Adorable 50 Cent Carrot Coupon Book

This is not a DIY project. This is a get off the computer, get in the car, and go purchase this cute carrot coupon book (how's that for alliteration?) from Michael's. I just realized that I'm eating carrots as I type this...oh boy. 

One of my current goals is to spend less and save more. There are some things in life that I can't cut out completely, whether they are necessities or just plain good for my soul. A 50 cent investment that will help me organize coupons and save some money is both a necessity and good for my soul in my opinion. :) 

Anyway, last night I headed out to Michael's, bought this little coupon book, and whipped out my label maker as soon as humanly possible. First, here's proof that there are still items for purchase that only cost 50 cents...

Now for a carrot-themed photoshoot...

I should note that they had a purple-grape-themed coupon book, too. Go grab whichever one strikes your fancy! 

Then I grabbed the best invention ever mass produced, the DYMO LetraTag LT-100T Plus. That's just a fancy name for a label maker, but this thing is gold. I use it for everything.

I separated my coupon book into the four categories that make the most sense for me, Arts & Crafts, Health & Beauty, Food & Drink, and Clothing. 

Then I filled it with a few coupons...

Luurve it. I'm not one of those coupon-crazy people with an entire binder [yet?], but this little nugget can easily be thrown into my purse when I'm running out the door. 

Anyone else making some money-saving moves? Cute coupon books anyone?

How I Became a Morning Person in 1 Month

Back in May, I blogged about my goal of becoming a morning person by the end of June. I really, really, really wanted to start getting up earlier and being more productive in the morning hours. I am pleased to announce that I did it. Yup. We're in July and I've never gotten up so early so regularly (and so happily) ever! Woah, that was a lot to handle. Let me rephrase that: I get up early. Everyday. And I'm happy about it.

How I used to feel:

How I feel now:

(No, I didn't change skin tone too. I wish!--still pale and freckled!)

Here's how I became a morning person in one month (by following these wake-up early guidelines I set for myself back in May):

1. I established a nighttime routine. Nothing rigid and strict, after all, it is summer! Just a general order and timeframe for hittin' the hay. (I'm working on making a bit more rigid!) Most days, it goes something like this:

9:30pm Brush teeth and wash face, put on PJs
10:00pm Get in bed, read on my Kindle
11:00-11:30pm Zzzzz...

Of course there were days when I didn't even brush my teeth until midnight, but for the most part I go to sleep between 11:00 and 11:30pm each night (sometimes even earlier!)

You may never find me with a dog any animal in my bed, ever, but he sure does look cozy!

2. I established a morning routine. Not quite early enough to catch the sunrise, but still early for me. My original goal was to wake up daily around 8:30am naturally, without an alarm clock. I easily wake up then, and am currently in the process of pushing that time back even more to 8:00am (by the end of July). My ultimate goal is to wake up on my own around 7:30am each day (by the end of August). Anyway, my morning routine goes something like this:

7:30-8:30am Depending on how late I caught my Zzzs the night before, I wake up [naturally] at varying times. Typically my alarm is set to 8:00am; some days I'm already up and at 'em, others it's snooze a few times. Hopefully making my bedtime routine more regular will help!
8:30am Brush teeth and get dressed
9:00am Breakfast and coffee

Good morning world! Let's do this.

3. I went to bed and woke up around the same time each day. This I could improve upon. However, in my defense, my bedtime window is usually around one hour as is my wake-up window. This isn't too bad considering my typical schedule has been turned upside down for the summer months.

4. I stopped pressing the snooze button. If ever I were to be convicted of anything, it would have been that I am was a serial snoozer. Snooze no more! It really just prolongs the inevitable. Instead of 15 alarms at five minute increments, I set one when I want to get up and another five minutes later, just in case I sleepily turn off the first and don't get up. I also put the alarm clock across the room, forcing me to get out of bed.

No longer a friend of mine!

So there you have it--I am a morning person. I get up most day merrily and excited to get goin'! This is a far cry from my previous feet-dragging out of bed only to be drowsy all day attitude. I have more energy, I'm more productive, and I'm just happier.

I will keep you posted on my morning person-ness. Anyone else breaking old habits?

Wake up and be productive, too! All the best,

*All images linked to their original sources.

Closet Chronicles: Part 2

A few weeks ago, I blogged about cleaning up my too-small room here. I did make a dent in organizing my closet, but a small dent at that. The real problem with my closet was that I had too many clothes! All of my clothing was stuffed into the tiny closet with absolutely no rhyme or reason, making finding a piece extremely difficult, thus adding to the disorganization. Yesterday, I decided to change that! Here are some photos of my closet in its original disaster-zone glory...

Accessories like long necklaces and belts had random and dysfunctional homes, like a hanger or a tie hook.

So, I took everything out of the closet to begin. Then I sorted everything into two piles: keep and donate.

Here are my "keep" items,

and here are my "donate!"

When I put everything back into my closet this time, I made sure it was in a logical and organized manner. That way, I can easily keep it neat! And because I'm all about streamlining and simplifying, I'm going to track which pieces of clothing I actually wear so that I can donate those I don't. To do this, I did the old reverse-the-hangers on the rod trick.

The way this tricks work is that all hangers stay reversed until an article of clothing is worn.
Once it's worn, it's put back on the correct way. After a period of time (I'm doing three months), all of the clothes on hangers that are still reversed are donated to charity.

I used the tie rack for my long necklaces, belts, and a couple of summer scarves. Much more functional than that weighed-down hanger!

My hats were floating around randomly as well. I put two hooks on the wall and hung them up!

It feels great to de-clutter and simplify my closet. So much neater and more organized! Love it.

 

 

Part 3 of the Closet Chronicles coming soon ;),

How To Create a Reusable To Do List

I recently finished reading The Skinny on Time Management by Jim Randel. It is a fantastic, easy one-hour read that definitely made me think about how I manage my time now, and how I would like to manage and spend it in the future. I highly recommend it!

Randel wrote this book after reading hundreds of books on time management; it is a compilation of all of the ideas and thoughts on the subject. Even though it seems so simple, Randel's main advice for managing time more effectively is to create a to do list every day. The reason behind it is that visually seeing what needs to be accomplished each day is a bigger incentive to actually do it than most people realize. He even urges list haters to give it a try...ah! I'm telling you too much. You need to read the book! It's awesome. (I also highly recommend The Skinny on Willpower by Jim Randel, blog post coming on that one!)

Being super type-A, I always create to do lists when I have a lot on my plate or feel stressed about completing everything. I had never thought about making a to do list every day regardless of the importance of the tasks I needed to complete, but I thought it was excellent advice, so I created a reusable dry-erase to do list that I can update daily.

I headed to Walmart and bought a few inexpensive supplies:

1. A standup sign holder, about $3

2.Scotch Reclosable Hook & Loop Fastener Squares, about $4 (I'll use them on other projects, so it was worth the money.)

3. A dry-erase marker, pack of two for $2

When I got back home, I created a to do list printable on the computer. I made sure to leave space at the top of it so that there would be room to put the pen! Here's what it looks like (you can download it if you'd like!...

Then, I assembled the whole thing. Here are the instructions if you'd like them:

1. Print out the to do list and slide it into the plastic holder.

2. Put the hook side of the velcro on the plastic (the rough side) and the loop side (the soft side) on the marker. That way it's comfortable when you write!

3. Velcro the dry-erase marker to your list...

4. Write what you need to do! And bask in the glory of your pretty new reusable list :)

How do you manage your time? Have you read any of Jim Randel's books?

Going to cross things off my list, 

Here Are a Few of My...

Favorite things, of course! What did you think I was going to say? You may have noticed a brand spankin' new tab here on my blog. Or you may not have--either way, check it out! (I should tell you that if you click on it, you'll be redirected to another site. So hold your horses for a hot second and I'll explain!)



This little tab was born out of my unending love for amazon.com. I absolutely, positively, intensely LOVE Amazon. I purchase everything from Amazon, from toothpaste to textbooks to shampoo to sunglasses. I'm not kidding--I've purchased every single one of those things from Amazon in the past.

If you click on my "Favorite Things" tab, you'll be redirected to my Amazon Store, where you can see some of my favorite items that I've purchased from the site. So far, there are nine items (plus my Wish List, which are things that I haven't bought yet). Under each item is a little blurb as to why I love that item. Here's what you'll find...

One of the reasons why I buy nearly everything online is because I like reading reviews before I purchase an item. It gives me a peace of mind to know that I'm buying a product that has worked for other people.

Even while I always check online reviews before investing, I trust the opinions of my friends and family first. Because of that, I figured that maybe, just maybe, my thoughts on my favorite products would help someone else make a purchase decision! If not, I've enjoyed creating my little store.


Be sure to check back later! I will add more products and reviews.


Amazon love,
~B


P.S.- If you check out my store, and decide you'd like to return to my blog, simply click "Blair Sunderland Blogs" at the bottom of the page.

Organizing a Cluttered Bathroom

When I arrived home from Spain, one of the first things that I did was take a long, hot shower in my own bathroom. About halfway through my relaxing shower I realized that the organizational state of the bathroom I share with my two siblings just wouldn't do. One afternoon, I spent several hours cleaning it all out...

First, some before photos, of course. The shower was one of the worst offenders. It had tons of half-empty bottles with no place to store them. They ended up sitting around the ledge of the tub where they would fall on your feet as you shower and give you no place to rest your legs while you shave them!

This plastic bin was cracked and damaged, so the products would fall out often. Ouch!

The medicine cabinet above the sink is a great size, but it was being totally underutilized due to the mass of tall products and lack of tall shelves.

The drawers were a whole different story!

Second to the shower--perhaps just as bad, was under the sink. 

So here's what happened: I put down large beach towels in the hall, and pulled every single thing out of  the shower and all of the cabinets and drawers. I threw out old, empty product bottles. Then I wiped down everything with some 409.

Next, I assembled a tension rod with three baskets from Target for around 30 dollars. You can find a similar one from Kohls here.

 After wiping down the bathtub ring and the ceiling, I installed the rod in the corner of our shower and put all of the products that had been cluttering the tub in it. 

The hanging shower caddy got a clean-up as well.

Under-the-sink products were condensed into two baskets--one for extra products and one for cleaning supplies.

I divided the medicine cabinet/mirror into five different sections: hair products, face and acne products, razors and shaving, skincare, and eyecare. 

                              

Here's a shot of the five sections. The sixth is empty so that we always have a bit of space to put our toothbrushes and other items that live on the countertop away when company comes over. Because of the way the cabinet is built, it is impossible to remove the shelves without first removing the mirrored doors. So instead of removing all three doors and risk shattering them, I stacked them together to make one extra-thick shelf. Having two tall shelves instead of four short ones makes the cabinet much more usable.

Here are some side-by-side before and after shots of my bathroom organization project:

All this organization and cleaning make for a pretty and clean place to get pretty and clean! :)

~B