Getting Ready For A New Year

Now that Christmas is over my mind begins to prepare for the new year ahead.  Normally I'm not a big New Year's resolution type person, but this year I want to make a few changes in my life and what better time to start working on those than the new year.

I'm your typical 'Type A' personality.  The head strong, determined, over the top goal setter type who can accomplish anything I truly set my mind to.  This can be a good trait, but, like most things, also has a down side. One of my down sides is making goals that are almost impossible unless I devote 99% of my time to it in order to complete the goal perfectly.  Most 'Type A's' are perfectionists, and this is often more of a hindrance than a help.  If I set a goal and can't reach it perfectly then I will quit because I tend to feel like a failure.

This year I want to set a few goals that are reasonable and give myself permission to not be perfect in the hopes of making these changes stick.

Here is my New Year's resolution list:

• Begin to learn and practice yoga on a regular basis.
• Most of us have weight loss goals at the first of the year, and I should too, but this goal is more about managing stress and anxiety for me.

• Manage my time more efficiently so I can work on projects that bring me joy and serve my family.
• If I'm not careful I can over-commit myself and this causes tremendous stress to me and, in return, my family.

• Improve my diet.
• This is not about the latest diet fad or even weight loss, it's about health.  We have made tremendous changes in our diet in the last year but we still have a ways to go.  I want to see more whole organic food on our table.  This can be difficult with rising food prices, but, for me, less is more in this case.

• Get outside in the fresh air and sun and go explore the beautiful world around me.
• Since we want to be homesteaders our world tends to revolve around this house.  The only problem for us is that, at the moment, we are in an urban homestead and that doesn't leave us many options to explore the world around us.  We run from shopping centers, restaurants, and general city activities so it can be difficult to find a piece of nature that hasn't had concrete poured over it. I want to make an effort to find the natural world and engage in it more this year.

As you can see my list isn't grand and tends to address more stress related issues than anything, but that's where I'm at this year.  I encourage you to think about this coming year and what you would like to see happen.  Maybe it's your finances, maybe it's your health.  Whatever it is, you are worth the effort it takes to make these changes and your life will be the better for it.  I also encourage you to go easy on yourself. Our lives didn't get this way overnight and we can't expect them to change that quickly either.

Life Is Too Short

Yesterday was the two year anniversary that my children's father passed away.  I spent the day trying to keep myself and McClane busy while all along remembering the years and memories the kids shared with their dad.  McClane and I went to the cemetery so he could see and somehow connect with his dad on this day, and let me tell you that is a site that would break any mother!  McClane and I talked for awhile at the grave-site about life, death, and time, and we both left with heavy hearts.  As the day progressed I took him to his Aunts house so he could spend a few days with his dad's family and celebrate Christmas Eve with them before coming back home for Christmas.

Going through this has shown me many things, some of which I will share with you in hopes that you can learn from others life experience. The biggest impression I want to give you here is life is too short! With this in mind I encourage you to start the new year as if it was your last.  I know many of you are thinking I must be crazy, but in all honesty how do you know it's not?!?  The goal here is not to be morbid, but to begin to live your life with meaning and purpose now, not later.  A lot of us are just going through the motions trying to get to the happy place that we see as retirement, a better job, more money, a bigger house, a nicer car, etc.. I encourage you to evaluate your life and see where you are happy, as well as where you are unhappy, and begin to plot your changes for this next year.  Here are a few question to start with:

• Are you working a job that you dislike just to pay off credit debt over which you can't even remember what is was you bought to begin with?

• I've been in this situation before and I know how hopeless it can feel.  My suggestion would be to stop buying anything you can't pay cash for.  I know this is easier said than done, but realize that (I'm invoking the spirit of Dave Ramsey here) you are a slave to debt and you hold the keys to your own freedom.  Get strong and learn to tell yourself and family NO if you don't have the cash. 

• Are you so busy with extracurricular activities that you can't properly cook and care for your family?

• I know many of you have church, PTA, and volunteer commitments that you feel like you can't drop, but if this was your last year who would you want to spend it with?  Would you spend it with committee members, or with your loved ones?  Would you spend your time cooking nutritious meals your family loved to eat, making memories, and passing on the ways of life that are important to you?  Our service is important, don't get me wrong, but not more important than our families.

• Is your house and all the stuff in it eating you alive?

• Simplify, simplify, simplify!  Get rid of things that take up space and bring you no joy.  For example, ask yourself how many frying pans you really need?  What about clothing?  If you can't easily manage your closet or dresser drawers then you have too much and you need to simplify!  If you have stuff stashed in junk drawers (or more than one junk drawer at all) or closets then you don't really appreciate what's in there and it's most likely stuff you could live without, so get rid of it!  If you come across something in there that you have been looking for and do have a need for then give it a proper place to live so you know where it is when needed.

• Are your relationships stressed?

• If so, then do what you can to heal them.  Keep in mind, however, that it takes two to tango and you alone can't always make things right.  If this is the case then make peace with yourself and move on.  Don't let past regret keep you in a place of no joy.

• Is your budget, or lack of one, making financial freedom impossible?

• In this economy I know many of you are starting over due to loss of jobs, foreclosures, and bankruptcy and are living paycheck to paycheck.  We're doing the same thing here so don't feel bad.  But that reason alone is motivation enough for you to manage your limited resources to the best of your ability, and that can't be done with out a budget that you stick to.  If this is your case don't be discourage!  Work on improving your situation by learning how to spend less, and make part of spending less an effort to start making the products you use and normally spend money on.  Remember, this blog is not about doing without, but about thriving with less expense and burden. 

In general ask yourself, "Am I happy with my life?"  If not, seek out the root of the problem and do whatever it takes to correct it.  Remembering that life is too short to not make the changes needed now.  Let's honor those who have passed away by living our life to it's fullest and enjoying the simplest of pleasures.

Thrifty Furnishings

Using thrift store treasures to decorate my house is one of the simple pleasures I indulge myself in.  I love walking into a store and having no clue what I will come out with, if anything at all.  It has kinda become a game where I see how well I can decorate my house with thriftiness in mind.

As I walked through my house looking for items to take a picture of to post on the blog, I started noticing that 95% of the items in our home have been bought second hand.  Big ticket items like our beds, living room furniture, kitchen table and cabinet were purchased new, but they are filled with second hand touches.

When we moved into our house it was being repainted and I was asked to choose the colors I wanted for each room.  In doing that I also saw other things I wanted to replace before we moved in.  Like always our budget was almost non-existent! When I started talking with Racey about replacing ceiling fans, light fixtures and the kitchen sink I'm sure he was convinced that I had lost my mind.  I reassured him that I would only do what our budget allowed and that I would be patient enough to find all my goodies at thrift stores, estate sales, Craigslist, ect..

Here is a sampling of some of my finds!

This was a towel rack I bought at Goodwill still in the box!  I just assumed it would extend to the same length as the one I had hanging in the bathroom already.  When it turned up to be to short I decided to make it into a jewelry holder.

Towel Bar - $3.00

  I know you must be tired of seeing this as the back drop of most of the pictures I post on here.  This little treasure was also purchased at Goodwill.  It still had the price tag on the bottom and looked to have never been used.  I'm not sure what it was made to do but it serves as a caddy for all my frequently used kitchen items.  I use the kitchen table as an island when prepping meals and when it's time to eat I just grab the caddy and move it to another location so it frees up the table. 

Caddy - $5.00

 I found these the same day as the caddy pictured above.  They had price stickers on the bottom from Garden Ridge.  The taller one was $19.99 and the shorter was $12.99

They seem to be of the same style and that makes me wonder if they came from the same home. 

I paid $4.54 for the taller one and $2.52 for the shorter.  They still have the price written on the bottom from Goodwill!

This clock was being thrown in the trash because it didn't match the new decor in the teachers lounge of a school I worked at.

Clock - Free

I bought this chandelier off Craigslist as we were preparing to move in our house.

Chandelier - $35.00 

This is the matching ceiling fan.

Fan - $50.00

  

This lamp is another item the school was throwing away.  It gives our kitchen the perfect amount of light when we are having a quit candle light dinner or, if the kitchen is shut down for the night, I still like to have a small light on.  It helps the mood of the house!

This little treasure Racey found on the side of the road!  The people were moving and didn't want it.  He stopped and asked if they were throwing it away could he have it.  They said yes and invited him in to look at the other items they didn't want.  He took all of the things and we sold most of them and bought our sink pictured below!  I think it's meant to be a plant stand but I had McClane and his granddad cut wooden shelves for me to use as a solid surface.


Kitchen Shelves - Free

I found this at Goodwill and thought it could hold my necklaces.  Once home I changed my mind!

$ 1.81

This was a garden planter that I found at Goodwill and re-purposed into a kitchen utensil holder.

This is a trivet (I think) I like to use it as a spoon rest.

Here are several things from my bathroom.  The toothbrush holder was a pencil holder, the little pink girl at the well is an antique planter, and the hairbrush holder is another planter, who knows what the other dish was made for but as you can see I use it to hold my favorite soap and jewelry.  All these items were found at thrift stores.

Toothbrush holder - $1.51
Hairbrush holder - $1.21
Soap dish - $1.81
Girl at the well - not sure of price


As you can see many of the items that decorate our home have been discarded by others, and that's fine with me