organization and an important update

 

hi! i am back, however, my visits will be infrequent i think until i am more organized.

 

i have learned not to be frantic over this process, no spending, all in due time, as the old saying goes.

 

so, for now, a new and amazing fact, that i probably thought was a lot of hooey, really, but it seems to be very true!

 

the key to no spending, you know, when you cannot find that certain something and you run out and go buy another one if you can afford it,

 

is really

 

ORGANIZATION!

 

there, i've said it!

 

i've had help, a tremendous amount, organizing my stuff, not buying anything, and organizing it in shelves, boxes, totes, you name it! and i can now say, with a ton of confidence, that for those of you

that didn't believe in organization, well, it is all that it's cracked up to be, said, and more!

 

i can now find a hammer, but i found 6!

i can now find the nails, enough to last my lifetime and 6 others! lol!

screws! omgoodness!

i can now find all my paints, crafts, gardening tools, tools, boxes from USPS!

 

amazing! just amazing!

 

who knew! really!!!!!

 

all my crafts and sewing are in one designated area, my fashion warehouse, garage turned into my working shop, and as i work through my home, i walk things to the proper area and file it away!

 

believe it or not, i've got empty boxes, that i keep rearranging to house the same product!

 

it is still a learning and work in process, but i cannot say enough about this!

 

i had help! from a friend and her hubby, who built, moved, pushed, laughed and cried with me while i took on this endeavour!

 

i couldn't have done it without them! i move forward daily!

 

and i couldn't leave you without letting you know i even have a container in my freezer for ice cubes, they are all lined up in rows! only kidding! lol (my friend? yes she does!) She and her hubby just organized her closet and it is to die for! wow, she is one smart cookie!

 

the lovely thing, she paid it forward to me, teaches me new everyday! i'm listening!

now i'm passing it forward to you.

 

have a great Sunday, peace to you and yours, i am working today as i type, just wanted to check in with the great news i've discovered!

 

is anyone listening? it's ok ! if anyone finds this post, do it, organize, ask for help! once you get the hang of it

 

you will save money, find what you already have so you can use it, your life will be so pleasantly surprising!

 

i've repaired, fixed, glued, hammered, moved, organized almost my whole shed, my doll house, out back now, so i can find all my tools!

 

good luck, and if you want or need any words of wisdom (my learning experience and ideas so far) please don't hesitate to ask or pop me an email!

 

i'm still learning but another key to helping yourself in this life changing project is brainstorming! :)

 

hugs to you,  kat =^.^=

 

ps. my home, probably like yours, will always be what i call "under construction" so don't fret when you start a new project or two while you are still in this organizing project!

 

organizing will help you move forward! wow is all i can say at this point! :)



a long time later.....

Well, who knew it would be this amount of time before I returned to this blog!

I now have something to say!

This endeavour was much harder than I anticipated and I am just now able to explain how apparently overwhelmed I was at the start of this blog.

What I have learned:

good intentions are hard

it takes a ton of baby steps

it takes time to grow and learn what is important and what is not

it takes time to do something by yourself

it takes time to accept you can get there, but it may take a while!

with that said, I have learned  much patience, most of the baby steps and most importantly how to ask for help!

I will be back soon, if you are out there, to let you know my progress!

To be honest, now that I am "not running away" from my issues and facing them head on, I have been making progress, slow but sure.

I have learned so very much over this past year and soon I will share, but for now, I am editing what inventory I have, releasing it, and hoping to move onto my most important project soon!

That project is a biggie, however, I am now ready to tackle it! Wish me luck, I will be back soon, hugs to all, =^.^=

Hi there ! Extreme Coupon~er wannabee!

Hi Sunshines, yes I am still around, been so busy with booths and editing and trying my best to start with the extreme coupon~ing.

I am still doing my research regarding and am collecting them as well. I have to spend more time finding them seems like though!

I have gone to the manufacturer's sites only to find they are not offering any at the moment. Now what? She asks! Think I am going to the wrong place!

Now I am clipping them from the weekly flyer's I get in the mail and I did pick up a Sunday paper last week, only to find there were none of interest to me! WOW GREAT! Won't do that again for awhile! :)

I have found Shortcuts.com and have signed up for their email alerts, as well as Albertsons, Smith's and Von's. You can enter your "card" number on their websites when you sign up and "send" the coupons to your card so you don't have to print them! What a savings in ink!

I am sure all of you already know this stuff, I am now looking for a mentor! Anyone? Hello? Really Kat? YES REALLY! How do I get started tracking and logging and keeping them in order?

Help?

I will keep at it and hopefully I can report soon, I spent $5.00 on $350.00 worth of groceries! :) Wouldn't THAT be so GRAND!

I would check out my local stores to see if they have delivery too! Some of them do, that would be so wonderful if ever necessary! WOW Hope you all have a good one! Hugs Kat =^.^=

Happy October! Coupons Coupons Where to find them? HELP!

Hello Sunshines, well, I need help please! I am trying to find where or a really good site to go to to get great coupons. I am so sure there are many sites, I have found some but today I am looking for Iams Dog Food coupons and do you think I can find just one NO

 I have the BUG to start and try and save as much as money as I can on groceries and pup food, not to mention ALL the other stuff too!

If you know of a good place or are willing to help me find a few please? I would love your feedback and comments! I am getting back on track in a hurry!

I would also love love love a tutorial on how to get started on couponing as well! I've seen the show and WOW is all I can say, sign me up please!

I found one named American Eagle Coupon Code.com :) These are for clothes but I am not ordering clothing anytime soon, now just concerned with food and toiletriesm cleaning, etc. :)

Hugs Kat =^.^=

Spending! Oops!

Hi Sunshines, long time no write!!! well it has certainly been a while since I blogged on this new place of mine! I must admit I have been spending, only for the booth, bits and pieces and feel really guilty but the sales are good so far into my first time ever having a booth and still learning so much as I go. 

Edit Edit Edit.....back on track!

I am getting ready to get rid of a ton of vintage linens now. I finally am getting to them. I am doing laundry night and day as I want them to be fresh and very clean to resale. I am also adding lovely vintage baby clothing to my line at the booth! I have found some beautiful things packed away in the garage.

I am still editing my home, getting ready to let go of some furniture this week as it will not fit in anymore. That will open up a couple of rooms for me and some much needed added space for organizing.

Today I re-arranged my shed out back. It was only 91 deg! in October!!! and  I finally got up the gumption to remove everything and put my shelves together and put the stuff back in so I can get to it when editing time comes around, probably next week! It is SO much cleaner now, more organized and at least one half of it is done, I ran out of daylight!, I must finish it tomorrow so will be getting up early before it gets too hot again!

Most of that stuff was Christmas decor and I have some to let go for sure. I did find three wreaths to make and I think I may do that for the booth, I love making Christmas things and now is the time.

I might even let my Christmas tree go! I do have a box of vintage decorations though that I will never let go. They are from WAY back when my kids were growing up and some of them they painted for me. I started to get one new decoration each year so my tree is a leaner! :)

Isn't it so very funny how kids change when they get older! :)

I hope you are all doing well, I am hanging in ! At least trying, I have my MOMENTS and FAILURES, but I will press on! :) Anyway I am not trying to beat myself up too much here, I could do better and must get back on track for sure..... PRAY FOR ME!!!  Hugs Kat =^.^=

PS I have learned how to maneuver over at CVS though, I get the emails with dollars off and
percentages off and that is working fine for the laundry detergent and the TP and Paper Towels! Saving there, they really do have a wonderful program. Instead of printing the coupon from the email I can literally SEND it to the card, no waste of printer ink! :)

Now only if ACE would go that route too! :)

New Vocabulary!

W O R D S - M E A N I N G S - R E - G R O U P
accumulation
editing
re-decorating
stuff
dust catchers
things
paper
edit
edit
edit
re-adjust
re-align
re-group
support group
organize
move and clean
failure
success
realization
back on track
back on the road

The above words absolutely RUN through my mind on a daily basis, BUT they are not sticking! One moment I get it the next I don't! To say that the accumulation of stuff, of things, of my things over the past umpteen years is putting it mildly in the overwhelming area.

I am O V E R W H E L M E D! AGAIN! And when I get this way, I LEAVE!!!! What is up with that!!!!!?????? Do you do that too?

I need help, help with editing, moving, re-arranging my furniture, little that I have, and making my space acceptable to bring friends in without having to apologize for how it looks!

I have some new and just wonderful friends, however, that do not judge me, for they also have issues with stuff and absolutely no time like myself to address it! But do I still feel bad and overwhelmed? YES!

So, now what? What do we do? How to we approach? I have many books ( a whole other issue and sickness) that will tell me how to organize, I get that, really. BUT to move things completely out of a room is silly, really, who has that much space to muddie up another space just to put the stuff back in the original space again! I don't! I must STEP OVER STUFF! LOL fall and get up and start again!

I thought about not eating for a while and hiring a professional organizer, BUT some of them are the throw it all away types and I don't have crap or junk, its all good, so I want to organize what I have to sell since I have a booth, so others will get something nice and I can rid my space of yet more little things here and there.

Frustrating, add that word to all of this as well. Then add daily life issues and wow it can be really overwhelming!

When I was young and had children I will never forget one thing my beloved Mother said to me. She was about my age now, looked at me and said "Honey, I really don't know how you do all of this with two kids, a husband, clean, cook, shop, take care of the household, wallpaper, paint, plant, do it all!"  My response was Mom you taught me how to do it all! We both cried!

When she passed, she had so much stuff as well, BUT it was organized, really. My Sis and I cried when we went through her things, looked at each other and said, WOW "Mom was really organized and she NEVER THOUGHT SHE WAS!"

Well, now I am an empty nester, with so much accumulated stuff. Sorry for venting but that is what this blog is all about now. I sincerely hope you guys can vent here as well. I can't be the only one in this situation!

To be honest, I have been re-decorating my home with my current things and replacing some with smaller used items, so I have been spending there just to get organized, so I have failed in the beginning of my no spending zone a little.

I was hoping to stay on track, I swayed, but am now back on track again.  I hope you can forgive me! I have re-thought all of this no spending and I have decided not to cut myself off from all things loved, like publications. I need to reward myself with something I love to keep me on track, so I have made that conscious decision.

I have also realized that to say NO SPENDING in one day, one thought, one moment, is silly and no one could stop cold turkey so to speak, so I have forgiven myself for my slight detour!

I hope anyone reading this will go easier on themselves also should they decide to follow me in this journey. I am, after all, really learning a new lifestyle, just like eating, and oh I am doing that as well. I was eating out with friends and making bad fried choices so that will have to stop, salads yes, fried no.

It is time for me to change my habits, re-adjust, re-align, re-gain, re-run my thoughts and most of all re-group to the original mission!

Here we go again, after thinking and having time to make these huge messes in my home while I do this, one wonders where does all this stuff come from? Again, Really? Yes, why do we "pick up this and that" at the market or store? Why?

I would love to hear from any of you with your thoughts, wisdom, suggestions, please be nice, LOL as I am having more of a hard time than I thought! I must stop beating myself up now and get back to this mess! I hope you all have a wonderful week, I plan to!  Hugs Kat =^.^=

WO HOO MONDAY!

Ok, well good morning Sunshines! This will be me later when I mow the lawn, however, I have a push mower!

Update, still no spending on unnecessary stuff! Yeah me! Regular foodstuffs, keep the home running kinda stuff, but no magazines or stuff, really hard not to get a new magazine! If anyone wants to send me the latest Romantic Country!!!!!!! Please feel free! I guess I will be loitering in the stores now! LOL


The garage sale actually made a good dent in the stuff, the garage is still full but most is for the Etsy store, tubs and tubs of vintage linens saved throughout the years. It is an addiction, but now I will be washing gently, ironing and packaging up to sell on Etsy.com in my store linenladyk.


I have a few prime pieces of furniture left taking up valuable real estate in the garage though. One is a claw foot solid oak buffet! It must be about 100 years old. I am trying to configure a way to fit this in but it is not working out. I would take a picture, but that will be later when I can stand it upright. I am fixing one of the claw feet.

It apparently came from a older ladies home, it has never been painted and the oak is crazed the dark brown, a lovely patina, lovely piece, the feel of it is so textured and aged. I often wonder where pieces like this have been and who cared for them so thoughtfully.

The other is a small dainty buffet hutch with a glass top and solid bottom, and a large entertainment center with lots of cubbies, a really neat piece that one could shabby up quite nicely! I will try and find homes for these!


Baby Step One, be prepared for the garage sale. Lots of water and shade, it was 106 deg and humid. I put two patio umbrellas up to sit under, that was the saving grace! I had pen and paper and took numbers of those interested in my furniture pieces and was able to call them to view the pieces I had in the house. This worked out great!

Baby Step Two, get a good night's sleep for sure!

Baby Step Three, have food at the ready to run and get if needed, I was alone for two of the days and a friend for one, which made a huge difference.  On the alone days, my neighbor came over a couple of times to let me run into the house and get more water and take a little break. a couple of minutes makes a big difference!

I hope you have a wonderful fun week Sunshines! I will!  Take care, hugs Kat =^.^=