Here's to the Simple Life

I'm not one for New Years Resolutions.  I don't think you should wait for the calendar to change before you start making changes in your life.  Setting start dates for lifestyle changes is OK, but there's no reason that start date can't be this Monday, or July 1st, or your birthday.  This year is no different for me except that the beginning of the year happened to coincide with some free time and some major cleaning of the apartment.

My Partner in Crime was out of town for the weekend for a wedding and I decided to catch up on some housekeeping I'd been avoiding.  I hate hanging up clothing.  I don't mind laundry, I don't mind folding, I can even tolerate pairing socks, but hanging up clothes and putting them away in the closet always ends up at the bottom of my 'To Do' list.  This can be a problem though, because most of my work clothing falls into the category of 'don't even think of folding me unless you're going for the disgruntled office-worker look'.

So I finally buckled down and put away the clothes that had been languishing in the laundry bin for weeks, along with another couple of loads of laundry.  Lo and behold, I barely had room to put everything away.  First World Problems right?

My first thought was 'I have too much clothing' followed quickly by 'Actually, I have too much stuff'.  It's probably not a revelation for a lot of people that stuff just clutters our lives and diverts our income from the important things, but something about that over-stuffed closet in the midst of the other stresses in my life really hit home.

So I'm resolved for now, and the foreseeable future, to stop buying unnecessary stuff.  That doesn't mean going off the grid and making my own soap.  It doesn't mean living off of rice and beans.  It doesn't mean giving all my possessions away to charity and becoming an ascetic. I like good home-cooked food, I love new experiences. I can't imagine doing without those things to save a few bucks.  I don't want to look at overflowing drawers and cluttered closets anymore realizing that money would have been better spent enjoying my life,  paying off college loans, or investing so that I might not have to work every day for the rest of my life.

I made that decision a couple of weeks ago now, and I actually feel great about it.  I wasn't one to spend exorbitant amounts of money to begin with, but I never left Target or Borders without buying a 'little something' for myself.  I was at the art store or fabric store once every couple of weeks picking up something for my newest project- despite having scads of unfinished projects in boxes and binders at home.  I wasn't buying Gucci purses, but spray paint and workout clothes add up over time.  At the end of the month I never felt like I had much money to spare; I felt like I couldn't quite make ends meet without help from my parents to cover a portion of my more obscene bills.  I'm not carrying any high-interest credit card debt (or credit card debt at all), but I do have an expensive college loan payment that I couldn't quite get under control.  In just a few weeks of shifting my thinking I've gone from feeling like I couldn't handle my financial situation to realizing that everything is going to be OK. 

The biggest change is that it's made me acutely aware of how much we're actually being sold every single day.  I don't watch TV and use Adblock on my computer at home, so I'm not usually being bombarded with 'traditional' commercials.  I do spend a lot of time on the internet though.  Every day I get a dozen e-mails from companies I like and shop at trying to sell me something.  It's not spam, it's e-mails I actually signed up for, and used to open and think 'Oooh shiny!'. The last time I made a purchase from these retailers, I checked the box that said 'sell me shit I don't need'.   And they're not simply trying to sell me something, they're trying to sell me on a deal. 

Get it for Cheap!  Get it First!  Get it in a New Color! 

But... I didn't need it before at 20 bucks, I don't need it now for 17, I don't need it as a status symbol, and I certainly don't need a blue one when my red one works fine. I see you Mara.

It seems so obvious, but it's been one hell of a revelation for me.


So here's to the New Year- a much more skillful and prosperous one.

Barefoot and Pregnant

...in the Kitchen, but not the pregnant part

The Partner in Crime and I moved in together about 9 months ago.  He'd been living in a hipster hovel in Greenpoint, Brooklyn but his lease was up and his roommates were moving to Portland.  Considering our jobs, and our finances, and our available options the best one was to move into the apartment in my parents' house.  It wasn't ideal, but it was (and is) the best possible choice.

The only catch?  It needed some sprucing up.  The kitchen and bathroom haven't been updated since the 70's and proudly sported yellow tile (and fixtures), faux wood paneling, and 'Harvest Gold' appliances that hadn't seen any use since my grandmother passed away in '91.

In a word, the apartment was dated.

Since I'm not only building a relationship and a life with my Hubby to be, but also building a 1950's skill set that will sever me well if the Tardis ever transports me back 60 years, getting the kitchen up to date was important to me and my belly.

I'd been using the kitchen as an impromptu studio for years, the sink was my spray hood, covered in layers of spray adhesive and rust.  The backsplash and counter we covered in paint and cuts from over-zealous x-acto knife usage, and the stove was older than I am.

It needed work, time, and a lot of elbow grease. Contrary to the blog, I'm more Rosie the Riveter than June Cleaver.  I swing my own hammer, wield my own paintbrush, and use my own power tools.  Both my Fiance and Father (especially the latter) put in a ton of sweat equity to help bring my ideas to life and their contributions shouldn't go untold.

All told, we needed to start pretty much from scratch... we ripped out the stove/sink/countertop/backsplash.  We painted the cabinets, tiled the backsplash, had a new counter installed, installed a new sink and fixtures, changed the light fixture- requiring patching and repainting the ceiling, put up new custom molding, a new under-counter lighting, new cabinet hardware, and a ton of other small details I'm sure I'm forgetting.  I ended up with a kitchen I'm not only proud to cook in, but a kitchen that I'm proud I created myself.

Here's the before and after:

We weren't quite finished when I took those photos- there's still more work to be done in the apartment overall.    But despite the 20 inch stove and the 5' tall fridge- this is my kitchen. This is where I get to feed friends and family and my Partner in Crime from.

Basically, this is where I make my tea.

Hello World

June Cleaver in Combat Boots is my journey down the aisle and into 21st century housewife-dom.

I won't be wearing pearls and high heels to vacuum, nor will I be raising 2 kids and a dog in my white-picket-fenced house in suburbia.  I will be trudging bravely through wedding planning, cooking my way through Pinterest, and using my geekiness to inspire my crafting- all while holding down a job to bring home my share of the bacon, pay off college loans, and save up for that house with a white picket fence.

I won't be doing it alone- my Partner in Crime of three years and my rescued hound will be keeping me company along the way.

-JCiCB