Our New Lawnmower is Reel Cool!

Our last house had a giant yard......our current house has a small patch of 'grass' in front.  I use the term grass loosely- the landscaping has been neglected for so long it's mostly leaves and weeds.

We used a riding mower to cut the yard before...but that was going to be a bit much for our little patch of lawn.  Our intention was to go get an electric mower that I could easily start.  After looking at our options, and realizing that we would need a 200 foot power cord from the outlet in the garage to the front yard, we took the plunge and decided to try a reel mower.  Lowe's has a 90 day return policy, so we thought, "why not?"

Well, so far, so good! On the pro side: it's really quiet and lightweight.  It uses no gas or electricity, so it's very eco-friendly.  The model we chose has an adjustable blade height, so that's a plus, too. The cons are: it uses no gas or electricity..you have to PUSH it! You really do need to add some elbow grease.  It doesn't do well over the bumpy tree roots- we have to go back over some areas with the [gas powered] weed-eater. On our first time out with it, two separate neighbors asked if we wanted to borrow their lawnmower!

The verdict is: I think we are going to keep it.. for now.  We'll have to see how it works with the thicker grass this summer.  I think if we can remember to walk it around every couple of days, and not let the grass get out of control, we will be fine. Who knows? Maybe I'll look into some drought resistant landscaping options and render our 'reel cool' lawn mower obsolete!

Secrets to Hosting a Successful Yard Sale

It's officially spring, so you know what that means.......Yard Sale Season!!

My husband will tell you that our home is tastefully decorated in "Early Yardsale".  Ha, ha! That's fine with me- I love the hunt for a perfect 'treasure', and I love that nobody else has the same decor...ours is definitely unique!

We recently held two yard-sales on consecutive weekends in March.  We did the first sale at our "old" house, then put everything that didn't sell into a truck and held a sale in our new neighborhood. Between the two sales, we grossed over $500.00! And we didn't even sell all that needed to go: we took a truckload to Goodwill, brought a piece of furniture to a consignment store, and broke a substantial piece of furniture, which we put on the curb and someone picked up (free, of course!) 

Here are some tips that I have learned over the years that help make your yard-sale the most profitable it can be:

1. Put the yard-sale on the calendar.  It gives you a goal to shoot for. A successful yard sale takes planning! As you get closer to D-day, if the weather looks bad, or you have an unplanned kids event you can't get out of, you can change the date- it's not set in stone, but writing it down makes it an event and it will help you to keep yourself accountable.

2. Now that you know when you're going to have the sale, you need to decide what to sell.  Designate an area to put everything you want to sell: the garage, a spare bedroom, etc. Let your family know to go through their things and put what they want to sell in your "area". Tip: I have encouraged my kids in the past to part with their things by promising them something special with the money they make. One year, we bought new beach toys with their proceeds. Maybe a new Wii game would entice your kids to part with their beloved belongings?  Make sure everything you are going to sell is in good condition, has all the pieces, is working, and is clean. If you are overrun with Happy Meal toys, put them in a shoebox and offer the children shopping with their mothers a free toy. This will keep the kids from whining and/or distracting their parents from purchasing your things!

3. Figure out where you are going to hold your garage sale. In the actual garage? The yard? The driveway? Are you  going solo, or will you have a neighborhood yard-sale? Don't wait until the last minute to figure out the details- yard sales start very early in the morning and you need a plan to execute everything smoothly.

4. Do you have tables to display your items? If not, see if you can borrow tables from family, friends, and neighbors. If you are selling clothes, use (or borrow) a clothes rack. This will make all the difference. if you cannot find a clothes rack to use, be creative! Tie a bungee rope between two sturdy trees and hang your clothes there, or if you have a garment rack for your car, back your car up to the sale area and pop the tailgate and hang the clothing there. Bookcases work well for displaying books..empty small ones in your house and bring them out side. You can use masking tape to mark "Display only- table/bookcase/rack not for sale". Unless, of course, you plan to sell it, too!

I used the armoire shelves to display items

5. Decide how you are going to advertise your yard-sale. I was shocked to find out the local paper charged $30 for an ad run only one day. Instead, I advertised on craigslist.org, facebook, and made directional signs.  I got tomato stakes from the garden store, and stapled poster-board sign to them.  Don't be afraid to get creative! One year, we had a blast making signs that said "you're almost there", "keep going" , "too late to turn back now!" Lots of people commented on how fun the signs were to follow. If your town recently had an election, sometimes you can gather up the old political signs (for free!) and staple your sign over that.

6. Make sure you have change. Small bills and lots of quarters. most people who shop yard sales know it pays to have small bills- easier to negotiate if you're not paying with a $100 bill! Also, decide if you will accept checks for big-ticket items.  you have a better chance of selling if you do.  It's a risk, I know, but amazingly, I've never had a bounced check for a yard sale item. It's your call- sometimes you just have to assess the person and hope for the best.

7. When you set up your yard sale, it's all about the display.  I often do a "drive by"- if I don't see anything enticing, I wont bother to stop and look. If I see a bunch of boxes and clothes on the ground, forget it! Put your big ticket items out front where people can see, and use tables to display everything else.  Try to keep like items together. You may even bundle things to get a bigger price.  I recently filled a plastic toolbox I was selling anyway with a bunch of hair bows and hair accessories. I got $10 for the whole thing, but would have had to sell each item for $.50. Also, I filled an old jewelry box with costume jewelry I was selling...$8 for the whole thing! I like to pretend my yard is my 'store' and make things attractive as if I were in a mall. At my recent yard sale, several people asked where my shop was!

Books organized by genre on table 

8. Which brings us to pricing. I know you like your stuff and want top dollar for it, right? Keep in mind this is a yard sale. People who yard sale are looking for a bargain.  If you have a one-of-a-kind-autographed-poster, you might be better off trying to sell that on eBay or craigslist.  Otherwise, the purpose of the yard sale is to get rid of your stuff and make some money so you can buy new stuff, right? So, price it to sell! Personally, I don't put a price tag on anything, unless I am firm about what I want to sell it for. Even then, you have to be prepared that you might not sell it at your asking price. You can put out signs for bulk items like "Books- 2/$1.00 or VHS movies: 50 cents each! Also, be open to bartering. This spring, a lady wanted a love seat, a rocker, and some buckets that I had for sale. She said she couldn't afford to pay for them, but could she clean my house in exchange? Heck, yeah! Since we were moving and getting ready to list our house for sale, her cleaning my house took one thing off my back, and she did a great job,too!

9. Here's an idea that's always worth mentioning: especially if you have older children that can help out, consider having a refreshment area. People shopping yard sales are hungry & thirsty! Sell lemonade and banana bread, or cookies and bottled water, have out a carafe of hot coffee - you get the idea.  Put the kids in charge of the refreshments, and you will make a nice profit on that, too!

10.  When the yard sale is over, have a plan for what to do with the stuff  that doesn't sell.  I usually have a box that goes up to the attic for the next yard sale, a box that goes to Goodwill, and a plan such as consignment stores for any big-ticket items left.  You can also consider freecycle.org for anything you just want gone.
 
Good Luck and Happy Selling! If you decide to have a yard sale, let me know- I do love a treasure hunt!

How To Live Well

 My mother sent my daughter this card for her 14th birthday......very wise and relevant- weather you're 14 or 144!

How To Live Well

May you keep getting to know yourself better-and keep loving what you discover.

May you never stop learning, growing, and dreaming.

May you travel to places you always wanted to go-and find yourself right at home wherever you are.

May you take up something new- or something old that you put aside once upon a time. 

May you take good care of yourself in every possible way- and let those who love you take care of you now and then, too.

May you remember all the happiness you've known and believe with all your heart that some of your best joys are yet to come.

May you live each day like you've only just begun. 

But most of all, may you never forget how deeply you are loved. 

-hallmark greeting card

Saving Green by Moving Green

     In my effort to live my life more simply, I am consciously aware of my carbon footprint, and what we are consuming on a daily basis.

    Nothing makes your consumption more evident that making a move. (By the way, you have no idea how truly dirty your house is until you move.....I really think people should be forced to move every five years purely for sanitation purposes- I thought my home was relatively clean: not!)

   During our latest home move, we were fortunate to be able to take our time moving, which helped the process go much greener than we thought.

   Our last move was an out of state move.  I hired a moving company, and decided to let the moving company pack the kitchen for me. With little kids, this made sense: I could use my kitchen right up to the move, which freed me up to pack the rest of the house. I was horrified when I was unpacking the new house, and  found the movers had used a whole box filled with paper to pack one serving platter. I was also horrified to find they packed my trash!!! Yup, I opened a box to find my garbage had moved across state lines with us!

   This move was different. I hired a local moving company to move the furniture only. I was able to save money by using a smaller truck, and I used a company that charged by the hour.   Everything else has been moved over with laundry baskets. I didn't buy a single box, packing tape, or packing papers. Since we are still readying our old house for sale, every trip I make, I pack up the car. Laundry baskets go back and forth with me. I use old bath towels to cushion anything breakable. No boxes, no tissue paper, just my laundry baskets and my own sweat equity.

   It doesn't sound very simple- it sounds like a lot of trips back and forth and a lot of gas, right? I'm making the trips anyway; in between cleaning both houses & driving the children to their activities, I haven't been doing any extra driving.  Plus a bonus, as I empty the laundry baskets in the new house, I put things away as I go- virtually eliminating packing or unpacking. I can see what is going to work in the new house, and what is going directly to yard sale. Double bonus: the kitchen was all set up before we even officially moved in!

The Key To My Simple Valentine's Day

In our house, Valentine's Day is a non- holiday.....a holiday invented by the greeting card companies that only makes singles feel bad about being single, and couples feel pressure to create that "perfect romantic evening".
I have long ago banned my husband from buying me overpriced flowers: I'd rather get surprised one day in June.  We may meet for lunch, but never go out for dinner where the menu has been inflated and the wait is too long. The expectations for the day are too high- and too many people are disappointed in the end.  We have long ago made a pact to only do cards or small tokens of affection. No pressure, no expectations, no disappointments.The same goes for the kids- who love waking up to a small surprise left on the kitchen table.

This year, we have just moved into a new home, so I decided to give the kids one of those decorative house keys you see at the big-box-do-it-yourself store.   Then it segued in my mind...the keys to our home- the keys to my heart. A quick Google search led me to printable Subway Art- I literally jumped on this train!

I found two printables "The Key To My Heart" for the girls, and a printable I fell in love with that I decided to print out for my husband. A trip to Walmart for discount frames and heart-shaped key-chains and I was almost done. This simple, inexpensive, gift was a hit! Top it off with chocolate croissants for breakfast, it almost made me believe in Valentine's Day.

                                                                   Google Image

                                                   Just Devine Style link "Key to my Heart"

                                                                   Subway Art printable

                                           Chocolate Croissants: refrigerated croissants rolled up
                                           with chocolate chips and sprinkled with powdered
                                           sugar- Yum!


                                          

Reduce, Reuse, FREECYCLE!!

If getting your home more organized was one of your New Year's resolutions, you're in luck!  According to the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), January is Get Organized month (or GO month, for short). There are still five days left in January, so it's not too late to get started!  This fits perfectly with my life- since we are downsizing our home in early February, getting organized now is a must!

Since my husband and I decided to make the move to The Big City, we have been purging, organizing, and stressing a little bit about how we are going to downsize our life into 1800 square feet. (Emphasis on "reduce"!)

I have brought carloads of outgrown clothes and toys to the Goodwill, I have weeded out the brand-name clothes and listed them with a local consignment store,  I have established a yard-sale-pile, I am selling some furniture outright, and I have "Freecycled" many items.

Freecycle? So many of my friends that I have mentioned this to are not acquainted with this great community, so I thought now would be the perfect time to blog about it. 

Freecycle is an online community group where you can offer items you no longer need. Everything offered must be free. The group is moderated, and you must fall within the guidelines of what you can give away. Most Freecycle groups will not allow you to offer pets, for example. The purpose of Freecycle is to offer your "trash" for someone else to use for "treasure". This keeps your unwanted items out of landfills, and gives someone else a chance to use the item, rather than buy new.

Some people rely on this service, as they cannot afford to purchase new, and some people, I have found, just like the treasure hunt!

E-mails from people who are interested in your offers are sent directly to you. Sob stories, or reasons why one person deserves an item over another person are frowned upon. Personally, I give the item to the first person who contacts me, period, as it should be. In most cases the person who wants your offered item will come to you to pick it up- you don't even need to haul it anywhere! I usually just put the item on my front porch with the person's name on it, and they come get the item at their convenience.  Of course, if you're not comfortable having strangers come to your home, you can make whatever arrangements you wish.

Freecycle is free to join, and you can join or learn more about this service at www.freecycle.org.  You can search for the Freecycle community closest to you. After you are a member, simply post any items you may want to get rid of, or browse the offers available.

Recently I have given away two artificial Christmas trees, an outdoor wreath that was only half lit, and I have an offer out for a poured stone mantle that fell off my wall five years ago. Everybody that I have met through freecycle have been extremely friendly and appreciative of my offerings.

The next time you have an unwanted item, before you drag it to the end of the driveway with the weekly garbage, think if that item might be useful to someone else. With minimal effort, you can do your part to save our planet.

Happy Freecycling!!

Re-purposing Christmas Cards

My favorite "gift" card!

It's January, so it must be time for the annual "Chopping of the Cards!"

I love Christmas cards! To me, they are like little presents waiting for me in the mailbox every day in December. (I also love to get mail, but that's another post!)

After I open the cards, I display them proudly around my door frame.  When Christmas is over, I'm sad to take them down, and they are so beautiful, I hate to throw them away. People put a lot of thought, effort, and money into their season's greetings, it's a shame to add them to the landfill.  However, the organized person inside me cannot just pile them up and keep them from year to year, either. I don't even keep credit card statements!

For several years now I have been turning these lovely Christmas cards into gift tags to use for the next Christmas. It is so simple to do, and it saves me a ton of money on commercial tags. 

After I take down the cards, I check the inside cover for any writing, and discard those.  They are not useful tags if they have writing on the back.  Then I use a paper cutter to separate the front of  the cards from the back of the cards.

 Perfect for large gifts next year

The next step is to analyze the cards.  Most cards can be cut up into several small gift tags, or they can be cropped down to showcase a pretty shape, etc. Some cards cannot be trimmed at all. These cards make great gift tags for large presents, just simply write the "To" and "From" with a Sharpie marker. 

The next thing I do is use my paper cutter to trim the cards to small square or rectangular form.  Depending on the image on the card, I might use my circle cutter, or cut a silhouette of a true shape.  I punch a hole in the top of the tag, and tie string or thin ribbon through the hole to complete the tag.  I cannot wait until next year to put all of these beautiful tags on my gifts!