Purging time!!!

In an effort to scale down our home to just the basics, and also with the prospect of a garage sale coming up we have been going through every corner of our house.  A while ago I saw someone had bought these really cool DVD cases and I thought they would be awesome.  So we went to Target and found them and decided to think on it a bit.  Well just a few weeks ago we went back and got them.  I can not tell you how amazing they are!!  We had a ton of DVD's and were in desperate need to get rid of the cabinet they were held in.  So in doing this were were able to put all of our DCVD's (with the exception of our series, like Friends and Star Wars) into these cases.  They take up very little space now and can be stored in  a drawer in the cabinet that our TV sits on.  AMAZING!!

A few of what we started with.

Almost all of the videos fit into this box.

These are what we used.  Each case holds 2 DVD's.  I actually had to go back and get a third one but didn't use all of that one.

Its almost the start of summer.  Big E has just 2 days left of school and Little N finished his school last week.  I am so excited to start a vacation!!  Here a just a few pictures of my little sweeties!

Baby Z and his big smile!

They thought it would be fun to dress alike

Weekend Organizing

So this past weekend we began some much needed organizing in the big boys room.  I have a ton of great ideas in my head of how I want to their room to look.  Unfortunately my ideas cost lots of money!!  Apparently I have expensive taste!  Anyway I got lots of inspiration from I Heart Organizing, I love that blog!!  She is always posting fantastic ideas on how to organize your home.  Anyway from her blog I got the idea for Lego storage, which has been a thorn in our side for about a year.  So this is what I wanted to get for their room:




This is from Ikea and costs about $200!  A little out of our price range, and since we are about 3 hours from an Ikea store it just was not an option for us right now.  So we went to plan B, which is to buy plastic drawer storage that we saw at Wal-Mart.  Definitely not my first choice because I wanted something that would last and would look like furniture.  In the end this is how our Lego storage ended up:

 All of the drawers are labeled and the Legos are sorted by color.  Since we didn't have the cash for a second drawer system we went ahead and placed two or three colors in one bin.  We separated the mini figures and weapons into one drawer.  We also put the wheels and steering wheels into one bin.  Hopefully this will work and cut down on the mess and the "I can't find this piece" stuff!!

We also went ahead and removed most of the toys from their room, I know sounds mean right?!  But in reality they only play with their Legos, Batman, and Star Wars toys, so those are the ones that stayed.  We labeled bins (which we already had) and put those toys in the bins.  I had also recently brought up some games and puzzles to keep in their room.  Then of course they have books!  So there is plenty for them to do, and now that there is not so much they will actually be able to find what they are looking for!!  Here is the end result of that:

I love snap top bins!!  They are so fabulous!!  Easy for little hands to use and they are stackable too!  So we also did a little closet organizing, since we have yet to get a door for their closet we store some toys in their as well.  Right now we have one of their book cases for puzzle and game storage.  It is working wonderfully!!   I also use canvas bins for dress up clothes  super hero costumes and another for their stuffed animal or light sabers!

Future plans include removing the cedar from the closet, because we had a roof leak and some of the cedar is cracking.  We are sure there is water damage behind it.  We also can tell that there is no insulation because we feel the draft!  So this summer we plan to remove the cedar and insulate it and then drywall it.  I also would love to get doors on the closet at that time.  If money allows I think we will try to replace their windows and paint their room.  Anyway that is just what "I would like" to have done, whether it actually gets done is another story!!

This week in saving money!

In our quest to live a more frugal and sustainable lifestyle, I have undertaken a lot more "home making" tasks than I am used to.  I have begun baking some of our bread, hanging clothes to dry, using cloth napkins, etc.  Over the last few weeks I made some great home made bread (not in the bread machine!), bought some clothes drying racks and made some baby food.  The clothes drying is going to be the hardest for me to get used to.  Our laundry "area" is in our kitchen, its basically a pantry closet.  So to hand the clothes to dry, I am leaving them on the racks in the middle of my kitchen!  Our kitchen is a good size so they are not really in my way but it does seem kind of odd to see them hanging there!

Every time I walk past the drying clothes I just remind myself that every time I don't run the dryer I am saving $$$!!

So I am not new to making baby food, I made my own with Little N.  I am a bit more educated now than I was then, so I am learning new things, like avocado is a great first food for babies, who would've thought!?  So a few weeks ago I made some peas, and then last week green beans, both from frozen veggies I already had in my freezer.  After feeding the peas and green beans, we realized that you are supposed to start with yellow veggies first, oopps!!  Oh well, I think he will survive!  So this week we are starting through the "yellow" veg.  Over the weekend I had bought some frozen yellow squash, frozen sweet potato, and frozen carrots.  I bought all frozen because its not in season and quite pricey to buy fresh right now.  After getting home I thought that maybe the yellow squash was not what he should have, I thought it was butternut squash.  So I checked online and yup, butternut squash is better to start with.  I learned that with yellow squash babies have a hard time digesting the skin until about 8 months, and it also doesn't have as many nutrients as butternut squash.  So back to the store I went today to buy a fresh butternut squash, because I couldn't find frozen.  To my surprise the butternut squash was only $.94 a pound, so the one that I got only cost me $2.10!  I had looked at the jarred baby food to price compare and I saw that for 2 containers of Gerber baby food it was $1.10, so $.55 per serving, that's kinda pricey!  After coming home and cooking my butternut squash, I divided it up into containers (normally I would use ice cube trays but of course I don't' have any!).  I got 15 servings out of that one butternut squash, I wish I had taken pictures of this process but of course I didn't think about it!  Anyway so doing the math, at $2.10 for the squash it ended up being $.15 per serving!!  WOW!!  Look at what a little extra effort bought me, an extra $6.15!  It only took about an hour total to make too!  When I do the frozen veg, I just toss it in the food processor after cooking for about 5 minutes on the stove and then puree!  As Big E would say "easy peasy"!   I also learned that you don't' need a fancy baby food maker, just use a blender or food processor, or you can even just mash it up with a fork!  Making your own baby food is not that hard and saves so much money!!

Here are a few websites that I have found some wonderful easy baby food making recipes!!
www.wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com
www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com

Also over the weekend we did a little organizing project in the boys room!!  Stay tuned for the results of that whole process!!  I am quite pleased with how it turned out!