The Konmari Method – Day 5

On January 8, 2019January 8, 2019 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn KonmariLeave a comment

Today I’m starting on the Komono (miscellaneous items) category. I wanted to do the kitchen items first, but my son came home from school sick. Some short virus is going around his school and when he was picked up three other kids were puking in the nurse’s office. It’s only a 24-48 hour bug and he didn’t throw up when he got home, but we kept him out today just to be on the safe side.

Anyway, the phrase probably most used around out house is, “where is a charger?’. I decided to round up every cord I could find and finally get them all in one place.

Here’s the haul. That is nuts. Especially because when we couldn’t find one, we would just go buy another one. Also, to charge his phone, my son would take off the wall plug part and just plug the rest into his laptop. That meant there were cords with no wall plug because he couldn’t remember where he put them. I found a lot of them when we decluttered his room.

I put all the chargers together in a random bin I already had. I labeled the ones that needed it, like my chromebook and the Handycam. I just put hair elastics around them. The headphones I just put in a basket I already owned.

Now all of our chargers are stored in the top drawer of our entertainment center.

This wasn’t a very big category, but it was an important one. I think that anything you are able to get done makes a big difference on the road to simplifying your life. It may not all get done in a day, a week or a month, but staying consistent is important.

Stacy

The Konmari Method – Day 4

On January 7, 2019January 7, 2019 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn KonmariLeave a comment

Day 4 was a doozie. It took all day. Looking back I would not have done two really big projects back to back. Had I not been under a time crunch, with the kids going back to school on Monday, I would have done a smaller category in between. But, it’s done, and my son and I are happy with the results. To keep his focus, because this process does take focus, we took quite a few breaks.

My 11 year old son knew that this was his day. He was not super thrilled and tried to come up with every excuse not to help. I would have gladly done it by myself, but that’s not what this is about. It’s his stuff. He has to make the decisions, not me.

This is what we started with.

He is actually under the blanket on his bed.

On the whole it’s not too bad. The goal of today is to go through every single item, by category and keep the things he loves and discard the rest.

There are WAY too many stuffed animals. There is no need for 2 big buckets. He doesn’t even know what’s at the bottom.

We started with the clothes. We had recently gone through his hanging clothes, so that saved time. We tackled the drawers in his closet

This just looks dangerous.

The clothes went quickly because clothes are not the issue in this room, it’s all the little stuff. All of his “collections”.

Next category was books. He had a cardboard box full of books under his bed that we hadn’t unpacked from when we moved. His answer was to just leave them under there. Yeah, no. We ended up discarding more than half of them. He only kept the ones that he really liked and/or wanted to read.

Now they are all in his bookshelf. (He added a new giant baby head to his collection)

After the books we started on his toys.

He wasn’t too thrilled when I dumped the bin of Lego out. Everything was so jumbled up and we found a lot of non lego things that didn’t belong. We also realized that the bin we had them in was too deep which made it super hard to find pieces he was looking for. After going through them, we decided to store them in a wider shallower container. Although he grumped through this part, he found some figures he’d forgotten he had and he realized it wasn’t as bad as he had anticipated. We keep his Lego stored under his bed. They’re out of the way but easy to slide out when he wants to play with them.

This should not have taken all day like it did. Like I said earlier, breaks are a must. The plastic boxes in his closet took a while to go through because everything is just so little and there was so much to go through. He ended up donating a huge box and bag full of stuff. Although he would have rather been doing anything else, in the end, he was very pleased with the what we had accomplished.

Here are the final results. Some of the things I wouldn’t have kept, but if he could convince me he it actually “sparked joy” it could stay. I wanted him to take the big saucer chair out, but he loves it. Like I said, his room, his stuff.

We put the empty Funko boxes in the green basket at the top because I was informed, you NEVER throw them away. A tote bag and extra sheets take up the rest of the shelf. I found the plastic boxes at the bottom at Big Lots for less than a dollar a piece. We’ve used this system for a while and he really likes it and it works well for us.

The open bins hold bigger toys that don’t fit in the boxes.

His desk drawers hold his trumpet music and music stand, sketch pads and notebooks and his markers, pens and pencils. I wanted him to get rid of the tray table, but he uses it when he’s sitting on his bed or in the big chair. It holds his cat head lap desk and an extra laptop. The banker’s box underneath holds special notes and cards that he kept.

We got his stuffed animals down to one bucket. We moved his puppets up to the shelf. He collects puppets and he and his sister actually use them when they make up puppet shows.

His ever important Funko Pop collection.

So that’s his room. There are not MAJOR changes, but there is a lot less stuff and everything is grouped together by category. He clothes are folded Konmari style so that he can see everything at once. I think that he will have an easier time keeping it tidy because we went through every single item in his room and he decided what he would keep and exactly where is should go.

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The hardest part that I have found when doing my kids rooms is to let them make the decisions. Being a Type A personality I just want to take over, but I’m really only there to help with the categories and to have them stay on task. Other than that, they chose what “sparks joy’ for them and where to put their things that would work best for them.

It CAN be done. If you are thinking about decluttering your home plan it out and don’t give up. It can be overwhelming at times, but remember how to eat an elephant. One bite at a time.

Stacy

The Konmari Method – Day 3

On January 5, 2019January 5, 2019 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn KonmariLeave a comment

I’ll admit, I am sore and tired. It might have to do with day 3 actually starting on Day 2. We needed to just bulldoze through it because both the kids rooms needed to be finished before school resumes on Monday.

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My 12 year old daughter’s room is one of my favorite rooms in our home. Her personality shines through with the beachy colors and vibe. When I was younger and we moved into the renovated mid century modern that my parents had owned since the 1950’s I begged my mom to let me keep the hardwood floors in my bedroom. No go, she did not like hardwood floors, so carpet it was. I also wanted antique furniture that wasn’t matchy matchy. Again, her answer was no. I think I loved thrifting and quirkiness at an early age.

This is why I let my daughter pick out what she wants in her room. It’s her room after all and I want it to be a space that is relaxing and that she enjoys being in. The only catch is that I want it kept clean and picked up.

When we started, we sat down together and read a few pages of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I had ear marked one particular paragraph.

“To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those things that have outlived their purpose. To get rid of what you no longer need is neither wasteful nor shameful. Can you truthfully say that you treasure something buried so deeply in a closet or drawer that you have forgotten its existence? If things had feelings, they would certainly not be happy. Free them from the prison to which you have relegated them. Help them leave that deserted isle to which you have exiled them. Let them go, with gratitude. Not only you, but your things as well, will feel clear and refreshed when you are done tidying.” – Marie Kondo

So we began. We went through EVERY SINGLE ITEM in her room, starting with her closet. Here is the beginning of the process.

That giant red bin on the left was FULL of stuffed animals. I thought the hanging mesh bins would really work, but they ended up just being a pain. It got in the way of the hanging clothes and if you put too many in it, it would fall.

Here is the after.

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Craft projects are stored on the top shelf. Sentimental items are in the bin on the second shelf. Toys are in the second blue bin. Hoodies are on the 4th shelf. (Some are in the laundry) Socks are in the white wicker basket.

I was amazed at how fast we were going through items and at the number of things she was discarding. Her stuffed animals are now in the pink basket, except for her TY ones that are on a bookshelf.

We moved her pants to the left side because the rod is higher and it just works better. Her cardigans and jackets finally have room on this side without the hanging bins and that horrible giant red mesh bin. Her keyboard and art folder fit perfectly. Now when she gets dressed everything fits her and she loves all the clothes that remain.

We moved her purses, wallets, accessory bags and sunglasses to the bin on top of her plastic shelves. With everything now in one place, it’s so much easier to find and put away.

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Because everything was stack folded before, we actually found things that she had forgotten she had.

She is an artist, so the main clutter we have in her room is paper and art supplies everywhere. We chose an oversized desk for her room. She needs the extra space for some of her larger sketch pads. Now that we have put everything in one place it will be so much easier for her to clean up.

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Her desk drawer holds the items she uses every day.

She told me that she had run out of sketch books. Guess what we found when we started going through her things?

We found all of these throughout her room. Now they are all in the banker’s box underneath her desk. Easy to get to and easy to put back.

This bookshelf holds all of her books and extra art supplies.

This one holds all of her special items.

Her dresser top now just has the necessities. Her jewelry is in the drawers and body care is in the crate.

I won’t show you all the drawers, but this is her swim drawer. She’s on her school swim team. You don’t have to use fancy baskets to house all you things. These are shoe boxes and they work just fine.

Her wicker shelf holds her Mardi Gras beads. We had bags and bags of beads. She chose the ones that she really liked and the rest went away. The plastic box holds her special shells.

We put her extra body care items in the crates.

Hannah and I actually had a lot of fun doing her room. We were able to spend time together and even though it was work it didn’t feel like it. According to the book, you are not suppose to organize by room, but by category. We did do everything by category, just all at once. Her room is still 100% her. We discussed where things should go and where they would make sense.

Here is her room completely finished. We gave her the hanging chair for Christmas. Our home in Baton Rouge had an amazing backyard with a hammock strung between 2 trees. Every day, after school, she would grab a snack and a book or a sketch pad and go swing on the hammock. We left it for the new owners when we sold the house and I knew how much she missed it. It’s not a hammock, but she loves it.

This is our donation pile.

Trash pile minus one bag that wasn’t full yet.

One thing I learned from decluttering you kid’s room is to let them make the decisions on what they want to discard. A few times it was hard for me, but it’s her stuff, not mine. Don’t make them feel guilty for discarding or keeping items.

She was happy with the results. It’s going to be SO much easier for her to function in her space. It took us about 6 hours total, but oh so worth it.

Day 3 is in the books. Day 4 is her brother’s room. Wish me luck.

Stacy

The Konmari Method – Day 2

On January 4, 2019 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn KonmariLeave a comment

Day 2, according to Marie Kondo, is Books. When we moved here in May, I got rid of so many books. The goal today was to get all of my books in one place. I also included magazines. I keep my books on a baker’s rack in our bedroom.

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Some are reference books and the rest are the ones I still need to read.

I also keep some in my nightstand.

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My daily Bible, Bible, current book I’m reading and my planner are stored here because I use them everyday.

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I don’t keep many magazines. The ones I do keep are stored in a basket under a side table in our family room.

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I moved my Cooking Light magazines to where my cookbooks are because that is where I use them. This magazine has really good recipes that I actually use.

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I used to have many more cookbooks, but when we moved I only kept the ones I use.

This didn’t take long at all, so I decided to go ahead and tackle my candle collection. I LOVE candles! They were sitting in big baskets on my hearth. I never liked that. They just seemed bulky and in the way. A good friend gifted me my candle box, so my very favorite candles live in there now.

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I threw away many, but the remainder found a home in our entertainment center.

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I realize I still have WAY too many, but I actually love all the ones I kept. I will not buy any more candles until these are used up. Seriously, I have put myself on a candle buying freeze.

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The bottom drawer contains my oils and diffuser, wax melts and the candles that just have a little left that I’ll burn first. It’s now all in one place and makes my life so much easier.

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Now everything is put away and I don’t have to stare at the huge baskets that used to just sit on our hearth.

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Day 2 is leaving me happy. My hearth is less cluttered along with my bedroom. Everything is in one place and it wasn’t that difficult.

Now I have a confession. Last night I started Day 3 because it is my 12 year old daughter’s room and I knew this was not going to be quick and easy. We started at 4:00pm and were still going strong at 9:00. This time I took plenty of before pictures because when I say there was chaos before the calm, that is an understatement. We still have a few hours to go before we will be finished.

Tune in tomorrow if you want to see this transformation.

Stacy

The Konmari Method – Day 1

On January 3, 2019January 3, 2019 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Konmari, UncategorizedLeave a comment

My blog is going to change for a little while. I’m going to be using it to document and keep me accountable in doing the Konmari method on my whole house. My house, on the whole, is pretty organized, but after reading this book I realize that it could be much better. If you decide to go on this journey with me, I won’t bore you with the concept because it is seriously all over the internet right now. I haven’t watched it yet, but Marie Kondo now has a show on Netflix which I think is called Tidying Up.

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Instead of organizing room by room, you declutter by category. The first one, and the one I started with is clothes. Like every method, you might need to modify it a bit to fit what works for you. I keep my clothes to a minimum. I also clean my closet out regularly. I didn’t take before pics because it really wasn’t all that different if you are just looking at it. Anyway, this is the after.

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I kept only what I absolutely loved, things that “sparked joy”.

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The top shelf holds my sweatshirts, sweaters and purses. I have 2 more sweatshirts that were in the laundry. Other than that, that’s it. I’m not super happy with the way my purses are placed. I think I need a rack for them. I also will eventually get matching velvet hangers for my hanging clothes. They are better for you clothes and are more pleasing to the eyes.

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I keep my pants and jeans folded on a shelf. The top shelf, that isn’t in this picture holds my capri pants and slacks. The middle shelf holds my skinny jeans on the left and regular jeans on the right. The left bottom basket holds my leggings and sweat pants and the right one has my running shorts. I love the Konmari folding method. You can always see everything all at once so nothing gets lost on the bottom of a pile.

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The top plastic storage drawers holds my denim shorts.

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The middle drawer holds my non denim shorts.

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The bottom drawer holds my caps, extra wallet and handbag accessories.

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I have the two bottom drawers. One holds my casual t-shirts, tanks and camis. The other one holds my bras, socks and undies.

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If you don’t use this folding method, you really should. It takes no more time than regular folding and I can look in my drawer and see everything at a glance.

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Regular bras and sports bras on the left. Socks folded in the middle two rows and underwear the last two rows.

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I have the bottom drawer of this chest. I keep my lounge wear in here.

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So this is my day 1. I donated 16 pieces and threw away 6. I’m very happy with the way it all turned out. I kept only the pieces I really love and fit well. I didn’t save anything “for one day”. I feel as though getting dressed is going to be so much easier.

I hope that this has inspired you to start your journey in decluttering your home.

Tomorrow is Day 2. That is going to be books and magazines.

Happy decluttering,

Stacy

Christmas Eve Box

On December 22, 2018December 22, 2018 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn ChristmasLeave a comment

I can’t believe that Christmas in in 4 days! 4 days!!!!!! This year we are getting to do Santa with our grandkids. Our plans weren’t set until less than a week ago, so there was a bit of scrambling, but I am beyond excited because our younger kids have not “done” santa in a few years. It’s going to be fun to have “believers” in the house.

In case you didn’t know, we have a 30 year old daughter with 2 kids ages 3 and 4. A 26 year old daughter who can’t be here this year and our 11 year old son and 12 year old daughter.

The 2 youngest are pretty excited about getting to play santa this year, so we decided to put together a Christmas eve bag. They will be getting in around 8, so I didn’t include a Christmas movie. We have most of them anyway and I do want them to fall asleep at a semi reasonable hour.

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The grand kids have never gotten to do the whole Christmas eve experience, which I LOVE doing. It doesn’t have to cost a lot. You can add what you want. We’ve always done new pajamas to put on Christmas eve.

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These are for the boys, ages 4 and 11. I realize that they aren’t Christmas, but I looked all over our town and could not find any cute Christmas ones in 5T. No sweat, a yeti lives in the cold and it’s cold at Christmas (mostly). I also realize how cheesy Yeti 2 Party is, but they boys will be ready to party on Christmas day. Y’all, I can justify anything. Plus they match and the bottoms are so soft! Walmart special and I didn’t think $9.oo/pair wasn’t too bad and by the time I found a 5t, I probably would have paid 900. As I’m typing this I realized I never looked at Target where now, in my mind, there are racks and racks of super cute 5T Christmas pj’s. Sigh

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These are for our 3 year old granddaughter and 12 year old daughter. I did find Christmas ones in 3T, but couldn’t get her the ONLY Christmas ones out of all the kids, so Elsa it is. Good thing she LOVES Frozen. My 12 year old is in adult sizes and I’d already picked some up for her. I was super thrilled to see how well they matched. The Elsa ones are from Walmart and the other ones are from Family Dollar. They were $10 and are incredibly soft. If you’ve never shopped at Family Dollar, don’t turn up your noses. They actually have cute stuff for the whole house at really good prices.

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You can’t have a Christmas eve box/bag without hot chocolate. This came from Heartisans Marketplace in downtown Longview, TX. It’s a wonderful little store, run by volunteers, that help women learn work skills to get back into the work force. Every bit of money goes back into the store and into helping the women. It wasn’t frugal at about $12, but sometimes it’s more than about saving money, ya know.

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My husband and I had been on the lookout for some cute kid friendly hot chocolate mugs. It seemed like we looked everywhere. I knew exactly what I had in mind, but the ones I found were all about $12.99 and I just couldn’t pay that for Christmas mugs. We found these at Dollar General for a buck a piece. The travel mugs will be perfect for the littles, non-breakable and have a top. Perfect. I just love the Santa ones, but as I look at the picture do the cheeks look like boobs???????? OMG, they do and now I can’t unsee it! I will NOT mention it to the kids. Oh, well, it is what it is.

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I added 2 books. The traditional Night Before Christmas, picked up at Books a Million and Baby Jesus. I cannot for the life of me remember where I bought this one. It tell the story of Jesus’s birth. I STILL use the Little People nativity scene that we’ve had for about 10 years, so I think I’ll let them act out the story with it. Except there is one small problem….

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Can you find the problem? We don’t have the shepherd. I think he was accidentally put in the Little People farm that we donated ages ago. I think the cow took his place because I don’t think it originally came with a cow. I think Joseph may have to do double duty and fill in for our missing shepherd. That could work, right?

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Last, but not least, we have the gingerbread house kit. Shout out to the cashier at Dollar General for letting us know that Walmart had them for $4, even though they were still marked $9. I think all the kids will enjoy assembling this. I was going to add more candy, but I think what it comes with will work and the less candy, the quicker we can get it done.

So, that’s our Christmas Eve bag. Just enough to get the kiddos really excited for the big day. What do you put in your Christmas eve box? I’d love suggestions for next year.

Merry Christmas,

Stacy

Oh Christmas Trees

On December 15, 2018 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

It’s almost Christmas! I can’t believe how fast December has flown by. I would like to say that I’m 100% ready, but that would be a lie. I decided not to stress out this year and just take my time and enjoy whatever happens.

I normally get our decorations up before Thanksgiving. Well, that didn’t happen this year, but I was okay with it. We actually have two trees up. I have never been the type to have more than one tree, but there’s a reason that has changed. Donny and my first Christmas together was 2004. We were both working 6 days a week, open to close at the Harley dealership in Oklahoma. It was crazy and we had decided to not put up a tree. I couldn’t do it. I caved. We were living in a townhouse that wasn’t very big, so I went to Big Lots and found a $10 tree that was maybe 6 feet tall. It was perfect for what we needed and we just figured we’d get a new, bigger the next year.

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And here it is 15 Christmases later. I CANNOT get rid of it. It was our first tree and I have a weird attachment to it. It is the only tree my kids knew. They used to think it was HUGE. Not so much now, since they are almost as tall as the tree itself, but, if you think about it, it really has earned it’s keep at less than a dollar a year for all the years we’ve used it. It may not be the most beautiful tree in the world, but there’s more to my sweet little tree than how it looks. It’s the memory that is attached to each skinny limb. One year I even lost one of the feet and had to anchor it to the wall to keep it from leaning. Now that’s love. For the record, my husband thought I was crazy to keep it. I found the missing foot after Christmas.

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It makes our seldom used living room much cozier.

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I absolutely love our little tree, but summer before last big brother tree came to live at our home. I was at Goodwill and there in the corner was a huge box. Of course I had to see what it was. Of course. It was a 7 1/2 foot Christmas tree for $4.99. I knew there was a chance that it wouldn’t have all the pieces, but I was will to take the chance. I mean, what frugal person wouldn’t.

Well, not only did it have all the pieces, it had the directions and extra pieces.

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Does it fit? Yes, if you shift everything around. I just love that it has found a new home with us. When I look on instagram I see all the homes that have the perfect tree. Everything is coordinated and magazine perfect. My home will never be like that. I obviously never “stage” pictures. What you see is how it is, but I like that better. It’s real life and my hodge podge tree is definitely real life.

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It was an ugly Christmas sweater party.

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A santa I got in a secret santa exchange MANY years ago hangs next to a stick reindeer.

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Our tin bear in the box that Donny brought home from work years ago.

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So try not to stress out this Christmas. Looking back to our first Christmas together, I don’t even remember the presents. All I remember is the feelings of love and thankfulness. Things do not have to cost a lot of money to bring happiness.

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Merry Christmas,

Stacy

The Compassion Experience

On November 18, 2018 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Things to doLeave a comment

As you probably know, my family and I live in a smallish town. I say smallish because I have talked to people when I’m out and about, that are from VERY small towns and call Longview “the city”. As in, “we only come into the city when we have to because it’s so crowded”. The first time I heard this I had to look around to make sure I wasn’t being punked.

I have also heard, “how can you live in such a small town? There’s nothing to do.” There is ALWAYS something to do, you just have to look a little harder than if you live in Dallas or Austin.

I was scrolling through Facebook when I saw an event I thought would be an awesome experience, not only for me, but for my kids.

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It’s called the Compassion Experience. There are several that travel around the United States. It gives you a first hand experience about what life is like as a child in a 3rd world country. Woo-hoo, it was coming to Longview!!! I clicked on the link, reserved our time and we were set.

When we drove up, Jack thought it looked sketchy since it was next to the highway, in the church’s parking lot, but pretty far away from the church hosting it. The kids really had very little interest. They would have much rather stayed home and gotten on their laptops, so I got a lot of grunts and okay fine. I wasn’t going to give in, because it was obvious to me that they needed a little wake up call. I had been looking forward to this for weeks, so no matter the attitudes, it was on.

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The inside is much larger than it appears on the outside. That’s my blurry son on the left. We were each given headphones and a small ipad and told that we would learn about Kiwi from the Philippines first. If we liked it we were welcome to come back around and learn about Jey from Uganda.

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People in line for headphones. We are standing on the stairs waiting to go in.

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When you walk into each room you listen as a narrative is read, in a child’s voice, explaining what you are seeing.

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The hospital where Kiwi was born.

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Kiwi’s home. My kids were actually listening intently because, well, just look at how she had to live. It is one thing when I make them watch youtube videos about this, but it’s a whole other thing to be immersed in it. And yes, I am that mother that would make them watch videos of kids from 3rd world countries so they could see that their lives were pretty darn good. DSCN1178

Jackson is standing in the “market”. We were allowed to touch and explore.

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There is a “window” so you can see what the outside would be like. The kids thought this was pretty cool.

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The stories take you from hopelessness to hopeful. It is God centered, which we loved, but I understand this may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Before we went I read reviews. One reviewer said that they enjoyed it, but felt uncomfortable with the whole Christian aspect of it. Well, let me clue you in, if it’s sponsored by a church, in a church parking lot, it’s probably Christ based. I didn’t feel like it was shoved down your throat, but it was inline with my beliefs, so I wasn’t bothered by it at all.

At the end of the Kiwi tour, the real Kiwi appears on your screen and tells you about herself. Hannah was surprised because, in her words, she thought it was a generalized story about a made up person. Nope, it’s real and it just became WAY more interesting to them.

So kids, do you want to do they next one? Yes, they 100% did.

This one was a bit different. We did the first one as a group by ourselves. This one we did with a mom and her 4 year old son.

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Jey’s story was much sadder and grittier. I was in tears by the end. I’ll paraphrase and show the pics. His mother made illegal moonshine and sold drugs to feed her family.

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15 people lived in his hut. They would fight for the bed.

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A meal for 15 people

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As a child, yes child, he spent time in jail. There was not enough food and the conditions were horrible.

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Learning about Jey’s life as it is becoming better.

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A school room

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Again, at the end, Jey came on our screens to tell us about where he is now. Both had happy endings. Yay! I think the kids enjoyed Jey’s story more than Kiwi’s, although both were extremely moving.

This exhibit is very well done. We truly felt as though we were in the places, living their lives with them. I would highly recommend seeing it if it’s in your city. It created very good, thought provoking conversation on the way home.

This event was free, but at the end you have the option to “adopt” a child. There are pictures of different children on the walls as you leave the last rooms. There is no pressure to do this, they simply ask you if you are interested. We were not, and let me explain why. I didn’t realize that there was a homeless population in Longview. You just don’t see it simply driving down the streets. I want my family to get involved with helping people in need in our community. Hopefully, by the end of the year I will have a blog post about just that.

Several children were “adopted” though.

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If you see this coming to your town, it’s worth the time to go. It takes about an hour if you choose to go through both experiences. The people running it are extremely nice and helpful and I think we walked away with a better understanding of what goes on in the world outside of our little bubble.

Stacy

CBD Oil – An Honest Review

On October 24, 2018October 24, 2018 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn CBD Oil, product reviewsLeave a comment

First of all, I want to start off by saying I don’t sell this. I’m not pushing anyone to buy this. I just know that when I was doing research on cbd oil, I liked the honest reviews, the reviews by actual users who didn’t sell it. For some reason, when an MLM (that’s multi level marketing, otherwise known as direct sales) person is going on and on about benefits of their products, I tend to skip over those reviews.

So, here is our story.

Back when we lived in Louisiana, my husband heard about a product that helped with tics. Ever since my 12 year old daughter was a baby she had always “stimmed”. This just means that she had a repetitive movement. Hers were her hands. We had all types of tests run, from EEG’s to CAT scans. Nothing definitive ever came of them. It happens when she gets nervous, anxious or excited. We now believe that she has a very mild form of Tourettes.

When we moved to East Texas, we decided that we were going to give CBD oil a try. Our goal was to start her on it a week before school started, so we could see if there were any beneficial differences. We had done a lot of online research, but I was very wary about buying from an online source. I wanted to actually talk to a knowledgeable human to understand exactly what was in the product and to find out the difference between the strengths and what was right for us.

A quick google search led me here. DSCN0926

This is CBD Express that is about 1 mile from our home. The store is owned by the nicest couple, the Scotts. I say nicest because they answered my million questions so patiently, giving me the information without at all being pushy or annoyed.

Here is the inside of the store. You can see why I had so my questions. There are a lot of different products and I really wanted to make sure I chose the right one.

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The top row is the sublingual oils. The second row is the syrup and vaping oil. The bottom row is the CBD Living Water. More about the water later.

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Soap and bath bombs. They also carry body lotion.

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Roll on pain reliever and the patches

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More products including the edibles

You can see why I was confused about what would be the best route to go. There are a lot of choices.

Here are some of the information they have posted. It will give you a good idea about just what CBD oil is used for.

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Click on the picture to make it larger so it’s easier to read.

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I chose the 1000 mg sublingual oil. I asked Mr. Scott if he knew if it worked for menopausal symptoms. I was having hot flashes like there was no tomorrow, and I was willing to try ANYTHING to help with these. He told me that he had no idea, but he’d like to know. Going into this, I knew that I was going to be taking the oil also. I was not going to give something to my daughter that I had no idea how it actually affects the body. We decided that half a dropper, under the tongue morning and evening would be the starting dosage. CBD oil dosing is not an exact science because it can be different for everyone. You have to find that “sweet spot” that works for you.

With an oil purchase, you can purchase a bottle of the living water for $1.95. So, I left the store with a bottle of 1000 mg oil, a bottle of living water and a sucker for Hannah that he gave me for her to try.

So, here we go. We started the oil on August 14th.

When I got in the car, I opened the water. I drank some and I let Hannah drink some. I immediately felt calm. Seriously, immediately. Hannah said that she could feel her heartbeat slow. When she gets anxious, her heartbeat elevates. It was like Xanax in a bottle, without the narcotic side effects. Just very calming. Just a disclaimer here, there is NO THC in these products.

So far, so good. School clothes shopping that same day did not make me want to go insane. I do NOT like shopping, especially at the mall, but I was okay. I was much calmer and able to actually enjoy it. Hannah was less anxious and also enjoyed it.

We were off to a good start. We started on the drops that evening. The taste is not bad. You just squirt it under your tongue and hold it for 15 seconds before you swallow. Easy peasy.

Now, here’s where it gets crazy. I have had sciatica pain for almost 3 years. We are talking excruciating pain. At one point I was taking up to 12 ibuprofen a day! I had a tens unit that I would wear at least an hour a day. Donny would come home and I would immediately ask him to push on my hip to try and relieve the pain. I could not wear the same shoes 2 days in a row or I could barely walk. Y’all it was BAD!!!!! Life altering bad!

The second day I realized something was different and then it hit me. MY SCIATICA PAIN WAS GONE!!!! Just gone. Just like that. I couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be the oil, could it? I’d only taken it twice. My life changed. I wasn’t in constant pain. I could walk. I could wear the same shoes every day if I wanted to. I didn’t have to take any ibuprofen, aspirin or tylenol. I felt 20 years younger.

I really thought at first it was a fluke, but almost 3 months later it is still gone. Nothing, nada, gone. Pain free for the first time in almost 3 years!

As for Hannah, one morning I forgot to give her the oil. I asked her when she got home if she noticed a difference. She said, that explains why my leg was bouncing and I felt anxious. It has helped her so much. She is actually talking to people and initiating conversations. She is extremely shy and suffers from social anxiety. She is very self conscious of her stimming which causes the anxiety. I am very happy to report that her stimming has considerably slowed and her anxiety is almost non existent.

Would I recommend taking CBD oil. I would. The ONLY con in my list of pros is that it isn’t cheap. I can justify the price because it has eliminated my pain without having to take any kind of narcotic. It has helped my daughter without having to have her on some type of anxiety meds that take weeks to get into your system before they work and if she needed to get off of, we would have to wean her off of them. No thanks, I will pay more to have something that works almost immediately and if you stop taking it, there are zero side effects.

We have now moved up to the 1500 mg. The reason we did is because it only takes 1/4 of a dropper, instead of 1/2 dropper with the 1000 mg, and we don’t go through it as fast. A bottle lasts us about a month.

If you have any questions, you can email me or you can call the Scotts at CBD Express. Before I wrote this I told them I was going to and asked them if I could include their phone number and website. They said that if anyone had any questions they would be more than happy to answer them and to don’t hesitate to reach out to them. Seriously, they are passionate about helping people feel better.

They also ship their product, so if you are interested in purchasing anything CBD related, they are your people. (I am not being compensated for this blog) I completely trust them and what they stand for.

CBD Express

2551 Judson Rd Suite 1A

Longview, TX 7505

email: cbdexpresstx@gmail.com

website: cbdexpresstx.com

Phone: (903) 238-8118

As for the menopausal symptoms, my hot flashes have dramatically decreased. I am not irritated by the little things that used to set me off. Although I didn’t notice it as much, my husband did. The big plus is that I can feel better and not have to be on hormone replacement therapy which makes me very happy.

I hope this review helps anyone that is thinking about trying CBD products. If you decide this is something for you, no matter where you purchase it, make sure that you know the ingredients. There are some places that are not as honest and their ingredients are more the watered down version of what you should be taking. Just do your research so you can get quality ingredients.

Stacy

Easy Furniture Update

On October 10, 2018 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Room Update, saving money

I sometimes feel as though I have more projects than time. I finally decided to tackle my 12 year old daughters room. Truthfully, she couldn’t care less what her room looks like, but since I care it was time to get started.

Here is a picture of her room from our old house. My husband found her chest of drawers at a junktique store in New Orleans. It had good bones, but was rough. The color was a whitish green. The knobs were some kind of metal buried underneath dark brown tarnish. I think the photographer (this is from when our home was for sale) doctored it up a bit, because it was worse than this.

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Hannah also needed a desk. It couldn’t be a regular student sized desk because she does a lot of art. We needed to find one that was large enough for to be able to work without feeling cramped. I picked up this one at the thrift store for 30 bucks.

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The size was perfect, but the top was kind of beat up. I also got her bookshelf to the left for free on Craigslist about 9 years ago. The chair was from our old dining room set.

So with a few products, I completely changed the look of the pieces.

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I think they turned out really good.

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I have never spray painted a major piece of furniture, but I will now. The Rustoleum 2X ultra coverage is amazing! I only had to touch up a few places. Most of it was covered in one coat. I didn’t even sand it down.

For the knobs I used Bar Keeper’s Friend.

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I love the way they look against the Vintage Teal paint.

For the desk I sanded the top 4 times. I knew that it was going to have a “rustic” look, just because I have worked with this type of finish before. I was okay with that because I really like that look.

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I painted the chair to match.

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The color looks really blue in this picture, but it’s more of a turquoise.

I also painted the bookshelf.

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We still have a few more things we want to do in here. I’d like to find a larger rug and she really wants a swing chair, but I think we’re off to a good start.

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I love her day bed cover. It has all the colors that are in her room and it’s easy to slip off for sleeping. She uses a white down comforter that is stored in her closet when not being used. The picture below shows how much brighter it actually is.

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This picture turned out a little dark, but you can see the other side of her room.

One project down, many more to go.

Stacy

The Funky Frugalista

Author: thefunkyfrugalista

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