Father's Day Gift! I cut the crap!

I know it’s a little late for a post about Father’s Day, but since I made my husband's gift THE DAY BEFORE Father’s Day, it’s not like I had time to post about it ahead of time.  But in any case, I cut the crap by re-purposing an old t-shirt into something new and useful – even if it’s only useful in a decorative sort of way. 

Rob really loved this t-shirt.  At some point, he splattered battery acid on it and created multiple tiny holes.  After wearing and washing several times, these holes got bigger.  SOOO…  The t-shirt went to the back of the closet and was forgotten until recently.  He cleaned out things and put this t-shirt in the rag pile.  I know he was a bit sad about this, so my brain immediately started to run through ways I could save that shirt.  What did I come up with, you ask?  A pillow.  It can sit on our bed and remind him that our kids think he’s the Dad of Dads.  J

How did I do this?  I cut out as much of the decal and the surrounding non-damaged t-shirt as possible.  Front and back.  Then I sewed it, stuffed it, and closed it up.  This isn’t a sewing blog, so I’m not going to give you step-by-step instructions.  There are plenty of tutorials out there; just google it.  In fact, here’s one.

You can do this with any old t-shirt, really.  In fact, I have a few concert t-shirts that are pretty much worn out.  I think I’m going to give them a second chance by turning them into pillows.  Why not?  You can always cut them into rags, because let’s face it: t-shirts are nice and soft and work great to wipe down a window or counter.  Whatever you do, think twice before throwing them in the trash, though.  I’m sure that eventually they’ll wear out.  No matter what.  But make sure you’ve gotten all your use out of them before tossing them away.     Here are some additional ideas. Just google "tshirt pillow" to get how-to instructions and pictures! 

Cut The Crap! Shop at Thrift Stores!

So, in my quest to cut the crap, I’m not sure I’m actually cutting the crap in my house.  I did do something cool recently, though, to keep crap out of the landfill.  I propagated some plants and re-potted them in pots I bought from thrift store.  I also bought some used children’s books and a few home décor items… all from the thrift store.  Not only did I get some great items for a fraction of the cost, but these items are getting a second (or maybe third?) life at my house.  It’s a win win. 

Let me start with my plants.  I have a huge spider plant that I affectionately call Big Mama.  This plant has survived several “murder” attempts, and we’ve given countless of her “babies” to friends and family.  She continues to make babies, though, and I have to do SOMETHING with them. 

I went to Walmart to look at cheap pots.  All of the “cheap” pots  were just that.  Cheap.  The inexpensive ones were plastic or terrible plaster things.  The nicer pots were obviously more pricey.  This was the case everywhere I went: Home Depot, Lowes, Target, etc.  I found a few cute pots, but really didn’t want to spend a lot since I had about 10 (you read that right. 10.) baby plants to transplant.  So I went to my favorite thrift store and found these. 

I repotted them this weekend and so far everything is looking great!  I’ll post more pictures of the happy little plants soon… and THEN I’ll have to go buy some additional pots because Big Mama has even MORE babies coming!  Does anyone want a plant?  Hahaha!

If you’ve read my previous blog posts, you know I love books.  My entire family loves books.  So when I saw these, I jumped at the chance to buy them.  Who can resist when they are less than $2?  My daughter had so much fun picking books that from now on I’m going to bring her with me to the thrift store.  She can pick up as many books as $10 will buy!  Why not?  We should always encourage reading!  AND when we’re done with these gently used books, they’ll go right back to the thrift store so another child can enjoy them. 

That brings me to the home décor… I bought a tray and a jewelry box.  I thought the tray would be perfect for Christmas cookies during holiday get-togethers, AND it only cost $4!  Can’t beat that!  It’s in perfect condition, too. 

Here’s the jewelry box.  It’s beaded and has a small mirror and tray inside.  This, too, was only $4!  It looks great with the colors in my bedroom, and I needed an extra place to stash my growing jewelry collection.  LOVE IT.

I’m sold on the merits of thrift-store shopping.  J  You can find unique items at low prices and keep said items out of the trash heap.  Why buy everything new when you don’t have to? 

More Electronics Recycling! Hardware Art!

How’s this for cutting the crap?  Make use of old, outdated computer hardware by repurposing it as abstract art!  WHY NOT?  This will keep tons of silicon crap out of our landfills and provide some interesting conversation pieces.  This particular piece is an old IBM server hard drive circa 1990!  It stands on its own and reminds me of an aerial map of some metropolis we never knew about.  It also weighs about 5 pounds.  The owner tells me that it is still functional (what!), but is so outdated that nothing we have today will run on it.  Still.  This looks really cool and could even be used as a bookend.     

Just on a whim, I decided to see what other folks were doing with old computer crap they had lying around.  I googled it, and here are some of the interesting things that showed up. 

Theo Kamecke made this striking box from circuit boards.  It’s not only beautiful, but functional. Click the link to see his other stuff.  This guy is amazing.  You can also read a cool article in MaximumPC about other amazing pieces of art.     

Pretty cool stuff, right? I especially like the take on insects.  VERY imaginative.

We helped these refrigerators find new homes!

So this weekend we cut the crap by selling 10, yes you read that right, 10 refrigerators.  Why on earth did we have so many refrigerators?  Well, let me tell you…

A close friend is in the appliance delivery business… as in, he owns the business and delivers, installs, and removes appliances all over the front range and into the mountains.  My hubby helps out from time to time as he can.  Last week our friend got a job removing refrigerators from a recently remodeled building.  This particular building had suffered fire damage in one section.  As part of the insurance agreement, he and my hubby replaced 11 refrigerators… even in the units that had not burned.  When asked what to do with the “old” refrigerators (they were only 6 years old and were in perfect working order), our friend and my hubby were told to “get rid of them”.  That was it.  Get rid of them. 

Our friend’s initial thought was to take them to the scrap yard and get about $150 for the metal.  Total.  For all 11 fridges.  My hubby pointed out that they were in perfect working order.  That would be a waste!  So, my hubby volunteered to thoroughly clean out the fridges and place an ad on Craigslist.  Our friend agreed. 

So, we washed them up and dried them out.  Not only did we put an ad on Craigslist, but we put some of the fridges out on the curb with "For Sale" signs on them.  We sold half of them that way!  My daughter even got in on the action!  She helped us clean the insides and made a little extra cash.  I'm hoping this will be a long lasting lesson for many obvious reasons, but she has decided to save the money she earned so she can buy her own iPod Touch.  

Within 4 days, we sold 10 and kept one for our garage.  Not only did we keep perfectly working fridges out of the landfill (at least the parts the scrap metal guy wouldn’t want), but we sold them to people who will continue to use them.  We made a little money, too!  That’s a win win!  I’d say we cut the crap on that one!  

 

I'm back!

Goodness!  Has it really been three months since I posted on my blog?  It HAS!  Sorry about that.  I really didn’t have the bandwidth to update my blog since I’ve been so busy with work.  When I was done with work each day, I was pretty much DONE with everything.  I didn’t even want to look at a computer, much less post an entry here.  My poor children got the bare minimum attention, because my brain would literally shut down.  Not good.  My poor husband did his best to weather the storm.  I really do love that man.  He’s far from perfect, but the stuff he puts up with… O.M.G. 

That being said, I still love my job.  It has its harrowing moments, but it’s a pretty sweet gig.  We get bagels every morning.  I have awesome benefits; aside from the normal medical, dental, eye stuff, I also get regular training on the company’s dime.  I get to work from home on snowy days… or when I’m sick (shouldn’t be doing that.  I should cut out that crap)… or if I have the cable guy coming over.  I work with brilliant people, and I get to work on way cool stuff to educate present and future generations of students.  Can you say OpenClass?  Have a look.  It’s pretty dang cool.   So even though I’ve had some pretty demanding projects lately, I’m not cutting out my job.  It just isn’t crappy.  Or cut-worthy. 

So how have I cut the crap over the past 3+ months?  Not as much as I’d like.  The Paleo Diet has waxed and waned; Rob is finally on board, though, as he’s reading 4 Hour Body.  We’re going for a BMI test next week.  My quest to weed out my email inbox is still ongoing, but my company gave me an ADDITIONAL, corporate-wide account that had 5000+ emails already waiting for me in it.  I deleted those.  I’ve been weeding out friends and causes and likes on Facebook.  My kids have a box of toys to be donated (or sold at a yard sale), so that’s pretty good.  Recycling efforts were reinforced at Christmas.  I made reusable sandwich wraps for all the nieces and nephews to use in their daily school lunches.  I also tried to wrap as many presents in either recycled paper or reusable bags.  That was cool. 

So, I have been keeping with the spirit of cutting the crap.  I just haven’t been blogging about it or stepping it up as much as I wanted for 2012… at least not so far.  I want to get my reader counts up this year.  I want to write more.  Quite frankly, it’s like therapy to me.  I need it.  And I want to find more ways to cut out the crap from my life.  There is plenty of it!  Help me stay accountable, People! 

This is COOL!

I don't do two posts in one day, but I had to share this as a great way to recycle.  All those OLD picture frames can be re-purposed!  I think I'm going to try making one of these this weekend.  :)  I have old picture frames, AND I need a place to hang my necklaces.  

Helping Others Cut the Crap

Hello, All.  As I chronicled a few weeks ago, my MIL passed away.  Within the next few weeks, we're going to help my SIL go through things and sell what we (meaning Rob and his sister) either cannot keep or choose not to keep.  Rob and I have expressed that we do not "want" anything.  We do, however, want to help my SIL.  No one should have to rummage through all the stuff of a deceased parent alone.  I think that's brutal and tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment. 

For a short time, then, we'll actually be complicating our journey to simplicity.  We'll be selling stuff out of our garage to help out, which means that we'll temporarily have more clutter.  I'm totally okay with that.  I think this will be a positive journey, and I don't think it'll wreck our equilibrium.  I might even post some of it here.  :) 

So, even though we're technically adding to our garage, we're still "cutting the crap" by helping my SIL.  I think helping others in this way is a good thing!  In what ways have you helped other people get rid of things they did not need?  And how much of that did you "inherit" along the way?  LOL

First Person: 5 Things I Always Buy Used - Yahoo! Finance

I think these are pretty obvious things to buy used, but they bring up a good point about cutting the crap. RECYCLE. Get rid of the stuff you no longer use by donating it for someone else to use! First Person: 5 Things I Always Buy Used - Yahoo! Finance

Clothes are a perfect example. My brother has two girls who are 1 and 2 years older than my daughter. When they outgrow their clothes, my daughter gets the hand-me-downs. Megan also got a HUGE box of hand-me-downs from her cousin Katie when she was really little. I can't tell you how much $$$ this has saved us over the years. When my daughter outgrows these things, she passes them on to a friend's daughter... and so on and so on. We pay it forward.  It's the best way to say thank-you to those who have been kind to us.  Obviously, clothes can only take so much beating before they're ready for the scrap heap, but at least they get used up. :) I recently received A LOT of hand-me-downs from a colleague at work, too. She has lost weight (YAY and good for her!) and the clothes no longer fit her. I got some AWESOME clothes. Can't wait to wear them all!

I also think it's a good idea to buy GOOD used cars. A new car depreciates so much in value when you drive it off the lot that it's like throwing money away.

Again. RECYCLE. What do you buy used? What do you donate? How do you recycle? Talk to me!

How do we teach our kiddos to ask for less?

This is cool site for kids... comics-rrr | greenplanet4kids.com I really need to impress upon my almost-six-year-old to get rid of her crap and NOT ask for any more. Maybe I can start here? This year's Christmas season has prompted many conversations about just how good she has it... and she's still not getting it because she keeps asking for MORE.  I've told her I'm going to help her go through her toys for donation purposes, and she seems pretty open to that.  She's pretty keen on selling things, too, to earn money so she can purchase other things.  So here's my question to you parents... how do we get our kids to ask for less?  How do we encourage them to be happy with all the wonderful things God has already given them?  How do we teach them to be good stewards?

I think in 2011 I'm going to give her "experiences" rather than "stuff". This will be yet another ongoing thing for me to chronicle here. I know. I know. I haven't been too good about chronicling all that other stuff I told you about. Hahaha! I'll get there!

Over a MONTH! BUT there are good things to report... good things...

WTH is wrong with me?  I've been writing on the side, and perhaps this has satiated my need to update my blog.  Perhaps I should start a "writing" blog like my friend and colleague Brett.  Then maybe I would be inspired and motivated to keep a running tab on this blog as well.  Or that could backfire... and this blog would become obsolete for me...

Since last I posted, I have lost 5 pounds.  Not much for a month of better eating, but it is good.  My husband has lost more than 20lbs, and that's a very good thing!  My family and I continue to eat more healthy foods, and I'm certain that's having a positive effect on our well being. 

We've started taking advantage of a program called Helping Hands in our neighborhood.  For $55 a week, we get to fill up a grocery cart with food and household items.  It's been an interesting journey since foods are never the same.  You get what you get.  It has saved us a tremendous amount of money on groceries, however, and since our budget has been tight, this has been a good thing.  We've gotten a lot of produce from this place, and since it has been necessary to eat it quickly, our meals have had less preservatives!  We continue to cut the crap!

My best friend Jenna and I have decided that together we're going to eat as fresh as possible.  I know that was the initial goal postulated in this blog, but I haven't had anyone to actually do that with.  My hubby isn't for it... and sometimes fast is easier when you have kids.  I wish I had more time to prepare fresh meals for my children... they deserve that... but working 45+ hours each week doesn't leave much time for that.  So... Jenna and I are going to hold each other accountable as much as possible.  I hope it works!

Home projects are going well, too.  As I posted before, we picked up some patio furniture from the curb and Rob started spray painting them to give them a new life.  Again, we're cutting stuff from the landfills AND we're saving money.  Can't beat that!  I'm hoping to post pictures of our recycled bistro set soon.  Nothing fancy, but it serves its purpose!  We (meaning mostly ROB) put some steps in our backyard.  For those of you who haven't seen our yard, it is severely sloped and terraced.  We have one section that -- for lack of a better word -- is a slope that leads to the uppermost portion of our yard.  It was nothing but dirt... so we installed railroad ties and are in the process of filling those in with river rock.  It looks great, and the whole project cost only $50!  The river rock was free on Craigslist, and the railroad ties were given to us by our friends who no longer needed them!  We paid for rebar and garden tarp.  Cutting the crap has never been so cheap.  It's been hard work, but as I said, it looks GREAT!

I also promised some opinions and comments on said opinions... when I posted the question "What would you do to cut the crap?"... I'll get to those next time, and I hope next time is sooner than a month from now.  Those were silly and interesting and deserve a little more time than I have to go over them right now. 

So that's the post for now.  I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! 

Cut the Crap Day WHATEVER

So here we are a month later. Much has happened. Crap has been cut, but still not to the extent I had hoped.

• Rob got a work from home job as DSL tech support. He just completed training on Friday. We’ve cut the crap a lot with that job:
• He doesn’t have to drive to work, so we’re saving a ton on gas. He has a ’79 K5 Blazer. When I say “a ton”, I mean it.
• He’s eating at home obviously, and he’s already shed 20 lbs. He’s cutting the fat! YAY!
• We finally got our tax incentive for buying a house. I can’t say we cut the crap with that, but we did get new furniture, new carpet, and a new TV. I must say, my house is looking GOOD.
• We rescued some terra cotta planters from the curbside… as well as some patio furniture. Rob is going to sand down the patio furniture and repaint it. So… even though we didn’t cut the crap on that, we cut the amount of crap going to the landfill. AND all it cost us was some water, cleaner, and two cans of spray paint.
• Xander burned his hands on our door threshold on Friday. After an ER visit, much Tylenol and Motrin, bandages, and some sleep, he’s doing fine. We have an appointment with the burn specialists at Children’s hospital tomorrow morning. Part of keeping Xander comfortable means keeping the AC cranked. I want to make sure he doesn’t have any undue swelling. So, that was kind of the opposite of cutting the crap. We’re actually using more energy and will pay for it in our next bill.