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It occurs to me that although I’ve shared my excitement over the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle in general, and although I’ve highlighted a few of the resources/categories, I haven’t really done a plain old straightforward review like you’re used to seeing from me about other resources — so this is that post.  If you’re already tired of hearing about the Bundle, feel free to just skip over this post (and don’t worry, ’cause today’s the last day, so this will be the end of it).  But if you’re wanting more of an “analysis” of what’s in here, read on.

The Goal of Ultimate Bundles

I “know” many of the bloggers and authors behind Ultimate Bundles pretty well.  I’ve met few, if any, of them in person, but we’ve been colleagues and friends on Facebook (many of us) for a long time.  Yes, the bundles are meant to bring in an income — everybody has families to feed — but the real heart behind the bundle is for readers.  The Bundle team loves putting these together, despite all the hard work, because they’re a win-win-win.  The organizers bring in an income so their kids can keep eating.  The contributors earn some income (some more than others!) and gain new readers.  And the readers get a really great deal on resources we all hope will be a blessing!  Blessing readers is at least as important a driving force behind these bundles as making an income.  The way the bundles do that is by curating a collection of resources and “bundling” them together for one low price so you (and I) get more bang for your (and my) buck.

There are 93 ebooks and ecourses in this bundle, total, in 11 different categories.  Nobody expects that any one reader will read all 93 resources!  You may — if you buy the bundle, they’re yours to read.  But it’s probable that they won’t all be relevant for every reader.  And who has time to read 93 books, anyway?  The idea is that whatever your homemaking challenges, they’ll be represented here, and you can use whichever ones are relevant and helpful, at a lower price than what you’d pay if you bought them all separately.  (Then anything else you might use later is like icing on the cake.)

There is a Homemaking Bundle every year, but every year the resources are different.  There is often a very small amount of overlap (some topics are important, but don’t have a lot of available resources), but the team intentionally keeps this as small as possible.  (I think I heard that there are 6 books in this bundle that are the same as previous bundles.)  This means it’s a different opportunity every year.  (There is also usually a healthy living bundle in the fall, and the team has recently expanded to have occasional “specialty” bundles, like a photography bundle.)  These are not just haphazardly thrown together; the team carefully selects these resources, and I have been impressed with Ultimate Bundles every time.  I buy the Homemaking Bundle and the Healthy Living Bundle every single year, myself.  (Full disclosure: I didn’t have to buy it this time because, as a contributing author, I received a complimentary copy.  But if I didn’t have automatic access, I’d be buying it.)

I apologize if any of that sounds “salesy”; I just really want you to be able to get a glimpse of what I get to see when I work with these folks.  This is really an amazing group of authors and organizers and I am so blessed by them every time I get to work with them “behind the scenes.”

The Content

So what’s in it?  With so many books and courses, I obviously can’t detail them all for you.  (I haven’t even had a chance to look at all of them in-depth, myself!)  But I can give you the overall Bundle in a nutshell.   As I mentioned earlier, there are 93 ebooks and ecourses in 11 categories.  Those categories are:

• budgeting (2 ebooks, 1 printables kit, 1 ecourse)
• DIY/homemade (5 ebooks)
• faith (11 ebooks, 2 ecourses)
• holidays & special occasions (8 ebooks)
• in the kitchen (5 ebooks, 2 printables packs)
• marriage (5 ebooks, 1 ecourse)
• motherhood (8 ebooks)
• organizing & systems (8 ebooks, 3 ecourses, 3 planners/printables packs)
• recipes (14 ebooks)
• self-care (3 coloring ebooks + 2 other ebooks, 5 ecourses)
• working at home (5 ebooks + 2 planners/printables kits)

(I tallied these by-category counts manually, so if the numbers are off I probably goofed up counting.)

There are a lot of resources this time, in my opinion, that are especially fitting for beginners, or for those of us who are starting over after life’s chaos has knocked us off course.  Many of them are also excellent for use with children.  (A handful of them are intended for children, but some of the others are good for kids, too, because they’re simple.)  There’s an emphasis this year on making things easy: creating systems to make days flow more smoothly; recipes that don’t take much effort; learning foundations for budgeting, cooking, cleaning, etc….and helping us take care of ourselves along the way.

Some of the resources span more than one category, so it can be helpful to take a peek even in categories you don’t think you’re interested in.  Most of the “motherhood” books just don’t appeal to me, for instance.  (I know that sounds awful.  “Motherhood” books tend to be kind of touchy-feely, though, and that’s just not my “thing.”)  But Rachel Norman’s Rhythms, Routines, & Schedules: How to Simplify Life with Kids is in this section, too.  That’s the practical kind of book I’m interested in.

Let’s see if I can briefly summarize what’s covered by the resources in each section.

Budgeting…is pretty self-explanatory.  It’s, um, about budgeting.  There are resources for building a budget and getting out of debt.  There’s also a printable kit for helping kids learn budgeting skills.  (Check the “in the kitchen” section for frugal help, too.)

DIY/homemade includes canning & preserving, DIY pantry staples, DIY cleaning supplies & beauty aids, and creative gifts.

Faith includes several Bible studies (including one on battling anger as a parent), skill-building books for teaching kids to pray & to have their own quiet times, inspiration for the Church year, spiritual growth, a devotional prayer journal, a quiet time journal, and a Bible study for kids.

Holidays & special occasions includes hospitality tips for moms and kids (two corresponding books), tips for making and decorating cakes, party planning, intentionality with holidays, and a couple of Christmas-related Bible studies.

In the kitchen covers meal planning, grocery shopping, learning cooking skills, and hospitality.

Marriage has resources for building your relationship, improving your sex life, and ideas for dates.

Motherhood includes adoption options, several resources on our attitude as moms, a book about helping baby sleep, an introduction to homeschooling, a book especially for moms of adolescents, and the aforementioned routines & schedules book.

Organizing & systems seems to be the overwhelming favorite section among readers.  (I guess we all have areas we need to get in order!)  It includes a chore planner, a “regular” planner, and a set of organizational printables.  It also includes books/courses addressing clutter, laundry, deep cleaning (and cleaning routines), systems, time management, simplification, overall homemaking, and teaching kids to clean.

Recipes are included for breakfast “thickies,” easy breakfasts to make ahead, packable lunches (with menu plans!), a lot of slow cooker recipes (including many slow cooker/freezer recipes), sweet treats, company meals, “emergency” meals, healthy (“real food”) meal plans, one “miracle dough” that can be used for many things, soups & chilies, and real food recipes kids can cook.

Self-care includes three (adult) coloring books, a weight loss plan, and a book about how to give yourself a planning retreat.  This section also adds the most different content with the ecourses included.  (That is, the content in the ecourses for this section address different issues, rather than addressing the same issues from a different angle or platform.)  Ecourses address the “6 pillars of well-being,” diastasis recti, creativity, exercise via housework, and creating a life of purpose.

Working at home includes tips for obtaining a work-from-home job, business building, getting started with blogging, tips for working from home while the kids are also home, and planners for both bloggers and direct sales moms.

 

The content of the Bundle itself is available for download for a year.  You can download the individual resources you need as you need them, or you can download the whole shebang all at one go.  (Mostly.  Some of the ecourses are hosted elsewhere, so you’ll need to register for them.  Everything else you can download all zipped together.)

Bonuses

Besides the content in the Bundle, there are also some bonuses available through companies that have partnered with the Ultimate Bundles team.  These are available for one month following the Bundle sale.  (This way the partners aren’t trying to process bonus orders indefinitely, since these are — mostly — physical items.)  The bonuses are chosen to partner well with the topics in the Bundle and, if you don’t need them yourself, many of them make good gifts.  (I’ll come back to the idea of gifts in a moment.)  This year’s bonuses include:

Grove Collaborative — This is the one bonus for which you must spend something other than shipping, but it’s still one of my favorites.  In a nutshell, you get $30 worth of natural cleaning supplies FREE with a $20 purchase, with the opportunity to also purchase certain other selected products at a discount.  They’re all high-quality brands that I use in my home and like/recommend.  And I don’t consider the $20 purchase a big deal, because Grove sells necessities, so I’d have to spend that at some point anyway.  (Everyone needs toothpaste, toothbrushes, and dish soap, right?)  If you’re an existing Grove customer, your bonus is a little different, so check the details if that’s you.

Hope Ink — Whether or not this one is a good deal depends on your needs.  Technically, you don’t have to spend anything but shipping to redeem this one, but practically speaking, you kind of do.  The bonus is a $15 credit to the Hope Ink shop, plus 2 FREE 8×10’s with any purchase.  There aren’t any items for only $15, so you’re not going to get this one for the cost of shipping alone.  But these are very gift-worthy, so if you are able to use them for gifts, you can get three gifts for a very good price.  It’s up to you.  (There’s certainly no obligation to redeem every — or even any — bonus!)

GreenKidCrafts.com — GreenKidCrafts.com is a subscription box site, and the bonus is for one free month’s box.  If you don’t want to keep getting these, you’ll need to cancel before the second month processes/ships, but that first box is completely free apart from shipping.

Bloom Naturals — Free spot treatment for acne or eczema -OR- $15 credit at the Bloom Naturals store.  You pay shipping.  To be honest, Bloom products are too pricey for me.  I’m sure they’re excellent; I’m sure they’re worth the price, but they’re out of my budget range.  So if I needed the acne/eczema spot treatment, that might be a good deal for me, but I won’t use the $15 credit.  I didn’t redeem this one, myself.

inkWELL Press — $15 credit.  How far this credit goes will depend a lot on what you buy.  Planner accessories and notepads may be covered or almost covered.  If you want a full-fledged planner (they’re beautiful, by the way!), you’ll have difference to pay.  Again, what is or isn’t a good deal for you depends entirely on your needs.  (They have some free downloads, too, by the way.)

Craftsy — Craftsy is a site offering online craft classes. The bonus is for one free course, from a selection of 24 courses.  (I haven’t decided yet which one to take, myself, but I’m leaning toward the Silhouette class.  Another top contender is Family Photography.)  Taking a craft class can be handy for DIY gift-making!  And although the selection available through the bonus is limited, this is completely no-strings-attached.  (Note that although you do have to register for your class within a month, you do not have to take the class within that time.  Once you register, it’s “yours.”)

ListPlanIt — ListPlanIt is offering a free 90-day membership.  This site offers a plethora of printable forms, as well as (apparently) some forms you can use & edit on your devices.  (I don’t do any of my “planning”-type stuff on mobile devices, so I’m out of the loop on that part.)

Molly Green — There is a really amazing resource very sneakily hidden within this one.  (It isn’t really “sneaky.”  But I totally overlooked it until it was pointed out to me.)  The bonus here is for a 1-year membership to MollyGreen.com, including their digital magazine and whatever resources are available on their site.  But here’s the really cool part: one of the resources available through their site is a membership to RightNow Media, a Christian video streaming site that is chock-full of content for the whole family.  It’s like Netflix for Christian content (kinda).  Did I mention I’m not very techie?  So streaming media is not really on my radar, either, but the folks around me are really excited about this one.

Melt — Melt is video massage courses taught by a professional massage therapist.  I’m not very familiar firsthand, but a number of people I trust have taken some of the courses and say they’re very tasteful and although they were a little nervous to watch, initially, there wasn’t anything in the videos that made them uncomfortable.  The bonus here is for a hand massage video.  Like the Craftsy class, you need to register for this one within the first month, but you do not have to watch it immediately.  Just “order” it right away if you want it, so you have access.

What About the Books I Don’t Need/Want?

Okay, so remember I promised to talk about gifts again?  (Maybe not.  This is a long post!)  Well, here’s a secret: you can give those Ebooks you don’t need away.  Yep, really.  Here’s how it works: just like a physical book, each purchased copy of an ebook can only rightfully belong to one person.  So if you’re going to read/use the ebook, you can’t pass it on.  (No fair just passing the same one all around.  If two people want to read it, two people will need to buy it.  Unless, of course, that other somebody is in your immediate household.)

But if you aren’t ever going to read it, you don’t have to just let it languish on your hard drive; you can pass it on to someone else and delete it from your own files.  (There’s kind of an honor system thing going on here.  No one’s going to come check your hard drive, but just be honest.  This is a pretty sweet deal already, so just don’t be greedy and all will be well. )

That also means that you can “break up” bundles and use them as gifts.  This works especially well if you’re pairing up resources with physical bonuses.

For instance, order the Grove bonus and package those cleaning supplies up with the cleaning resources on a disk.  That makes a great wedding or housewarming gift.  (Or maybe a going-away-to-college gift!)

Package the GreenKidCrafts box with Summer Sanity Savers.

Package inkWELL product with some of the organizing resources.

Or buy a little something and put selected, relevant resources on a disk together with it.  A child might appreciate Prayer Practice for Kids and Developing a Quiet Time along with a journal or Bible.  This would be a perfect gift for a confirmation or baptism.  (This sort of thing is also great to keep in mind if you’re an empty nester and have been thinking, “what am I going to do with kids’ resources?”  Give them as gifts to your grandkids, neighbors, young moms or kids in your church, etc., and keep what applies to you.)

You can buy as many bundles as you want, so you can buy one to keep and one to use for gift purposes, too.  (And yes, you can gift an entire bundle.  Just email customer service to transfer the ownership of it to a new email address after placing your order.  This is a wonderful Mother’s Day option!)

Did I Forget Anything?

Do you have any burning questions that I failed to answer?  Is there anything you would have liked to see in the Bundle that isn’t there?  Or something you’re especially excited is?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Ultimate Homemaking Bundle 2016 {review} is a post from: Titus 2 Homemaker