Couldn't we all use a little help with our stuff? I know I needed it when I read an article in 1999 about a lady who had struggled with keeping her home together. The web site is Flylady.net. She has a book Sink Reflections. In it she details her transition to an organized home. Routines are her main theme. I can tell you from experience, it works. She also has a plan for getting through Christmas with ease.
One of her sayings is:"You can't organize clutter". And you really can't, even with all those color coded tabs and plastic boxes. It is still clutter. After all how much is enough? Isn't this Thanksgiving/Christmas season about all we have and giving? Maybe it is time to look at our stuff and rethink what we need. Maybe we could organize our closet, if we had less in there. Maybe we should look around at all those who have nothing. Surely we could spare something to help them. Just because we have always had 3 or 4 coats doesn't mean we have to keep them.We could give to someone who doesn't have one, after all it is winter.
I don't know what your situation is but I can bet you have some things you could let go of this year in order to bless someone and start to get organized. I know I do. Tomorrow I am going to start the search. I am going to listen to these things as they cry: "Please release me, let me go". Less is really more. Less to wash and iron, if you still do. Less to clean and way less to store. I know some people who have three storage sheds. Wow! Imagine all the blessings just waiting to happen there!!
You may not think this topic goes with the ThriftySissy blog name, but believe me thrifty people are generous people. There is available money or things because they have been thrifty.
Happy Thriftying This Thanksgiving !!!
Monday, November 25, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
Shop Your House
Morning Thrifty Folks:
You may have heard the phase "shop your house" before. If not, it simply means to look at things you already have in a different way. We can move a few things from one room to another and change the entire look of it. Or we can remove some things from our room to give it a more elegant look. It all depends on the look you want.![]()
Here is our dining room buffet with a minimalist look. I'm really not much on "do dads" but this look did not seem to invite me in for dinner. It did not feel warm. My idea was to try to stay true to my name "Thrifty Sissy". So I decided to" shop the house" to see what I could find. Shopping the house means looking into cabinets, drawers and closets. We are looking for hidden treasure. It may just be something you will move to another location. The sky is the limit. After all you can always put it back where you got it from. You don't have to worry about a receipt in order to return it.
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Here is a picture after "shopping the house". A delicate
white tea cup and saucer with a decorative candle which has the colors of the room. Understand, it doesn't have to be a bunch of stuff. Understated elegance is our theme. Of course, we are thinking about the thrifty aspect as well.
I hope you will start to think about your wonderful accessories in a whole new way. There are no rules. If you like it. That settles it. You may have forgotten about something you packed away for later. Or you may have told yourself: "I only use this on special occasions". Well, today, is your gift from God, that's why they call it "the present". If that is not a special occasion I don't know what is. It is your beautiful home you are embellishing. It's kind of like changing your earrings at the last minute before you go out the door to a special engagement.
Who knows what creativity you may tap when you decide to "Shop your House"?
Happy Thriftying to All!
You may have heard the phase "shop your house" before. If not, it simply means to look at things you already have in a different way. We can move a few things from one room to another and change the entire look of it. Or we can remove some things from our room to give it a more elegant look. It all depends on the look you want.
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| Dining Room Buffet |
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| New Additions to the Room |
white tea cup and saucer with a decorative candle which has the colors of the room. Understand, it doesn't have to be a bunch of stuff. Understated elegance is our theme. Of course, we are thinking about the thrifty aspect as well.
I hope you will start to think about your wonderful accessories in a whole new way. There are no rules. If you like it. That settles it. You may have forgotten about something you packed away for later. Or you may have told yourself: "I only use this on special occasions". Well, today, is your gift from God, that's why they call it "the present". If that is not a special occasion I don't know what is. It is your beautiful home you are embellishing. It's kind of like changing your earrings at the last minute before you go out the door to a special engagement.
Who knows what creativity you may tap when you decide to "Shop your House"?
Happy Thriftying to All!
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Just 'Cause You Have Money
Well I can just hear my Dad saying to me," Honey, just 'cause you got money don't mean you have to spend it. That money is just burning a hole in your pocket". And it did do more than burn a hole in my pocket. I spent money I did not have. I charged on any and every card they sent me in the mail.
I was divorced with two little girls to raise by myself. There was no child support and the $65.00 a week I made didn't go very far. These are the things we don't like to think about. If I had listened to my Dad about money, it would not have taken the better part of 20 years to pay myself out of the debt I made. My Dad was a depression era man. He would have been in his late teens, early twenties. He knew what making do and doing without was all about. So much so than when his daughter came along she would not have to go through that.
But I did go through it because having everything you want leads to not appreciating any of it. You take it for granted that there will always be enough. You can even use credit cards if you don't have real money. But the rude awaking comes at the end of the month when the bills come. When the statement indicates the minimum payment is only enough to pay them their interest. Letting you see clearly, paying the minimum will never pay the balance off.
So what was the credit card wake up call? Believe it or not it was Desert Storm. The name of that war is the perfect one for my own. When Desert Storm hit the financial community the first thing they did was crack down on the people who were over there credit limit. You guessed it. That was me. It was right after the big, big Christmas for my girls. You know the one where you are trying to make up for life without a Dad and a Mom who was absent even when she was physically there.
Well, my credit was really good. No late payments, no missing payments. But that did not matter to them in this war situation. They wanted their money. They wanted their $342.00 over my credit limit. They sent notices in the mail. They called the house. All of this in less than a week. The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was: they called my work. That was it. They had their nerve didn't they. I ranted and raved for a couple of days. Then the stubbornness that got me into debt slid over to the other side.
Now I was razor edge focused. I was fired up mad. Mad at them but more mad at myself for falling into the trap. What did I do? I took every extra penny I could and paid it over and above what was due each month. When I got my income tax refund I paid it onto the balance. Two years later, it was done.
In order to fast foward the pay off, I stopped spending with credit cards. I paid cash. I used real money instead of the plastic stuff. I used my money for a lot more of what was needed versus what was wanted. I realized what my Dad said was the truth. " Just 'cause you got money don't mean you have to spend it. Or one better Dad. Just 'cause you have plastic (Credit) don't mean you have to use it.
Happy Thriftying To You All!
I was divorced with two little girls to raise by myself. There was no child support and the $65.00 a week I made didn't go very far. These are the things we don't like to think about. If I had listened to my Dad about money, it would not have taken the better part of 20 years to pay myself out of the debt I made. My Dad was a depression era man. He would have been in his late teens, early twenties. He knew what making do and doing without was all about. So much so than when his daughter came along she would not have to go through that.
But I did go through it because having everything you want leads to not appreciating any of it. You take it for granted that there will always be enough. You can even use credit cards if you don't have real money. But the rude awaking comes at the end of the month when the bills come. When the statement indicates the minimum payment is only enough to pay them their interest. Letting you see clearly, paying the minimum will never pay the balance off.
So what was the credit card wake up call? Believe it or not it was Desert Storm. The name of that war is the perfect one for my own. When Desert Storm hit the financial community the first thing they did was crack down on the people who were over there credit limit. You guessed it. That was me. It was right after the big, big Christmas for my girls. You know the one where you are trying to make up for life without a Dad and a Mom who was absent even when she was physically there.
Well, my credit was really good. No late payments, no missing payments. But that did not matter to them in this war situation. They wanted their money. They wanted their $342.00 over my credit limit. They sent notices in the mail. They called the house. All of this in less than a week. The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was: they called my work. That was it. They had their nerve didn't they. I ranted and raved for a couple of days. Then the stubbornness that got me into debt slid over to the other side.
Now I was razor edge focused. I was fired up mad. Mad at them but more mad at myself for falling into the trap. What did I do? I took every extra penny I could and paid it over and above what was due each month. When I got my income tax refund I paid it onto the balance. Two years later, it was done.
In order to fast foward the pay off, I stopped spending with credit cards. I paid cash. I used real money instead of the plastic stuff. I used my money for a lot more of what was needed versus what was wanted. I realized what my Dad said was the truth. " Just 'cause you got money don't mean you have to spend it. Or one better Dad. Just 'cause you have plastic (Credit) don't mean you have to use it.
Happy Thriftying To You All!
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