Search Results for may (200)

Longnecker Year in Review: 2014

Jonathan Longnecker / January 13, 2015

While I'm not usually one to jump on bandwagon's, a year-in-review is never a bad idea. It's good to take a breath, look back and gain some perspective on how you spent your time over the last 365 days. Plus, writing it all down means you can actually come back, read it again and learn from it!

So much happened in 2014, but the biggest news was that we finally decided to take the plunge and start the process of traveling full time! We're not on the road yet, but we're committed, have a plan and should be on our way in 2015. More on that later!

Here a few highlights of the Longnecker's 2014:

Money

This was the year we finally got out of debt! We paid off one of our cars late 2013 and the other in early 2014. What tremendous weight off our shoulders! 

All that's left is the house, and we'll be tackling that when we start our full-time travels.

This was also the first year we were really able to start saving and building an emergency fund bigger than the minimum of $1,000.  While we were never super stressed about money, having a healthy savings account definitely helps us breath easier. Highly recommended.

Health

2014 was also the first year that I believe Ashley and I finally began to understand what we needed to do to be healthy. We were both tipping the scales at our highest weights ever (pregnancies not included!) and everything we started just wouldn't stick.

A conversation with our chiropractor flipped a switch for me, though. It was simple math - I was consistently eating too many calories for my body to burn off. The extras got stored as fat. I was making this decision over and over again, day after day without even realizing it. 

Where do you get high-quality wholesale fitted shirts?

Jonathan Longnecker / December 12, 2014

It's funny, as soon as we decided to get out of the hand-printed t-shirt game we got a flood of questions as to how we were doing it. I keep thinking maybe they shouldn't take advice from the guys closing up shop, right? I kid, I kid. We did learn a ton in our short time doing this and thought it might be helpful if I wrote all this down somewhere on the internets.

What we'll be tackling today is the question we were asked most: "Where did you get your shirts?"

That's a great question. If you're not part of that world and trying to break in it's tough to know where to start.

Get out of town sale

Jonathan Longnecker / December 03, 2014

Hey everybody! How was your Thanksgiving? We had such a great time here in Knoxville - everyone came to our house and we enjoyed a truly relaxed time of stuffing our faces, laughing and actually getting to talk to each other. 

It's funny how even when you spend time with your family, you can still be busy enough to cut it short or just not be mentally present. Maybe it was the fact that everyone was off from work that day - or maybe it was just cold and rainy enough for people to linger, but it was nice to hang with the family.

I've watched in amusement the last several days as what used to be just one day of sales has turned into like 5 days of "money events." Stores opened a day early on Thanksgiving day, Black Friday was still Black Friday, Saturday got devoted to local businesses, Monday the Internet was on sale and then Tuesday was all about giving. I love giving and all, but I just had to laugh and the ridiculousness of the marketing madness. I'm getting a little tired of everyone else telling me when and how to spend my money.

All that to say - we didn't do any Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals for anything in our store. Why? We didn't want to be another email in your inbox yelling at you to buy something. 

Instead, I'd like to share some news. By this time next year we're going to be on the road. Our house will be sold and everything we own will be in an RV! 

And let's just say boxes of t-shirts is not on the list of things we want to be carrying around with us.

So from now on everything in our store is 50% off. No special timeframe, no coupon codes, no midnight specials. We just need to clear out our remaining inventory. 

Oh, and one more thing. For every dollar you spend on one of our shirts we're going to donate a dollar to Rice Bowls, an awesome non-profit that helps feed orphaned kids. Like, indefinitely until all the shirts are gone. We're that crazy, guys. For real.

So go check out the apparel store! And if a particular size is out of stock shoot us an email and ask. There's a good chance we've got a blank one in your size that we can print for you.

5 Easy Unschooled Projects to Do With Your Kids

Jonathan Longnecker / October 22, 2014

Ever since Adali and I finished up her comic book project, we've been trying to think of other creative ways for the kids to learn. Even when you homeschool it's easy to follow the curriculum to the "t" and not do anything else with it. 

As my kids start getting older I'm excited to share new things with them. For instance, this week we started watching the Star Wars movies for the first time. Film education, anyone? :) Seriously, though - I get to watch it with them, give them history on the whole thing and help them tie the stories together. Even explain how some of the old effects were created and how they got updated in newer versions. They love to know how things are made and that excites me.

Wouldn't it be great if you had these little projects you could work on with your kids, too? I guarantee you they'll remember these moments many years from now - probably more than all the school functions, soccer games and birthday parties. Why? Because it's your chance to get personal with them, share knowledge with them that isn't in the form of a "stern talking to," and let them know what you're passionate about. It also shows them how much you want to spend time with them and do fun stuff together.

So! Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Make Unique and Memorable Projects Based on Schoolwork

Ashley has been so great about doing this with the kids while she's homeschooling. For instance - a few months ago they were studying Mexico. We found a Mexican iTunes radio station, cranked it up and made a bunch of tacos. We talked about all sorts of trivia while we were eating, too. I still remember Jett randomly shouting, "I have a moustaaache!!" in a ridiculous accent while were eating. I have no idea why he did, but it was hilarious. We still say that to each other even today.

Something else you can do is work in a craft that's related to a study session. The kids went with Ashley to Lowes the other day, built a rocket stove out of paver stones and cooked their own hotdogs based on some stuff they had researched. I know they remembered that! Taking the school out of the book and into real life sticks so much better.

2. Create a Kids Book Together

Adali and I made a comic book, but you could start much simpler. I guarantee your kid has some of the weirdest, most awesome stories you've ever heard floating around in their head. Get those suckers down on paper, draw it with them and help them make real book out of it. Watch how excited they get when they can give that book to their friends and family. Before you kow it, they'll be asking to work on the sequel.

Simplify September

Ashley Longnecker / October 01, 2014

Some really smart person once said, “If things in your life aren’t adding up, start subtracting.” This quote can apply to so many aspects of everyone’s lives but for now, I’m going to concentrate on clutter in general.

Guys, it will creep up on you and weigh you down and you won’t even realize it. It’s everywhere. I mean, EVERYWHERE! Once we decided to start traveling full-time, I went a bit crazy. Nothing too new – I mean I am one to clean out crap of random spots pretty regularly, but this has hit a new level. I made a list in August of all the things I needed to simplify for my family during the month of September. For example.... 

• Our Closet - Not just clean it out, I mean get rid of anything that is not used, does not fit or has so many holes that it isn’t even acceptable to wear to work in the garage :)
• General Crap - We don't have a lot of knick-knacky things. I’ve been this way probably my whole married life. It’s just more things to dust, more things that you have to worry about the kids not breaking, and just to take up space?? No, thanks. Less is more, people.
• Garage - This is my problem area really. I have a lot of tools that will not be going on the road with us, so this is something that will take quite a while to simplify and figure out what to store somewhere.
• Playroom - Might as well get them their storage totes that they will have in order to keep whatever toys they want to take on the road with us. We will not be taking the 200 stuffed animals that fill up their beds and playroom :)
• Storage Closet - HOLY COW! That place is/was a disaster. We had saved all our kids clothes that were still wearable so we had about 6 or 7 totes of clothes and blankets from all stages. We had held onto them in hopes of having our adopted kids by now, but since that is taking forever, we have decided to sell what we could, and we donated the rest. 
• Kitchen - I will not need my 3 cookie sheets, and 3 muffin tins, and 8 mixing bowls and 5 loaf pans. This will be hard for me to clean out and get rid of stuff. I love kitchen supplies and gadgets but I am looking forward to simplifying it soon and getting used to using less.
• Kid's Clothes - While we don’t really have that many clothes for the kids, simplifying for our traveling means we will have less items, but better quality to make them last longer. We haven’t started on this yet, either.

That’s about it for my list of things to simplify. While that may not look like much, it is a bit overwhelming on top of all the other things we need to get done in the next 11 months. Here’s to getting it all done! Hurrah!