February – 28 Things to Do This Month

Every day this month I am going to pick one thing from the list to do and then mark it off.  Some I can do quickly and some I will need to schedule time for. 

1.                   Make Valentine cards

2.                  Make school Valentines with the girls

3.                  Make Valentine cookies

4.                  Sew something

5.                  List something to sell on eBay and/or Etsy

6.                  Try a new recipe

7.                  March meal planner

8.                  Clean, vacuum and dust the entire downstairs

9.                  Super clean and organize downstairs bathroom

10.               Make a gift

11.                Family Movie Nite

12.               Have someone over for dinner

13.               Family Game Nite

14.               Send a letter or a card to someone

15.               Do something unexpected for someone

16.               Have a craft day with the girls

17.               Bake two loaves of bread

18.               Make Christmas gift tags

19.               Investment cooking day

20.              Manicure party with my girls

21.               Take in the glass for recycling

22.              Brew a new batch of beer

23.              Clean up the front yard (weather permitting)

24.              Clean up the back yard (weather permitting)

25.              Wash the vehicles (weather permitting)

26.              Vacuum the vehicles

27.              Sweep the garage

28.              Make tortillas

January – 30 Things to Do This Month 

1.                   Make Christmas cards

2.                  Update Christmas card list Nope, didn’t get it done.

3.                  Make my preliminary Christmas plans

4.                  Sew something L

5.                  List something to sell on eBay and/or Etsy

6.                  Try a new recipe

7.                  February meal planner

8.                  Clean, vacuum and dust the entire upstairs

9.                  Super clean and organize upstairs bathroom

10.               Make a gift

11.                Family Movie Nite

12.               Have someone over for dinner

13.               Family Game Nite

14.               Send Thank You notes

15.               Do something unexpected for someone

16.               Go through and re-organize my work wardrobe

17.               Waterproof the winter boots

18.               Dye my leather jacket

19.               Buy new tennis shoes for the girls

20.              Bake two loaves of bread

21.               Make a candle I made three votives on February 2.

22.              Go through and organize the glove and hat bin

23.              Completely clean, dust and vacuum the living room

24.              Completely clean, dust and organize my home office

25.              Go through and organize my greeting and Christmas cards

26.              Make six birthday cards I didn’t get this done and I really wanted to.

27.              Investment cooking – granola, salad dressing, pancake mix

28.              Bake some cookies

29.              Date night with my girls

30.              Update my resume 

Do you make any lists like this?  What do you put on your list?

A Little To Do List Frustration

As January was coming to a close I found myself getting really frustrated with the progress of my latest To Do list.  Why wasn’t I getting stuff done?!  Then it occurred to me…there are only 24 hours in a day.  Yeah, whatever. 

As I sat and reflected over the past month I realized that I had some serious obstacles getting in my way.  First we all began the month getting over head colds.  Then the weather was really bad, but blaming the weather at first seemed like a really weak excuse. 

However, I realized that contending with a lot of snow, ice and freezing cold temperatures requires a lot of extra time.  I shoveled A LOT of snow last month.  I spent nearly two hours one morning trying to de-ice my truck so I could slowly drive my girls to school.  It took longer to drive everywhere because of the road conditions which required us to leave earlier and caused us to arrive home later. 

We spent a lot more time caring for our chickens because we wanted to make sure they were getting plenty of food and water plus warmth.  It took longer to care for them too, because of snow, iced up doors and frozen water containers. 

It seemed that every task I attempted to do, even the grocery shopping, was taking longer.  Absolutely no dashing in and out of stores last month.  Any dashing and you’d be on your keester in no time. 

There were some fun things on my To Do list last month, like making birthday cards, that I really wanted to get done.  I got all the non-fun stuff done, except for my ironing pile.  It continues to mock me.

 

So enough with that!  I will begin again with a new list and I’ll just see how well I do.

Conquering Clutter Once And For All

Clutter is the bane of my existence.  I really intensely dislike it.  Clutter makes me feel ill at ease and claustrophobic.  It will also put me in a bit of a foul mood.  Clean, clear wide open spaces, that is what gives me peace and allows me to function at my full potential. 

We live in a small house with 1030 square feet of living space.  Three of us living comfortably in a two bedroom home with a full bath upstairs and a half bath down.  We converted two-thirds of our garage into a family/bedroom with a closet (currently we use this room as a family room) and the remaining one third is our storage room where our bikes, tools, garden supplies, upright freezer, extra refrigerator, A/C units, pet foods and holiday decorations take up residence. 

Six years ago I embarked on a mission to pare down my belongings and find peace and tranquility within my home.  I got rid of A LOT of STUFF.  It truly amazed me at how much I had managed to pack into my little home.  What also amazes me is that I am still working on it after all this time. 

The best piece of advice I can give to someone who feels they are drowning in a sea of clutter and disorganization is to GET RID OF YOUR STUFF.  Once you get started it is the most liberating feeling you will ever experience.  You will discover a lot about yourself in the process too: 

·         Why do you hold onto the things you do?

·         Why do you buy the things that you buy?

·         What is truly important and what is not?

·        Transforming into someone who owns stuff instead of someone who is owned by stuff.

·         You will spend A LOT less money.

·         Tensions will start to ease.

·         You will love coming home.

·         Your interests will change and you will become more productive.

·         You will know where things are because you will have less stuff to keep track of.

·         You will have more time.

·         You will entertain more often.

·         You will be happier. 

Clutter, however great or small, has a negative impact on our psyche.  It weighs us down and becomes burdensome.  It causes us to withdraw and can create depression.  Who needs that? 

So don’t go out and buy more boxes and bins and labels to try to organize your stuff.  Just get rid of it and use that time to do something far more enjoyable. 

Do you have any clutter kicking ideas you’d care to share?

 

Family Field Trip - The Bown House

Bown House - Built in 1879

Last Saturday was our first Family Field Trip of 2013.  Although the girls attend public school and go on field trips from time to time I feel it is best to add to that experience as a family.  Whenever possible I attend school field trips as a chaperone.  My children love it when I get to go along.  They also really love it when we can have a similar experience in the form of a Family Field Trip.

 

Views of the parlor

...and a darling daughter.

 On the first Saturday of each month, unless it is a holiday, The Bown House is opened for guided tours from 1 to4 pm.  Junior high aged children and adults volunteer to dress up in period costume and read from a script the various highlights of this historic Boise home.

Of course I liked the kitchen best of all

Pretty china plates

Check out this sink and the pretty embroidered towels.

 

"Modern" washing machine

A small home by today’s standards this home was considered quite lavish in its day.  It housed four small bedrooms upstairs, a parlor, dining room kitchen, pantry, bathroom and another bedroom downstairs.  Beautiful, simple architecture for a standard middle class family home. 

This home was built in 1879, adjacent from the Oregon Trail, for Joseph and Temperance Bown becoming part of their 240 acre ranch.  Joseph was a rancher and Temperance a school teacher.  The Bown’s raised their seven children in this lovely sandstone home.

 

I just love the opportunity to take a step back in time and visit these lovely old homes.

No Spend Month – CANCELED!

Good news!  Great news, in fact.  This year we don’t have to have a No Spend Month.  I made more than enough money last month on my eBay and Etsy accounts combined to cover our heat bill and our groceries.  I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. 

I already started out the month spending way less than I was planning to so I decided to call off No Spend Month and instead enjoy a Low Spend Month which is always the goal anyway. 

I feel very blessed and excited about our online sales success last month and I am energized to get busy and try to do well again this month too. 

So I will continue the month with careful purchasing and careful spending.  Just because I have some extra money in my coffers doesn’t mean I should spend it, especially on stuff we don’t need.

Last Week’s Thrifty Moves

The Sunday paper yielded some nice coupons and three Albertson’s coupon doublers so I headed to Walmart Monday morning and this is what I got:

 

·         2 bottles Welch’s grape juice, $2.48 each less $2 in coupons = final price $1.48 each

·         2 bottles Kens salad dressing, $2.38 each less $2 in coupons = final price $1.38 each

·         2 boxes Keebler crackers, $2.50 each less $2 in coupons = final price $1.50 each 

On Tuesday, while picking up office supplies for the shop, I bought a twin pack of Colgate toothbrushes at the $ store using a 50¢ coupon making them 25¢ each.  I will save them for the girl’s Easter baskets.  Hopefully I’ll be able to add toothpaste later on.

 

I finished one of my scrap yarn afghans and put it away in our little RV. 

I started saving milk jugs and other containers to start seedlings in for our garden. 

I stopped for some produce at a local market near work and they gave me free veggie scraps for my chickens. 

The girls used newspaper to add extra bedding to the chicken’s nests. 

My Mom gave me several skeins of yarn, most of them brand new.

 

Thanks Mom!

My free copy of Prevention magazine and book Healing Foods arrived in the mail.  I canceled the supscription.

On Saturday I took the girls on a free museum tour of the Bown House.  We stopped on the way home for 99¢ Frostys at Wendys.  This was a big treat and totally unexpected so they were thrilled. 

Another stop on the way home at a thrift store netted us two brand new, tags still on, hooded winter coats for the girls at $9.99 each!  I also picked up two quart sized canning jars for 65¢ each. (I know it is No Spend Month but I’ll explain why these purchases came to be in tomorrow’s post). 

I started knitting a Christmas gift with leftover yarn in my knitting bag.

My Mission – Sewing Stuff – Reprised

Well I only thought I was done last time.  I was in the family room and discovered another box of stuff I had set aside to “deal with later” and I had forgotten all about it.  Why do we do these things? 

Well, it’s later so I dealt with it. 

A handful of buttons, more trims and laces, notions which included three packages of Velcro, and a big stack of patterns to be organized and put away. 

I don’t think I have anything else stashed anywhere so there should be no more surprises.

 

Last night, however, my sweet little mommy brought me a big bag of stuff she thought I'd like.  She had cleaned out a closet in her sewing room and so I ended up with several skeins of yarn (hurray!), some fabric, a few odds and ends, and my grandmother's pressure cooker.  Funny combo.  Thanks Mom!

 

This morning I will put away my bag of goodies.  Then I'll be done..... until next time.