Under Bed Organization

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  It was hot here and I am looking forward to the first cold front!  Bring it on!

Today I wanted to talk about under bed organization.  The bed above is in our daughter’s room.  It is a Kura reversible bed from IKEA.  It has been a great purchase.  She now has more floor space in her room to play.  I had just placed some of her toys and books under the bed in large pink buckets on rollers but this was not working on keeping this space organized.

I had a metal shelf with drawers in the entry hall closet and we were using that to organize art supplies.  This closet was always a mess for some reason and I decided to move the shelf to under her bed.  I took out the pink buckets and we put her toys into the plastic and metal drawers.  I like this organization better because now her things are confined.  The buckets were going everywhere and were also way to bulky.  This storage is streamlined and she has been putting her things away more quickly when it is clean up time.

I did have her help me in going through her toys and putting them in the drawers.  Children love to be involved in making their rooms look nice and it helps them to take responsibility for their things. 

Have a great Monday and take some Time to Organize.


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a bowl full of lemons

Looking at the Future

 

Picture from: Thinking Futures – About Futures

 

Don’t you wish that sometimes, you could look into your future? Not the whole story of course, but just a small glimpse. Just a tiny peek at one area of your life could help you determine what the next move in your present life should be. I am thinking that right about now, that would be an awesome thing to do.

See, I have come to the point in this life journey where I have to make a decision about a career. I have an AAS in Child Development and have worked with children off and on for over ten years. I have always felt though that this was not what I was meant to do. After having two children of my own, it has become even harder for me to want to work with others children. I know that millions of people out there are teachers, they have their own kids and they love their jobs. That is great for them! I feel that I am not one of these people. So, time for something new. Now all I have to do is figure out what that something is going to be. Do you see why looking into my future for just a moment would be super awesome?

I really want to start on the path to a new career. I have gone back and forth for years trying to figure out what I want to do. It is driving me a little crazy and my family a lot crazy. In my heart of desires, I would love to be a professional organizer. I have thought about it for a couple of years and the thought is always in my heart. Getting started and being able to really make a good income have held me back from pursuing this dream. My brain is telling me to look for something that is steady, has benefits and good pay. I can honestly feel my heart aching over this choice in my life.

It is kinda funny in a way that we are pursuing a simpler lifestyle here at home and yet I am looking into going back to school and working outside of the home full-time. The school part I do not mind because education is important, but working outside the home is scary for me. Our home is my job and so is raising our children. This is what I have done full-time for the past 6 years and I am just not sure I want to give that up to work an 8-5 job again.

Oh future me! If only I could take a short walk with you and you could tell me what to do. Why do I get the feeling though, that you would still be a procrastinator like your present self?

Maybe not.

Learning to Live with Less

 

Good Morning!  Wow, it has been so very long since I have sat down to do a blog post.  To be honest, I was not sure if I would ever do one again.  I have debated for the past couple of months of giving up my blog.  Things have been kind of tough for our family financially lately and I have just been down about it.  Sitting down to do my blog was not really giving me any enjoyment like it used to either.  So I took a break and I have found that I have missed posting and reading other blogs as well.  So I am back!  Happy to be too!

Over the past couple of months we have been dealing with money issues like I mentioned above.  My husband and I have talked many times in the past years about cutting back and watching our spending.  Well, it did not happen and now we are in a position of “Do it now or things are gonna get really bad!”  So, we have been cutting back our spending on things like eating out and shopping.  I sat down in July and calculated we had spent over $500 eating out that month.  Ugh!  Needless to say, it was time for a change around here. 

I am not going to say that this has been easy for our family to do.  I did not realize how much we depended on eating out and just running to Target to buy stuff.  I knew my husband and I were guilty of always doing this but our kids have been affected too.  Over the past few weeks they have said things like, “I want to go get something to eat.  I’m so hungry!  I can’t wait to get home!”  and “Please can I just get that one thing!  It’s not fair I can’t have that toy.”  Oh my GOSH!!!!  Trust me there has been a lot of this talk and boy, do I feel guilty.  Guilty for being an example of constant want and not necessity. 

So, we are learning to grocery shop better.  I am still learning this, so no advice from me!  Cutting back on extra shopping is tough as well.  I just try and go to Target once a week now.  I really try and put more thought into my purchases as well.  Asking myself, “Do I really need that right now or can it wait?”  or “Do I really need this item at all in our home or for myself?”  This is what it has taken for me to think about the money I am spending.  It can be tough but it has to happen for our lives to get back on track.  It is worth it if we can reteach our children that living with less is a good thing.  Live in the moments and enjoy each other instead of all the stuff around us.  Not that all stuff is bad!  We just need a lot less of it in our lives. 

Have a great day everyone!