Make-Do Monday

When our oldest son went into the Navy, we kept all of his things in his room as he left them. For two years! Hubby couldn't think of packing them up or getting rid of - or even box up - anything, even though we knew that Lee would no longer be living with us. We finally moved his old dresser into another room, where it sat full of his old clothes and whatever other stuff he'd tossed in the drawers over the years.

It's now been 4 years since he left home, and he and his wife came for a visit a few weeks ago and I finally asked what he wanted to do with the stuff in the dresser. He opened a few drawers, threw out some receipts from years ago and other nonsensical items that had been thrown in over the years, and said "Eh, just put the rest in a box somewhere, I'll look through it another time." So we did, and his beloved old clothes, high school notes, video games and cd's he will never play again now live in a box in the shop with our other older kids' long-forgotten momentos.

So then we had an empty dresser sitting in the office. Not wanting to get rid of it, I decided to use it for storage. Now it's home to all the dog's (clean) blankets (any of you with dachshunds will know that they LOVE their blankies - so we have lots of them), dogfood, and stockpiled items such as bottles of peroxide, toothpaste, shampoos, etc. that won't fit in the bathroom cabinets. On top is a small television, a dvd player, and my workout dvds (hmm, I should probably dust those off since they haven't gotten much use).


Instead of getting rid of that old dresser or chest of drawers that you love - make it useful and store your stockpiled items (my fellow couponers), linens, or anything else that needs a new home in your home!

To see how others are "making do" on Mondays, check out My Practically Perfect Life!

Stockpile!

Couponing is one of my favorite hobbies. Lately, I haven't been doing a lot (well, not as much as I did at first, anyway) since we have plenty of stock built up now. A few items are getting "low" (my family laughs when I go into panic mode and say "We only have 12 rolls of toilet paper left!" LOL) so I'll have to restock a few things in the coming weeks.

Anyway, I finally found time to take some pics of my small stockpile. I'm not nearly as good as some of my couponing friends, but we have enough for our family and to donate to others when needed.

Hover your mouse over the images for description or click on "View all" to see my commentary on each pic, if you'd like...