Our Tiny First Apartment

On Facebook today, I was looking at some old pictures, when I came across the pictures of our first apartment.  It was campus married housing.  Small. And $475 a month.  Did I mention that it was small?

Our "kitchen" had a table that tripled as a table, desk, and microwave holder.  We didn't even have enough space to hold our microwave!  Everything looked so shiny and new (well, it was).  Plus, it looks a lot less cluttered than our current apartment.  Maybe having a baby changes how cluttered things are/look.

The highlights:

The magnetic calendar on the fridge ruined my laptop in that apartment~  whoops!

It might sound strange, but I loved that tiny kitchen.  Putting away our wedding gifts as a new bride in that tiny room was so fun.  Everything was new, and we loved it.  That sign "I kiss better than I cook" still hangs above my stove now.  I still love the red.

Yep.  Only enough counter space for a bottle of soap!

When I told my brother that I had been in bathroom stalls that were larger than our bathroom floor space, he doubted me!  I have proof!  Plus, he came to visit and laughed for a few minutes at our tiny bathroom.

This one reminds me of all those times on HGTV when they suggest putting a water heater in the MIDDLE of an apartment.  Such a conversation piece.  Also, it's an eyesore.  We ended up getting a folding screen to cover it up a little bit.  Please note that there was also no linen closet.  Thank you Target for selling us garage shelving to make a hall closet.

You know it's good when...

You know that you've picked out a great kind of soap when your husband comes out of the bathroom smelling his hands.  Then you curiously ask, "What are you doing?"  He then replies, "What's this soap? It smells good."  If I can get my husband to like a product that's pretty much all natural, but a little girly looking and vintage...then it's a win.

Thus I present to you another way to go green, plus a product that is down-right wonderful (and husband approved!)

Yes, it's a little pricey.  But it smells amazing, and I have to give credit to a company that makes things that are designed to be natural and safe.  Especially since I have a very curious young man at my home who is into everything.  And I have a baby.  Besides, once school is out I'm going to try out a tutorial on how to make my own refills of Mrs. Meyers soaps on the cheap.  But more on that later.

Who left the mop running?

First I must include a picture from my FAVORITE Disney movie.  (Note the quote)

But anyway, this is about a new mop that I love!  It's one of my goals to become more environmentally friendly.  I think of it as all a part of being a good steward of what I have, and that includes taking steps to keep the Earth clean.  Plus, it's really embarrassing when you have tons of trash outside your house for garbage day.  I know.

Nobody is giving me any money to write this, though I could sure use it!  : )  But I love the O-Cedar spray mist mop.




It's great because you can refill it with any cleaner you want (just make sure to dilute it), and you can use whatever mop pads you want as well.  If you want to go disposable, you can.  If you want to use some reusable Shark mop pads or the O-Cedar ones, it's up to you!  Today I used the Shark one, and then two disposable.  I know the disposable isn't green, but I had them for a Swiffer mop that I had that I didn't like.  I just wanted to use them up.  I always pick up so much dirt on them that I immediately get concerned that my floor before was filthy!  Does anyone else do that?  But then I get distracted and I don't think about it anymore.

Check it out, it's amazing.  Plus, if you missed Celebrity Apprentice, you should see The Hulk dance with this mop.  So funny.

What a Steal!

My garage sale haul (part 2!).  See part one here.

The day was extremely cold and rainy.  But I bundled myself and Gavin up in our warmest comfiest clothes and we headed out to a subdivision.  The selection was a little surprising, considering how nice the mansions homes were.  Maybe I've lived in an apartment too long...but I saw a bunch of junk there!  I walked off with some of the best of it.

The Gavi-tron will have dress shirts to wear to church in EVERY size until he moves out...and I'll have gotten them for a steal!  Plus, I got him a sweater vest.  It's soooo cute.

Look how cute that little polo is!  It's so soft!

But don't go thinking that I only bought stuff for Gavin.  I managed to score myself a pair of jeans (Gap) for $10 and 2 shirts at $2 a piece.  Yesterday, I wore one of the shirts to work with a skirt that I got from a garage sale as well!  Total price of skirt (Jones New York) and top (Target) = $5.  Paired with some Target clearance tights, I felt like a frugal gal!  But I'm pretty sure no one else noticed, since I received lots of complements.  But if you know me in real life, I paid full price for them and I've never worn anything from Target.  They were designer labels.  

How about you?  Any garage sale scores or hauls?  Please share.

Garage Sale Haul!

I'm new to the whole garage sale-ing thing.  I used to avoid those crazy bargain shoppers...blocking in our driveway...holding their cash...talking people down a buck on used junk.  But, I judge no more!  After the large kids clothes event held in Valparaiso (it was AWESOME!) and a few others held the same day in a similar area, I'm a believer!  Perfectly good boys clothing that's cute and looks brand new.  Adorable little shoes for $2, when I know they retail at over $15.  Here's an exhibit of how crazy I went:

Wide gambit of shirts, sweater, and jackets

Pants, shorts, and socks galore!

Overall, the total was about $80.  But...I did get:

3 Jammies

21 pairs of pants

8 pairs of shorts

3 pairs of shoes

20 pairs of socks

10 onesies

1 coat

1 bathing suit

2 jackets

30 shirts

1 Cubs jersey

That's over 100 items.  Even more if you count the socks and shoes separately.  So if you average everything out, then I paid less that $1 for a ZeroExposure coat, which I know has to be way more than that at Kohls.  Nothing against Kohls--I love them.  But this was waaaaaaaay cheeper!

And now for the bad news: I think I might be addicted to garage sales.  I spent last night searching them on Craigslist.  Then I spent time strategizing about who would go with me.  (I might be addicted, but I'm still scared of crazy garage-salers).  Anyone want to garage sale?  ; )