Buying in Bulk

/

 

So, do you belong to Costco? Do you frequent Sam's Club? Do you delight in having a year's supply of toilet paper and canned beans at arm's length at all times?

Shopping at these stores can be fun~ we feel we are saving money AND preparing for Armageddon all at the same time. How efficient! But because I spend a lot of time helping people manage the items in their homes, I would like to invite you to think about buying in bulk in a different way...

At this time there are two things of which I would like to remind you:

First, despite what the media may tell you, you are NOT a "consumer," but a human being. Hopefully you know you are so much more than your ability to consume and accumulate...

Second, as you shop for your needs week in & week out, keep in mind your goal is not to run a storage facility, but to create a home.

via

If you are wooed by the thought of saving some coin, and made giddy by the thought of all that abundance right on hand at home, let's think about the real costs involved in investing in palettes of paper towels and tons of toothpaste:

  • Carrying inventory (which is what you are doing, just like a store or factory) requires time...time to make sure it is stored properly, that it is used in a timely way, and that it gets used at all...it is easy to forget what is on those shelves way down there in the dark basement.
  • Carrying inventory requires space-- space that could be used for other productive things, or enjoyed with other activities. How many of us feel our houses need more space? Create some elbow room by not having so much of it occupied by things you aren't currently using.
  • Carrying inventory has a built-in percentage of waste--we are busy people with lots of things on our minds. There will always be a portion of things that we are storing that we simply forget about. We will buy duplicates. The product will get dusty, spoil, pass its expiration date or just become undesirable as it waits on the shelf. It will end up in the trash unused.
  • Carrying inventory ties up cash in things that aren't currently being used, which maybe can make sense if we are investing in something like real estate or gold, but we are talking about things like shampoo and soda. Enjoy your money now, or put it in the bank so that it is there for a rainy day. Don't tie it up in things that are readily available at the corner store that you won't need for months, or maybe never at all.
Allow the stores to provide a wonderful service to you: let them store your stuff until you need it! You are right to think that your house is much like a factory or machine that needs supplies to run efficiently. However, from Benjamin Franklin, to Henry Ford, to current day Toyota manufacturing  processes, it has been proven that efficiency does not include managing inventory, but rather what is called "just in time" or "lean" practices. We can employ these same ideas, and have less waste and more time to do the things we really enjoy.
The product our little cottage factories (our homes) should produce in abundance is comfort and peace, providing an environment that supports how we want to live. Don't manage inventory, enjoy living!

A Sensory Experience

/

With the many delights for the senses this past week..... I have been taken back to the days when my children were small & learning about their five senses. It was a wonder to see their delight as they experienced the sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes of the world for the first time.

It is a bit sad to me that as we "grow up" we become farther removed from the joy and wonder of our senses. It can be restorative to remind ourselves to pay attention to each one of them once again.

To be mindful of each of our senses, one at a time, is a great way to slow down and really  appreciate all that is so good around us. And where better to do this than in our homes? Maybe the things that we love about where we live has become white noise to us, things that we no longer take in or appreciate.

Here are a few favorites that come to mind for me:

  • Hearing--birdsong, Mozart, the quiet of the house after everyone has gone to bed....
  • Sight--family pictures, treasured artwork, yellow daffodil buds emerging outside, the faces of those I love.
  • Smell--freshly washed towels, favorite meals cooking in the kitchen, coffee in the morning.
  • Touch--our comfy family room chair, soft blankets and sheets on the bed, my dog's velvety ears.
  • Taste--any meal I didn't have to cook :)...oh, and a glass of wine.
What are your favorites?? Please post them below!~Can't wait to hear them!!!

Song of Hope

/

This week our family has been blessed by a little visitor who brightens our mornings, and keeps us cheerful with his singing sometimes throughout the afternoon.... Each day has started with him sitting right outside our family room window in the crabapple tree

He sometimes puffs his feathers out in the cold morning chill....

but he doesn't seem to mind if we come close to watch, listen....or take his picture. He sits there on his perch, and sings his heart out.

He has reminded me of one of my favorite poems:

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chilliest land

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

--Emily Dickinson

And one of my favorite hymns:

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,

When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,

I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

 

What a tremendous gift that little bird has shared with our family this week....I will close now, as I continue humming......

I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free! His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me......

 

End of Winter Window Box

/

I put this arrangement together for a dear friend this past weekend...and thought I should share. So easy! And such a pick-me-up as we wait for the first day of Spring to get here! A trip to buy the flowers is the first step....and so much fun to see what looks good together and gives your heart a lift. I was drawn to these sunny yellow primroses and cheerful daffodils......:)

and the periwinkle primroses added such a beautiful fresh punch!

I had an old pine box--reminiscent of a outdoor window box--that I thought would be perfect for the container. I recycled a plastic Target back to act as my liner....

Easy as pie....just some snips around the outside, and stretch and staple the bag to the inside of the box...and then you have protected the wood and your furniture from drips and moisture from the potted plants.

Next, before putting the plants in place, you want to remove any spent blooms (known as "dead heading") so that the plant will continue to push new blooms up. You can do this by simply pinching the stem underneath the old bloom, thereby removing it. At this time you will also want to remove the colorful plastic outer pots or wrapping so that everything around the base of the plants can visually recede....

Now we can begin to place the plants in the box, and work out an arrangement that we like.

For this window box, I used two Daffodil pots and six Primrose pots...lovely!!  Feel free to squeeze the pots in tightly to give you a nice full looking arrangement.

After the plants are in place, the dirt and black pots will still be visible. The finishing touch is to use green sheet moss to cover all of this up and further add to the feeling of a lush, mini springtime garden.

Floral pins can be used to secure it in place.

Break pieces of the moss off  and tuck around the base of the pots, and soften the edge of the box...

Makes me so happy just to think about it!.....

and then you have your final product...a lovely window box that helps bring Spring to your home a few weeks early!

Enjoy!