Top 10 Posts of 2013, Updates, and Changes at Practical Stewardship

Hello everyone! We are well into 2014 now as February rapidly approaches. I debated posting our top 10 posts of 2013 and finally decided to share them since I was already going to share some blog updates and a few coming changes here at Practical Stewardship.

Now onto the top posts of 2013. I’ll share them two ways since most of the posts that are in the top 10 (all but two) were written in 2011 and 2012.  It makes sense that older posts are on the top since they have had more time to circulate. The top posts are based on the amount of page views they each received.

So first, for the top posts written in 2013, here you go!

Top 10 New Posts of 2013

1. DIY Panty Liners Tutorial-Yep! I actually posted this!

1. Fast Grain-Free Almond Butter Bread, vegan option

1. Key Lime Pie Cheesecake Bars, Raw, D-F, G-F

2. 20 Old Clothing Items to Keep for Re-Purposing

1. Easy Crock-pot Rice

2. Overnight Crock-pot Monkey Bread with an Oven-Baked option

3. No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie Bars, D-F, G-F

4. Crock-pot Breakfast Cobbler, D-F, G-F opts.

1. Costco Natural and Organic 130 Item Price List

1. 10 Crock-pot Freezer Meals for $5.64 a Meal

And here are the Top Overall 10 Posts of 2013, regardless of when they were written:

1. Costco Natural and Organic 130 Item Price List

2. 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Granola Bars

1. 12 Crazy Crock-pot Recipes

2. Crock-pot Pork Roast

1. Revised Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

2. 10 Crock-pot Freezer Meals for $5.64 a Meal

3. Sourdough Starter and 3-4 Ingredient Sourdough Bread

1. 3 Homemade Dishwasher Detergent Recipes

2. Crock-Pot Corn on the Cob

1. Crock-Pot Bread

I am often surprised at what recipes and articles pick up traffic. Back when I wrote the crock-pot bread post I thought nothing of it. I was all excited about my sourdough doughnut recipe I was going to post, and that didn’t get too far. I never can tell!

If you are interested, I have updated pictures on our “About Us” page along with adding a few more fun facts about our family. I also updated the “What You Will Find Here” page.

So what’s new for 2014? I spent the second half of 2013 updating pictures since we got a new camera, a Canon EOS Rebel T3i, last June. You’ll find many of the updated pics in the Monthly Menu Musings. I didn’t know how much I would fall in love with taking and editing pictures. When we first started the blog at the end of 2011, I would take one or two pictures of each recipe. That means putting together a post was much quicker back then when I wasn’t so concerned about the quality of the picture. But now that my love of photography has grown, I take more time on a “food photo shoot” as I consider staging, angles and lighting, and then the editing later. I still have a lot to learn, but I am having fun in the process.

So instead of working on a lot of new posts, I have been updating the posts I had already written. In 2012 I posted about 3 recipes a week, one smoothie recipe, one healthified recipe and one slow cooker recipe along with many DIY and Finance posts. Crazy! But like I said, since I wasn’t spending much time on the pictures, I could do it. I still have many recipe pictures I want to update, and we’ve been enjoying consuming the recipes in the process. But it means that I am making fewer new recipes.  So for the time being I plan to post about four recipes a month, about one a week. Two of the monthly recipe posts will be part of the Slow Cooker Saturdays series since I am still in love with my slow cooker.

I am going to try to write a weekly menu instead of a monthly menu and see how that works for me. I see the value in writing down what we are going to eat in the immediate future. I just hate being pinned down to exactly what I am going to make for the family on Saturday when it’s only Monday, and there are so many variables like how many leftovers we’ll have. So I’ll be sharing a flexible weekly menu to help organize my thoughts more and make sure we use foods we already have so we have less waste.

I’ll aim to share one DIY Time and one Finance Thrifty Thinking post a month. Jonathan is planning on sharing at least one For the Heart and one Fitness post a month. Every quarter I’ll share either a WinCo or Costco Natural & Organic Price List update. I’ve thought about doing a Trader Joe’s Price Update for myself so I can compare prices more easily. Anyone have an interest in a Trader Joe’s Price Update? If so, let me know, and if I make a Trader’s Joe’s price list update for myself, I’ll post it. And there may be an occasion random post here, and there, but that gives you an idea as to what is swirling around in our heads.

Behind the scenes I am investigating changing our e-mailing system to Mad Mimi or Mail Chimp. The verdict’s still out. We will also be moving hosts, too, so there may be a little bit of transition.

We are trying to blog smarter not harder. Blogging is not our full-time job. At times it’s difficult to know how much time to devote to blogging when we are investing a lot of our selves with little visible return spiritually (lives being radially changed) or financially (making more than $3.33/day-seriously). Honestly, we didn’t start blogging to roll in the dough, and I haven’t put a lot into making money on the blog. Right now in one dedicated afternoon I could make more by teaching piano lessons than I do all month on the blog. So do you have to get a big return to continue something? Not necessarily…if it’s worth doing.  Do we have to know how much we have helped to affect positive change in the lives of those who read? Sure, it’s nice to know, but that’s not how life usually works.  And like I said, it’s difficult to know how much time to devote to blogging when there are lots of important things needing attention.

I still love blogging and sharing, yet it’s not my whole life. I pray for balance. I am constantly working to balance life as a follower of Christ, as a wife and mom, as a daughter and friend, as cook and keeper of the home, as a piano teacher and music teacher, as a blogger, etc….So I do what I can on the blog. There have been MANY nights where I intended to finish an article to post that night, but elected to sleep instead cuz I just can’t do it all.

Blogging about stewardship is a passion and we don’t see God putting the brakes on it yet, so we press on. We hope you find this blog an encouragement to your soul as you exercise stewardship of the gifts God has given you.

Sharing @ WFMW, Fat Tuesday, Talent Show Tuesday, One Project at a Time.  Homestead Barn Hop, Sew Darn Crafty, The Party Bunch,  Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Simple Lives Thursday.