Assignment Number 1

Day 1 of the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series started out not all that great as I realized I have no sort of morning routine. I leave the house at all different times, depending on what my work schedule is like so every morning is a little different. However, it normally looks like this: sleep in until as late as possible, check things on my phone (email, facebook, instagram, etc) and then rush to get ready (I regularly shower at night), make coffee and run out the door with breakfast in hand. No wonder I always feel frazzled in the am. I spend the bulk of my time checking social media and then rush through the important things. What a way to start the day! I am hoping through this series that I can figure out a morning routine which helps me feel more prepared and awake when starting my day.

 

I did complete the main task for the day: cleaning out my bag! I chose to tackle my work bag as it seems to collect the most junk.

 

Here are the contents:

Bag of vitamins, bobby pins, headband, chap stick, hair product, glasses with extra contacts in the case, coupon holder, lots of random coupons and receipts, work folder and notebook, pencil case, extra pens, business cards, wallet, work phone and charging cord, paint sample, notebook, free pad of paper from a conference, bracelet, and Kleenex.

I went through all the random papers, coupons, and organized it all back into my bag nice and neatly.

 

We will see how long that lasts :) Another part of the day's assignment was to also find 7 things to get rid of/donate. I actually already have a stack of clothes to get rid that have been sitting in my closet for the past month or so and I have decided to just count them as day 1's items. Now, on to day 2!

Well, well, well. Where to start!? Things have been busy around here, as life pretty much always seems to be these days. With selling our old house, buying a new one, and starting new jobs in the last year, we have just been busy enjoying getting settled into our "new" lives. And boy are we HAPPY! We love our new house and location; we are definitely planning to stay put here for as long as we can. Our new house in quite a bit larger than our first house as we bought it with plans to raise a family here. It is a bit overwhelming at times for just the two of us (especially when it comes to keeping it clean)! As a result of this I have decided to embark on the Money Saving Mom's 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series to feel more in control of things.

I'm planning to blog about the assignments to hopefully help keep me on track. It is only 4 weeks, so I figure it shouldn't be too hard to accomplish! I will be starting it on Monday, Nov 4th, which means, if I am successful, I should feel nice and organized by the time we hit the craziness of December holiday festivities.

Wish me luck!

Jill

It's the little things

Puppy is finally using her bed without trying to destroy it!

Project Progress

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I am currently in the middle of several projects that are just waiting to be completed. I am one of those people who starts something filled with excitement, but will quickly move onto another project if I start to get bored. Here are some of the current projects that require the smallest amount of work to be completed:

1. Painted Wine Bottles

I’m planning to put these white wine bottles above our cabinets in the kitchen. I finally got them all painted, but they are still sitting on these bags in our garage just waiting for some touch ups before I can finally put them on display. I started collecting these wine bottles in early fall, so it’s about time I finish this!

2. Guest Room Desk/Chair

I am so close to finishing this! I wanted to give my childhood desk a facelift so I could continue to utilize it here in our new house. So far I have sanded and painted the desk. I replaced the hardware and moved it back into the guest room. The only thing I have left to do is poly the top. This should take no time, but for some reason I just haven’t done it! Also, the fact that Winne just destroyed this sponge brush yesterday has now set back completion of this project one more time ha.

3. Hanging Pictures

I have three prints that I ordered of the Eifel tower to put in the guest room. I have already put them in frames, I just have yet to hang them above the bed. They have been sitting in frames for basically 10 months! yikes. I also have a print that needs to be reframed and hung in our entry along with our sorority/fraternity composite photos that I would like to put up in the office.

4. Rose Wreath

I made this rose wreath about a month ago and would like to hang it up in our master bedroom. I simply need to add a ribbon hook and hang the thing up!

 

As much as I would love to complete a few of these this weekend, I think we need to tackle the over 100 nail pops that we had fixed on Tuesday. Every room currently looks like this:

….which isn’t really the look I was going for. Better get to work!

Weekend Highlights

 

Delicious breakfast tacos

New shoes that are perfect for long walks with Winnie in the warmer weather

Finishing my book and getting 2 new magazines in the mail

Spending quality time with the puppy

Adding some new spring pillows in the living room

 

Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend!

House Wish List

Throughout the fall and winter James and I have been tackling most of the items on our house to-do list. There are loads of projects we have finished and slowly we have added a few furniture pieces from our wish list to different rooms. While we both feel great about the current state of our house, I'm always keeping the next step in the back of mind :) As spring gets closer and temperatures rise, I'm already thinking of the things that will freshen up some spaces and add function in others. So here are the top 5 items on my current house Wish List:

1. Blue Throw Pillows

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We recently added an accent chair to our living room space that has some blue it in. I love the style and coloring, but am now looking for a few blue accents to tie the room together. Plus, I think blues are great for spring/summertime, they remind me of blue skies and oceans!

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2. Bookshelf

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A bookshelf is something that we REALLY need and should have gotten months ago. We currently still have about 3 boxes of books shoved away in our guest room closet, and we moved in almost a year ago. Both James and I accumulated quite a few books during our masters degree programs, and being a librarian I love to read! We have one small bookshelf in our office which holds less than half of our collection of books. I'm hoping to add a slim non-bulky bookshelf, like this one, next to the TV stand in our loft. We can put extra books, movies, games, etc. to be stored there. Then I can finally get the closet in the guest room cleaned out and organized :)

3. Kitchen Cart

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This item is more of a want for me. In our kitchen we have a long empty wall that I think a small rolling cart would be perfect against. I would love to have a space there for James and I to drop our keys and the mail in when we come in the back door. Plus we can store spices, extra serving pieces, etc. on there to free up some cabinet/counter space. I'm not sure on the size or specific style of cart I would want, but I liked steel and wood combo on this overstock one.

4. Entry Way Rug

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I moved our current entry way rug into the kitchen to have a larger rug in there, since Winnie loved to hang out on our tiny rug in the kitchen while we were cooking or doing dishes. It seems to be working well in there so I'm looking to find a rug for the space in our entry way. I have had my eye on this particular Target rug for some time. I love the color combination and it is a pretty thick, heavy duty material, which I thought should hopefully hold up well with the front door traffic.

5. FENCE!

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One of the first things we will be doing this spring is putting in a fence in our backyard. Our backyard is relatively small and we share space with so many other houses, that having our yard defined with a fence will make it feel much more private and like it is ours. Our house looks over a small pond so we do have restrictions on the type of fence we can have. I am leaning towards getting a picket style, since they are so cute! A fence will also be so nice for Winnie. We always have to take her out on a leash and now that the weather is nicer I would love to be able to just let her go outside and run around without her trying to rip my arm off! After we put up a fence I will be looking to do some landscaping, plant a garden and eventually add some patio furniture.

So that is my top 5 wish list for spring in the Stange household. I have plenty of other diy projects currently going on that I'm hoping will add some updates to areas for relatively low costs. I will post completed projects as soon as I get around to finishing something!

Guest Bathroom

We had two bathrooms that used shower curtains at our last apartment, but only one here in our house. For our guest bathroom I definitely wanted to use the shower curtain we got as a wedding present, which is originally from Kohl's.

But first a before picture:

We painted the walls a light aqua shade (which we also used in the master bath).

I got this set of 4 connecting vases for under $5 from TJ Maxx. I filled the bottom with sand and used extra white flowers I had from another arrangement. I think it is so neat!

James added a hook to hang a hand towel on. I got this towel from TJ Maxx and was so excited since the colors matched the shower curtain really well!

The piece of artwork is from Kohl's.

We have two sinks so I added a soap pump at one and a toothbrush holder with a soap dish at the other. This bathroom won't get used all that much, but it looked way to bare without something at each sink!

I also put together this little set for guests to use.

This dark wood box is actually a napkin holder from Target! I used 2 washcloths and some travel toiletries we already had. The small vases are actually from the favors at my sisters bridal shower nearly 5 years ago! I just changed the ribbons and added q-tips to one and cotton balls to the other.

Still looking for:

A white garden stool to sit in the corner by the shower

More artwork for the walls

Light and airy curtain for the window above the toilet