Kondo

I've been in Kondo mode with the rest of the world lately.  I read her book a few years ago and have been a Kondo fan for years but I spent a few hours watching Tidying Up on Netflix over the last few weeks and decided I needed to step my game up.  I feel like organizing and cleaning out is such an ongoing task but I am pretty proud of some of the projects I have completed lately.  I even helped my sister tackle her closet (although I couldn't get her to purge quite as much as I would have liked to).  And of course I have to share it here because I mean did you really Kondo if you don't take pictures and share it ?😃😃  

Making Our House a Home

We moved into our new house about three months ago and besides unpacking boxes, hanging some things on the wall, and replacing a few light bulbs, we have done absolutely nothing to it... no paint, cosmetic updates, etc.  We moved in a few weeks before Christmas so I went ahead and decorated for that and it's pretty much just been cold and busy since then and I just haven't had a chance (or desire) to really start any projects.

But after being here for a few months, we have decided we are finally ready to do a few things to make it more our own.  We sat down and made a big huge master list of everything we want to do.  I am sure this list will grow and evolve over time but we needed a starting point that wasn't too overwhelming.  We went room by room and basically made a wish list of what all we want to do.  I then used some fancy cost estimating and categorized everything as $, $$, or $$$ (not much, kinda much, a whole lot). We plan to 100% cash flow anything that we do (while still knocking out our other debt) so some of the items on the list will definitely have to wait until we get some money saved up but I have been saving up some and am excited to go ahead and knock out a few things.  The plan is start with the main living areas and then just do a few things at a time.  Some of our outdoor projects are at the top of our list as well and I know I will really be on top of those come spring.  We have soo much we want to do and understand that this is a really long term plan but I wanted to make sure to document as I went along... so here goes (along with some pictures with some sweet little models from before we moved in)...

Outside:

- Fence - $$$

- Stain front door $

- Flowerbed by mailbox - $

- Light by mailbox - $$

- Cushions/pillow for patio - $$

- TV Mount for patio - $

- Covered sitting area - $$$

- Shutters - $$

- Backyard stepping stones and flower bed - $$

- Front porch posts - $$

- Light fixtures by garage and front door - $$

- Tables for sitting area - $$

- Front porch light bulbs - $

- Motion Lights - $$

- Circle Driveway - $$$

- Driveway extension - $$$

- Plant climbers on pergola - $

- Hanging lights on patio - $
- Front porch furniture - $$

Kitchen:

- Paint Cabinets - $$

- Cabinet Hardware - $

- Counter tops - $$

- Bar Stools - $$

- Appliances - $$$

- Light Fixture - $$

- Replace Window - $$

- Pantry Floor - $$

- Pantry Cabinets - $$

 Upstairs Bonus:

- Paint walls - $

- Paint ceiling - $

- Flooring - $$

- Built in shelves - $$

Girls Bedrooms:

- Paint - $

- Replace Light fixtures - $

- Carpet - $$

Girls Bathrooms:

- Paint walls - $

- Flooring - $$

- Paint cabinets - $

- Shower Heads - $

- Shelves under cabinets - $

Living Room:

- Paint - $

- Area rug - $

- Replace light fixtures - $$

- Tile/Paint Fireplace - $$

- Blinds on Windows - $$

- Curtains Rods and Curtains - $

Dining Room/Foyer:

- Paint Foyer - $

- Curtains - $

- Paint Furniture - $

- Dining Chairs - $$
- Light fixtures - $$

Office:

- Paint - $

- Flooring - $$

- Paint shelves- $

- Storage Wall - $$

Laundry:

- Flooring - $$

- Built in Ironing Board - $$

- Shelves/Cabinets - $$

Master Bath:

- Shower Lip - $$

- Paint Walls - $

- Paint Cabinets - $

- Counter Tops - $$

- Replace brass Hardware - $

- Rugs - $
- Remove arm rails - $

Master Bedroom:

- Paint - $

- Replace fan - $

- Hanging Lamps - $

- Rugs - $

Big News - We Moved

So I have been completely MIA from this little spot for basically the whole month of October and I promise I am going to do some back blogging to catch up on it all but I promise we have a good excuse....

We have moved!

It has seriously been a crazy few weeks for us.  We had an offer on our house early in October from some people in Indiana.  So after a few weeks of going back and forth on offers and requested work, we thought we had come to a resolution on everything, only to have the buyers threaten to back out literally just a few days before closing (not to mention this was after we had already moved half of our stuff to the new house).  It was literally less than 24 hours before closing, when we were given the green light that everything was set to go through and so we called in the crew to help us move the rest of our house in a few short hours.  I need to take a moment to seriously say thank you Jesus for our tribe!  Our families and friends showed up with trucks and trailers and we literally just started throwing things in wherever they would go.  I do not know what I would have ever done without them and I am so very very thankful for them all! 

And now that all that is behind us, I am sooooo excited to be in our new home!

We bought our new home from a close family friend and everyone is just so thrilled! This house was the home of one of Jarrod's best friends growing up and is actually where Jarrod and I met for the first time (which we didn't even think about until like the day before we bought it).   We've spent many fun times at youth gatherings and just hanging out with friends in this home and I can't wait to share new memories here with my family.

This house has everything we have ever wanted in a home and I am so excited about making it our own.  It is a great home built in the late nineties and we have some fun little cosmetic updates planned in the coming months.  We have spent this first week just getting things in their place and trying to get somewhat settled in.  I love this home so much and am so looking forward to all that is in store for us in this house. 

Blog-temper- A peek in my house..

I am joining Blog-tember today by showing off a little of my home.  I'll admit it, at first I was like nope, not joining in on that day, not happening!  I am not a "house" person.  I am not into home projects, fancy décor, or the latest and greatest interior design... like not at all.  I really want to be but I just can't convince myself to spend time and money on that kind of stuff.  The majority of our furniture in our home is mixed matched hand-me-down stuff besides the living room pieces that we bought right before we got married (that are way too big for our space and don't even really go together but hey I bought it at 21 while I lived at home with my parents and had no kids so cut me some slack-- at least they are super comfy).  We have lived here for almost five years and have yet to even repaint half the rooms since we moved in.



So I am going way out of my comfort zone here but here is a little peek at some of my favorite spots... 



I love our front porch.  We spend a lot of time out there.  Jarrod surprised me with these rockers a few years ago and they have gotten a ton of use.  They could probably use a fresh coat of paint but it's not at the top of my to-do list at the moment.  I enjoy reading out here in the mornings and watching the kids play in the evenings. Please excuse the spilt bubbles on the porch and the empty flower pots... I can't wait to fill them with mums in a few weeks and add my pumpkins! My friend Melesa made me my cute door hanger for football season.

My little desk is one of my newest additions but by far, one of my favorite things in my house.  This was a handy-me down piece that I just adore.  A lot goes on in this little spot of our house.  Everything from doodling in my Bible, reading my daily devotionals, and paying bills to Hadley's homework and crafts.  I keep my scissors, washi tape, glue sticks, and special markers in the drawers, the little school box holds Hadley's crayons and markers and the jar holds pencils and colored pencils.  I keep her workbooks and notebooks in the drawers and school stuff and bill paying stuff in the little slots.  My Bible and notebook usually either slide under the shelf or hang on the chair on the back.  I also really love that I can pull down the cover and hide it all away when I want to and those pictures are some of my favorites of my babies.

One of the best things about our house is the playroom. We turned the extra bedroom into a playroom as soon as we moved in. I love that we have plenty of room to store toys without overflowing their rooms with them. Ideally, toys would stay in the playroom but that doesn't always happen. The big bookcase stores games and puzzles, the storage cubes store all the little toys like Hunter Claire's little Peppa toys and Hadley's shopkins, and the dress up stuff is in one of the closets along with craft stuff. The other closet is Jarrod's "man cave" as in this is where his hunting stuff goes. This room could definitely use some new carpet (thank you Coca-Cola) and paint (the ceiling is even painted lime green) but I'm not wasting my time on that for the time being. Maybe I'll get to that a little sooner than later though.

But with all that being said, I LOVE my house.  It is the perfect size, ideal layout, and in the best location for us at this season of our life.  It is nothing fancy but it is comfy and cozy and fits our family just right.  Sure it could use some updates and some cosmetic work but I love it's quirkiness and the comfort I find here.

I am so looking forward to exploring everyone else's spaces today!

Yard Work

One of my most favorite things about spring is finally being able to get out and work in the yard!  I love love love a house with a well kept lawn and nice landscaping.  I just believe that a well groomed flower bed can make a house look sooooo much nicer.  That is seriously one of the things that really influenced our decision when buying our house several years ago.  We lucked up and bought our house from a professional landscaper!

Since we finally got a few beautiful days and some time off from work, we finally got to get out and do a few things around the house.  Today is garbage day and the road is literally lined with garbage bags from all the mess we cleaned up from our yard... weeds, limbs, hedges, grass clippings.  I know it is crazy, but my most favorite yard work is pulling weeds.  I just love it.  I can't stand to see a nice flower bed full of ugly little weeds and I can't help myself once I get started to not stop until I get every single one of those little boogers and their roots plucked out.  So please don't be offended if you see me pulling up your weeds when I come to your house... it's like a little OCD piece of me that I can't help.

I am hoping after this last little cold front that is planning to come through this weekend, we can plant a few more flowers and things to spruce it all up a little.  And hopefully everything will really start to green and bloom soon!  Have I mentioned that I really love spring?      

Coffee Bar

I love the new trend of having a coffee bar in your house!  Considering that coffee is a pretty important staple in the my house, I couldn't help but consider it for myself.  I kinda stole the idea from my cousin Becca who has an adorable little set up in her apartment with all of her coffee essentials.  I had to do a little rearranging and decluttering in my kitchen - which needed done so badly anyways- to get it all to fit just right but I was pleased with the outcome (especially considering interior design didn't quite make the cut when God was choosing my talents for me).

 

Jarrod installed some little metal hooks we got from Lowes into the bottom of the cabinets and I used some old cookie jars I got from Old Time Pottery years ago to store the coffee and filters.  Jarrod likes his coffee from the Keurig cups but I prefer to make an old fashioned pot of coffee since I usually have 2-3 cups in the morning so we have both.  I am still looking for a cute little sign or frame to add to it but I haven't found just what I am looking for yet.  Guess I will just have to make myself visit the new Hobby Lobby to see what I can find!      

Chore Time

I feel like I spend a whole lot of time cleaning my house and yet, it is never clean!  Considering I have a 4 year old who loves her Barbies and all their little accessories and a toddler who loves to make piles and throw things away, and not to mention a husband who tends to empty his pockets in the most random places, I have little stuff strewn all over my house! 

 

I found a 30-minute cleaning chart that was aimed to help get your house clean in just 30 minutes a day but I tried it a few days and it just didn't work for me.  So I recreated it to better fit my own needs. 

 

Sunday

 - Meal Prep for the week

 

Monday

- Linens

- Vaccuum

- Sweep

- Dishes

- Pick up Bedroom

 

Tuesday

- Laundry

- Mop

- Dishes

- Pick up Girls' Rooms

 

Wednesday

- Dust

- Dishes

- Pick up Playroom

 

Thursday

- Laundry

- Bathroom Counters

- Kitchen Counters

- Dishes

 

Friday

- Pick up Living Room

 

Saturday

- Grocery

- Yard Work

- Project

 

I usually start a load of laundry as soon as I get home and it takes me about 2 loads to get caught up.  I try to do most of the other ones after the kids go to bed about 8:30 before I pack their bags and get ready for the next day.  Of course there are times when I have to get off my schedule some but I really try to leave the weekends free so I can catch up then if I need to.  But best of all, it keeps me from getting overwhelmed by the huge mess my house can get in and I have to spend a whole day or two to get it cleaned up... a little each day is soo much easier!

Cleaning up the Playroom

I don't know what I would do without my playroom!  I have two very blessed little girls that have a ton of toys!  I try to somewhat keep my house in a little bit of order by keeping these toys in a specified room.  However, that room had gotten so out of control they had no idea what they had or where to find them!  So since I am in my declutter mood, I decided to take on the playroom!

  

First thing I did was buy new shelves!  I would love to have beautiful cedar floor to ceiling built in shelves but I'm on a budget plus that would be tough for someone who is only 26 inches tall to actually be able to get to anything she may need so I opted for the cube organizers from Lowes instead... Practicle and affordable! I spent a whopping $100 and got all these awesome shelves that I guilted my husband into picking up and putting together before I even got home!  I mean seriously doesn't that look so nice and organized... all toys in their rightful space... only play with toys from one cube at a time and put back before getting another... ha right I am just going to keep telling myself that is going to last!

I created a little "home" area with their doll furniture and kitchen things and tidied up the "boutique."  I still really need a couple of more cubes to help organize that area a bit but it's coming along.  Arts and crafts are neatly stored away in a drawer as well as Barbie clothes and the train sets.  All the "Little People" have their own box as well as Hadley's little princesses and Polly Pockets and the book case has been tidied up!  When I got done, Hadley kept finding toys and saying "Oh Wow where did you ever find this?"  Sad... I know!  And best of all during this whole process, I cleaned out a garbage bag of trash and a whole garbage bag plus some for the yard sale (that was a total flop but that's another story :-)!) And we even have room for new Birthday presents! Yah for decluttering!

Clear the Countertops

I get in these really big declutter moods sometime and tend to go a little overboard.  One of those times is now considering we are having a yard sale next week and I have a ton of junk to get rid of!  I don’t know about you but my bathroom counters and my dresser tend to become a collecting place for all types of things from old makeup to toy spoons.  I am not sure really how it gets there or where it comes from or why there are 5 Barbie shoes in the bathroom but I do know that it drives me crazy!  Our dresser in our room is the worst of them all.  It is where my husband empties his pockets and where I tend to collect all my little beauty samples I get along the way.  So I decided to fix that! 

       The bathroom counter!  We are lucky to have a very large double vanity sink in our hall bathroom.  However, that also means that there is more room to pile up junk we don’t use or need.  I love the idea of decorating with your bathroom items such as qtips and cotton balls so I revamped this counter with that in mind.  I already had these apothecary jars that I filled with q-tips and cotton balls and I found this stacked glass jar at Hobby Lobby on clearance for like $5!  I moved several of my things that had been strewn in the drawer to these little compartments so they are easy to get to.  In the large glass jar, I put my hair brushes that also had been tossed into another drawer.  This not only decluttered the drawers, but it also helped me to fill some empty counter space to add a little more decorating.  I stored my hair dryer and curling irons in the box in the cabinet and cleaned out my hair products that I don’t use anymore and moved my actual ones I use into the drawer that I cleaned out.  In the other drawer, I reorganized all of my headbands and clips with a little box.  I put all my baby products in a different box under the other cabinet and got rid of the diaper caddy I had it in. 

      My Dresser!  I put my makeup on in our bedroom most days.  Somehow my “makeup area” has become a collection of every piece of makeup I had ever owned and filled with tons of makeup bags and products that I rarely if ever used.  So I ventured to Hobby Lobby and bought this cute little storage box that looks like a book to hold my every day makeup.  I also got these cute little jars to put things such as my brushes in.  Doesn’t it look much better than a bunch of makeup bags and old Birchbox lids (yes I was seriously using those for my makeup storage)?  I also converted from he and she sides to one nice little basket to hold both of our everyday products such as deodorant and cologne.  Now, instead of having two junked his and hers sides, we now share one neatly organized space that is functional and pretty!

      The Kitchen Counter!  I am so embarrassed at what a bad job I had done with keeping a neat and tidy kitchen.  We always come in the garage door that enters straight into the kitchen so whatever is in our hand tends to end up on the kitchen counter.  It then is formed into little piles so I can pretend that I have it organized but still always ends up with a bunch of junk piles to be filed away later.  So I rearranged the layout of my counter space a little bit so I would be forced to use other parts of the counter.  It may just turn into new places for junk but hey, at least I tried right?  First I moved my mail organizer to the other side of the kitchen so I wouldn’t be as tempted to lay it all right when you walk in the door.  I moved my candy jars to where it had been so that the other side of my kitchen had plenty of room for cooking and prepping and the jars were now in place of where all of my junk previously collected.  So now, at least my junk has to go somewhere else!  And best of all, I moved my fruit bowl to the middle of the counter so when I am tempted for a snack, it is the first thing I see instead of venturing to the pantry for some sugar loaded processed moon pie!

 

The Must Haves in My Fridge!

I have really tried to cut grain and dairy out of my diet. After all my diets I've tried over the years I have found this is the easiest and simplest one to follow as well as gives me the best results.. You just need a little extra planning. There are a few key things I try to keep all the time to make this diet a little easier. My top 10 Staples in my fridge for a no dairy, no grain diet….

1 – EGGS… and egg whites!

2 – Condiments and things for cooking – Mustard, lemon juice, lemon pepper, hot sauce, olive oil, coconut oil, vanilla extract, honey

3 – Pickled Things – pickles, sauerkraut, jalapenos, jarred peppers (I don’t like olives but they would be nice to add as well if you’re an olive fan)

4 – Bacon – especially turkey bacon!

5 – Greens and Veggies – some type of lettuce (lettuce, kale, spinach), frozen mixed veggies, green beans, sliced squash and cucumbers, tomatoes (yes I know it is technically a fruit).

6 – A good black coffee!!!

7 – Frozen Fruit for smoothies… individually bagged! Fresh fruit chopped and ready for a quick snack. And dehydrated fruit is a great snack as well.

8 – Boneless, skinless chicken breasts – there are sooo many dinner choices you can do with this!

9 – Avocado – I am a HUGE fan of this! You can add it to just about any meal to really add flavor!

10 – Almond or Coconut milk – great for smoothies or to fix your sweet tooth!

These are the items I buy pretty much every time I go to the grocery! We eat just about every one of these in some form every day and all my recipes revolve around them.

I try not to keep snacks in the pantry besides stuff for the kids (and my husband). There are very few things that are clean and healthy that you store in the pantry!

Playroom Organization

I am by far no means a neat and clean freak but I do like for things to be organized.  Well tonight I was playing with Hadley when I noticed what a mess her kitchen stuff in her playroom had gotten so I decided I would clean it up a little bit.  I keep all of her dishes and food in a basket by her little play kitchen but it had become more of a catch all basket and had all kinds of stuff thrown in it.  So I started taking everything out that wasn't kitchen things, then I thought well why I am doing this, I might as well organize her food.  So I got a bag and attempted to put all the vegetables in it, then I found a pail and put all of the utenils in it. I put all of the plates and cups in the little cabinet in her kitchen, put all the "dry goods" in the other cabinet, and the stuff that should go in the fridge, in there.  Yes I know this is a little much for a two year olds kitchen, but I just thought it would be a good idea and she could find her things to cook easier.  Well I obviously should have reminded myself before I spent the half hour organizing that she is two and this is her kitchen in her playroom because before I had time to put all her naked babies clothes back on, she had proceeded to dump pretty much every bit of her stuff into her little grocery buggy.  So I learned my lesson!  Some things are definitely out of my control and are not meant to always be organized... especially a toddler's kitchen!  I don't know how I will stay sane with two children running the playroom!  So anyways, since I just couldn't hardly stand her messing up my neatly organized kitchen anymore, I convinced her to play with blocks.  But that didn't last long, because she decided she needed to go to the grocery store and managed to dump all her food back in the floor! So much for a productive evening!

 

 

 

On another note, I made almost $40 at the consignment shop today and cooked a very good supper that consisted of pork chops in the crockpot, brown sugar green beans, and baked maccaroni and cheese!  Yum!!