Ever since 2016, I’ve done a round-up at the end of year of the top 10 posts on the blog as well as the top 9 posts on my Instagram. Now, my personal IG took a beating this year — I only posted 6 pictures total, so clearly that won’t be the IG account with the Top 9 🙂
However, when I decided to start the flower farm officially in February, I also created an IG account for that, and I posted plenty over there. So for 2021, you got the Top 9 IG Pics for the flower farm (along with some of the 6 posted to my regular IG) in addition to the Top 10 blog posts as usual.
Note: There are affiliate links to products and books mentioned below.
Top Posts Published in 2021
1. Summer 2021 Reading List
This was by far the most popular post published this year — in fact, it was the only one published in 2021 that made the top 10 all-time top viewed list this year. Every year around May, I compile a list of a dozen or so of the titles I’m most excited to read every summer, and this year’s list got picked up on Pinterest pretty quickly. In years past, I read nearly all the titles on the list, but this year, I’ll admit I’ve only read about a third so far, although I have plans to read the others soon. (I will note that the ones I’ve read, I’ve really enjoyed!)
2. I’m Starting a Business! {March 2021 Goals}
“Big News” posts usually make the top 10, and this year, our biggest news was that we started a flower farm! This was the post I announced it, as well as outlined some of the legwork we needed to do to get it off the ground.
3. Day in the Life of a SAHM of 3 During a Pandemic
Every February, I do a “day in the life” post to see how much changes from year to year. I think this got picked up by a search engine, since it got a surprisingly large number of views.
4. Loving and Learning Lately {35}
Loving and Learning Lately posts always make the Top 10 because I participate in link-ups with them. Technically, more LALL posts made the Top 10 (#32, #34, #38), but I’m just lumping them all together here so the list is more varied. This particular edition was published in May and features reviews of The Four Winds and Tweet Cute, among other books and products.
5. Home + Yard Plans for 2021
Early in the year, I detailed the house and yard projects we hoped to tackle in 2021. The follow-up post I did in the middle of the year also technically made the top 10, but I’m just lumping them together here. I don’t know if I’ll get around to doing a final report for the year or if I’ll just post the rooms individually in a before/after format, but we’ll see. I am super proud of how much we were able to accomplish this year!
6. Our 7 New Big Financial Goals: Initial Report
I loved how posting my last batch of 5 financial goals kept me accountable and on track, so I chose 7 new big financial goals and posted them at the beginning of the year. (If you’re curious, I also posted quarterly updates on my progress: I, II, III, IV)
7. Back Family Room Makeover w/ Before + After Pics
I still need to post all the before + after pics of all the rooms in the house we’ve done work on, but this is the first post I finally was able to pull together, which showcases the transformation of our back family room through fresh paint, a large area rug, and new flooring.
8. Food Storage 101: How Do I Afford It {+ Why Should I Care?}
2021 was definitely The Year of Food Storage for us, and this was the first post in my food storage series on why it’s important to have emergency food storage and some tips on how to afford it. I also published a post on how we built up our 3-6 month short-term food storage and all that entailed, and I’m currently working on two posts on how we built up our long-term food storage and how we’re working on our emergency water shortage.
9. Declutter 1,001 Things Challenge {Progress Report II}
I did a whole series of posts this year on my challenge to declutter 1,001 things from our home. For whatever reason, this second progress report got a lot of love!
10. A Snapshot of My Life Today 7/20/21
This was a series I started several years ago but only did a few times. This year, I’ve brought it back in a big way, and it’s been so fun to see it making the rounds on some of YOUR blogs!
Top-Viewed Posts from All Time in 2021
Just for fun, I figured I’d put the top-viewed posts period in 2021, regardless of whether or not they were published this year.
1. Secret Family Recipe: Almond Punch
No surprise here! This family favorite recipe for nonalcoholic almond punch is a real crowd pleaser, and thanks to it being picked up by a Parade feature AND doing the rounds on Pinterest AND getting love via search engines, this has gotten plenty of views for the past several years!
2. Grocery Store Face-Off: Which Grocery Store Will Save You the Most Money?
I really should do an update on this post since this has done extremely well ever since I published it in 2017. In it, I compare the prices of my most-purchased food items across Walmart, Smith’s, and Sam’s Club, and I tell you which chain comes out as the winner for the most inexpensive. I would be very curious to compare this again right now, what with inflation being so crazy right now and all.
3. Summer 2021 Reading List
Like I said above, this is the only post published this year that made it to the top 10 overall list.
4. 10 Books the English Major in Me Would Recommend
Always funny to me to see which posts eventually take off. This is one I did a REALLY long time ago, and it’s gained a surprising amount of traction the past year or two thanks to a lot of pins on Pinterest.
5. Instant Pot Mexican Ground Beef Casserole {30-Min. Meal!}
This is an IP meal I made up myself, and it’s a total winner in my book 🙂
6. 15 Absorbing Historical Fiction Reads that are NOT Set During WWII
A few years ago, I got desperately sick of reading WWII books, so I started purposely making sure all my historical fiction reads were set during a different era. Here are some favorites.
7. Creamy Bow Tie Pasta {aka, What I Make When My Pantry is Almost Bare}
I have several recipes that are good from-the-pantry meals, and this is one of the most popular.
8. What It Takes for a Book to Get a 5-Star Rating From Me {+10 Novels That Made the Cut}
I published this years ago, but I’m still using this same rating system!
9. Why I’ll Probably Never Have a Sugar-Free Month Again {+ Recipe for PB Cookies Made w/ Honey}
I suspect this has been pinned so much for the recipe and not for the rest of the post, but that’s okay — those cookies are DELICIOUS.
10. Let’s Talk Body After Baby: One Month Postpartum
After I had my first child, I did a whole series of posts about “body after baby” that chronicled my weight loss journey to lose the 50 pounds I gained with that first pregnancy. Google must have started picking up on it this year because I’ve had a lot of search engine traffic from it.
And that wraps up our Top 10 of 2021! Drop me a comment below if you had any particular posts you really enjoyed this year (or any that you’d like to see for next year)!
