Tip for Tuesday: Make Room for Fall!

If you're like me, your one walk-in closet is shared with your husband.  And your husband gets exactly 1/4 of that closet.  Also, you wish this was your closet:

{source}

Are you like me?

If you're like me, you love clothes.  You have your classic wardrobe staples and summer clothes out in the open, and maybe your entire king-size bed's underbelly is full of sweaters and other such winter wear.  

And in an effort to make your closet seem a little bit more glamorous, you hang your clothes on wooden hangers, which means you're squeezing everything close-- so close they can smell each other's breath.

So there's no room for the new clothes you want when a new season begins... such as fall.

Unless you do what I'm about to do!

I heard of a place nearish to me that will give you some cash for your gently used, current clothes.  It's like Plato's Closet, but for women, not girls.  It's called the Clothes Mentor, and after two unsuccessful attempts to find it last Friday, I'm going again this weekend.  My goal is to clear some space in the closet and maybe make a little cash to cushion the new-wardrobe blow.

Maybe they'll only give me like, $3, but that's $3 more than I would have had.  I definitely overbought for the cruise... who would have guessed? ;-)

You could give the clothes to charity, too, which I've definitely done in the past.  But this year I had lots of barely-worn clothes, and I knew we didn't have a lot of money for new clothes.  

So this season, resist the urge to keep everything you own.  If you haven't worn an item for a full season, you need to toss it.  Well, with the exception of that ONE item that inspires you to lose weight, and that ONE item that feels really comfy if you pack on just a few more pounds.  Let's be real here, ladies.

I have a couple other suggestions for making some space in your closet for new clothes, and acquiring them for very little cost:

1.  Have a clothes recycling party with your friends.  At one point, about four of my friends and I wore the same size, so we brought out bags of clothes we hadn't worn in a long time, or fit just a little funny, and we went wild swapping!  It cost nothing and was fun, too!

2.  If you donate to a local thrift store, shop there, too-- it's a double-gift to charity!  I decided to stop into the local Salvation Army thrift store the other day, and it was the best shopping I've done for a while (more to come on those outfits, later)!  I got three blouses, one sweater, and a pencil skirt, all for $19.95!  And no one ever needs to know. ;-)

What are you waiting for?  Go rifle through your closet and rip out all you don't need or want, and make some room for fall! It will be here before you know it!

xoxo, A

Tip for Tuesday: Wedding Prayer

Sorry, I'm on a wedding vein this week.  I continued to think about the wedding on Sunday, and they included a prayer I've heard at many of my friends' weddings.  The first time I heard it was at my friend Ashley's wedding (find her blog here), still one of the best I've ever been to.  I knew from the first time I heard it, I had to have it in my wedding, too.  


We found it online, and Dad made a couple adjustments to it. Those adjustments aren't reflected here, but I think there was some kind of theological wording issue.  Regardless, it remains, in my opinion, one of the best prayers I've ever heard period, and completely perfect for a wedding.


So here's the tip: getting married?  Know someone who is getting married?  Consider this prayer, or even get crafty and put it on a frame or something lovely like that!


Enjoy!

The Puritan's Prayer for Marriage:

"Father in heaven, thank you for this husband-wife commitment to Christian marriage. As they look ahead, we pray that their future will never lack the convictions that make a marriage strong. 

Bless this husband. Bless him as provider and protector. Sustain him in all the pressures that come with the task of stewarding a family. May his strength be his wife’s boast and pride, and may he so live that his wife may find in him the haven for which the heart of a woman truly longs. 

Bless this wife. Give her a tenderness that makes her great. A deep sense of understanding and a strong faith in you. Give her that inner beauty of soul that never fades, that eternal youth that is found in holding fast to the things that never age. May she so live that her husband may be pleased to reverence her in the shrine of his own heart. 

Teach them that marriage is not living for each other—it is two people uniting and joining hands to serve you. Give them a great spiritual purpose in life. May they seek first your kingdom and your righteousness knowing that you will sustain them thru all of life’s challenges. 

May they minimize each other’s weaknesses and be swift to praise and magnify each other’s strengths so that they might view each other thru a lover’s kind and patient eyes. Give them a little something to forgive each day that their love might learn to be longsuffering. 

Bless them and develop their character as they walk together with you. Give them enough hurts to keep them human, enough failures to keep their hands clenched tightly in yours and enough success to make them sure they walk with you throughout all of their life. 

May they never take each other’s love for granted but always experience that breathless wonder that exclaims, “Out of all the world, you have chosen me!” Then when life is done and the sun is setting, may they be found then as now, still hand in hand, still very proud, still thanking you for each other. 

May they travel together as friends and lovers, brother and sister, husband and wife, father and mother, and as servants of Christ until he shall return, or until that day when one shall lay the other in the arms of God. We ask through Jesus Christ, the great lover of our souls.

Amen."

xoxo, A

Tip for Tuesday: When People Annoy...

I meant for this title to sound ominous, like some kind of TV show-- "When sharks attack!" or "When neighbors snap!"-- only, "When people annoy!"


I'm a teacher.  The only other job I think that would cause one to get more annoyed would be stay-at-home-mom.  Or maybe day-care worker.  Because unless you work with children all day, you're probably not as annoyed as we are.  Adults are also annoying, and one could even make a case for saying they're worse, because they should know better, but I'm going to say that dealing with children every day for at least eight hours is pretty annoying.


I mean, it's rewarding too, but let's just focus on one thing at a time, shall we?


They whine, they hit, they bite, they snap, they ignore, they interrupt, they're rude, they're lazy... and those are just the good ones!  Kidding.  So what do you do when you're annoyed?  I know that my first, sinful instinct is to annoy in return or snap at them verbally.  Maybe retort sarcastically.  Sometimes even raise my voice.


What is the right thing to do when you're annoyed?  Pray.  I know this seems unbelievably obvious, but how many of us actually do this?  I can't even remember when I heard this first, but many godly individuals have told me that the best way to stop being annoyed by someone is to pray for them consistently.  Then, when you bring their issues and your own heart's issues before the Lord, your heart changes towards them and you genuinely will begin to love and care for them and what they may be dealing with.  How can you be permantently annoyed at someone you pray for consistently?  It won't happen.


I'm going to start trying my best to do this.  When that child asks me for the fifth time what page we're on, or the student gives me attitude, or someone asks me "what are we doing today," I'm going to try and turn my annoyance to prayer.  Especially since my eyes should be off myself anyway.




xoxo, A

Tip for Tuesday: Dedicated Days

Do you find that you need to clean your house, but you just keep pushing it back because there are more pressing matters at hand?  Or maybe you've been meaning to update your checkbook and balance it, but you forget, every night.  Perhaps the laundry has piled up to unimaginable heights because it's out of your sight, and therefore out of your mind.

I really struggled when I first got married (Yes, I've only been married about 4 months, but hey, I learned some things already, OK?).  I couldn't seem to balance work, housework, cooking, and still have time and energy left to spend time with Hband.  I had to come up with some kind of system. 

If you've been married for any time, you've probably come up with your own system.  This post is really for single women who are just starting out and haven't really had to think about balancing anything except school work and time with friends before, or for older/married women who haven't come up with a system yet, and they're feeling overwhelmed.  Hopefully this will help.  Keep in mind, it's a work in progress for me, but for now, here's what works:

Monday: Hband goes to his second job at 5:30 p.m.  That's when I start cleaning the whole apartment.  Every other week it gets a very thorough clean, more than just the cursory cleaning.  It takes about 2-3 hours, depending on how distracted I am.  If I put on music, it motivates me and I count this cleaning as a workout, too.  When that's done, I sit down and look at our finances.  I update our budget ledger and our checkbooks, and if it's the end of the month, I pay bills and balance the checkbook.  That way it's always up to date.  So this day is always cleaning and finances day.

Tuesday: Hband goes to his second job on this day, too, at the same time.  I start the laundry and make sure three loads get washed, dried, and put away: lights, darks, and towels.  Then I go out with a friend or do Zumba.  Both are great investments.  This day is laundry and meetings day, with a workout thrown in for fun.

Wednesday: Most of this evening will be taken up with youth group in a few months, after our newlywed hiatus, so I haven't really planned anything for this evening.  I don't like to plan anything for a day where I'm only home for 3 hours total, spread out, before bed.  If you're a Christian and you're involved in ministry (I hope you are), you may want to devote an entire day to it.  Then you can focus your prayers on that ministry that day, and your extra moments at home can be used for writing notes, developing service projects, baking, or whatever for that ministry.

Thursday: This is date night.  I don't plan anything for this day except a nice dinner, unless we're going out.  Since we're poor, we often make date night "movie night," and we take turns picking out a movie and watching it all snuggled up in our comfy bed, eating movie theater candy that we got for $1 at Walgreens.  Another cheap idea is to play games or take walks (I think the latter is planned for tonight).  Back when we were dating and spent money like bandits, we used to go see a movie or go out to eat.  Maybe someday we'll be able to do that again.  Regardless-- if you're dating, engaged, or married,  I suggest you dedicate a day to your significant other.  Pray for them that day, and in your free time, think about how to bless them and serve them, and even write them little notes!  And then that evening, have a date!  If you're single, why not use this day as a dedicated friend day-- spend time with either a group each week (We used to have dinner every Thursday with our "group," until we all had to part ways for one reason or another) or rotate friends.  You don't have to always go out to Starbucks and spend money.  Try a potluck dinner or just tea and cookies or something easy, at your place or theirs.  Just make it a day dedicated to friends and fellowship.

Friday: This day is often the day we reserve for activities-- parties, get-togethers-- it all seems to happen on Fridays.  And if it doesn't, then we have a night to just rest and recuperate from a tough week.  This is also a day that I sometimes reserve to work on projects I've been meaning to do (hence DIY Friday).  If you have lots of grand ideas (or your Pinterest boards are begging to be made into reality), consider dedicating a day to work on projects, even just a couple hours at a time.  I have a long list... so let the projects begin!

Saturday: I get together with friends sometimes before Hband wakes up, often for lunch or something like that.  I usually clean up a bit with some Lysol wipes and just put stuff away, since it most likely has been a busy week and the house probably looks a little worse for the wear.  Then I do my grocery shopping.  Sure, traffic isn't fantastic and the stores are busy, but every store is well-stocked, and I have time to peruse the aisles instead of being pressed for time.  I suggest having one or two days set aside for grocery shopping, and just limit it to that day/those days.  That will keep you from overspending or making foolish purchases, and you will be forced to plan your meals for the week.  Also, if you like to shop for fun (like I do) and have money (like I don't), you may want to have a day dedicated for that, too.  It relaxes me.  I love to spend my Saturdays shopping.  I also do another three loads of laundry-- lights, darks, and towels, fresh for the new week.

Sunday: Of course I set aside this day for worship, and then we spend the afternoon with Hband's family.  If my family lived here, I'm sure we'd have a set-aside time for them, too.  It's really important to dedicated a time to spend with your family during the week.  But even before that, I get up and get my Sunday paper, then I clip coupons.  When I'm at my in-law's house later, I match up coupons with weekly sales, and figure out both my shopping list and my menu for the week.  I usually won't go shopping again until that Saturday, so it gives me time to see if we really need an item on the list or not.  That's my week-planning day, and I encourage you to have a day where you plan your week as well.  It helps the whole week run so much smoother.  I often tell Hband the plans for the week, too, so he'll know (whether or not he remembers).

This has made my life manageable, whereas before, I couldn't keep my head above water.  I know if you have children, that will automatically make things more difficult, but the same principle applies: dedicate certain tasks for certain days.  If you miss a day because of a birthday or something, I try to actually get that stuff done the day before, or on one of my relaxing days.

Some suggest doing a bit of cleaning every day, instead of one day.  That may work for you-- like one room a day, or something like that.  But for me, I like the whole house to be clean at once, so cleaning one room a day would annoy me.  I'd feel like it was never fully clean.  So do you do this already?  What days do you have?   


xoxo, A

Tip for Tuesday: 'Twas the Night Before...

This tip is probably used by all of you, especially moms, but just in case you don't do this, let me encourage you to do something that will make your day start off smoothly and therefore influence the rest of your day for the positive.  I find that if I don't do this, my morning is rushed, I get in a bad mood, and before I realize it, I'm having to repent for a bad attitude.

So here's the tip: get your entire day ready the night before.

Food:
I put out a Belvita package or a baggie of muffins or whatever to remind me to bring it with us to work (Mike likes to eat later after he fully wakes up).
I set up the coffee maker the night before, for it to brew about 15 minutes before we leave.  Then we can put it in a travel mug and take it to go (for Mike... I can't stomach coffee.  Blech!).
I make the lunches the day before and put them in the fridge.  It's grab and go.
Sometimes I even take out non-perishable ingredients the night before, and the pans I need for dinner and place them by the stove.  That way, as soon as I come home from work, I am ready to get dinner going!  This won't really work if you stay home all day, but for workdays, it's helpful.

Clothes:
I set out all of my clothes for the night before, including undergarments and jewelry.  This means that in the morning, I don't stand in front of my closet for 15 minutes, trying to decide what to wear.  Again, it's grab and go.
Make sure all random articles of clothing are already in the hamper.  It makes laundry the next day a piece of cake, because you don't have to go hunting for dirty laundry, smelling all sorts of suspicious garments.

Work:
Anything you need to take to work, put by your purse in the morning.  Your head is probably too groggy in the morning to remember, so when your head is clearer at night, put it all by your purse.  I've been known to have a huge pile by my purse, because I'm forgetful.
If you have letters to mail, or little errands to run that day, also pile those by your purse.  You can pop them in your car, so when you get back in after work, you'll remember all your errands.

List:
At night, make a quick list of everything that needs to be done that day, and place it either on your purse or in a prominent location for when you come home.  Then you won't have to keep it in your mind, consult your calendar, or forget as soon as you come home.

I know this seems obvious, but if you do all this at night (takes maybe a half hour total), it will shave off lots of minutes in the morning (either giving you more time to sleep, or make sure you're not late to work), will clear your head and help eliminate those stressful panic moments or forgetfulness.

Sometimes I've even thought of more things I needed at work or needed to put on my list, once I'd closed my eyes to try to sleep.  So I pop out of bed and do it THEN, because I know my mind in the morning.  I'm only thinking of two things: I wish I was back in bed, and I wish it were Saturday.

If you haven't started the "night before" habit, do it... you'll notice a difference!

xoxo, A

Tip for Tuesday: Whip it. Whip it good.

Here's my tip for the week, and it's short and sweet (to make up for last week).  Whip your canned frosting.  Seriously.  Not only does it make it glossy and beautiful, but it doubles the amount (ever started frosting your two-layer cake, only to find one can of frosting isn't enough?  GRRRR!), and it decreases the calories/sugar per serving.  


It is SO easy.  Scoop all the frosting out of the jar and into a bowl.  Whip it on like, 2 for about 4 minutes, or until it's about doubled in size.  You'll find you suddenly have enough frosting for the middle, the top, and the sides, and it's pretty and glossy!


xoxo, A

Tip for Tuesday: Organized Chaos

As I told my mom when she and my dad were visiting this past week (yay!), I love organized chaos.  And if I may say, I'm not too bad at it.  What I'm really good at, I'm trying to say, is hiding clutter.  I don't know when this started-- maybe when I went to college and had my own space-- but I clearly remember visiting my parents and helping out by doing the dishes... and hiding all the counter clutter in the cabinets.  I'm pretty sure my mom felt like saying, "Thanks... but no thanks."


When I lived by myself, I could just shove stuff in my closets-- I had the room, even in a one-bedroom apartment.  But when I got engaged and I had to start planning how to fit TWO people in my one-bedroom apartment, I had to get creative.


I couldn't just put things on shelves, and I couldn't just shove things in the closet.  But I had lots of paper work and supplies, and a husband who likes to make piles (seriously... he had a literal pile on his parents' counter top).  I didn't want a typical file cabinet (though I AM into the cool industrial look)... so here's what I found works like a charm: dedicated baskets.


I have one of those fantastic IKEA bookshelves that connects to a table to make a desk.  It has sixteen cubbies that I had previously been using for knick-knacks and paddy-whacks.  Now, it holds eight pull-out baskets, three boxes, and five magazine holders.  Each basket/box holds specific items.  You won't find the card supplies in the financial box.  Neither will you find the technology equipment in the mail supplies basket.  And of course, one of the baskets is a simple "catch-all" or "what do I do with this" basket that is invaluable.  In bigger living spaces, sometimes it's known as a junk drawer.  This allows me to store TONS of well, crap, without having to rifle through unrelated material, or wonder where it could be.

Hband also had bathroom supplies scattered all over his former vanity.  That wasn't going to fly, mostly because I already had used up all my vanity's space with MY bathroom supplies.  So Hband installed some cheap but efficient and kind of cute shelves, and then I went to HomeGoods (OMG.  I love this store.  It's like Marshall's but just for home stuff.  Baskets are the cheapest I've ever found!) and picked up two baskets of the same size.  My daily-use stuff went in the bottom one, and Hband's daily-use stuff went in the top one.  It's so much easier to toss supplies in a basket and toss the basket on a shelf than to stare at junk on a vanity and weep.

Finally, I found myself with far too many seasonal items.  Don't ask me to get rid of my fake leaves or Christmas cookie cutters.  I simply won't consider it.  Because my closets are literally stacked to the ceiling, I had to get creative-- I found my way over to HomeGoods again and picked up two big, lidded boxes.  They remind me of giant picnic boxes.  In them, I deposited my seasonal goodies.  And there you go.  Hidden chaos behind cute wicker boxes.  Though I've been told they look like faces.  Ew.

No one would ever know my dark secrets, if I hadn't told you here.  Don't judge me.  But do try your hand at organized chaos.  


xoxo, A

Tip for Tuesday: Gift List and Gift Cache

I have a budget.  One of the columns on that budget is labeled "gifts."  Since I really love giving gifts, there never seems to be enough money in that budget.

Or, suddenly it's someone's birthday and I have .754 seconds to get a thoughtful gift and find a card.  I hate when that happens.

Over the years, I have begun to start a gift cache.  Some of the things there are re-gifts (things that were lovely gifts but something I didn't need), some are things I got on super-sale and couldn't think of an immediate use but knew someone would love, and the rest is a collection of things I've gotten on sale for friends and family members throughout the year that I'm saving for an occasion.

I love it when I find items for this cache-- they're usually found on the kind of shopping trip where I call my mom saying, "I got such and such and such-- guess how much it cost?!"  And she responds in shock and awe!

{I learned from the best}

But that's nothing new; you probably have a gift cache too.  But the newest tip regarding the gift cache is the gift list.  One day, I decided to sit down and make a list of every single gift I would need to buy (forseeably)for the entire year.  It took a while.  I listed them by month-- each holiday, each birthday, and each name for Christmas.  Then I started filling in gift ideas.

It helps if you have Pinterest.  If you don't already, get an account on this site!  Seriously!  Do searches for DIY gifts, inexpensive gifts, baby gifts, whatever it is you're looking for, and then write down your ideas.  Another help was blogs.  I subscribe to a number of couponing/deal blogs, and daily deals show up on my blog feed several times throughout the day, giving me gift ideas.  Soon I had my list mostly filled up with DIY projects I'm going to try, or inexpensive gift ideas.  Each gift was probably $10 or less!  Now if I actually DO the DIY projects, then it will be a success.  Don't worry if you have a lot of empty spots.  Those will fill in as you shop throughout the year (see tips below), but at least now you have every event you could think of written down, so there will be no surprises!  I keep mine in my purse so that if I'm out and see something for a great price, I see who it could fit on my list. 

Another benefit is you can see who is going to need cards throughout the year, so if you have, for example, a $1 off coupon for three American Greeting cards at Target, you won't search for random cards you'll never send, but instead will know exactly what you need.  I recommend this site for purchasing cards online.  They have endless, personalize-able options, and they often run specials in which you can order and ship a card for completely free!  I love it! 

Now that you have your gift list, here are my tips for shopping for your gift cache:

Personal Shower: find a Victoria's Secret outlet and purchase cute lingerie for $10 each; get on Victoria Secret's mailing list, and you'll often get $10 off a purchase of $10 coupons, and even free underwear coupons.  Also, stores like Marshall's and Ross carry inexpensive lingerie.

Store Coupons: take advantage of the $10 off $10, or $10 off $25, or whatever combo is sent out, and find items that would fit people on your list.  It's like getting free money.  I find that JCPenney (well, maybe before their recent changes) and Kohls have been awesome with this. 

Magazine Subscriptions: if you check deal blogs like me, you'll see that at least once a week, magazine subscription deals pop up.  I have gotten subscriptions for as low as $5 a year in the past, and it's a gift that keeps giving, all year long!

Use Coupons: Subscribe to newsletters online and get weekly coupons for Michael's, JoAnn's, Target, etc.  These are great, especially the craft stores, for picking up not just craft supplies for your DIY projects, but also ready-made gifts, like picture frames, candles, vases, etc.  They send at least one 40% off a single item coupon per week, and sometimes 50%-- imagine how much money you could save if you buy one gift a week!

Freebies: Bath and Body Works is one of many stores that offer a freebie with a purchase.  So you want those 2 for $20 candles (my favorite, BTW)?  Get them when you have a coupon for a free Signature Collection item of your choice.  You can sometimes get up to $13 items for free!  You'll need to get on the mailing list and/or purchase something to get coupons.

Shop Smarter, not Harder: Don't run around to a thousand places if you can get stuff for the same price on Amazon and take advantage of free shipping.  Be sure to group as much as you can together so you don't have to pay for shipping on a smaller order later.  Similarly, if you're getting something from Kmart or Walmart or a store like that, buy it online and have it sent to the store for free pickup-- I suppose it doesn't really save money unless you count driving to the store only to find they don't have what you want in stock.  But it does make life easier when you can shop from your couch.

A word of warning: try to avoid giving gifts that don't really fit that person's taste, just because you have it.  Nobody wants to be "that girl," with the crappy gifts.  Put genuine thought into your list (you can even add notes or ideas about what they like).  Search Amazon and Etsy for ideas, and then use those ideas to find the best prices there or somewhere else at a later date.  DON'T give them the socks your grandma knit you unless you know they love homemade knit socks.  I don't, but you know, whatever. 

I think once you make that list, you'll breathe a sigh of relief that this silent burden is off your shoulders-- then happy shopping!

xoxo, A

Tip for Tuesday: Over-the-Door Shoe Organizers!

I've decided to make Tuesdays the day that I offer you tips.  Not that I'm so wise or clever.  I'm clearly not.  However, you maybe aren't as obsessed with Pinterest as I am, and therefore maybe haven't seen all the clever things I have on that delicious site.  So here you go: Tuesday's tip.

Over-the-door shoe organizers.  I shall type it again: OVER-THE-DOOR SHOE ORGANIZERS!!!

You might ask why I'm so excited by something so seemingly mundane.  Oh, you'll see in time.

Just take a gander at some of the possibilities afforded by this little friend of mine:

Store your bathroom tools and products and keep them within easy reach... no more rummaging around in drawers!

(source)

Organize your child's car toys in one central and easily accessed area!

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Put herbs in each slot and grow your own vertical herb garden (but let's be real here-- you should probably do this outside or at least on a balcony, and you probably shouldn't use light colored canvas if you don't like the way mold and dirt look)!

(source)

Store medical supplies and first aid supplies within quick and easy reach, so your child won't die before they get their Transformers bandaid!

(source)

Store often-used pantry items in easy reach, or put individual portion sizes in each section, ready for quick consumption!

(source)

Whether you homeschool or not, whether you're a teacher or not, whether you're an artist or not, you may have need to store art/office/craft supplies.  Do it easily in this!

(source)

And my personal favorite, for it was a big victory in my own life: use it to store your cleaning products!

(source)

I think this was probably the most practical, most wonderful tip I've ever gotten, and it has restored some of my sanity. 

Let's think about this: we all have too much stuff in our typical storage areas-- drawers, cabinets, etc.  And we all have doors, right?  I must live with the regrettable accordion closet doors in my apartment that are useless when it comes to using shoe organizers, but YOU-- you probably have some actual doors on hinges.  If so, you can do this with ease.

I have an aesthetic problem with using them over doors to the bathroom or somewhere it might be visible in the general living space.  It wouldn't match my decor, so I'd eye it with disdain every time I saw it.  BUT, if you have a pantry door or a closet door, they are ideal for this organizing piece of heaven.

I had an unusable space on the wall between the dryer and washer in my laundry "room."  They faced each other, so nothing could be set up against that wall.  SO, I simply took an over-the-door shoe organizer, didn't put the hooks up, and nailed it into the wall.  Still counts, because I now have twenty cleaning products easily accessible and not taking up valuable closet and shelf space in my little apartment.  I just love it so much. 

Let me encourage you to find a place in your house for at least one of these.  You will absolutely not regret it.  They cost anywhere from about $9-$30, depending on the materials and construction.  Mine was the cheapest plastic one I could find, and it's held up like a champ.

Go forth and organize.

xoxo, A