HOME/ Homemaking/ Organizing/ Simplifying

Documenting My Preteen’s Room Before Updating

We just updated my Avery’s room & I’m in awe of how time just keeps passing us by. I am eager to share the update with you, but before I do, I want to document what her room looked like BEFORE the update, when she was still a pre-teen.

I took these photos January 2015. Avery requested a room makeover for Christmas so “Santa” brought her the new bedspread you see in the photos, the dot pillow, new containers for her shelves to hold all the things, a soft pink blanket to keep at the end of her bed, and the big furry prop up pillow you see her relaxing on. He also brought her the fuzzy robe you see hanging below, the blue side-table lamp, a soft new puppy with floppy ears, & even those fluffy socks you see on her little feet–that have grown a full size since these photos were taken! She was really into cozy comfort those days and as you can tell, loves all the “soft, fuzzy, fluffy, furry & floppy” things. She was delighted!

Her pile of Christmas gifts that year was huge, especially compared to her sister’s gift piles, who are both older so their Christmas gifts turn into Christmas GIFT–singular–like a new phone or a new guitar. If you don’t have teenagers, know that when you do their gift lists get much smaller but more expensive!

Decorating/ HOME/ Homemaking/ Seasonal

How To Divide A Flower Bouquet To Add Spring Color Throughout Your Home

My new favorite thing to do during my once a week grocery shopping trip is to buy an inexpensive flower bouquet. I then take it home and have so much fun dividing it up into different size vases to distribute around my home.

I’ve never been a huge fan of most mixed flower bouquets. I guess I just like the simplicity of one color and texture, so I have always preferred bouquets that have a bunch of the same type of flower–that is–until now.

Now I look for flower bouquets that have many textures and stems that would look great separated into individual jars & vases.

HOME/ Homemaking/ Organizing/ Simplifying

Hot Spots In My Kitchen

{see the hotspot peaking out? Little do you know it is growing into a raging fire!}

Hot Spots

This past Saturday, I spent a couple of hours putting out ‘hot spots’ in my house. For this post, I will focus on the hot spots that were put out in my kitchen. Are you wondering what a hot spot is? I learned this term from Flylady, a home management site that I have been famiar with for years and whose language has become my own. The Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays we have here every Tuesday at New Nostalgia? Well, the anti-procrastination word is another word I learned from Flylady. I have been quite influenced by her and her wonderful site.

What is a Hot Spot?

A hot spot is an area of clutter that if left alone to simmer will turn into a huge pile of raging clutter & overtake the area. I call them my junk piles. Not that they are always made of junk, but the items turn into junk and become almost unusable as the are buried while the hot spot grows.

The main hot spot in my kitchen is on this fun little window seat. There is a corner that cannot be seen from the main door of the kitchen, so I stash stuff there, thinking I will put it away later. Well, “later” rarely comes. We all know clutter attracts clutter, so this pile grows and becomes a hot spot.

{ahhh..the ‘after’ is so much better!}

The process of putting out the hotspot always ends up much easier than I think it will be, and these areas usually only take about 5 minutes, but I procrastinate because I think they are going to take longer. When I finally do get to it, I like to set my timer and try to beat the clock.

The silver chargers you see sitting out were used as part of a centerpiece I created for a conference I decorated for recently. They just needed put away, and their home is right under the bench. You can see the knob to open the bench for storing. This is not hard my friends! Why don’t I just put them away right away instead of laying them on the bench? Aye.

The grocery sacks were taken to the garage for recycling, the salad spinner was put away in a cupboard (which I did have to organize a bit to fit it in), the potatoes were taken from their bag & put into a basket, and the crockpot is stored on a shelf in our home office as my kitchen has limited storage. Done!

The next hot spot is my counter. I am trying to get into the habit of drying and putting the dishes away right away. These are dishes that don’t fit into the dishwasher and that I wash by hand. I love using this dish wand with dish soap in it…it makes washing the extra dishes a breeze! I also love the ease of using a drying mat. It is the only thing I store on top of my refrigerator to dry in between uses. I bought mine from Target. If you are an Amazon shopper, here is their best seller in Microfiber Dish Drying Mats on and if you buy it using this affiliate link you will be supporting New Nostalgia with no extra cost to you!

{ahhh…feeling so much better getting rid of those hot spots!}

On to another hotspot right off my kitchen. This doorway is right across my kitchen sink and leads to the garage and the basement. Did you notice the grocery sacks took a break here on the way to the garage? All because of a hotspot that was in the way of the garage doorway, so I could not even open it to take them to the recycle bin. This is how hotspots work. They start small and you think it’s no big deal, but then they grow and create all kinds of inconvieince…like blocking doors!

The rest of that pile goes to the basement. Boxes, baskets and decor that I used for the conference that I mentioned before. It only took a few more steps to get them to the basement where they belong, so I need to get out of the habit of making this area a dropping place for items that go to the basement or garage and just take them there! Do. It. Now. That needs to be my new mantra when it comes to putting things away in areas that are prone to hotspots!

Our kitchen utensil drawer was a hotspot that needed a solution. I found that solution in a new organization system for our utensils , and it has been over a month and is still super organized. I love it when systems work effortlessly and this one has for our family. Yay!

{see this post for details on this Kitchen Drawer Organization}

The below image is looking in from our living room, through our dining room into our kitchen. I love that it captured my Colsie and her Dad in the kitchen. It also captured another hot spot brewing in our living room…can you spot it? I wrote about it here: Hot Spots In Our Living Room.

So what about you? Are hot spots a problem? Where are your main hot spots located?

DIY/Crafts/ Homemaking/ Spiritual

When Hopelessness Needs a Remedy + Simple Curtain Hack

**This is a guest post by Deidra Riggs. She is my dear friend and neighbor, and I am so excited to have her here as guest at New Nostalgia. This post is just a glimpse of her authentic, loving heart—a heart that has been there for me & prayed me through some of my toughest life moments. Read on to know why her heart is happy these days, and enjoy the Simple Window Hack at the end of the post.

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I’ve been having a secret celebration in my heart these days.

One year ago today, I was one sick woman. Last February, I had a business trip in California and, when it was over, I flew to Vancouver to meet up with my husband. It was the week of Valentine’s Day. Rarely do we do anything really special for Valentine’s Day, but last year, we decided to take a trip so that my husband could ski and I could write.

We had a great trip. While not the best ski weather (it rained nearly every day), it was good for us to get away and spend some time together. At the end of the week, we flew home to Nebraska and, not long after we’d settled back into our routine, I came down with a nasty virus.

It was one of those viruses that wrestles a person to the ground in about twelve hours. At first, I thought it was just a cold, and that I could press my way through it for three or four days. I was wrong. By the end of the first day, I knew I’d have to surrender and so, I climbed into bed, hoping to doctor myself back to health with Tylenol and NyQuil. But this one was a doozy. I was achy from the fever and worn out from the coughing. My head maintained a constant ache that made me wonder if someone had implanted a knife behind my eyes when I wasn’t looking.

That virus knocked me down for two entire weeks. Somewhere in the middle of those fourteen days, my husband drove me to see my doctor. She checked me out and then patted me gently on my knee. “This thing is going around,” she said. “It’s nasty, and you just have to tough it out.” So, home I went. Back to bed.

Now, worse than being sick with that virus was the fact that it rendered me incapable of doing anything but lie in my bed in my empty house with nothing but the thoughts in my head. My husband came home each day at lunch to check on me. At night, he’d bring me dinner and sit with me in the bedroom. But, for most of the day, I was all by myself and it that was not good. Not good at all.

Depression is a nasty bugger. For me, it usually begins with a sad or scary or sinister thought that won’t let go. It keeps running itself around on a little track in my head and, before I know what hit me, I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of hopelessness. If you’ve ever experienced it, you know what I’m talking about. In those times, it’s a struggle to hold onto any shred of anything that offers hope.

Last year, in my bed, hope came through the window. I’d turn over onto my right side and peek out through the curtains, looking for a slice of blue between the branches, or listening for the call of the cardinal. Sometimes, a robin would land on the peak of the roof just on the other side of the screen. Most of the time, the hope lasted for just a few minutes, but a few minutes of hope is a magnificent deposit in the battle against deep sadness. Slowly, over a few weeks (at the tail end of that virus, I got a nasty case of strep throat which set me back for another week), my body healed and I was able to get myself outdoors. There, with daily doses of sunshine and fresh air and the promise of Spring, my mind found its way back to wholeness.

This year, I was silently fearing February. I know it was an irrational fear, but it was there, just the same. I was afraid I’d get sick again and wind up with a repeat of last year. But, here we are, all the way into Spring! Hoorah!

There is no guarantee that I’ll never be sick again. I probably will be, because we live in that kind of world. But, each time I pass by a window, or hear the song of a cardinal, I’m reminded of the power of hope, even in the smallest dose. And you, sweet warrior? You who know these feelings, too? I’m praying the power of hope over you today. May it reach you through the window of even the tiniest faith, and restore your beautiful soul.

And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Romans 5:5)

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SIMPLE CURTAIN HACK

Here’s a little decorating hack for the windows that surround you. It’s one I’ve used for many years and I love it because it’s sooooo inexpensive and easy! Not a single tool required. All you need is a tension rod, two tea towels, and some drapery hooks on rings. The total cost of this easy window hack? Less than $15!

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Deidra Riggs is a national speaker, editor, and the founder & host of Jumping Tandem: The Retreat. She has been a featured speaker at Q Women, TEDx, and The City Gates Initiative, as well as several women’s events, including Allume, Winsome Retreat, the Beautiful Life Conference, and Compel. She is a contributing writer for Incourage, and her work has been featured online at the Washington Post and Today’s Christian Woman.

Deidra is the author of “Every Little Thing: Making a World of Difference Right Where You Are.” Her second book will release in the Spring of 2017. Deidra and her husband are the proud parents of two adult children, and the happy inhabitants of an empty nest. They live in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Follow her here: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest

Featured/ HOME/ Homemaking/ Simplifying

18 Things You Need To Throw Away

It is springtime, and while most people are getting their spring cleaning on, I find myself once again much more motivated to get rid of clutter, throw things away & organize. I do not like to clean, but I love the feeling of organizing & minimalizing, and in order to really get things cleaned, I need to get the unnecessary out of the way & out of here!

Get Rid Of Clutter

There are 3 big things I have learned that motivates me to get rid of clutter.

~You Cannot Organize Clutter

~Clutter Attracts Clutter

~The More Items You Keep, The More Those Items Will Need From You. (putting them away, dusting them, fixing them when they break, etc)

Throw It Away

Old Magazines

Thanks to Pinterest, I don’t subscribe to many magazines anymore. The few catalogs that come in the mail, keep in a round, shallow wooden bowl in my living room, to grab & read when I have a moment of slow living. I purposefully chose this container, as it will only hold a few magazines at a time, so it forces me to cull & recycle magazines before they pile up

Vitamins/Medications

These can pile up quickly and if not organized, can become expensive as buying duplicates can be pricey! Check the dates on medications & vitamins & dispose of them properly.

Receipts, Bills & Documents

Get the paper shredder out and get rid of out dates receipts & bills. Something we do every day that really helps with this type of paper clutter is going through the mail shortly after it comes, throwing out what is trash & filing what isn’t. My Todd gets credit for this daily habit.

School Papers

Now that my girls are all teenagers, we don’t have as many school papers as we did before, at least, the crafty kind. I have a system in our home that works well for school papers. Each girl has a designated drawer in our home office desk. When I find my girls school papers laying around, I will gather them and put them in the drawer to whom they belong. That way I am not throwing away papers that need to be turned in. My girls will go through their own paper drawers when they get full. If you don’t have extra desk drawers, these stackable letter trays work well for this, too. You can use a labeler and put each child’s name on their letter tray.

Boxes

I stopped keeping boxes “just in case I need them.” I used to keep them just in case I wanted to return the item, store the item or because the box could be used to wrap or mail a gift. I have decided that living a minimal life means getting rid of a lot of things I usually would keep “just in case.” Boxes, no matter what size, take up way too much room to store just have them hanging around. I break them down and take them to recycling as soon as possible.

Extra Plant Pots

I have great plans every year to use up all my pots but have found that they just sit around, year after year. I use a few large pots & got rid of all the small ones, including peat pots that I had good intentions to use, but always end up buying starter plants from the store instead of starting my own. I let go of that ambition to keep life simple.

Pens & Pencils

I have invested in some good quality pens and pencils, and keep them in just a couple of places in the house. I find they last longer than cheap pens and are much more enjoyable to use. There is something about a container of matching pens & pencils that just makes me happy! I keep a jar in our living room area where I like to sit and journal, a few in a kitchen drawer and the rest go in our home office. I also keep a few in my purse.

Dishes

We just had our kitchen remodeled and updated last summer, and it was a great opportunity to get rid of dishes. Just like my pens and pencils, I am all about dishes that match. No more cupboards full of unmatched cups, mugs, and glasses. I buy square white dishes, use mason jars instead of plastic for food storage, and all other dishes & serving trays white and as simple as possible. These 16 oz goblet glasses are what we use for water now that we have teenagers, we do not have a need for unbreakable glasses or plastic. This has made a huge difference in keeping our kitchen cupboards organized & even simplifies loading the dishwasher since everything matches and fits well.

Shoes

If a whole season went by and you didn’t wear them, get rid of them! If you don’t love them, get rid of them. If they only will go with a couple of outfits, get rid of them. You won’t believe how good it feels to donate unloved shoes to your local thrift store.

Nail Polish

I recently went through our bin of nail polish and was amazed to find how many had become thick & gloppy. Some bottles were even empty & some we couldn’t get the lid off of. It is so nice to just grab the bin and know the few colors left in it will actually open and go on smoothly.

Books

We updated our basement & moved a couple of bookshelves. In the process, we got rid of a bunch of unloved books. Oh my, talk about freeing! I now have empty shelves to decorate with things that I love. I was also amazed at what dust collectors books can be. We all have Kindle Fire’s, so we only kept reference type books & some classics that we couldn’t bear to give away. I noticed most of my cookbooks went, thanks to Pinterest I rarely use them. I also gave away a bunch of gardening books for the same reason...Pinterest! Another huge hull–old piano books that my girls used for piano lessons when they were young.

Clothes

I tackled my closet last week and got rid of 2 big bags of clothes. Same rule for shoes applies here–if a whole season goes by and you don’t wear it, get rid of it. I started working on a capsule wardrobe, & I’m really enjoying the simplicity of my closet, even if I’m not doing the whole capsule wardrobe perfectly yet, I’m already experiencing how great it is to take away excessive options of what to wear each day.

Jewelry

I recently came up with a new system of jewelry storage & got rid of all my out-dated jewelry. I will share with you soon how I store my jewelry. It is a simple, non-perfect system that includes an egg carton and small cardboard bowls in a dresser drawer. It is not typical but it sure is working for me!

Makeup & Perfume

I am very minimal when it comes to makeup and all that I own can fit in one makeup bag. Yay! I recently went through all hair products, lotions, perfumes & essential oils and kept only that which is pure and that I use daily. Everything else I got rid of.

Notebooks

I used to buy so many notebooks when they went on sale during back-to-school time. Not anymore. It is just extra clutter.

Memorabilia

Don’t keep it unless you love it. If it was given to you and you want to remember it but don’t love it, take a picture of it. Did you child make it? Again, take a picture and make an album of their creations instead of keeping every single creation.

Old Electronics

These can sit and sit and collect dust. Updating our basement helped us get these moving, but we moved them upstairs and then they sat and collected more dust. Gotta get them out the door, not just moved around!

Home Decor

Minimalize, minimalize, minimalize! It is so easy to keep decor for years because you don’t even see it anymore as it has sat in the same place for so long. Look at each item and think “is this worth the dusting that I have to do to it?” “Does this bring me joy?” “Does this make my home beautiful and warm?” “Is this item dated?”

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I am sure there are many more things that one could throw away, but this list is a great start and has really helped me lately. Our home is feeling more and more streamlined & simple, but I do have more work to do, especially when it comes to our craft closet, an upstairs desk, and our laundry room. I am seeing progress, especially as I get rid of clutter instead of trying to organize clutter!

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The More Of Less Book

Want more inspiration to get rid of clutter and learn just how much purpose there is in doing so? Joshua Becker’s The More of Less is super inspiring and one of my favorite reads. Buy it on Amazon here.

What about you? Does clutter frustrate you? What are your clutter problem areas? Do you have a hard time throwing things away?

Featured/ HOME/ Homemaking/ Organizing/ Simplifying

Best Kitchen Drawer Organization

Kitchen drawer organization has been on my to-do list for quite a while now. This past summer, we had a full kitchen update (posts coming soon!) and I have been so very happy with it! Everything works so much better now, but one area that quickly became a problem was my kitchen utensil drawer.

We only have 2 drawers in our kitchen, but thanks to the update they are now nice & wide drawers that give us lots of drawer space. I keep utensils in one and kitchen towels and knives in the other.

The drawer with the utensils is the one I will focus on today.

As you can see, we were just throwing all utensils in there and it became almost impossible to close the drawer. Even the rubber mat that was supposed to be under all of those utensils was all bunched up. It was driving me nuts!

HOME/ Homemaking/ Organizing/ Simplifying

Hot Spots In Our Living Room

What’s A Hot Spot?

I found the term ‘hot spot’ from a website that helps you clean and declutter your home, called Flylady. She describes a “Hot Spot” as a place that attracts clutter. You know the areas in your home that do this…usually, they are flat open surfaces like a countertop, chair, table top, or can even be the floor…places we put things instead of putting them away. We all know clutter attracts clutter, so the more things we put there the more things get put there. In time, your hot spot can turn into a wildfire, one that is raging out of control and becomes a huge spot of clutter that eventually takes over the whole surface.

Last Saturday I was feeling like Hot Spots were taken over our home. I was determined to do something about it, so instead of allowing myself to clean, I decided to tackle my hotspots. I grabbed my camera to document the process for you, and will share my hotspots with you and hopefully motivate you to put out your own hotspots before they become raging fires!

My Living Room & Dining Room are connected and are the first things you see when you enter our home. Because of this, I usually keep these rooms picked up and clutter free. I have spent time minimalizing our Living Room, so we are at the point where this room really doesn’t have clutter in it.

The one area that can tend to attract clutter is the ledge in the above picture. It is an area that separates the Living Room from the Dining Room and is just an easy place right in the center of our home to leave items that eventually turn into clutter.

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