Scoring BIG at the Cottage House

When I first found out about The Cottage House in Minneapolis, I knew it was right up my alley.  It is open once per month, on average (twice this month – score!), and is packed with amazingly priced thrift finds.  Mr. Converse Sneakers and I finally made it over this weekend to see what we could find.  We budgeted $30 in case we found any little treasures we wanted to take home.

Let’s just say we found some treasures, but one of them was not so little.

But, before I show them off, let me show of the things we didn’t buy but loved to look at:



If we had kids, I think the $5.00 whining charge would be such a funny piece of art for a playroom!




In high school, when I was going through my “punk” phase I swooned over a purse made out of license plates.  I had to laugh when I saw this license plate box.



There were various large cheese boxes with bold black numbers on them.  I loved them!



It’s hard to tell, but I was trying to take a photo of the mirror in the photo above, but the reflection kind of stole the show.  I wish I could have snagged the mirror before it got taken, but when we saw it, it had the “sold” sign already on it.  Bummer – would have been awesome left as is or made into a chalkboard or bulletin board.



Behind the house, they had a whole yard full of more goodies as well as another little building in the back.



This was one of the two huge piles of old windows.  Love them!



We don’t have room for any more kitchen items, but this sweet cookie jar sure was calling out to me.



I didn’t get a lot of photos of furniture because they were covered in stuff, but there were tons of tables, dressers, and buffets just begging to be taken home.



They had lots of different bird cages, which I thought were very sweet.

Here are the two things we came home with:



We both love vintage art, so this $3 baker art had to come home with us.  We’ve been trying to collect art for the kitchen, so this was perfect!

The other thing we bought was also a piece of art.  A very LARGE piece of art . . .



It may not look that big in the photo, but when you try to imagine the size of it, try to picture a piece of art about as wide as a queen size bed . . .

We actually didn’t buy this when we first saw it (it was hidden behind a huge mirrored buffet, so we could barely see it, but after much persuasion, I got Mr. CS on board.  We didn’t have a way of measuring it and knew it would be too huge for most places in our apartment, but I have been in love with art like this for a very long time, and when I saw the price tag I just couldn’t pass it up.  It was, wait for it, $22 with the frame!!!  We drove all the way back to buy it after thinking it might fit above our bed, but when we tried it out, it looked funny.  It fit but just barely, as in it was grazing both our headboard and the ceiling which looked pretty silly.  For now, it’s in our storage room, but I’m still investigating some other pieces.

Normally, we try not to buy things we don’t have a place for, but with such an amazing piece of art that we both love (which is hard enough since I am very picky and even harder to get my hubby on board) that was incredibly inexpensive, we thought we would break our rules.  The best part is that we still kept under our $30 budget!

Do you think we were crazy taking this huge piece home with us?  What crazy buy have you taken home because you just couldn’t pass it by?

A $5 Pantry Makeover

While focusing so much on our main living spaces, a few other places started falling by the wayside.  One of these spaces was our tiny pantry.  Most of our kitchen appliance are hibernating in our basement storage room since we don’t have space for them in the kitchen or pantry and we don’t use a of them right now.  Once we have a bigger kitchen, we plan on using the heck out of all of them, but for now they are waiting for a special day when we will pull them out.

Our pantry mainly holds our food, miscellanious kitchen supplies (ziploc bags, tin foil, clothes pins for bag clips, etc.), and our commonly used kitchen appliances.

This is what our pantry looked like before:



Yikes, right?  The top shelf in the photo is our roommate’s – he doesn’t cook as much as we do, so his shelf is pretty bare.  Our food self is below that, which overflows into our extra storage shelf below.  There are two other shelves (the very top and bottom) not pictured which were pretty organized since we don’t use them as much.

I pulled everything out of our two main shelves so I could sort them.



We picked up some inexpensive (I think they were about $1.90 each) white bins to corral the items.

Here is the beautifully organized after:



We basically reversed what we had.  Food is still on top, but after organizing and sorting everything, we had room for some of the things on the bottom shelf, which meant we could fit more from other unorganized places in the kitchen in the lower shelf!  I love it when that happens!

Here’s a closer look:



Breakfast/baking on the back left, canned goods in the middle in the back, Other everyday foods in the back right.  Everyday boxed kitchen items on the left in front, my favorite popcorn bowl I use all the time in front, and some random foods/medicines on the right.



Vases/glassware in the back (not viewable in the photo), random things like my lunch bag, grater, straws, and skewers in the front bin, and then oft used things like our casserole dish, large skillet, food processor, and splatter screens.

I love that this only took about ten minutes and was under $10 to do!  I have some crazy fascination with organizing things, so this actually energized me.  I often open the door and stand in awe when I should be praising my man as he cooks (since he is sweet and does 99% of the cooking around here while I tell him how awesome he is).  As much as I love how organized this is, though, I cannot wait to have a kitchen with real space for all of our kitchen appliances and food, since when kids come along in a few years, I know we are going to need all the space we can get for supplies and food.

How do you keep your food and kitchen supplies organized?

What $50 Will Buy You at Goodwill

I realized something last week: I only have about two and half months before I am teaching full time!  This fall is my final semester of classes.  Final semester, people!  I think I forget that sometimes, and when I remember it I am extremely ecstatic (NO MORE HOMEWORK!!!) but also really nervous (REAL WORLD IS SCARY!!!). In addition to the nerves of jumping into a full semester of student teaching is the sad sight of my closet.  If all goes well, I will be student teaching at the same Catholic private school I have been spending four hours a week at this semester.  It’s an amazing school, but definitely not one I can wear jeans and a t-shirt to every day.  Although I’m not a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl, I am a jeans, floral or ruffled tank, and cardigan kind of girl.  A lot of what I have can be made business casual, but I want to start with a more well-stocked closet so that I have a variety depending on what I’m doing, the weather, how comfortable I want to be, etc.

If you’ve read anything on my blog, you know that Mr. Converse Sneakers and I are young and don’t have a lot of money.  Things will definitely be changing around here when I am teaching full time for pay, but next semester I will be teaching full time for zero dollars, so we actually have more income now while I am working part time than we will then.  I think now is the perfect opportunity to build up a wardrobe on a tight budget.

I made a two hour trip on Sunday to our local Goodwill, which happens to be in a pretty nice area, so most of the clothes are fairly high-quality, well-known brands and most of the rest of the clothes are brand new pieces from Target at Goodwill prices (score!).

I bought twelve items for just about $50.  I wore the same black cami and gray pants in all the photos to keep things consistent, and I listed the price and brand of the Goodwill item below each photo.

Here they are (sidenote: we wanted to take the photos outside since our apartment has horrible lighting, but with dropping temperatures, we made do with our open front door.  Sorry they aren’t as clear as I would have liked them to be):

Green Ann Taylor Loft cardigan: 1/2 off of $2.99 = $1.50

Abstract Express blouse: 1/2 off of $5.99 = $3.00

Red floral Lord and Taylor skirt: 1/2 off of $2.99 = $1.50 (needs to be altered because it’s a tad too big)

Coral ruffle Final Touch shirt : $4.99

Black brand new Merona cardigan from Target: $5.99

Striped Gap shirt dress: $6.99

Floral H&M cardigan: $4.99

Striped Ann Taylor Loft ruffled button-down shirt: 1/2 off of $5.99 = $3.00

Striped Merona button-down shirt from Target: 1/2 off of $4.99 = $2.50

Yellow floral unknown brand tank: 1/2 off $4.99 = $2.50

Pink and orange patterned brand new Merona cardigan from Target: $5.99

**My favorite score of the day – love the bold pattern and colors.**

Black patterned brand new Merona cardigan from Target: $5.99

The only downside to my recent splurge is that we already had no more closet space and I keep on adding clothes!   If we have some extra cash after Christmas, I’m going to go back and add some more items to my closet (this time probably more pants).  I’m confident I will look professional, be comfortable, feel confident, and look good all on an incredibly tight budget.

Do you have a local thrift store with amazing finds?

Guest Post: A Giveaway with Bonus Benefits

I am interrupting this week's normal rundown of posts about my random redhead ramblings to bring your attention to something important that a fellow much-loved blogger has been doing at her blog.  Every month Abbie of Five Days . . . 5 Ways holds a monthly giveaway.  This month's giveaway not only benefits whoever wins, but people in need.

I'll let her tell you about it.

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Hi there, folks! My name is Abbie

from:

…and I’m so excited that Sarah is having me by for a visit to share with you something I’m passionate about, which could benefit you guys in more ways than one.

Pinky promise.

How so?

Well, I’m hosting a huge giveaway/fundraiser to help build a new classroom for a Christian ministry to orphans in Uganda that is home-grown in East Texas where I live.

There are FIVE prize packages, chock-full of amazing handmade goodies and gift certificates (Lisa Leonard, anyone?) that you can win just by visiting and leaving me a comment.

Here’s just a small taste:

BUT!

If you want extra entries, you can also donate to:

…using a special button on my blog which will track your entries so we can see how much we raise and who wins!

Honestly, folks, these kids are incredibly humble and deserving! (Their idea of a special treat is an apple…I’m not kidding).

So, if you want to help us raise the money to build these precious children a new classroom + have the opportunity to be one of 5 lucky folks to win some awesome loot, please come check out The BIG PCM Fundraiser/Giveaway on my blog.

No amount is too small, and every dollar you give is matched up to our goal of $5,000 (wow!). Which means, if you give up Starbucks just once, you’ll be donating not $10 but $20 (just kidding…but at least $8, right?) to a truly worthy cause.

Hope to see you soon!

Thanks again, Sarah! You rock, girl.

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Thank you, Abbie, for holding this giveaway and contacting me to spread the news!

Please, at least go check out the giveaway and spread the news as well if you are into the cause like I am!

Also, I would love to know what charities or organizations you donate money to.  Share yours in the comments.  Part of being a married woman for me is to start donating more of our money to those who need it.  We would love to know who you give to!

Giving Thanks for Things I’m Not Thankful For

I can’t speak for all states in America, but here in Minnesota, we spend a large amount of time talking about the weather.  We either praise it or complain about it.  We have been very fortunate to have a relatively warm and long autumn, but now that the temperature are starting to drop and daylight savings time has hit, we are becoming gloomy and pessimistic.

I will be the first to admit that I hate winter.  Honestly, I don’t know how I get through our six month winters every year because I hate the cold, the runny noses, the tolls our cars take, the increase in automobile accidents, the salt the ruins good shoes, yaddayadda the list continues.

However, as much as I am already thinking about Christmas, this is the month of being thankful.  I am trying my hardest to be thankful for everything in my life, because all of it is worth looking at in a positive way.  So, one of the major things I’m trying to be thankful for is winter, because I know in a couple months I will have a hard time finding anything positive about winter and will need something to look back on to make my heart happy instead of depressingly sad.

Here are my ten (I’m making myself go with ten even thought it seems impossible) reasons to be thankful for Minnesota winters:

1. Christmas doesn’t look as pretty without snow.

2. Bundling up in a blanket with a good book when outside temperatures are in the negatives is one of the best feelings in the world.

3. Six months of extreme cold means uncontainable joy come spring.

4. Coffee shops warm my soul in the winter – literally and figuratively.

5. Snowflakes are a great wonder of the world and provide a magic we can’t experience any other time of the year.

6. Coming into a warm building after being in the cold relaxes me.

7. Frost on the trees, though a rare sight, is extremely beautiful.

8. I admit that snowmen are pretty cool.

9. Boots are pretty cute (and comfy).

10. God created the seasons.  I should love them for that very reason!

What are your reasons for being thankful for harsh winters?

Photo sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

Unveiling the Catch-All Room

Have you ever moved into an apartment or house and used one room as a catch-all room for those extra things you don’t have room for?  When we went apartment hunting, we knew we needed an apartment with extra storage, since we would be combining all of our stuff, finding a place for our wedding presents, and storing out-of-season things close by.  We didn’t want to rent a storage space, since most of the stuff we keep in storage are things we use, just not every day, so we want easy access to them at any time.

We were beyond excited when we found our apartment which includes a HUGE storage/laundry/utilities room.  We never thought we would be able to fill the room, but as time has passed, we have made great use of the living space we have, but have done a horrible job in the storage room.  We got rid of a lot when we got married and combined all of our things.  But, we received tons of wedding presents, which we are incredibly grateful for and will use, but we cannot keep all of them out right now.  Since Mr. Converse Sneakers is a chef and both of us are huge foodies, we received mostly kitchen-related presents.  Our kitchen is majorly lacking in storage space, the pantry is overflowing (which I hope to do something about and will keep you posted on when I get around to it), so we dedicated a whole bookshelf in the storage space to our wedding presents, just so we can access them easily when we need them.

We also have been purchasing Christmas decorations and other things that have filled up the space, such as wedding leftovers (which half of are still being stored at my parents house and will be coming back with me shortly meaning even less extra space in there) and a punching bag Mr. CS bought to change up his workout regimen an release stress.  Even after getting rid of a lot, we are left with much less extra space than we had when we first moved in.

I decided we need to tackle the storage space in there – and fast – because it’s just going to get worse as time goes on.  One of my first steps for getting something major accomplished in our apartment is to blog about it, so that I have people waiting for an update which is much more pressure than actually living with the lack of adequate storage.

So, today I am going to share photos of our storage room.  I deliberately didn’t even lift a finger in there before I took the photos so you could see how badly it is working for us right now as we are currently using it.

Please don’t judge me for how horrible it looks and the poor photos (the lighting in there is subpar).
Here we go . . .



Along the wall to the left of the photo is a built-in shelf.  We have tons of things stored on it and below it (which you can’t even see with all the crap in front of it), such as leftover art, empty boxes for when we move again, leftover office things we don’t use every day, a file cabinet, tools, workout equipment we rarely use, and so on.  In front of all of that are laundry baskets, Mr. CS’s office chair which we will probably use again in a future house, Craigslist Christmas scores (ornaments, pine cones, a tree, lights, and some accessories), an exercise ball, a full-length mirror, and a punching bag.  Behind the punching bag is our big freezer we barely use, but hope to use more (luckily it only uses about $15 to power for the whole year).  To the left of the freezer is the bookcase that holds our wedding presents.



The wall to the side of the main storage wall is our washer and dryer.  We don’t have enough towel storage, so there the extras sit.



The wall the runs along the back of the apartment has cleaning products, paint, bulk items like soap, and an old dresser with some craft supplies, irons, and other miscellaneous makes-no-sense things.  The bag hanging off the wire shelving is our makeshift garbage bin, I guess.  To the right of all of that is a hanging rack where we dry our delicate clothes.



If you scroll back up to the photo with our washer and dryer, you can see the door that leads to this room.  That door is connected to our basement bathroom, which is inconvenient but something we have to live with.  Beyond the door is extra storage under the stairs.  We keep some extra exercise equipment and an unused laundry sorter.  You can see by the rust stains in the bottom left corner which used to have some metal weights that we have some water problems in here.  It has never been very bad, but when we have heavy rain, some water will make its way into that corner, which is something that urges us to have better storage just in case it ever rained so hard the whole room flooded.

I don’t know if I feel relieved or mortified to have shown you our hard-on-the-eyes catch-all room, but it’s done.  Now we need to tackle this room before these photos are permanently fixed in your minds and you start to think horrible things about me and my non-organizing ways.

I’m off to scout out affordable temporary storage ideas!  Wish me luck!

Storing Books in Style

I have trouble with clutter.  Our home gets cluttered often because we are not home enough to organize constantly, nor do we have lots of space to keep things nice and organized.  I am a tad OCD, however, when it comes to clutter, because I cannot think if I’m in a cluttered room.  If I have to write a paper or read for school, the room I am in needs to be clutter-free, meaning no random things on the floors or furniture.  Everything needs to be put away.  I am okay with stacks of what I like to call “organized clutter” which is what I do when I go into school/homework mode and need a clutter-free room quick.  I take the clutter and organize it by category into a pile and put the pile somewhere I can’t see very well.  This doesn’t solve the clutter issue, but it makes it manageable for the time being.

Somehow, my rambling really does connect to our bookcase in our living room, I promise.  The current styling of the bookcase was done with little thought, and to me looked like a big case of clutter, which is the opposite of how I think a bookcase should look.

See what I mean?



So, I admit that in photos it doesn’t look that bad, but the rest of the living room is fairly neutral with pops of colors whereas the bookcase is one giant blob of tons of colors.  I find it distracting when I am trying to get anything done in there because it looks like a cluttered mess to me.

I decided to style it differently.  I would love to not even have the bookcase in this room because I would much rather have a whole wall of bookcases in an office or library where I could stand all the books because it would make sense, but that is not an option for us.  I didn’t even think about covering all the book because, although the room would feel a lot more peaceful, I would go insane covering them since I have hardly any time lately and that would be a huge undertaking.

Instead, I sorted the books by color, moved some to our entertainment stand with concealed box storage, and added a few more nick nacks to make it more homey and fill up the extra spaces.

Here is the after shot:



While the colors still bother my eye, they are now organized and styled better, so I can live with it.  Part of apartment living (or any living, I suppose) is doing the best with what you have.  I could definitely buy some accessories that would fit our style more to make everything look better, but we don’t plan on living here for a long time and would rather wait until we have a style for a future home.

Let’s get a closer look at the shelves:



I love my ornate frames!  The one on the top shelf holds a postcard of the Minnesota state fair.  the biblical wooden quote was a gift from San for one of our anniversaries.  The candle accessory on the second shelf was a wedding present.  I do like that the pops of red help balance our new lamp shade I covered.



The third shelf from the top has a blue mason jar with our loose change, a photo of us with our two friends, Courtney and Pat, at our junior prom (crazy that we’re now married couples and they have a baby).  the stack of vintage pop cans (yes we say pop here in Minnesota) were purchased on our honeymoon in Duluth, Minnesota.  They’ve been in storage, so I threw them in since we love them so much.  I want to use them as flower vases in our first kitchen once we buy a house.  The second shelf has a wooden plaque that says, “Friends are the family one finds along the way,” which was coincidentally a present from Courtney for my birthday.  I love all of the sentimental touches even if it still looks a little cluttered!

Now, I want to know if you style your bookcases or if you let the books accumulate and enjoy the collected look?