2017 is wrapping up! This is my favorite time of year. I’m starting to write things down with Sharpie into my new paper planner. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, I have piles of paper and pencil. But now I break out the Sharpies! If you want a little inspiration for your 2018 planning, I’m giving away my mentoring question conversation sheets for one more week! Just make sure you sign up for my (rather awesome) newsletter before Jan 2nd. I hope your planning, dreaming and scheming goes amazing!

I wanted to do a top 10 posts from 2017. But I actually started blogging May 2016. I felt bad leaving those few gems out, never to get featured. So I’m doing a top 15! 10 for 2017, and 5 for 2016.

Here are some of the behind the scenes ideas behind my most popular posts, and little updates! Hope you enjoy.

#15 Financial Independence Flashpoint

This was the hardest post for me to publish to date. If you were on my subscriber list during that time, you might remember me going back and forth on if I should hit publish at all. This part of my story is something I have been talking about a lot offline lately. Thank you to all the people who left really encouraging comments on this post. Those comments are a big part of my motivation for some of the things I have planned in 2018!

#14 I wouldn’t buy our wedding rings again

Do you want to know the funny follow-up to this post? I just bought a new wedding ring! Ha. I’ve been wearing my great grandmothers, but now it’s too loose on my finger. I was worried to have it resized because she wore it for 50 years and it’s soooo thin. So I just bought a new ring on Amazon for $22. But it’s too big as well. (Apparently, I have no idea what size my fingers are!) So it will be exchanged (hopefully). But this post isn’t really about frugality, it’s about minimalism.

#13 The Highlight Reel

This is still one of my personal favorites simply because it’s so core to my success and purpose.

#12 Can’t Waste Good

I once heard a book author say, that sometimes you will need to go back and read your own book. Years later you will need to again read the words that you knew so clearly when you wrote them. I know that’s true for this post. I come back to it on my son’s birthday. On the anniversary of his passing, I read these words over my heart again. Over Christmas, when everything was so perfect, except he wasn’t here. I hope other people find encouragement in these words, but I wrote these ones to speak into my own life when my heart falters.

#11 Simplify Your Budget with Fun Money Accounts

I almost want to write a follow-up post to this one. Fun money accounts made our life so much easier. But over the last 10+ years that we have been using them, they have become even more important. Mine has turned into part fun, part personal development. I used my fun money to pay for a weekend mentoring trip to Vegas last February, books, classes, and courses.

#10 Grow the Gap, Guard the Gap

This is the simplest explanation for how to build wealth. I’ve presented this idea in public speaking. It’s one of the most universal and helpful ways to think about growing our financial freedom. Plus that is just some solid alliteration.

#9 Not Retired, Work Optional

The shortest post I ever wrote! Also one of the first posts I put up. And it’s just as true as the day I wrote it. A lot of things have changed in this journey, but this still rings true for me.

#8 The Walden Theory

This was one of the first posts I ever put up on my site! Before I even “launched” my site. And my very first comment ever……was from J$. He featured this post on my very first real blog day May 1st, 2016 on Rockstar Finance. If I was a better writer, I would have the words to describe how good that day was or how much that support meant to me.

#7 The Monthly Nut Ratio

I can see why people would think we are frugal or cheap because our monthly spending tends to come in around $2000-$2500 for our family of 7. But our monthly bills? $650. So I feel like we spend a crazy amount of money each month. Simply because so much of our spending is dedicated to “extras”.

#6 Taking a Year Off Work

I have written a few posts as we have ventured further and further into our mini-retirement. I love going back and reading these. Mini-Retirements are a bit like the baby/toddler years. Things change and grow so quickly. You can see radical change in each snapshot. Mini-Retirements are like fertilizer for your dreams and goals.

#5 3 by 3 Minimalism with Kids

We dropped our kids off at grandmas last week before Christmas for 3 hours, and in a mad rush gave away a bunch of their toys in local Facebook groups! All the items that saw the least play time this year went away to find a new Christmas home.

This one thing has been a game changer in how we spend our time, the calm I feel in our home and our interactions with our kids. I don’t pick up toys. And all the mamas said, “AMEN!”

So many readers have emailed me about THIS post. The change it made in their family and life. Which I might add is my favorite part of being a writer in this online space.

#4 Worst Advice I Ever Received

Read this post and then head to your library or drop some cash on Amazon. Most high leverage investment you can make into 2018. 500+ books in and no regrets.

#3 Paying Cash for Our House is Only Half the Story

Not only is it only half the story, I think it’s actually the less impressive half of the story. I feel like the other half of the story is much more revealing.

#2 Thier Up is My Down

My most popular post by a good margin. I also planned, thought about and wrote this post over about three months. Maybe there is a correlation? Also, I think this one has the highest comment count. Feel free to add your two cents. =)

#1 Our Story

So not actually a post. But “Our Story” officially became the most viewed page on my site in 2017. If for some crazy reason you have never read it, go read it! It ties a few of the pieces of our story together and conveys the purpose behind Montana Money Adventures. Or if you read it a long time ago, I’ve rewritten this about a dozen times since I started this site! =)

That wraps up my most popular (in page views) content from my first 18 months of writing!