Moving Progress

The move is coming along nicely.  The only snags I've come across is my loving, yet over-concerned, friends telling me moving by myself might not be a good idea, and listing all the bad things that could happen.  Yes, I know it is loving concern.  But this girl is ready to spread her wings and take that leap of faith.  No regrets, right?!

Anyway, I've been packing.  Mostly so I can go through things and figure out what I want to sell at our garage sale at the end of this month.

There is storage space above my closet and it's filling up.

I cleared out an under-the-bed box and a plastic crate, and cleared off my bookcase.  Working at Starbucks, boxes are not in short supply.  However, some of them are awkward sizes, but I just pick the best ones.  When we moved to California from Tucson, we use primarily Starbucks boxes.  This time I discovered the boxes from the breakfast sandwiches- they are the perfect size for heavy things like books, china, etc.

I have my paternal grandmother's china.  My dad sent it to her from the Phillipines when he was in the Navy.  Then she gave it to my sister and I to split.  Well, I ended up with all of it somehow and it's just been sitting in boxes, collecting dust.  I'm going to try to figure out some way to display it, or store it nicely, when I move.  But, for now, it's in a box, or two or three.  It was in two boxes- one small and one large- then I had to split it up for ease of moving.

This box weighed a ton.  (When I got it out of our outdoor storage closet by myself, I almost died)

Isn't the china simple and pretty?!

Now, it's in these small boxes.  It makes me happy.  I can carry it more easily.  That other box it going to house something light in the move.

So, now I have two large plastic bins, seven small boxes (like the ones above), and that large box in my room.  I also have two boxes in my closet with nothing in them yet.

I'm hoping our garage sale at the end of the month gets rid of most of my furniture and the crap I really don't need to pack ever again.  That is going to make this all seem like much more of a reality.

I also was on the net looking at printables for my Home Organization Binder and found a Moving Kit from Pinch a Little Save-A-Lot.  I am now obsessed with printables to keep me organized.  And I'm making a Home Organizer for my sister.

Well, until next time.

DIY Home Organization Binder

I got this idea the other day, probably from something I saw on Pinterest, to make a Home Organization Binder.  I mostly wanted it to see a budget on paper, instead of jotted on a small calendar or spread out through various websites and emails from the bills.  Then I kept digging and I came up with quite a bit.  I'll list as many links as I can at the bottom of this post if you want to grab some of the printables yourself.

I covered the outside of a crappy old binder by, first, covering it with light colored paper (a large sheet kind of like tissue but thicker) so the black of the binder wouldn't show through.  Then I spray glued on the fabric.  Then glued on the ribbon.

In covering the inside with fabric, and then paper I covered up the pocket where I had put the pens, so I had to fix that.  I have a black pen, a pencil, a highlighter, and a colored pen.  And I glued on a clip for extra paper.

I didn't have any tab pages, so I just printed some plain titles for each page and put them in page covers.  First tab- schedule.

Second- finances.

My budget pages will seriously come in handy.

Third- shopping.

Four- housework.  Yes, I needed a schedule.  I'm terrible.

Fifth- lists.  This includes "to-do lists" and a media inventory list, which I filled out today and I have 70 DVDs, who knew?!

I perforated my "to-do lists" so I can easily tear them off.

Sixth- food.  I have a stock-pile list, and then some recipe pages.

Seventh- Medical for Dr's names, addresses, and numbers.  And space for notes in case I need it.

Eigth- Etsy.  It's an online income list for my store.

Ninth- WWW.  It's a list of all my usernames and passwords for various websites.

Tenth- ideas.  A sheet to list ideas and supplies needed for them.

Eleventh- Blog.  I found these printables to plan out my block each week.

I'm hoping this will help me stay organized, especially with the important things.  Let me know if you make one of your own with any cool ideas.  I'd love to see them!

Links:
Cleaning Schedule @ Evelyn Kate Designs
Blog Calendar @ Living Locurto
I got most of the tab ideas @ DIY Home Sweet Home
Stockpile List and What's In Season Calendars (schedule tab) @ About.com Frugal Living

 

Contact Info page for Medical @ I Love it All
Media Inventory List @ Pinch a Little Save a Lot
Monthly Budget @ SissyPrint
Binder Covering Tutorial @ The Creative Place
Blank Checklist (shopping list) and Online Shop Inventory List @ The Nest Effect

I think that's it!  I makes for quite the hodge podge of designs on the pages, but printing them from someone else saved me a lot of time.

Enjoy!

Things I've Learned as a Single Girl

For those of you who don't know, I'm 25.  And up until about 8 months ago, I lived with my mom and step-dad, Donyvan.  Now, I live in a condo with my grandma, who I call Nan.  In living "with" I mean we split everything, so we're pretty much roommates.  So, I'm on my own.  Financially, that is.  I still have my family to lean on in times of need. 

In those last 8 months, I've learned a lot.  Well, honestly, I'd say I've learned a lot in the last couple of years.  I've learned things about life, people, and, mostly, about myself.  A lot of things my family and friends told me, but I never really took what they were saying to heart until I lived it. 

So, this post is just to give some advice to my fellow single girls, or some that are soon to be single or live on their own.

These aren't in any particular order:

1)  Keep your place clean!  You never know when someone is going to stop by, and the more often you clean the less time it will take you when you do it.  If something's not really really dirty then it'll be a breeze to do a quick clean-up.  I admit my mom cleaned a lot for me when I lived at home.  Now, I do a lot of the cleaning and I don't seem to mind because I love living in a clean place.  Plus, do you really think a man wants to marry someone who's a slob?  If he does, then that probably means he's one too.  Do you want to marry a slob??

2)  Learn to cook.  And no, Ramen noodles don't count.  It's not hard.  If I can do it, so can you.  Just start simple.  Go on sites like All Recipes or find a blog about easy recipes.  As long as you know you're way around the kitchen enough to make some chicken and vegetables for a simple meal or bake chocolate chip cookies, then you're doing good.  Plus, think about the money you'll save and the calories from not eating out all the time.

3)  Keep your freezer stocked.  Whether it's Eggos, chicken breast, or even just frozen dinners, the freezer is your friend.  As a single girl you can also make a full recipe that makes 4-6 servings, freeze it, and have food for weeks.

4)  Keep your place smelling good.  I'm a little weird about this.  I love for our condo to smell good.  I hate when the kitchen smells like steamed broccoli or the laundry room smells like the dogs food, or the air just smells stale.  This is also another good thing to keep in mind if you have people that may just drop by.  You don't want someone to walk in your place thinking: "what is that smell?"

5)  (This isn't really just for a single girl)  This is your FRIEND!!!  I love press n seal.  Enough said. **I'm not getting paid by Glad**

6)  Stay organized!  This mostly applies to bills.  Don't let that water bill get lost in a pile of papers.  Buy a calendar and use it.  Write the bills on their due date and the amount you owe.  A lot of bills you can pay online and even set them up for automatic payments.  If you're forgetful, do this!  I learned this the hard way multiple times.  It's no fun.

7)  PAY YOUR BILLS!!!  If it means giving up that new pair of shoes, purse, or dress, DO IT!  Even if it means eating Ramen noodles every night.  You do not want to ruin your credit, or get evicted because you can't budget.

8)  Make friends with your neighbors, or at least meet them.  (unless they're creepers)  You just never know when you might get locked out without your phone, or need some sugar.

9)  Don't buy toilet paper from the Dollar Store.  Unless you are just really really desparate and poor, I don't recommend it.  It's really not worth the money you will save.  You end up using twice as much because it's basically like nothing.

10)  Do things for other people.  Call it the "Golden Rule," karma, or paying it forward.  In my experience, the more nice things you do for people then either that person will do something nice for you, or out of the blue someone else will.  This especially applies to your parents.  They did things for you over a span of 18+ years.  But them a cup of coffee or invite them over for dinner.  Then if, one month, you're having problems making ends meet they might just buy you some groceries or fill you gas tank.

11)  Learn to sew.  I don't care if it's an entire dress or just sewing on a button.  Granted I learned to sew when I was probably 12 or 13 and made an apron when I was probably 15.  But, I know there are girls who have no idea how to sew.  It's not hard.  Don't sike yourself out and think it's going to be too time-consuming and you're going to jab your finger 100 times.  Just try it.  I strongly believe it's a good skill to have.

12)  Thank your parents.  Listen to their advice.  They DO know a lot.  They've probably lived what you're going through.  They can be your friends- no one whould judge you for that.

I'm sure there are more things.  And I know as soon as I post this I will think of more, but for now that is my list.  Enjoy.  And take my advice to heart.

Keeping it Real

The following is mostly from me.  And someone to do them would definitely come in handy.

I know I've showed you before, but I think it has reached a new height.

Future Husband

When I find the man I marry I would like to add a promise to do dishes into his vows.

"I, ____, take you, Sarah, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.  I promise to clean every dish you ever dirty."

And I hope it will look like this:

 

Oh, and I want a promise to bring flowers as a surprise at least once a month.