The weather has officially turned, as have our clocks (daylight savings time has begun), so my focus has been on the inside of our house since it is dark by the time I get home from work. The inside of our house, as you know, needs a lot of help, so when I look around and think, "What can I do here?", I have visions of sledgehammering through walls, tearing out cabinets, ripping up floors, etc., but then I have to take a deep breath because we are not yet ready for major construction. So, I've tried to shift my focus to not-so-grandiose (and costly) projects that still make me feel like I'm accomplishing something inside. I have three ideas floating around my head right now that can be done inside and make me feel like my house is a bit more organized and prettier (if that is actually possible without the major construction).
The first project is
sprucing up my living room. Three things need to happen here: I need to paint, buy window hangings, and get some shelves up on the walls so my sad books will be able to get out of their dusty boxes and breathe again. Paint, window hangings, and shelves won't cost that much...and it will really make that room feel warmer, more comfy, and more like home. (More furnishings, decorations, and rugs will have to come later.) It's basically the only room in the house that is not having its walls touched, moved or redone in any way, and I already know my color scheme, so I need to - in the words of Phil Knight - just do it. It shouldn't cost me any more than $150-$200 to do all three things.
Cheap-o project #2 is
creating a better system for dealing with my recycling. I need some kind of permanent sorting doo-dah; these paper bags just aren't working for me. Look how gross this looks; I mean, come on.
Here's my solution: I'm thinking about building a four cubbyhole shelf (think square box with a cross in the middle) out of plywood or mdf, painting it white, and having one of these totes in each hole (probably with no lid...I will just make sure it fits nice and snug in its cubbyhole):
Lowes
These totes hold around 14 gallons, so they'll hold a lot of recyclables, and at Lowes they are only about $7 each! I would somehow fix a cute label to each of them saying what belongs in each (glass, plastic, tin, paper), so there is no confusion as to where your empty pop can or salsa jar goes. Awesome plastic fact: if they happen to get gross because we (Mark) forget to wash out a green bean can, we can just hose them out! The only problem I'm having is determining where I put it. In my dining nook for now? In the basement? On the covered side porch? What do you think?
In addition to my new recycling center, I plan on buying a small kitchen composter, like this 2 gallon one at The Home Depot for only $19:
The Home Depot
We will eventually need to build an exterior compost bin out of wood, but I need someplace to keep scraps that won't smell up the entire kitchen for now. This one's filter is said to last 3 months (and replacement filters are only $7).
This project would cost me no more than $75 and I would feel SO organized and lose those nasty overflowing paper bags!
Last but not least, the "big kahuna" of the three project that will take a lot of man/woman-power and not a lot of bucks:
organizing my 1,600 square foot basement. This is what the disaster that is my basement currently looks like:
And, yes, in case you were wondering, that is sawdust on the floor. *Sigh* We sure have our work cut out for us on this project. For now, we won't be able to deal with the exposed beam ceilings, cement floors and general grossness of this basement (that's a future project), but this space can be so much better and more usable if it were organized in a way that made sense and cleaned up. I want there to be four areas of the basement: a laundry area, a nicely organized storage area (hiking gear, Christmas decorations, etc.), a nice workspace for Mark, and a pottery studio for me.
Oh how I wish our basement would look something like this with minimal effort on my part:
Country Living
Ah, to have all those antiques! I'd die! Seriously, it will never look like that. But it can definitely look better than it does right now! The only monetary costs that I can think of that might be associated with cleaning up/organizing our basement are new light bulbs and some more of those Rubbermaid Roughneck Totes from Lowes, so maybe a total of $30? Not too bad!
There you have it - my next three projects that I hope to have done before Christmas...which is only 7 weeks away!! I better get moving!
Just for fun, let's see how close I come to my estimated budget:
Living room: $150-$200
Recycling center: $75
Basement organization: $30
Estimated Grand Total: $300
Wish me luck and lots of good deals!
