Best of the blog

Best of the blog 2017

Happy New Year! I hope you have had a wonderful couple of holidays with family and friends. Ours was nice and low key with family from out of town. We’ve been battling colds, so we’ve tried to keep it to ourselves. It seems like so many people were sick this Christmas! Not fun.

Today I’m sharing my Top 10 posts of 2017. I’m always curious what posts will be a hit and which ones will go over like a led balloon. I get a hunch on which ones will be successful, but sometimes I’m completely surprised.

Anyway, here were the most-read topics:

Printable kindness chart to stop the arguing and teach kids to be nice to each other

10. Kindness behavioral chart and treasure chest

After The Great Summer of Bickering I implemented this kindness chart for the boys. I finally decided I could walk into that time together rolling my eyes or I could look at it as an opportunity to teach them. This time that they are home together as kids could very well determine how they treat each others as adults. I want to teach them to be kind and respectful to their parents, each other, and everyone they come in contact with. Get the rules and rewards I use in this post.


Ultimate Christmas planner gift idea printables

9. The ultimate Christmas planner

Having a tight budget means you have to organize and plan where each penny goes and start early! That’s exactly why I created this planner to give to you. Take a peek here. I will be offering it again next year with a few more additions!


How to clean a shower that will stay clean for months

8. 5 best ways to clean a shower and keep it clean

I’ve found five powerful ways to get my tile shower clean and keep it clean longer — months longer! I’m sharing a secret ingredient you’re missing in your all natural vinegar and water cleaner, as well as a DIY shower spray recipe that is magic. Read all about it in this post.


Here are printable checklists for your third trimester, registry, hospital bag and diaper bag. Also included are the best lullabies, baby book ideas, how to make baby food

7. Most-pinned baby checklists and ideas

Here are printable checklists for your third trimester, registry, hospital bag and diaper bag. Also included are the best lullabies, baby book ideas, how to make baby food and a printable “baby is sleeping” sign for the front door. All together these posts have about 462,000 pins! Get all my best baby posts here.


1 week to a clean house in just one hour a day - with printable

6. 1 week schedule to clean and organize the house

My unorganized summer ways left my house in a dirty, unorganized mess! (Seriously, you can see in the embarrassing pictures.) In this post I focused on one space for an hour. I had a clean house in a week without being overwhelmed. Get the printable schedule here.


Desk drawer organization

5. Ideas to organize your home office and budget

At the beginning of each year I do few things in my home office to start fresh. In this post I’m sharing what I do to get our finances, office space, computer, calendar and school papers in order for a clean slate. Get all my tips and a printable checklist here.


Hurricane Irma on its way

4. Hurricane Irma brought us to our knees

A hurricane slammed into our city, going directly over our house and has changed us in unforeseen ways. In this post I’m talking about the mental game of evacuating, the aftermath, helping others and how it forced a self assessment of faith. This is my honest story.


How I simplified and organized my house with KIDS, room by room with real-life tips

3. How I organize my house with kids

Perfect is not my goal, but simple is! The more we simplify our life, the faster we can get to the good stuff — spending time together. On top of spending loads of time at home, our house has a very open floor plan — meaning our living room, dining room, kitchen, office area/playroom is all in one space! It is impossible to relegate kids’ stuff to one area. Here is exactly how I handle it.


Plant wall with white pots and Ikea lack shelves

2. Plant wall in the bathroom

I’ve wanted to do a plant wall in this bathroom for about two years and it’s finally done! I have been eyeing beautiful plant walls on Pinterest, plotting and planning for this blank wall in our master bathroom. It has artificial and real plants. Here’s how I did it and where I got the plants.


11 free printable Bible verse coloring pages for kids

1. Bible verses to color

And finally, my winner this year was the post with Bible verse color pages. One of our summer activities was to memorize scripture as a family. I designed 11 free printables to color and help teach kids Bible verses. Each week, after they color them, they can hang them in their room and we can recite them together before bed at night. Get your free printables in this post.


Did you have a favorite post this year? What would you like to see more of?

Thank you so very much for reading along, offering encouragement and giving me your own tips this year. I feel like I’ve gotten to know so many lovely people through House Mix this year. I love talking to you! Leave a comment any time. Email me at kate@housemixblog.com. The thing I love most about blogging is connecting with you!

Come follow along on my Instagram for more pics and tips, and be sure to check out the House Mix Pinterest page, too!

6 thoughts on “Best of the blog 2017

  1. Kate, thank you so much for all of the inspiration I get from you! I’ve also got three kids and run my own company, so there’s not much time for recreational internet surfing. But I’ve recently discovered your blog and can’t help myself – I just keep reading your posts! I particularly apprecite all the posts on home organization as it is my weak point. So all the best for you and your family in this new year and keep going :-)
    Greetings from Poland!

  2. Hi Renata! I’m so excited to have a friend in Poland! What a beautiful place to live. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement! It really helps me to connect with people on the other side of the screen. And thanks for the input on more organizing posts. Will do! All the best for your family and business in the new year too!

  3. These are great posts but my favorites from your blog was the marriage series and the most recent post about the existence of God. Your content is fresh and relevant. I look forward to reading each post. Well done!

  4. Oh Anne, bless your soul! Those were my two favorites as well! They took SO long to write and got a little traction, but not much. I know they are more intense topics and for whatever reason those are just never as popular. But you have truly blessed my day by your comment. I’m so serious. xoxoxoxo

  5. I can see how more intense topics be less popular at first but over time, gain traction.
    I shared your ‘Existence of God’ post with my BSF small group and it was a hit. In my opinion, you could submit some of your work for publication (Focus on the Family, other faith-based publishing).

  6. Thanks for the support, Anne. I’m honored that you shared my post and will definitely consider sharing the post because my true prayer is that it would make people think and consider His existence. THANK YOU.

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