Most Popular Posts of 2015

It seems a fitting way to wrap up the old year and begin a new one with sharing my most popular posts of the year. It’s especially important since my blog has grown so much this year. It’s pretty amazing to realize that my monthly page views have increased 8x from what they were at the beginning to the year. Yay! Due to that, I venture there are many of you new to the blog who have yet to read some of these posts! For that reason (and as a refresher to everyone), I am sharing my most popular posts of 2015. I shared my top 10 posts of 2014 here and shared my most popular posts of 2013 here as well.

A large part of this traffic is due to Pinterest, and I continue to thank everyone who pins my content on Pinterest! It’s so exciting to see my content being value, shared and used by so many readers.

Now, without further ado, here are the top 10 articles that were read this year on Joyfully Thriving (in descending order).

10. Yes, this title is true. We Have 13 Saving Accounts and are Opening More. Using electronic savings accounts have simplified our finances so much. It’s an electronic version of the envelope system, if you will. This post explains how it works for our family and where we keep our savings accounts.

9. A Free Printable Guide to Seasonal Sale Cycles became quite popular this year. I keep a printed copy of this list in my coupon binder so I know which deals to watch for in any given month. Feel free to print off a copy for yourself because shopping in season will save you a lot of money in your grocery budget!

8. I wrote How to Stockpile Diapers for a Baby almost 2 years ago as I was preparing for Nathan’s arrival. Now that we’re getting ready to welcome a second baby, this post is due for an update. Would you believe I’ve been tracking exactly how many diapers since Nathan has been more, just so I can help more people stockpile diapers? Look for a follow-up post on stockpiling diapers in January, if you are interested in doing so.

7. 20 Foods to Freeze to Save Money began when I realized how much I use my upright freezer in the basement. It is still my favorite wedding gift because we use it daily to save us money. This is a (partial) list of commonly frozen items. What do you keep in your freezer?

6. How to Make Homemade Buckeyes remains a yearly favorite. My talented sister just helped me update this post with some new pictures of our favorite dessert. Check out her amazing pictures because they finally do justice to just how beautiful these tiny treats are. We are known for our buckeyes but they really aren’t difficult to make if you follow my instructions!

5. How to Create Shutterfly Albums for Free was a practical post I wrote because I love saving our family pictures in beautiful photo albums. Over the years, I’ve learned how to create almost all of my Shutterfly albums for free and this post explains exactly how I do it.

4. How to Make Homemade Vanilla Yogurt in Your Crock Pot is a recipe that I make at least twice a month. Ever since I discovered how simple and frugal it is (not to mention delicious) to make my own yogurt, I’ve been hooked. I’m glad to know others are enjoying making their own yogurt, too!

3. 10 Items to Stockpile in a Pantry is a practical and helpful post. It reminds me that I’m not alone in valuing the savings my stockpile brings! I have some more follow-up posts planned this year on how to create a stockpile that works for you and your family because I really believe everyone can benefit from having a stockpile.

2. A Biblical Version of Oh, the Places You’ll Go continues to be one of my most viewed posts. Due to the popularity of this post, I also started creating custom books on request this year, as well as providing digital downloads for sale for those who want more help in giving this priceless gift.

1. 3 Little Known Ways to Save Big on Amazon surprised me by quickly becoming my top-viewed post of the year, being viewed over 60,000 times in the past 4 months. This just goes to show that many of us are becoming Amazon customers – and we still all love to save money!

There you have it! Those were my most popular posts of the year, according to Google Analytics. Were your favorites in this list? Did you discover some new ones you hadn’t read yet?

Here’s to a great new year!