It's HERE!

Our new sectional was delivered this morning. It's our first major investment piece, built to last but expensive. It's our splurge from DH's bonus, but still... spending that much makes me want to amp up my frugal-ness, at least for a while. :)

Here are some frugal ideas:

• Don't buy new until you've used the old. We have several pieces that we've bought but not put together yet. A couple bookshelves, my bistro set that I got for $5 (Thank God for Canadian Tire Money), mini-blinds that need to be installed, painting that needs to be done (just some touch-ups here and there). So the house doesn't get anything else, at least until we've put together and used these things. And yes, we're working on it - I put together  my new desk chair on the weekend.
• Eat out of the freezer. I'm all stocked up, I buy a club pack or two of the meat that's half price most weeks, so I have lots in the freezer. Last night I made Frittata, because I already had everything I needed for it.
• Do a project, for 'something to do'. There's not much in the way of entertainment where I live, at least not that I'm interested in. Movies, restaurants, and shopping is 95% of it. Next time we're 'bored' and looking for something to do, time to work on a project! Build that bookshelf, clean the fish tank, work on setting up the guest room (currently storage room).
• Watch the movies you have. We're into movies, and we like to buy new ones a fair bit, but there's a medium-sized pile of movies we haven't watched since we bought them. We need to watch them before we buy more.

What are your frugal ideas?

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D

A Joyous Snowball

Finally, Finally FINally DONE!! DH's office is 100% painted!! YAY!!! (Can you see me happy-dancing??)

That took WAY longer than I thought, mostly because it's RED and required 80 million coats! Whatever. It's done and it looks great!

When we're done this set of nights, I'll call 'Uncle Jimmy' and make an appointment to get the carpet installed. Still need to get DH to have a 'boy party' so they can haul the carpet from my parents' house to here... that's in the works. Almost happened on Thursday, but it was too rainy :( (My dad had bought this carpet for their bedroom and, of course, my Mom then decided she wanted hardwood instead... although I think she's just procrastinating clearing all the junk in their room, it's Hoarders-worthy in there).

After the carpet's in, I can install most of the baseboard - provided I pick up finishing nails... (I repainted the old trim, but a few small pieces broke...) And Dad said he'd be available in November for helping with the rest of the trim (that needs to be cut). But after I install *most* of the trim, we can put together DH's desk and chair, maybe the other three bookshelves that have been sitting in the way in the entryway...

Then DH can move into his office, which will clear out the spare bedroom downstairs, and the closet down there, plus there are two closets in the office (one is HUGE) and then I'll be able to get stuff out of my dressing room (luggage, extra pillows...) down into the spare bedroom, and THEN I can set up my dressing room nice-nice for scrapbooking and sewing!

And THEN I can spend some extra time from night shifts doing fun, crafty things :D

And in case you were wondering, yes, we DO have a ridiculous amount of space :) We're two people in a large bungalo with a finished basement.... 5 bedrooms altogether ;) It will be really nice to have use of the closets in DH's office, we have a lot of space, but not that much storage space, very little furniture... we're baby-stepping that :D

Can you tell I'm excited? :D

One thing at a time. This will be a big oppourtunity to declutter, especially for DH, but I'll try not to be too pushy :)

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D