22 January 2011

It's All About Pennies and Inches

Mood: Tired but accomplished 
On TV: King of the Hill (I tell you what)

It's mid-January, it's freezing (like REALLY freezing) outside and there is absolutely nothing to do except sit inside our tiny cramped apartment and get more annoyed at the fact that it seems to be getting tinier and more cramped by the minute - this is a time honored winter tradition in our household.

So it was probably inevitable that when the hubs asked me what I wanted to do with our Saturday I suggested rearranging and de-cluttering our apartment (in an effort to keep the walls from completely closing in and smashing us in our sleep) - but it was surprising that the hubs not only agreed but jumped up to get started.

We spent hours today - purging our closets - getting rid of old clothes, shoes and generally useless crap that the two of us somehow manage to collect over the course of a year. We added storage and organization solutions to our closets and rearranged things until we'd gained a few inches of storage space in each closet.

A few inches may not sound like much but when you're living in such a small space a few extra inches can make all the difference in the world. It means that things that were tucked in corners can now be properly stored on shelves in the closet - it means that furniture can be shifted ever so slightly, eventually making room for:


MY NEW DESK!!!!!!

Turning the end table and moving a few things into the newly created spaces in our closet gave us room for a tiny desk all for me! I'm so excited to finally be able to move from my previous work space (otherwise known as the corner of the futon) and into a proper (although small) desk area. 

One of the things we moved to make room for my new work area was our jar of change. We hauled the jar to our local supermarket and dumped the contents into the Coinstar machine - watching in awe as our pennies (literally - it was more than 50% pennies) started to add up. At the end of the count we had nearly $22.00 - all from pennies and a few nickels. Who knew that we had $22 dollars just sitting in a jar in the corner? 

So, a few extra inches and I gained my own workspace. A few extra pennies nearly paid for the desk (what can I say - we're all about the craptastic cheapness that is Wal-Mart do it yourself furniture). 

All of this started me thinking about my edits - which are currently so massive that half the time I don't even know where to start. It's a huge job and, no matter how much I do, it doesn't seem like I'm really getting anywhere but really? Isn't it all about the pennies and inches? One word, one sentence at a time and eventually I'll get there. And this time I'll do it at my super cool new desk! 

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3 comments:

  1. Man, that is so true! It's all about pennies and inches. Little by little by little. Sometimes, it's the best way to get anywhere, especially when things are feeling overwhelming.

    Also, I totally need to declutter my house. Wanna come over? although, chances are I'll be so happy to have you, I'd force you to sit down and eat cookies and kettle corn and watch movies with me. Like the sappy kind.

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  2. I lived in a studio once, so I know how those small spaces are.

    I haven't tried Coinstar yet, but then again I somehow don't have a jar of pennies.

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  3. @Carolina - How did I miss this?? I kinda suck right now, not even gonna lie! Also? I'm a bit disappointed that I missed the cookies and kettle corn invite. :(

    @Medeia - We used to live in a studio apartment as well - SO tiny. Hubs and I thought we'd moved into a mansion when we moved into the one bedroom. We kept talking about ALL the room we had.

    Ten years later and we're fussing about how we have absolutely NO room for ANYTHING. Sheesh - wonder what we'd do if we still lived in that studio with the murphy bed. LOL. :)

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