michelejo.com

Category: Tending Hearth

  • How I reduced my kids’ wardrobes AND my stress…

    My kids have too many clothes.  Waaaaaay too many.  Especially my nine year old daughter.  When my older kids (now 15 and 18) were younger, we were pretty broke and I couldn’t buy a lot of nice clothes for them.  My mom loved to buy them clothes and that was nice, but it was never what I…

  • Aim for empty (or close to it!)…

    For years I went back and forth between stockpiling (bought with big savings) or just having enough to get through a certain period of time.  I decided a couple years ago that I was finished stockpiling, both with regards to food and household items.  I do make exceptions, like when canned pumpkin was on sale for…

  • Help for the overwhelmed.

    My husband had a suggestion for me since I’m always complaining that I’m so overwhelmed with the kids, house, cooking and finances that I never have time to really enjoy my hobbies or pursue my personal goals. The idea is to make a list. I hated that idea since I hate lists. They just make…

  • Time to get {our} move on…

    Ahhh, moving.  I love to hate it.  We’ve been renting for so long that I’ve grown used to moving every year or two.  I sincerely hope this next move will be our last.  I hope there’s no reason to move again. But for now, I’ve got a move coming.  It’s time to declutter again, so…

  • Setting up a Minimalist Home: Part 2

    Over a year ago I bought a used square coffee table with good intentions to paint/refinish and then flip it.  I love doing refinishing projects and flips; it’s a way to finance my creativity. 🙂  I forgot about the coffee table; I recently found it buried under clutter in the corner of my photography studio.…

  • Setting up a Minimalist Home

    I’m certain that my level of minimalism probably pales in comparison to others’ but for my family, our current level of minimalism is a huge improvement over the way we used to live. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, we’ve had to buy some things to help us acheive our minimalism goals at the new house.…

  • Home, Sweet Home

    September 16th, 2013…the first day of the first chapter of the rest of our lives!  Closing day on our new home! Everything has gone extremely smoothly, with the exception of one teeny tiny thing…the title company missed a signature and hubby had to go back in first thing this morning to sign.  What a blessing!…

  • Methods of Avoidance…Costco

    I’ve been avoiding Costco the past couple weeks.  Bad, bad…I know.  I’ve hit up Target and Wal-Mart for milk, produce and other staples and even though the prices seem reasonable, you just can’t beat Costco’s prices.  Produce at Costco tends to be around half of what it costs at Wal-Mart.  Milk is similar in price…

  • A Year of Less: The Linen Closet

    How many sets of sheets and blankets and towels does one family need? Apparently not as many as we had…we had a completely filled 36″ wide, 10′ tall linen closet JAMMED and we hadn’t even been using the items in it but rather re-washing the towels, sheets and blankets already in use.  I knew I…

  • Hello again, Costco…

    Monday is my normal grocery shopping day, and I’ve been going to Costco most of the time.  This week I went to Fresh & Easy.   I met my goal of staying under $100 for the week, but I took the kids with me and ended up buying a lot of junk food I wasn’t…