The Buy Nothing New Challenge (BNN)

So, May 1st of this year a group of us took the plunge on a challenge- a challenge to buy nothing new for a year. I had considered blogging about this adventure back then, but we formed a facebook page to support and encourage one another and I figured that was an easier way to get motivated and stay motivated. However, I've found that I talk about this challenge ALOT with people that aren't doing the challenge and thus aren't on said facebook page.

I've been feeling like blogging, and not just about my crafty adventures or running adventures, or my buy nothing new adventures, or our conversion to Catholicism, but all of it. So that's what I'm doing. So at least Megan Daigle can read these posts and be filled in and then when she calls from all the way across the pond and we have a total of 5 minutes to talk uninterrupted- she can stop asking me questions and she can start spending that time telling me all about her life! Love you, Megan.

I wanted to post about my hair the other day. I know, you're upset now that you missed out on a post about my hair. Hush, hush, dear, I'll get to it another day. But I couldn't because it wouldn't make any sense without knowing about the BNN challenge. So this post is a background post. A post that I should have made, ummmm, 3 1/2 months ago when we started :)

So all the ladies that have joined in on the BNN challenge have written their own guidelines to suit their families. Here are my reasons, my goals, my guidelines:

The BNN challenge for me is a smaller part of a bigger change I'm making as a result of conviction I've been experiencing lately that came to a head after reading several books, particularly "Radical". It's more about living a more biblical life than saving money, in fact, saving money is one of the areas of our life that needs to change. We save too much.

Changes I want to make in my life 

-PAY OFF MY STUDENT LOANS

I believe debt, the way we use it, is unbiblical. Student loans WOULD be different, but not so much the way I used them. My student debt was about half consumer debt. My graduate school was paid for, except for books and fees, I did not pay tuition as part of my assistantship at the University. No tuition, and they paid me a salary of $12,800 a year to teach 2 freshman courses, a little over $15,000 the second year. However, I chose to take out loans so I could live in a nicer apartment, eat out, buy a scooter, continue to shop and live life like I was accustomed to doing prior to graduate school. So honestly, my student loans are about twice what they NEEDED to be for me to live in DC during that time. I could have easily gotten by on less if I had chosen to do so- I could not have done it without loans- I wasn't permitted to work another job as part of my assistantship agreement, but I didn't need as much of the money as I borrowed. 

The Bible has plenty to say on debt, it is a desperate act of the poor- not a means to living lavishly.

Proverbs 22:7, "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave of the lender" 

"Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”Rom 13:8This is a good article on debt-http://www.tenth.org/fileadmin/files_for_download/Managing_Your_Money/handouts/Debt_Lecture_1.pdf

-TITHING AND GIVING

Giving to the poor, the needy, the oppressed, the orphans, the widows, is mentioned so many times in the Bible, it cannot be ignored, yet we tend to ignore it. 1 Tim. 6:17 Tell those who are rich not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone, but their pride and trust should be in the living God who always richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 1 Tim. 6:18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. 1 Tim. 6:19 By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven--it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well. We give, but we could live differently and give so much more.

-LIVE MORE SIMPLY

Find my satisfaction in the Lord, in my family, in my friends, in time spent together, not in "stuff". "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:21 Clean out my house, clean out my garage, less stuff means less messes to clean up, it means it's easier to find things when I need them, it means the laundry is more manageable. I'm sometimes overwhelmed by all our stuff.

-LESSEN MY WASTE AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

This should be a goal of everyone, religious or not. This is kind of a no-brainer that is easier to ignore than to think about. But math tells me that if I consume less, I'll produce less waste. 

So, anyhow, the BNN challenge is a tool to help me in all of these goals. By spending less money on STUFF, we can put efforts towards paying off debt, which will free up more money to tithe and give, and in turn assist in focusing my heart on the things that matter. 

BNN GUIDELINES

Buy nothing new for a year- except for the following:

-Food

-Medicine/medical supplies

-Toiletries

-Necessary items that are unsanitary to purchase used- underwear, mattress (when Wyatt needs a big boy bed). However, they must also be NECESSARY- do I NEED new underwear? Or do I WANT it? I'd like a new bathing suit, and it's not super sanitary to buy it used, but I don't NEED a new one. I have one that fits and one that doesn't fit, but can be altered.

-Necessary items that are not available used/should not be purchased new for some other legitimate reason: Oil for the car (you have to buy that new, right?), running shoes (this is a no-no. But I don't need new running shoes until they have 500 miles on them or extreme wear, i.e. ripped sole). I'm not sure what else, but I'm sure I'll encounter this- and if it's NECESSARY and not available used, it may be purchased. 

All other items will either be purchased used, traded/bartered for, or done without. If my growing children need clothes/shoes/etc I'll purchase used. Household goods- purchase used. However, if *I* want something in the clothing/shoes/purse category, it will be purchased used with money acquired through the sale of things I no longer want or need. I can sell stuff on ebay or on Craigslist and reserve that money for personal purchases. 

Other personal restrictions:

-Chick-fil-a no more than 1 visit/wk.

-Dunkin Donuts no more than 1 visit/wk.

-Ladie's night out/date nights allowed! let's be real, I don't do this often enough for it to be an issue, and they are both good for fellowship/relationship building 

-Gifts will be handmade or purchased used (antique/vintage items for friends that are into that.

-School supplies are consumable and will be purchased new as needed.

-Haircuts are allowed, but NO MORE HIGHLIGHTS. No more $140 trips to the salon.

Alright, now that it's out there, and we're already a 1/4 of the way through the challenge!

A VERY productive day...

It's been one year and 3 months since I posted anything here. We moved on base and so I was storing up pictures of all my projects and planning to post once we got settled and then the computer crashed :/ Devastating doesn't cover it. Didn't have back up. Stupid, stupid, stupid. So in addition to documents and family photos lost, all my projects were gone, also. So I just stopped blogging. But today I had a really really productive day. Dropped the kids off at playgroup at the CDC, ran a quick (and by quick I mean ridiculously slow because the heat is KILLING me) 3 miles, then met up with a friend doing the Couch to 5k program and did her workout with her, went straight to the garage and finished up two projects and started another, had a surprise visit from a friend, showered, finished another project, etc. Nothing ridonculous happened today (read: no dog barf, no trips to the hospital and the A/C functioned allll day!). All in all a fantastic day.

I wanted to share because it's just that exciting to have a productive day around here! Soooo, dusting off the old blog- maybe it will encourage me to DO more :)

I picked up this rocking chair at the Semper Fi Fund yard sale. Of course I forgot to take a before picture because I was just took excited that I actually had a minute to tackle the project.  It was brown before. Now it's pink. It's cuter pink. I swear.

 Isn't it sweet??

Here is a mirror I picked up the other day. It's about 4 feet tall and HEAVY! It was a varnished wood, I thought it would be great in a distressed green. Now who wants it?? I have no place in my teeny home for a 4 ft mirror. I'm contemplating the entry way over the table thingy, but it's bigger than the table and I think that might be weird... 

This picture I picked up yesterday. For $5!!! The lady actually looked at me like I was nuts when I brought it to the counter. Like WHY?!?!?!! I told her I was going to make a chalkboard out of it and she said "good luck with that" lol. 

In your face thrift store lady. It's awesome!!

 

And that's it for today and possibly this year. Happy Thursday!

I stole seashells from the seashore. And I made a wreath!

The Bakers went to the beach this weekend. The boy child had pink eye, so we were unable to attend church on Sunday; we decided to make the day great anyway and went by Dunkin Donuts (coffee for me) and Starbucks (coffee for Shannon and "coffee" for Fin), stalked the base housing neighborhood like creeps, and then headed to the beach. Fin is quite afraid of the water, but LOVES the sand and the shells and the rocks. Wyatt loves EVERYTHING about the beach. He wore Shannon out running up and down the shore, into the water, up the dunes... And who knew??!?! The beach is absolutely fantastic during the spring!! It's not so hot that you think you're going to pass out, and the water is too cold to swim in- yea! This girl hates swimming in sticky sea water! Fantastic weather for just playing in the best. sandbox. ever. AND it was empty- a few people here and there, but we had the beach pretty much to ourselves! 

Anyhow, I enlisted Finley's help in collecting seashells and rocks to fill our glasses that previously housed pine cones. I told her to only pick out the most fantastic and beautiful ones she could find, but she kept loading them up into the bag. She seemed to think they were ALL the most beautiful and amazing things she's ever seen, and you know what? I'm inclined to agree. 

So 25 lbs worth of seashells and rocks later, I have 3 full glass urns and a wreath! I washed and dried our loot, separating the rocks and the shells. For the wreath, I started with a cheap straw wreath form- these are 3 or 4 bucks at Michaels everyday. 

 I wrapped it in ribbon, hot gluing just a dab every time it came around, and then I RAN OUT OF FREAKING RIBBON. Seriously. See that tiny section?? It's 4 yards. Not feet. YARDS. Yeah, I'm not buying it either. I think I got jipped on that spool of ribbon. Anyhow, I finished it up with fabric and spaced out my largest shells first, gluing them in place and following up with smaller shells to fill in all the gappage until it was nice and full. Then I added some more on top of other shells to add dimension.

 I picked up this letter B at Michaels for super cheap. I was going to buy a wood unpainted letter from the wood section that wasn't even cute, and then I found this hook and liked the font way better.

 Just 4 little tiny miniature screws to pop off and voila!

 Okay, I say voila with hesitation because I can't decide if I like it, but that dang hot glue is merciless... on my fingers and on the letter B apparently. It's going to take some effort to get it off without damaging the wreath, so I'm going to let hubs decide when he gets home.

 I still felt like it wasn't completely done, so I took some twine and criss-crossed it around the whole wreath.

 I like it.

So for now, it's hanging in the foyer. We have double doors, and I only made one because WE'RE MOVING!! Did y'all know this? Well, we are. Not far. Just on base. And none of the base houses have double doors, so we'll just stick with the one. And of course, I used up all the ribbon wrapping PART of the wreath (stupid!), so I didn't have ribbon to hang it with. I should have waited to post until I had it hung all nice with ribbon, but then I realized it's April 4th. It's been an ENTIRE month (jeez, there's a lot of capitalization going on in this post) since I last posted. A WHOLE MONTH. It's not that I haven't had my fair share of projects, I've just been lazy about posting. I'll work on that! Anyhow, so I decided I should just go ahead and post or it may never happen. 

See you soon (maybe!) Happy shell hunting!

Dollhouse Renovations

So last week, I went by Goodwill looking for a dresser for my friend, and I scored BIG. Well, that's not entirely true. I didn't find a dresser, BUT I did find a huge end table/small coffee table (?) with a marble top for $12, an bedside table for Finley for $3, a bedside table for Wyatt (not that he has a big boy bed yet or anytime soon) for $6, a glider/rocker with gliding footstool for a girlfriend's new nursery for $30 AND a big dollhouse for Fin for $12! Husband was not at all pleased, but I was giddy! Lots of refinishing projects in my future :)

I've already finished the marble topped coffee table for a friend and I'll be posting that project as soon as I remember to take my camera to her house to get an after picture. Yes- I'm that fantastic of a blogger that I forgot to take an after picture. I also refinished a four poster bed for Finley a month ago that I have yet to share- I should quit now, right? Well- I'll share Fin's doll house before I quit ;)
Soooo- here is the dollhouse I found for $12 at Goodwill:

A little bit colored on. A little bit dirty. A little bit outdated. But not a bit broken! Hooray! Cosmetic renovations I can handle. Finley is always playing with the dollhouse at church and I'm hoping she'll like to play with one of her own. So far it's a hit!
Anhow- renovations: The dollhouse comes apart very easily and I painted the frame a creamy color and painted all the walls a muted pink. I used contact paper to "wallpaper" the downstairs living room, bathroom, and upstairs bedroom. You can find laminate "tiles" at Lowes or home depot for around 80 cents a piece. I used "marble" to re-floor the bathroom and kitchen, laid carpet (that I found in the attic- thanks Landlords!) in one room, and put wood floors (laminate strips cut into smaller strips) upstairs and downstairs. The roof also got an overhaul with actual shingles. They have handy little sample strips (Read: FREE!!!!!) in the roofing section at Lowes that I cut in half and glued on in pieces. So all in all I spent less than $10 in supplies, making the dollhouse a total of $22- not bad.
Finley loves it!

 Wyatt likes it, too!

 And Finley insisted on posing in front of it. In her bathing suit. In early March. With dinosaur stamps all over her legs. Because that's how she rolls.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the makeover. Now we just need to find some furniture! It's ridiculously expensive, so I'm going to have to get creative!

What I made Monday! Overalls overhaul

So, I may be the only mom that experiences this (almost daily), but it seems like my child always looks a bit like a hot mess ragamuffin. I buy her clothes- new clothes- and they're super cute, but then we get them on her and she wears them for about 10 minutes and things go downhill. SHE WON'T STOP GROWING. Ugh. Kids these days! Right before I left to pick up my mom from the airport and head off on our road trip, Finley decided she needed overalls. She said that she "knows they make them as dresses" which means, don't even try to buy me a regular pair and tell me they didn't have the kind with the skirt. So, our roadtrip suddenly involved a hunt for an overall dress. We scored pretty quickly at a Tommy Hilfiger kids outlet. $22, which is more than I'd like to spend on overalls, but I didn't want to spend our whole trip hunting for overalls, so I snatched them up. However, when I returned home and she tried them on, they were RIDICULOUSLY short. They're a 4T. Really Tommy?? Really?? Who do you use to size your clothing??
Of course I forgot to take a before picture (one day I'll remember!), but here's an *almost* before picture:

 And on the reluctant model (with leggings because I'm a family friendly blogger like that):

They barely covered the top half of her tush with the ruffle intact. And of course she loved them and wanted to wear them every day. Everywhere. Eeeeeeegosh.  So I needed to make them longer.  I looked allover for a tutorial and couldn't find one, so I just decided to wing it. If you have an old pair of overalls, you'd like to overhaul or just a pair you'd like to make longer, maybe this will help!
So, first I removed the existing tiny ruffle.

I cut a piece of base fabric a little wider than the bottom of the skirt and long enough to cover her tush. Then I cut three pieces of fabric wider than the width of the base fabric. I actually am super lazy and just cut the fabric the width that it came on the ream. Each piece of fabric is folded in half in the pictures (because you have to have a front and back- having just a front wouldn't solve the tush exposure problem).

Then I hemmed the bottom of each ruffle piece by folding up an 1/8-1/4 of an inch and ironing, then folding and ironing again.

See? It's folded twice so there won't be any exposed raw edges.
Then I zigzagged along the top because I don't have a serger, followed by a straight stitch along the top with a longer than default stitch- I used a 4, my default is 2.5. I ruffled each layer slightly by pulling the bobbin thread and lined up my first piece face down, raw edge to edge and sewed them together.

Wyatt helped.

Then I folded it over, ironed flat, and top-stitched.

 Then I did the same thing with the second row, marking with pins where I wanted it placed- about 2.5 inches above the bottom row. This will depend on how large your ruffles are, but you want to make sure you place it low enough that you don't have a gap between ruffles, but high enough that you don't completely cover the bottom ruffle.

For the top ruffle, I didn't bother folding over and sewing because this part is attaching to the overalls. So just pin in place and sew a straight stitch.

 Now fold in half and sew right sides together to make a skirt then pin skirt around bottom of overalls right sides together.

 Then zigzag around the seam and trim excess fabric.

 Then flip down and iron flat, and top-stitch.

Voila!

Isn't she just lovely??

And shy.

Overalls are good for climbing...

And pretending to snowboard...

And for being just plain cute.

How much do I love her?? "THIS MUCH!!!!!!"