2017 Year-in-Review and Blog Plans for 2018

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Pinch me I am dreaming!

I cannot believe 2017 is almost over! It has been a year full of events. Some were happier than the others. It has been a year of a lot of learning, and my first year of blogging. Though this blog is not a year old yet, I think it is the right time to have the 2017 year-in-review and blogging plans for 2018 update shared with you!

Year Review and What Went Well

I have been enjoying my little blog and being able to connect with you, my dear readers! Blogging has been a learning (LOTS of learning) process, and I just love it! As an Administrative Assistant with many years of experience, I thought it would be so easy!

Hahaha…

Though it was helpful to have some knowledge of the computer programs, managing a blog involves much more than just a “computer work”.

I have “met” many other bloggers both new to blogging and those with years of experience. I must tell, the support and encouragement I have received from them were incredible!

Connecting with other bloggers is an amazing way to learn from them and to help each other! As a “guest blogger”, I had a chance to share my breastfeeding tips with OneSharpMama readers. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to connect with a different audience and to share my experience with them!

We have been nominated and accepted the Sunshine Blogger Award. It was such an exciting moment!

Also, the Simple Family Crazy Life posts have been shared thousands of times on the social media, thank you all for sharing your love!

Year Review and What Went Not So Well

Blogging might be an expensive hobby!

You pay for a hosting company, you pay for your domain, theme set-up, and may end up paying to your email marketing provider depending on the company of your choice and the number of subscribers.

       

And you need to learn about blogging. All the learning and courses may cost you thousands of dollars! Luckily, I was able to get some of them for an introductory price or purchase them in a bundle for a very attractive price.

If you are thinking about starting a blog, you may want to check this course to help you out in the beginning. Abby was one of the reasons I started my blog. She is a wonderful person, an awesome blogger, and an encouraging teacher! I have been enjoying reading her blog for a few years now!

Blogging is a lot of hard work!

You are your own boss, a marketing agent, a graphic designer, a copywriter, a photographer, and so much more!

Of course, you can hire all or some of the above if you can afford to pay for them. It was not a case for me. I must thank my wonderful (and patient) husband for helping with so many of these tasks! And for keeping our house sane when I thought I was losing it 🙂

Blogging is not a get-rich-fast scheme!

Yes, there are some bloggers who make thousands of dollars with their blogs. I cannot say I am one of them (yet) 🙂 I still love my little blog though!

And I love you! This is why I keep on going on! This is why we are changing a few things so you enjoy it. If we can help you with solving at least one of your problems, we can consider our mission accomplished!

And now to the fun part!

Blogging Plans for 2018

As my blog and the readers’ audience are growing, it is time be more responsive to what my readers are interested in and what they are looking for here 🙂

So, I have decided to re-organize and re-shape the blog.

As of now, I have 3 major topics that I have been sharing with you and they are Vegan Recipes, Garden and Home Projects.

As I will be celebrating my 3-year vegannniversary on January 3 (and it has been 3 amazing years!), I think it is absolutely appropriate for me to share my personal experience regarding the switch.

Unfortunately, I have been eating vegan for these 3 years but I have started to use the vegan skin care and make-up products this last year only.

Probably, the main reason for that was that I didn’t have enough knowledge on what is involved in these products production. I’ve heard about the animal testing. I had no idea how bad it was. I had no idea about the scale of the problem.

The second reason was financial. Now I know that even with vegan skin care and make-up products there are expensive and more affordable options.

This is why, instead of having the Vegan Recipes category, I will be creating a new one which will be called:

Vegan Lifestyle

 

I will still be sharing my vegan recipes with you aiming for 1 recipe post a week. But I will also be sharing vegan skin care and cruelty-free fashion brands with you. I will be carefully choosing the ones that have worked for me and only recommend the ones I truly believe in!

I am so excited about it!

I am so excited to be able to work with many awesome brands who care for the environment, care for the animals, and do a great job creating wonderful products for us!

Next, I will combine my Garden and Home Projects categories into one:

Home and Garden

It is amazing to see that some of our popular posts are actually falling into this category!

I have already shared a few of the home and garden projects with you. But we still have so much to show you!

Last April we have participated in the One Room Challenge by Calling it Home and renovated our bedroom. We are planning on so many other projects! There will be tons of DIY and gardening stories to share with you! So, stay tuned! 😉

And lastly, as I have mentioned above, there were also financial reasons I didn’t completely switch to vegan lifestyle. We have talked about the beginning of our journey to financial freedom. Therefore, it is pretty logical if we continue updating you on what we do to learn better family budget planning and management. So, here it is, a new blog category:

Frugal Living

My hubby and I are both working full-time. We don’t smoke or drink and have no other addictions. But we still were not able to save any money. We have been living paycheque to paycheque. We haven’t travelled long distance since we arrived in Canada. And it is time to change it. It is time to take our finances under OUR control!

Check this article to learn more about what we have done at the beginning of our journey.

We have already learned so much since then. And we will be happy to share our ideas and tips with you! It is still premature to say we have saved tons of money and life is different now.

It is not.

But it is not a week-time process. It is a long-term commitment.

We will be updating you on our progress once a month. In addition, we will be sharing opportunities to save money like the resources bundles, product discounts, and apps to use to save the money or to get cash-back.

Have you heard of the Ebates? Or Checkout51? I have been using them and getting cash back on so many products! Please note if you use my referral link to Ebates to sign up, both you and I will earn even more cash! Don’t you like this friendship even better? 🙂

I have been working with a few brands to get some awesome deals for you and will be sharing them with you. My email subscribers will be the first to know about them. Do you want to be one of them?

Are you as thrilled as I am?

I am soooo excited!I am looking forward to hearing your opinion on all these! I believe these changes will make your experience reading our blog much better and will save you a lot of time and eventually the money.

Don’t be a stranger! Leave a comment below and let me know!

2017 year-in-review and blogging plans for 2018