Man, I'm Broke Monday: The Bibliophile Has Needs, Too

I'm keeping this one short and sweet.  If you're a reader like I am, don't forget to use the library. Many systems have e-books available (even my tiny county has them now!), so you don't even have to leave home to get books without spending a fortune.

On my desk right this very second.

You can get books, magazines, newspapers, movies...and there are often toys and fun things for the kids, too.  For free.  And if you want just a quick visit, put an online hold on the book you want, and it'll be waiting for you! If you don't have online holds, start asking about one.  Libraries listen to their patrons. It's such a blessing to have great services like these.

Also, consider starting a book swap with friends. I'm a member of two such groups.  We get together every two months to share books we've been reading. I find it much less stressful than a formal book club, and you'll learn about books you've probably never heard of!  (Just don't bring books we all read in high school. No one will pick them up)  Plus, it's a great excuse to hang out with pals, eat snacks, and drink wine.

The real point of this post is to get you to join me over at Goodreads.  I love getting book suggestions from others, and the site makes it easy to follow your friends' reading habits.  Here's my profile.  Be my friend! Validate my existence!

Man, I'm Broke Monday: Cheap Organizing

Everyone's organizing for 2013, right?  I've seen proclamations all over Bloglandia as well as Facebook Country and Twitterburg.

"I WILL get organized in 2013!"

"I WILL have my closet look like a store!"

"I WILL have everything in the house color coded, in order by size, weight, and astrological sign!"

I will get this crap neat and tidy!

And many of the posts and tips from experts are centered on what things you need to buy to stay organized.  Totes, boxes, wall-thingies, magic genies that grant you three wishes. That kills me. I, for one, don't want to buy anything if I can get away with it.  Not just because I'm cheap.

But also because I think it's cheating (except for the magic genie--that's just awesome).

The least expensive way to organize is to get rid of stuff.

Don't hit me.  It's just the truth.  Although truth hurts, so I guess you can hit me if you'd like.  But once you're done taking your rage out on my arm (please spare my head), start purging.  There aren't any hard and fast rules for that no matter what anyone else says.  I think it's okay to keep things you don't use often as long as you really get a benefit when you *do* use it.  For me, that's my food processor.  Or fondue pot.  Or offset spatula.  (Yes, kitchen items are a big deal around here)  But that plastic thingy that is so dusty I'm not sure I'll ever use it ever?  Off to charity.

If it doesn't fit in here, we have to really think hard about keeping it.

What we do around here:

*Once the kids' clothes start busting out of their dressers, we don't buy another piece of furniture.  We cull until everything fits.  Careful that you don't toss all the undies and leave the kids with only PJs.

*When the bookshelves prove to be inadequate, we take a serious look within (Look inside your heart, as my Dad says at his construction meetings. Yes, he says it to grown men) to decide if we actually need another one or if we need to give some books away instead.

*When my lovely mother-in-law gifts us with a large set of her mother's china, we don't just add to our collection of stuff.  We think about whether there's anything that can be culled so that we don't outgrow our home.  We keep what's meaningful (the china, for instance) and trash what's not (my fingernail clipping collection).

*Regularly revisit any group of things prone to clutter: toys, clothes, paper.

My friend Brooke has challenged herself to get rid of 5 things a day.  And since she began, she's gotten rid of much more than that, cutting back on things her family has outgrown or broken.  In the process, Brooke is turning her small-ish home into a place where a family of six can thrive, since moving just isn't an option at this time.  Can't beat that this organizing project has been close to FREE.  Use her success as inspiration for some meaningful organizing--that which takes more than a wallet full of cash.

Kitchen storage is at a premium. Can't buy every item we see on TV.

And speaking of cash, you might be able to write your donations off on your taxes if you itemize (just be careful with valuation. Follow the IRS rules for deciding the value of that lava lamp).  We don't because our mortgage is tiny and our state taxes are miniscule, but we do make some money from selling things we're finished with.  This is pure fun money (most of the time) since it rarely adds up to anything substantial.  But when you're on a tight budget, every penny helps, right?

Get organizing, people!  You'll feel lighter!  And sleep better!  And that wart on your nose will disappear overnight!*

*Results not typical.

Kitchen Beams: From Dark to Shiny

Our kitchen has been in stasis for a few months.  In fact, our entire family has been in stasis in the basement while we wait for the spaceship to arrive at the alien planet, but that's beside the point (I'm currently blogging while unconscious).  The kitchen has looked like dees for quite some time now.

Before.

For Christmas, though, Ryan got me a great present.  Can you figure out what it is?

After.

Oops.  Wrong angle.

Yes!  He painted the beams!

So much better.  The whole room feels brighter. The ceiling doesn't suffocate me anymore.

Sure, you can still see a few stains popping through the paint, but I'm not unhappy about that.  Adds some personality and depth.

And speaking of personality, did you notice the lovely china my Mother-in-law Nancy brought us over the holidays?  It belonged to her mother.  Love the coffee pot especially.

We got six full place settings in addition to these extras.  Except four bowls which somehow disappeared into the ether. Perhaps they're in stasis, too.

A reminder where we started:

Sigh. Now onto painting the cabinets.

So I made out like a bandit this Christmas.  And we're getting closer to finishing this room with some cabinet paint (quite necessary--doesn't it look like I have two different kitchens? The cool kitchen and the warm kitchen?).

Did you get anything awesome this year?

It's that time again: 2013 Resolutions

2012 was okay.  I made $21 blogging (yes, that's an annual figure),  we completed a few house projects and planned a late honeymoon, and the kids decided to be a little less babyish and a little more mature.  I managed to ignore my formal resolutions (except the reading one--I read over 100 books this year without even breaking a sweat. Some of them were quite hoity-toity, so now I can proudly shove my nose in the air when discussing post-modern fiction).  Katie did not learn how to read, although I never meant that seriously.  Early reading is for the birds!  Instead, we worked on deriving the quadratic equation, which is obviously much more important.

So this year, I've got to get more reasonable.  Be a little less ambitious.  Shoot for the top of the house rather than the stars.

Here goes.

1) Drink more wine.  A few nights a week, I'll have a glass of wine.  Thank goodness for Trader Joe's Two-Buck Chuck (which is more like 3 bucks these days).  It'll do. And if you're feeling snobby about your fermented grape juice, I've read studies showing that even experts are often unable to distinguish between cheap and expensive wines during blind taste tests.

Sparkling wine counts, too.

2) Train the kids to clean the house top to bottom.  I've been cleaning for years. I resolve to stop.

3) Meet and foster relationships with my neighbors.  My area is actually called "Neighborville".  And yet I only know a few of my fellow street-mates.  I plan on bribing them with beer and spinach dip.  And a nude-y dance.  By Ryan, of course.

My neighbors' house. I've met them walking by, but otherwise, know nothing about them.
That shall change, by golly!

4) Paint one room in my house gray.  Everyone else is doing it, so it must feel really good.  I'm thinking the girls' room with pink and white accents.  Of course, everyone's painting over their gray rooms now that the trend is dying, so I'll avoid being overly trendy by virtue of the fact that no one else is following the gray room trend anymore.

5) Make more money blogging.  I resolve to sacrifice my principles and morals, up to and including shilling for products I would never ever use in real life, over-processing my photos so that my children resemble stepford kids (whitewashed photos popped with colors not found in nature drive up pageviews, y'all), and hosting giveaways for useful items I found while dumpster diving.  Then I'll just sit back and watch the pennies roll in.

That hair is worth millions!

I hope that you, too, can come up with reasonable and worthy goals for 2013.  I think I'll get a head start on goal #1 tonight.  Bubbly for all!

Merry Christmas!

I hope Santa brings you great toys and your relatives don't drive you to drink.

 Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

love,

The Kiefer Cottage