Health and Organization

It's another New Year.  Another opportunity for a clean, fresh start.  A time for evaluation of your own life and a time to figure out how to make yourself a better person.  At the start of each year I have such a flood of emotions.  Most of the time I can't believe that another year has gone by so quickly.  I can't believe that a whole year went by without me accomplishing all that I set out to accomplish.  But then I have to remind myself that baby steps are key.  When I set out to change my life 180 degrees in just 12 months, it's overwhelming.  When I set obtainable goals, I can accomplish them and also feel good about myself and my accomplishments. 

As always, physical health is at the top of my list of resolutions.  For Christmas our family received a present of a Kinect and found a few games that we can all play together.  The great thing about the Kinect is that it gets you moving.  You have to actually move around to play the games and we can all do it together.  I hope that moving around together as well as the walking around we do in the city will help to jump start increased physical activity this year.  Of course part of physical health is what you eat, so we are going to continue our meal planning and continue to make healthy choices.  It's hard to say no to a bowl of ice cream, but if I can say yes to veggies more, than there doesn't have to be that guilt associated with the occasional bowl of ice cream.

Living in a small space, organization is the key to a sane life.  I am going to strive to keep our small home organized and picked up.  I started with Munchkie's room this weekend.  We learned why toy boxes aren't exactly the best option for toy organization shortly after putting her toys in the toy box.  The toys all fall to the bottom and most of them don't get played with.  When they do get played with, the toy box usually gets emptied and spills over into the living room and if we're lucky, (not) into our bedroom.  Now when she wants to play with something, she can pull the box down and play with  those toys.  Then she knows that she has to put all of those away before she can get a different toy to play with.  She saw this and was so excited, she kept saying "oh my toys!  My cars are all here!  All my baby things!"  I think that she will be happy to have all of her toys accessible and we will be happy that they will not be spilling over and out of her room.

There are other goals that I have set for myself for this year, but these (in addition to blogging more- check) I have already started.  Hopefully this year I can continue to accomplish goals and change my life for the better.  Happy New Year! 

New Home: Financial Makeover

With our recent move we've decided to do a huge overhaul on our finances.  Munchkie's Daddy is starting his doctorate program and is receiving a living stipend for the first time, small as it may be, and it's a huge help.  We have watched our friends all buy houses, and it kills me (and Munchkie's Daddy too I think) to continue throwing money away on rent.  We are currently living in this ridiculously tiny apartment so that we can save money on rent since this area is unbelievably expensive.  We both read Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and are going to begin to aggressively attacking our debt.  Hopefully at the end of Munchkie's Daddy's five year stent, we're going to be ahead a little bit and will be able to buy a roof over our heads instead of giving that money to someone else.

My good friend over at Our Tiny House recently posted about her family's plan to be frugal.  She stays at home with her super cute little girl and shares how they make it work on one income. 

Our Tiny House- My Frugal Family

I have always admired her thriftiness and creativity.  She's amazing at finding hidden treasures at garage sales and thrift stores, getting great deals everywhere she goes.  That combined with her organization and financial structure make her the epitome of frugal.  For example, her she talks about disciplined they are "First off, I keep track of every penny we spend, where it goes, what it was spent on. This way, at the end of the month, we can see where we went right, where we went wrong, and what we have."  She also gives an example of the things that she and her mother have found thrifting and garage saleing and it's incredible!  Click on that link above and read her plan, and I highly recommend Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.

New Home: Living Room/Dining Room/Study

Yes, this is quite the combo room.  One of the reasons why it is the last rooms to be posted.  There were several projects that I had planned and I did finish some of them, enough to post pics at least.  Here are the before and afters.

Before

After

 Welcome to my living room.  Taken from the doorway.  The gray rug was the inspiration for the room.

 From the corner that the TV is in.

 From the couch.

From the dining room area.

 This is our bookshelf/TV stand.  I saw a picture on Pinterest where they used glass jars as picture frames and I loved it.

 I saved glass jars for a while until I had different sizes and shapes, then I took my favorite pictures and had them printed in black and white.

 I planned on using more mirrors to help the room appear larger, but for now, these are the mirrors that I have.  This is also my attempt at a arrangement with flowers and sticks.

 Our couch with our decorative wall.  We found this curtain at Ikea and then today we bought molding at Lowe's, spray painted it black and cut it to form a frame around the curtain. 

 This was something that my aunt gave us shortly after Munchkie was born and I love it.

 Welcome to my "Dining Room."  The table was a coffee table that we cut the legs off of.  We bought new legs for a few dollars and spray painted them black.  I found one chair for $4.99 at Habitat for Humanity's Restore and painted that black.  For now Munchkie's Daddy and I are using stools while we look for cheap, sturdy and perfect for us chairs to complete our set.

 I saw a while back this super cute idea where someone used old lightbulbs, hung them and put flowers inside of them.  I didn't have any lightbulbs, but I did have old spice jars.  So I decided to use those.  I put a couple faux rose petals in each one and then found some twigs outside.

 Welcome to Chris's "study."  I found two bifold doors, again at Habitat for Humanity's Restore, spray painted them gray today and Munchkie's Daddy hinged them together.  I think that we need one more set of doors to fully cover his desk so that I don't have to see the piles of books.

There's enough room for him, although he doesn't necessarily agree.  He calls it his dungeon.  

So there is our multipurpose room.  I still have several projects that I hope to complete in the near future, but it is definitely livable.  Although this room has a lot going on in it, I still feel like there is plenty of room and we feel good spending time in it.  If you notice, one thing that is not present in this room- toys.  We have a new rule, toys stay in your room.  I really like this rule.

New Home: Our Bedroom

I had a much better day today.  I was able to get a couple projects completed and our bedroom almost completely together.  Since it wasn't raining I was able to pick Munchkie up from childcare today on my bike and I think that being productive and getting out has helped tremendously.  I reminded myself that I have all of next week and spent some time online searching for activities that are going on next week and found a "Little Bookworms" activity at a local animal shelter.  They read a book to young kids and bring out an animal for the kids to see, pet, etc.  I am going to keep Munchkie home on Wednesday so we can do fun things like that.

So anyway, here is our bedroom before and after.

Before

Nightstand/Filing Cabinet Before

Nightstand/Filing Cabinet After

My first Modge Podge experience, with homemade Modge Podge from Pinterest.  Would have been better had I not ripped the paper while trying to smooth out the air bubbles.  I need to put another piece of paper over the top blue part.

After

 Slanted ceilings pose a little bit of a challenge.

 From the doorway

 Left door is to the hallway and right is the closet.

 Our new duvet cover that I love.  Naturally it was the first of hundreds that I looked at.  I had decided against it at first because it was a comforter in the store, but when I looked online they had it in a duvet cover (online only of course) and I was so mad at myself.  If only I would have looked online I could have known.  But then now I know that I really do like this one best.

 I made this using two ideas from Pinterest.  White canvas with hot glue gun to write and then painted over it all with white acrylic paint.  "You have my whole HEART for my whole LIFE."

 Since storage is limited, we have our bed on risers so accommodate storage tubs underneath.  A lot of our off season clothes are in those tubs, as well as scrubs for me, extra sheets and other things that we don't use every day.

 This is a writing desk that my aunt and uncle gave to us.  This is one of my favorite parts to the room.  Eventually the TV that is now in the living room with go in place of the picture.

 Oh yes, I have made this a "getting ready" center.  I used a mirror from Ikea and stuck that to the underside of the lid.  Then Munchkie's Daddy put a hinge on it to keep it open and I have my makeup and hair things inside so that I can sit and get ready at this desk.

 This is a cold air clothes dryer.  I received it for Christmas a few years back and we never ended up setting it up anyway at our previous home.  I really like it, you can dry your sweaters, pants, etc flat so that they don't get misshapen or shrink.  I'm glad to have found a place for it so that we can begin to use it again.

 Our laundry organization.  I find that if our clothes are presorted, it takes a lot of work out of the whole laundry cycle.  Taking the extra second, literally a second, to toss your dirty clothes into the correct hamper saves so much time sorting them before doing loads of laundry.

This is our not-so-organized closet.  I haven't really found the best way to handle our joint closet adventure yet. Right now things are still just shoved up on the shelves and piled on the floor.

So there you go.  Another room down in our new home.  We can sleep in peace tonight.  At least we can sleep in slight organization.

New Home: "Bathroom"

I can not begin to describe how small our bathroom is.  It's small.  Like claustrophobic small.  I have to go to the bathroom with the door open so that my knees won't hit the door.  Poor Munchkie's Daddy has hit his head more times than he can count because of the slanted ceilings.  All of these have created some obstacles in creating a functioning bathroom.  I put the bathroom in quotations because the contents of the bathroom are spread out.

 Here is our very small bathroom.  My kind mother-in-law took our shower curtains, cut them and sewed them to fit the small and curved curtain rod. 

Munchkie's Daddy is pretending to take a shower so that you can see just how close his head is to the ceiling.

 If you come to visit me, I have, for the first time, a selection for guests who might have forgotten something.

 A Lazy Susan under the sink is able to hold some items to keep them close to the area of use.

 I found this corner shelving at Ikea to hold a few more items.

 This mirror was also from Ikea, because as you notice there is not a mirror by the sink, it's across the room which is incredibly inconvenient.

 If you need a bandaid or something more than a motrin, you'll have to go digging in our bedroom closet.  Another Ikea organizer is holding everything that couldn't fit in the bathroom.

And lastly, in the hallway between our bedroom and the living room are the bathroom towels in another shelving unit.

So there is my bathroom.  In it's tiny little glory.

New Home: Kitchen

The kitchen is really important to have unpacked so that you can start to feed your family at your own home.  I was so ready to have fresh, homecooked food that I really wanted to get my kitchen functioning.  Munchkie's Daddy said that once we had a functioning house I could start decorating and crafting out the projects I wanted to do.  With the help of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law we got my kitchen to working order in no time!  Here it is.  I actually am going to include before and after shots.

Before

 These are when the landlord was still working on the place.

 

After

 I love that I have this big open space and large counter.  I am going to try to keep it cleared off so that it is available for work space.  I do really like this part of my kitchen.

 This is the cluttered space, the kennel will hopefully be replaced soon with a mobile dishwasher.

 The sink area, had to put the plates on the counter because there just wasn't any good place to put them.  The silverware drawer is just below them.  My refrigerator may not look that small, but trust me, it's SMALL.

 These are my coffee and tea drawers.  My mother-in-law says to me, "maybe you should avoid buying any more tea until you drink what you already have."  If only she could see my own mother's tea cabinet- yes a full cabinet of tea.

 The cabinet is one big long cabinet, had to stuff as much stuff in there as I could.

 Another cabinet full of stuff.

 We had to put our glasses, mugs, travel mugs and water bottles in the bottom drawer, then above that are storage containers and Munchkie's plates, bowls and cups.

A peak inside my refrigerator just to show you how small it is.  I'm not even sure that a gallon of milk will fit.  I have to be organized with it as well.  I am trying out the green bags for my farmer's market produce and have fridge binz from Habitat for Humanity Restore warehouse for more organization.