Pantry from Hell

I'm slowly but surely getting this pantry in order. It's been calling my name for months and I can't deal anymore. Its starting to pile up with stock from my mini "extreme couponing" outings, and lots of other junk. After reading a billion "how to organize your pantry" blog posts and articles, I started tackling the monster last week. I've made a little progress, but I'm still not done. Still on the list is:

1. Put a light in there! (the pantry is under a set of stairs, so it's dark).

2. Get rid of the mini fridge taking up space (waiting for hubby to do it might take another 6 months).

3. Put in a few more bins and make labels.

4. Possibly put in a few more shelves, and work on a solution for recyclables and bag storage (for all of our plastic and fabric bags)

5. Think of a door option. Not a full door, but maybe some cute saloon doors? Just so the first thing people see when they come into our kitchen isn't our canned foods and piles of cardboard (our cardboard/ paper gets picked up only every 2 weeks and the pantry is the only place to store it).

6. At some point I'd like to "make it pretty" but honestly I don't think I'll get to that point before we finally move into our own home. So this is last on the list.

Here are some pics of the progress so far. The first picture is of course the "before" pic. The next 2 are how it looks now. Like I said, still working on it, but I'll get there!!

First (blogged) DIY

I've done many, many diy projects, but this will be the first one that I've posted online that's not wedding related (see some of my wedding projects here)

I took this week off of work, just to kind of relax, do some organizing in the house, and get a few diy projects started.  The first one up are some footed containers.

I originally wanted to do something like this for our daughter's Sweet 16, which was candy themed, and had a full sweets bar.  I was overly ambitious for that party (all the sweets were made by yours truly), and never got around to doing these, but still wanted them for our home. So I started looking for containers. I found 2 really cute small apothecary jars at the thrift store for $1 for both.  Then I had some almost empty candle jars laying around.  I cleaned those out by pouring hot water in them and letting them sit for a little while (the remaining wax melts and floats to the top, then you can just dump it).  I used WD-40 on the stickers to make them come off easily.  I found that it was easier to spray some on the labels, then leave it overnight.  The next morning the label and glue came right off.  The last containers I used were just some small frosted votive holders left over from our wedding.  Here's a list of everything you'll need:

- Jars (candle jars, olive or salsa jars, mason jars, etc.)  If you're using jars that have labels, WD-40 works really well to take the label/glue off.
- Candlestick holders. I picked up a few from the thrift store, and had some laying around the house.
- Spray Paint, if you want to paint the stands (I picked up some matte white for $3 at Dollar General)
- Heavy Duty adhesive.  Get one that's made for crafting and can be used for glass, ceramic, etc.  (I found one called E6000 at Dollar General).

This is what I started with.  I'm not using all of these for this project, but I'm sure I'll find something else to do with them :)

Make sure you pair up the jars with a candle holder that can support it so that it's not too top heavy.  You want these to be able to stand on their own and not tip over at the slightest push, especially if you want to store things in them.

Paint your holders, and if you're using food jars (like olive or salsa jars) spray the top as well.

Once your candle holders are dry, now it's time to glue the jars to them.  Follow the directions on the glue packaging, but they'll most likely say to apply a thin layer to both surfaces to be glued together, let them sit for a minute or two, then put the two pieces together.  Make sure that they are placed evenly.  Let them sure for the time indicated on the glue packaging (mine recommends 24-72 hours).  Here are the end results!

Old Bath & Body Works Candle jars with glass candlesticks

Mini Apothecary jars with painted ceramic candle stick holders:

Frosted Votive Holders with small wooden candlestick holders that I painted an sanded to look aged:

New Year, New Goals!

I don't really think of these as New Years Resolutions, but after a chaotic 2012 - planning our wedding, our daughter's sweet 16, both of us starting new ventures - my plan for 2013 is really just to take it down a few notches, and start doing things I really want to do, and keep that up from now on - not just a beginning of year type thing that will die out 2 months later when everyone else has forgotten their Resolutions as well.  Lucky for us, we have nothing "big" going on this year other than our plan to start putting aside money to buy a house.  With that in mind, my goals for this year are (in no particular order):

- "Me" Time.  This means making a commitment to put aside time for myself, whether it's to better myself physically, or do something I've been wanting to do but haven't had the time (My thrifting obsession, and my new passion - sewing).

- "Me & Hubby" Time.  Our honeymoon was actually 2 1/2 days in Atlantic City (about 1 1/2 hours from us) and consisted of lots of sleeping, room service, lounging around watching tv, and worrying that the kids were driving my mom crazy (and they were).  So, this year we're hoping for a couple of mini-moons, the first one being next month with 3 days in PA. Can't wait!

- Get this household in order.  I won't go too much into detail about this since this you'll see a lot about this in each post, but basically organizing our apartment (and trying to survive in this tiny space with us, four kids, my mom, and a dog), getting rid of things we don't need while deciding what we can use when we finally buy our house, and most importantly (for me) make it pretty!! (and that will happen through lots of thrifting and diy projects)

- Don't spend one unnecessary penny! With our plan to buy a house, every penny counts, so the goal this year is not only to cut our spending and increase our savings, but also to find ways to be creative with the money we do spend.  This is again where our love for DIY and thrifting come in.  It's not just about the money... I think anything is better if you put love and effort into it.  Quick example - I had a brooch bouquet for our wedding.  I could have spent the $300+ to buy one from one of the very talented Etsy ladies and it would have been beautiful, but I loved mine so much more because every brooch I hand picked at flea markets, street fairs, or received from friends and family (and the bonus was that is was waaay cheaper than buying one pre-made). And I think this goes for everything in the home as well.  I picked up a dresser last week for $4 that I can't wait to strip and stain and make pretty!!   I spend a lot of time on mom blogs and pinterest, and have found so many awesome ideas, and I always think "Hey, I Can Do That!!", hence the name of this blog (which is a first for me).

So, with that, if you're still with me, thanks for reading, and check back soon for the next post!