When I was a little girl, my favorite Disney movie by far was The Little Mermaid. I watched that VHS cassette more times than I can count - my mom used to say I wore it out. Back then, I didn't realize that Ariel would have been considered a hoarder. For anyone who hasn't seen it (shame on you), the main character is a mermaid who collects items from shipwrecks to learn more about humans and their life on land. She dreams of living with them instead of under the sea because she doesn't feel like she belongs there.
I've always enjoyed collecting little things here and there. It might be something I find interesting, or something that I feel has sentimental value, or something that I think I'll use someday and then never get a chance to do anything with. Nevertheless, things added up. When I moved from my college apartment to my first real apartment on my own, I had a TON of stuff. I just kept accumulating things along the way. I'm a teacher, so anything I feel has value and I can use in the classroom is something that is difficult to get rid of. I've had 3 different classrooms and collected 2 different grade levels (2nd and 6th). Now that I teach preschool, I don't have much use of the other grade levels - BUT YOU NEVER KNOW :/ I hate getting rid of it. It hurts me to get rid of things I've collected for teaching.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Dollar Tree Find!
Anyone who knows me well will tell you about my love/hate relationship with Dollar Tree. There are so many awesome things to buy that I spend WAY too much time and money in DT. I'm a teacher, so of course I buy items for my classroom to organize books and other materials.
In my quest for an organized house, I've gotten bins for the bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen and other areas of the house which have made a few improvements overall. My DT doesn't always have the best selection of items and sometimes they are behind the times on getting certain items in stock unfortunately. But yesterday afternoon (with 2 tired kids in tow), I hit the jackpot! I found the vacuum-sealed storage bags (like Space Bags). I remember trying out Space Bags with my mom back when I lived at home, but they didn't work well. I've had some bad luck with buying some generic things from the DT, so I googled to see if anyone had tried them before. Apparently they've been carrying them for 2 years or more :/ My DT just got them in within the last couple weeks or so for the first time. I read reviews from a few people saying that they worked, so I bought 6 large bags.
I was researching other vacuum space saving bags on Amazon recently and I had an idea of where I'd like to use them. My son has an abundance of blankets he has received over the years. It seems like every Christmas (except this one), he gets a blanket from someone as a gift. He's also claimed several of my "fuzzy" fleece blankets as his own. I've been storing them on the top shelf in his bathroom linen closet for lack of space in his room, but they were almost up to the ceiling. I took them out of the closet, piled them on the couch in the living room, and got to work. I refolded them to fit them in the bags and was able to fit 3 medium sized blankets in each bag. I left room near the seal, so they were relatively easy to close. Once I vacuumed the bags, each one was about 2-3 inches thick. A big improvement! I was so excited. I ended up using 3 of the bags I purchased, sealing up 9 blankets that were previously taking up at least 2-3 feet (in height) of space in the closet. I'm going to check back in a week or so to make sure they aren't leaking air back in, but I'm feeling pretty great about my find!
In my quest for an organized house, I've gotten bins for the bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen and other areas of the house which have made a few improvements overall. My DT doesn't always have the best selection of items and sometimes they are behind the times on getting certain items in stock unfortunately. But yesterday afternoon (with 2 tired kids in tow), I hit the jackpot! I found the vacuum-sealed storage bags (like Space Bags). I remember trying out Space Bags with my mom back when I lived at home, but they didn't work well. I've had some bad luck with buying some generic things from the DT, so I googled to see if anyone had tried them before. Apparently they've been carrying them for 2 years or more :/ My DT just got them in within the last couple weeks or so for the first time. I read reviews from a few people saying that they worked, so I bought 6 large bags.
I was researching other vacuum space saving bags on Amazon recently and I had an idea of where I'd like to use them. My son has an abundance of blankets he has received over the years. It seems like every Christmas (except this one), he gets a blanket from someone as a gift. He's also claimed several of my "fuzzy" fleece blankets as his own. I've been storing them on the top shelf in his bathroom linen closet for lack of space in his room, but they were almost up to the ceiling. I took them out of the closet, piled them on the couch in the living room, and got to work. I refolded them to fit them in the bags and was able to fit 3 medium sized blankets in each bag. I left room near the seal, so they were relatively easy to close. Once I vacuumed the bags, each one was about 2-3 inches thick. A big improvement! I was so excited. I ended up using 3 of the bags I purchased, sealing up 9 blankets that were previously taking up at least 2-3 feet (in height) of space in the closet. I'm going to check back in a week or so to make sure they aren't leaking air back in, but I'm feeling pretty great about my find!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Dull Women
You're probably wondering about the blog name (or not, because you don't care but just humor me).
My MIL has a magnet like this on her fridge:
Our last name is Dull - and no, she isn't displaying this as a joke - she always has an immaculate house. There is never anything out of place (except when our children are playing there) and you probably couldn't find a microscopic speck of dirt on the floor.
My home, however, is the opposite of immaculate. In fact, I bought this sign recently at Hobby Lobby (and still haven't gotten around to hanging it).
I have never been a fan of cleaning. I start with good intentions and somewhere along the way, I get lost. Lost in the clutter, lost in organizational projects that never seem to get finished, lost in finding things I forgot I bought.
My husband's idea of cleaning: putting his dirty socks inside his shoes and promptly leaving those same shoes in the middle of the floor.
My 7 year old son's idea of cleaning: throwing anything and everything under the bed.
My 14 month old daughter is the tidiest of all: she loves playing with my hand-me-down toy vacuum cleaner from the 80s and a new toy broom and dustpan set. She also enjoys watching me with my Dyson and helping me push it around the room. Ah, maybe there is hope for her.
I took some time off of work during the school break to spend time with my kids and to catch up with housework. My husband and I worked on cleaning and tidying up the day before Christmas Eve and though it wasn't immaculate, it looked better than it had in months. Then Christmas happened. The sudden possession of brand new clothes, toys, and other gifts. It just went right back to messy.
I'm starting this blog to share my journey of becoming a "Dull" woman and the never-ending mess that is my house.
I took some time off of work during the school break to spend time with my kids and to catch up with housework. My husband and I worked on cleaning and tidying up the day before Christmas Eve and though it wasn't immaculate, it looked better than it had in months. Then Christmas happened. The sudden possession of brand new clothes, toys, and other gifts. It just went right back to messy.
I'm starting this blog to share my journey of becoming a "Dull" woman and the never-ending mess that is my house.
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