Spring Cleaning for Dummies Part: 2 (Pantry/Food Storage)

So for those of you that have been to my apartment before you know how small my kitchen is and the lack of storage. And to complicate things there is a utility closet in the kitchen that is huge. You would think it was a pantry but it really is just a wasted space that stores the water heater & furnace. It's kinda of an awkward space. You can't hang any shelves on the wall because there are tubes/pipes along the wall. So pretty much I would store a couple little storage units to hold food and my garbage can in there.

Well the other day it dawned on me. A solution it had taken me over 1 1/2 years to come up with. Why not buy a tall bookcase and put it in the closet? Then that way I could maximize the space using the space from floor to ceiling. So I headed over to Walmart and was able to get a bookcase for just $30.

I cannot believe how much space I have now! It really made a difference. I was able to fit the majority of my food storage on the bookcase then the remainder of the food I was able to fit throughout my kitchen cabinets.

For those of you who don't have food storage I highly recommend it. Ever since living on my own I've always made sure I've had food storage. You never know when it will come in handy. Buy foods that you use on a regular basis ex: spaghetti,canned fruits,canned vegetables,Idaho instant potatoes etc. Then that way the food doesn't go bad before you ever use it and you can just keep replacing it as you use it.

Something else I've done is typed up a list of what foods I have,when they expire,and how many of each. I posted it on the wall next to my food storage so then that way I can try to eat the things I've got before they expire. And I can see when I'm getting low on something.

Spring Cleaning for Dummies Part 1: (The Bedroom)

With spring just around the corner and all the wedding things I've got going on I figured I better get a jump start on my spring cleaning. Yeah I'm know I'm a little crazy. Let me tell you trying to tackle two HUGE tasks at once it's very easy. Especially since I'm in the middle of working on the wedding annoucements.

Last Monday I decided I'd start my spring cleaning adventure and well let me tell you this is my progress. 1 week: bedroom closet & dresser done. I haven't even finished my whole bedroom yet! Granted I haven't been working on it everyday but still....the rate I'm going it's really good I started now. Maybe by the time spring is over I'll be done.

Believe it or not in the small amount I've gotten done I've filled 2 trash bags full of D.I. stuff and 1 trash bag full of garbage. You'd think I hadn't cleaned in a long time but sadly I do deep cleaning on a regular basis. Last time I did deep cleaning like this was probably last fall so it hasn't even been 6 months!

For those of you brave enough to tackle the task of spring cleaning here's some helpful hints to keep in mind and a rule of thumb I live by while cleaning out your bedroom closet.

• If you have clothes that still have price tags on them and you've had them for at least a year it's time to get rid of them. (Yes believe it or not I found a couple shirts I had never worn and never will)


• If you keep telling yourself "I'm going to lose weight I'll fit into these pants someday" and it's been over 1 year,get rid of them.


• If the pits on the shirts are discolored or smell....throw them out.


• If you have holes in your socks or underwear....throw them away. You can go to the store and buy more! As for bras if the wire is poking out throw it away!


• If you have shoes that you had forgotten about and don't even remember having...get rid of them.


• If you have shoes that you've had for years and years that are falling apart but are so comfortable....throw them out.


• If you have shirts that have holes in them..... throw them out!


• Pants that have holes patch or mend....if neither can be done throw them out.
  

By keeping those things in mind it's so crazy how many things you end up getting rid of and how much space you find that you really have. My closet has never seemed so big before besides before I moved into my apartment and it was empty.

So now that things are clean it's time to effectively store things. While working on my wedding registry I found some awesome storage ideas on walmart.com. I can't believe all the stuff I found that I had never thought of before. For example....I store a lot under my bed because of lack of space and you can get these really cool storage bags with handles that go under your bed. I also bumped into some really cool shirt dividers/shelves that can be used for pants as well.

Well it's off for now. Good luck spring cleaning and hopefully I've motivated you to get up and do something.

Dots...Dots....Everywhere

So It's been a while since I've written a blog about wedding stuff so I figured it's about time. Especially since I've been so busy with so many things! I definitely hit the jackpot this week. I've been trying to find the best deal on some white fabric with black polka dots on it. I'm planning on using it as part of the table cloths for the tables that people will be eating at.

I started my fabric adventure last week. My mom had told me Joann's was going to be having a sale for President's Day weekend so I figured, "heck I need fabric why not take advantage of a good deal?" So sometime last week Travis and I hit up the Joann's over by us and well they didn't have what I wanted. So I went to Walmart and they had what I wanted but it was $4.44 a yard. I need 11 yds so I was hoping to get a better deal. So this Tuesday I went to the Nampa Joann fabric and well....they didn't have what I wanted either. So I went to Craft Warehouse. They had what I wanted but it was almost $10 a yard!

So I had the thought that I should check out Home Fabrics. They mostly have fabrics for upholstering and draperies but they do have a small section of regular fabric. So I headed there today with my mom and 1st thing I find what I want and guess what? $2.50 a yard! I hit the jackpot! I love finding crazy deals like that!

Escape Artist

So tonight I come home for my lunch break from work and Travis is glued to his video games of course. So I go in to say hi to Gina (the hamster) and she's not in her cage. I ask Travis where she's at and he kinda just points in every direction because he's too into his game. Well I assumed by his response she was in her ball running around the house but I can't hear anything. Like usually you can hear her bump into things or the ball moving across the floor. I start looking around for her and I find her ball in the kitchen and she's not inside. I just start laughing and tell travis I found her ball but it's empty. He quickly quits his game and starts searching for her.

I had the feeling I should search the panty first because if I were a hamster that's that first place I would go. I open the pantry and start calling for Gina. Believe it or not after a few seconds I see her running around. Travis had to take everything out of the panty to get her out because she just kept running around trying to get away from him. Even once she was in his hands she was still trying to escape.

I guess we are going to have to keep a close eye on our escape artist and make sure she doesn't figure out how to get out of her cage next.

Ouch!

So Saturday marked Gina's 1 week birthday (one week of living with us that is). I think she's finally gotten used to what her sleeping pattern should be (Sleeping during the day,up all night). So Saturday night I went in her little room to see if she was up yet and there she was in her cute little cage playing in her litter box. (When we bought the hamster we found out you can potty train them so we bought her a little litter box and some kitty/hamster litter). Believe it or not she actually does use it. Seldomly does she go to the bathroom anywhere else in the cage. The bad thing though is I think she's thinks it's a pool because she like dives into it and then shakes like a dog so the litter pellets fly all around.

Well she was in a very cheerful mood that night so I opened up the cage and she started climbing up the side to get out. So I just laid my hand flat at the opening to see if she would climb on to it and sure enough she climbed right into my hand all by herself. As I carried her towards Travis she dug her sharp teeth into my finger and bite me and wouldn't let go. (She's hasn't bitten anyone since we've gotten her) I started screaming and muttering cuss words under my breath and I tired holding back the tears as she continued to dig her sharp teeth into me. I was so upset when she finally let go that I gave her to Travis and then started yelling at her. She made my finger bleed!

Needless to say I'm a little scared of her now and it's going to take a while for me to ever be able to hold her again.

It's a Girl!

Well this last Saturday Travis and I decided it was about time we make an addition to our family. We've been wanting a dog for a while now but I'm not willing to pay the $200 pet deposit and we definitely don't have enough room in our apartment to have a dog running around. So finally I suggested we get a hamster. So we set off to buy a hamster on Saturday and came back with cute little Gina. It's funny how they say hamsters are nocturnal because it seems like Gina sleeps pretty much 24/7. Usually she'll be awake for a few hours and it's mostly in the afternoon/ early evening. So far she doesn't really like me but of course she loves Travis. Hopefully she'll someday warm up to me.

Coming Along

The the count down begins. As the new year has begun the realization of how close the wedding is has finally hit. Even though I've still got a little over 5 months to go it's crunch time. It seems like almost my every thought is about the wedding. Seriously.

Yesterday was quite productive. I made my wedding bouquet which was very simple. I cost me $20 to buy the flowers & supplies. After making it I can't see why anyone would choose to pay a ridiculous amount of money to have someone else make it.

The other thing I worked on was...Do you remember the sunflowers I bought that are in the wooden pots? There is a a previous post with a picture of them. Well the wooden pots were cherry red. I simply just took black paint and painted them to match my wedding colors. With one of the pots I took an unsharpened pencil and dipped it in white paint to make polka dots. On the remaining pots I simply just toke black ribbon with white polka dots on it and taped it on.

Travis' day was quite productive as well he picked up 3,000 experience points and killed 100 hollow men on a quest. He sure did look happy. lol. Yes that's right he's addicted to Fable 2. (He felt left out and wanted me to add his productiveness in as well) Well it's off to more projects. I'll try to do better at posting what's going on.