Archive for September, 2009
Frugal & Easy Autumn Centerpiece
Welcome, new visitor! Come on in. The Classic Housewife is currently undergoing some back end changes. In the meantime I'm re-posting some oldies and goodies. You may also want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
If you ask me, home decor is an important part of making our house feel homey. If you ask my husband…wall color, fancy curtains, decorations, pictures and art are “frills” that nobody really needs. After thinking about it, he probably WOULD be just fine living in a house that looks like a white padded cell or a sterile surgical room.
Not me.
Obviously, I don’t want to be at odds with my husband over spending large amounts of money on “frills” and honestly, I don’t feel the need to spend large amounts of money on name brand items or valuable antiques. Besides, bringing an expensive decoration piece into MY home would be like, like.. like throwing an injured lamb in front of a hungry lion. It’s ASKING for trouble.
With the onset of Autumn and the recent spurts of cooler weather, my home decorating gene is kicking in. I FEEL URGES. I browse the home and linens aisles at the store and feel the soft, shiny, smooth, textured, vibrant fall colored items stacked in matching stacks in long rows of home decor goodness. I put things in my basket, and take them back out and in the end, I exercise huge amounts of self-control and walk away with our budget relatively unscathed.
Most of the time, anyway.
Last week, I eyed many many things but in the end settled on bringing home a 5$ floral bouquet and a 2$ faux-suede maple leaf placemat. Re-using a plain glass vase from a previous floral gift and a string of fall leaves purchased last year, I assembled our new fall centerpiece for this year:
It’s not much, but it makes me happy. I’ll probably buy a couple more things over the next couple of months and I’ll pack them away after Thanksgiving. Next Autumn, I’ll pull them back out and repeat - browsing the stores searching for a couple of new things to add, breathing in the air of possibility as I window shop through all the beautiful things that won’t be coming home with me.
Last night I told Hubs that I could go window shopping on a bad day, with no kids, and no money and not buy a single thing, and come home happy. He said, “I don’t get that.” I know, Honey, I know…we really are quite the opposites, aren’t we?
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Dinner Made Easy with General Mills
General Mills is running their Dinner Made Easy promotion again. They have a limit and it usually fills up pretty quick. Sign up for their newsletter and you’ll receive samples, recipes and other savings from General Mills - like the recipe for the Giant Peanut Butter Zebra Cookies (pictured above). They fill up quick tho, so hurry!
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WFMW: The Organizing Edition
This week’s is a themed edition: ORGANIZATION.
Oh, I do love me some organization! Some brightly colored bins, straight little buckets all in a row, a neat line of bottles or containers.
I adore it. I’m actually very good at it.. I just STINK at the part where you’re supposed to KEEP it that way.
Moving on…
I have a handy little list of organizational tips that I actually do use on a regular basis and they continue to work for me, again and again.
In the kitchen:
- If your kitchen cabinets are high over head and you find yourself stretching and reaching for spices or powdered sugar - organize them into baskets (common spices, seasonal spices, baking needs, etc.) that can be pulled down, dug through and then replaced. It will save your back, not to mention prevent anything from getting lost at the back of the cabinet.
- Under the sink: Milk crates make good bins for cleaners - it keeps the bottles together and prevents anything from getting lost in the cobwebby shadows.
In the living room:
- Organize your DVD’s into DVD wallets* (which allow you to keep the inserts unlike cd wallets) and chunk all those plastic cases - or even better, recycle them!
- Organize the books on your bookcase by size and color and you’ll have a very streamlined and pleasing appearance to your bookcase in lieu of a cluttered one.
In the bathroom:
- If you don’t have enough drawer space in your bathroom, stackable transparent storage containers with hinged lids can help contain all the bottles, creams, and what-nots and make it easy to find things when you need them.
In the kids’ rooms:
- Organize your kids’ sock and undies drawer with small baskets. One for each and if you have room, a basket for belts and/or scarves, too.
- Keep your kids’ sock basket orderly by buying all one kind of sock (with maybe a few exceptions with church socks for girls.) If one gets lost, it will always have a mate!
I have more, but I can’t give away all my secrets at once, now can I?! 
For more organizational tips, stop by WFMW at We are THAT Family!
Sponsored Link:101 Uses of Hydrogen Peroxide {Click here for my Disclosure Policy}
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