in lots of directions. Yes, we could, but we're out of time, so we must stop now. But this was really good, and I hope, listener, that this has been helpful for you, and you don't have to use this exact system, but just this whole idea of being intentional about the things that the Lord has given you to work with and to do, and to not just let time just slip away. So amen. All right, thanks. Thank you.

Closing Comments, Takeaways & EPISODE EMOJI

Allison 1:13:08

Thank you so much for listening to this deep dive into planning your homemaking year with Jessica Fisher. We both pray that you have been encouraged and inspired by this conversation to prayerfully and thoughtfully set your intentions for the year ahead, not based on what culture or social media say you should be doing, but based on what God says, the strengths He's given you, that borrowed glory, and your current life circumstances. If Jessica's method really resonated with you, be sure to check out her resources. She's got a planner with this five-step system all ready to go. So it's just plug and play for you to implement into your own homemaking. And she is graciously offering 25% off of this planner for Art of Home listeners. Just use the code Allison25. That's A-L-L-I-S-O-N 25. I will put all of her resource links in the episode description and in the show notes. I want to thank you again for listening all the way to the end. Let's make the long listener emoji for this episode an hourglass. Drop an hourglass emoji in a comment on a post about this episode or text it to me with your answers to my mother-in-law, daughter-in-law questions that I posed at the top of this episode. Don't forget to tell me your name. I look forward to hearing from you all. If you have found value in this episode, please share it with a homemaker you know who could use this kind of encouragement. Leave us a rating on your listening app and leave us a review telling others how the Art of Home has helped you in your homemaking. And if you want to say thanks with your pennies, head over to buymeacoffee.com slash the art of home. Thank you for all of your support for helping to grow this show and reach more and more homemakers all over the world. That's all for this episode. I will be back on Monday with a new Monday motivation about homemaker culture in winter, a time for the makers. And next Wednesday with the first homemaker portrait of 2026. Until then, keep practicing your art of making a home.