Twist and Shout

Today Yesterday I made a quick stop at St. Vinny’s for a few things. I was looking for some small bowls for the kids, we use to have a bunch, I think they eat them :), a travel coffee mug for Nick, he loses them frequently and a hair dryer, mine is on the outs!

So I didn’t find any bowls or a hair dryer, but I did find a travel coffee mug for Nick, a brand new Starbucks Travel Mug for 89cents! And then the Lord truly blessed me. I found a milk crate full of cigarette-lighter adapters, like for to charge your cell phone in your car or plug in your Travel DVD player. We have been without a plug-in for awhile now, even our last trip to Santa Rosa (4 hours away) we went with no DVD player, because we are Compacting and we couldn’t buy one new.  So I ran out to the car got my DVD player, brought it into the Thrift Store and started trying different ones, after about 12 tries I found one that fit for $1.99.  (And yes it works, DVD’s now play in the car again.)  Then I was walking to the register because I had overdone my “just 5 minutes” by like 15 (Nick was in the car with the 4) and I saw a handheld shower head.  I needed it.  It was 99cents and made me so excited.  See our shower is not really a shower it is a bath with a handheld shower head taking water from the bath faucet and bringing it up to shower height.  Ours was broken, not so broken that we couldn’t shower, but broken enough that water sprayed EVERYWHERE!

So for $4.15 Nick has a brand new travel coffee mug, the kids can watch DVD’s on long drives (I will be sane-ish-er on our next out of town trip) and we have a amazing new shower head.  Thank you all you Eureka-ians for your donations to the thrift store.

and we are still on THE COMPACT. I haven’t been to Target in over a month and the last time I went it literally made me feel sick, all that stuff, it was just too overwhelming. We have made some amazing purchases at Lots for Tots PLUS The Clothing Closet, here in Eureka. Cool thing is you take clothing and toys and stuff there, they go through it, tell you what they want or don’t want, then you get credit to their store, wooohooo! Also, for Dillon’s Birthday, he got a $20 Gift Certificate to Lots For Tots, thank you friends who are support out Compacting.

We are what 13 ish weeks in (out of 52) and already our mindset is changing. Something so cool happened just the other day; Aidan and I were having a conversation about him not wearing diapers to bed anymore (yes, he is 5 1/2, we have wetting the bed issues in this family, I was a bedwetter, Nick was a bedwetter, our children are DOOMED!), I asked him what he thought he would deserve if he didn’t pee in his bed one night, two nights, forever, he replied “how about a toy at the $ store (for one night), no wait I want a toy from that place I found the Knight toy.” That place he found the Knight toy is the St. Vincents Thrift Store. So with two nights of not wetting the bed we are off to St. Vinny’s today for Aidan to rummage through the 25cent donated toys, YES! The things that make a Compacting mom’s heart melt.

I am so darn excited (an nervous, yes definitely nervous), the MOPS group of Eureka, has asked me to speak about The Compact, about my journey and about how others can benefit and join in.  So I have been researching how The Compact has affected others that have participated and I found an awesome article by Environment Reporter, Catherine Porter, about compacting and consumption, a great read, Catherine also has a blog, The Green Life.  She writes about a one week Compacting Challenge in this blog, check it out.

Welcome to Twist and Shout! Come join in all the fun! Head over to 5 Minutes for Mom and find out all of the great prizes you can win over the next week!

I am Stephanie, mom of Aidan (5 1/2), Coda (almost 4), Téadora (2) and Dillon (1), wife of Nick and child of God. I am SAHM who loves to be crafty in my free time (what’s that?)! I love tie dyeing, hair bow making and digital scrapbooking. I spend my days cloth diapering, making homemade laundry soap, babywearing, sneaking healthy foods into my children, blogging and reading pretty much anything pertaining to babies, birth, breastfeeding, homeschooling and parenting. We are a family that loves to recycle, spend time out doors and eat green smoothies. In January we embarked on a year long journey of COMPACTING!

I am giving away a Custom Tie Dyed Layette Set, here is an example. It is #27 on The Ultimate Blog Party 2008 Prize Page.

If you want to see more of my Twist and Shout Tie Dyed Creations, check this out, to see what I currently have available for purchase look here and to see what I have available to custom tie dye look here.

Thanks for stopping by!

There are so many amazing prizes being given away, I would love any of them.  But I have a few favorites.

1. Noah’s ABC Stacking Blocks (#85)

2. A Blog Makeover (#67)

3. 3 Tier DiaperCake (not for me, for my BF Kristy) (#6)

Really, though, I just like winning, so any prize will do, hehe!

One month has come and gone and we are still Compacting strong. I have to say I am proud of me, proud of us (my husband and me) and proud of all of the support we have gotten. There are still lots (LOTS) of people in our daily life that do not *know* we are on The Compact and that is ok.

We haven’t had any slip ups! I only went to Target once and it was to help my mom pick out Téadora’s birthday gift. I bought some used clothing and a pair of shoes for myself and a used video for the kids. I bought some used Tupperware containers for Aidan to use instead of baggies in his reusable lunch bag. I have baked bread 4 times since the beginning of January and I have decluttered about 265 items from our house (mostly toys that my kids weren’t playing with (more on that in another post). We had to buy Nick a new pair of work of work boots and those were bought brand new, but that was an exception in our Compacting “rules”.

It has been freeing to not NEED to go to Target or the Mall. I have un-subscribed to many company emails; Gap, The Children’s Place, Gymboree, Pimperlime, Old Navy, Sears. Some of which I am not even sure how I got on their email list in the first place. I have spent more time with my family, with the Lord, planning adventures that do not cost money and organizing mine and my family’s life around things that do not involve excess and consumption.

X-Posted Mamas on the Compact

This year we are really tackling our debt.  Honestly we don’t have that much, especially in comparison to the national average, which is about $9900 in credit card debt, plus car payments and mortgages.  We have no where near $9900 in credit card debt, but if you add in our car loan we are just $10,000.  We have made a debt pay-off plan with the help of Dave Ramsey, and we will be completely debt free in April of 2009.  The target date of April 2009 is very easily attained and we hope to be debt free by the end of the year, we are praying for Gods will in this.

We are doing a few things to help pay-off our debt:  using the cash/envelope system for most purchases, using the Dave Ramsey debt-snowball,  COMPACTING, budgeting our money before we spend it and using some of our tax return to help pay down the debt.

So far so good.  We are paying off a few little debts this month, and old dentist bill, a garbage company bill that I got tired of fighting, along with our closing cable bill from our last house (we just received it, WEIRD) .

As you noticed, I said nothing about a mortgage, well that is because we do not own our home.  We live in the home that my mother-in-law grew up in.  Our hopes and dreams are to add on and remodel.  I am not sure it is possible, but I dream of being able to pay cash for the remodel/add-on.  Right now any big changes to the house are on the back burner, it will definitely have to be in Gods timing.

Téadora you have forever changed our life.  You came into this world a tiny little girl, a few weeks earlier than we expected.  And each day since then we have thanked the Lord for bringing you to us.  We love you!

Two years ago, with 11 minutes to spare we arrived at the hospital. There was exactly 11 minutes from the time we pulled into the parking spot to the time I lifted her onto my chest.  Those 11 minutes were jam packed with adventure.  I was thrown a gown and told to put it on.  I said no and took off my pants.  She was 3 1/2 weeks early so I had yet to “pre-register” meaning I was hand a kagillion pieces of paper to read and sign.  I set them on the side table.  I was having my 2nd VBAC, so there was a nurse trying oh-so-hard to get an IV put in me, she had no luck.  However the worst was that one nurse did not believe me that the baby was actually coming, so she decided to check and see how far dilated I was.  I wanted to laugh, I wanted to scream, but I nicely said, you don’t need to “check” she is coming out.  She proceeded to check me, she prepared, started in and yelled, GET THE DOCTOR, we have a head.  HAHA, I thought, I was right.  Crazy a woman right about her own body.  But the best was yet to come.  Dr. Anderson (the same Dr.Anderson that delivered my husband) came waltzing into the room.  “Good thing you called on your way here, I was in the parking lot going home to take a shower.”  Like I care, I am having a baby, I thought.  He put on his gloves and went to take his position, honestly I never wanted a man in sitting there staring at me, but I had no choice he was the only one there.  (But according to him I should be ecstatic that the nurses caught him in the parking lot.)  I was then told that she was coming out with her face up (posterior), which explained my back labor.  Next thing I know I see a HUGE needle.  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”, I yelled.  He calmly answered, “you are going to need an episiotomy, so I am numbing you.” ” Do-not-cut-me, I don’t care if I tear.”  Next thing I know I am pulling my little girl up onto my chest.  She was wonderful and tiny, a whopping 6lbs 1oz and 19 1/2 inches long.  (For what it is worth, the doctor did end up telling me that I made a good call about not wanting an episiotomy.)

Well onto what you all have been waiting for the finished kitchen!

The sink was cut out.  We use a stainless steel bowl for the sink.

We cut a dowel rod that we had in the garage to make the faucet.  We used the rest of the dowel rod for the to hang the curtain (see below).

 The curtain went with her crib bedding set, I had to hem it (in 1/2).

Here is an up close of the curtain and the shelf inside.

And here is the finished product with her pots/pans and utensils set out.  The pots/pans set was purchased prior to Christmas.

So how did we do?  Do you like it?  We found everything in our home/garage with the exception of the pot/pans and the knobs for the sink and burners.

Part of my COMPACT agreement (to myself) was that I could still participate in my gymbucks redemption.  See in November and December I earned myself $75 in gymbucks at Gymboree.  I told myself that I would limit myself to using $25 or $50 worth and giveaway or sell the remaining gymbuck(s).  Well I had my cart all ready tonight, I had already talked myself down to only using $25 worth of gymbucks, which basically meant I was getting $51.95 worth of stuff for $26.95, plus shipping and tax.  I closed the browser.  I don’t want to.  I don’t want to buy those clothes.  Are they a good deal, YES!  When I add up the regular prices of the items it comes to $120.50 and I would be getting them for $26.95.  As Kristy would say, they are basically paying me to take them, right!!  But it is the principal of the matter.  Do I want the clothes, yes, do I need the clothes NO.  Who cares what a great deal it is.  I am not buying the kids new clothes this year and I am sticking to that.  YAY ME!

I think I might actually cry if I won this giveaway. 5 Minutes for Mom is giving away this amazingly cute pedal car.

I think Dillon would be absolutely stunning in it on his FIRST BIRTHDAY, which mind you is coming way to soon. He was just born yesterday, right?!

I had no idea that there were so many old-school things, now made toys out there. Check out this site (the twins of 5 Minutes for Mom run this store), Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles, and just look how many actual pedal cars there are.

I think Téadora would look absolutely adorable in this one. However, remember we are COMPACTING this year, so there will be no buying of pedal cars or the like for our children.

January 4, 2008

So far compacting hasn’t been as hard as I anticipated. However I look ahead to birthdays, baby showers (everyone I know is pregnant, hehe), anniversaries, trips out of town, Christmas and I am forced to make some decisions on how to handle these situations. I figure if I think about it now, when the time comes it won’t be as hard to stick to an already made plan, instead of heading out to the mall.

Birthdays: gifts=homemade or buy used, party supplies=as much as possible use stuff we already have, none/limited paper products, make decorations, use internet to get ideas/print decorations, cards=homemade

Trips out of town: limit eating out, buying trinkets, really think about purchases. Ok I am not going to even attempt

Christmas. But I have one idea…instead of giving gifts to extended family, we adopt a child or buy an animal or something along those lines, possibly we adopt a local family and give them “Christmas”.
Taken from “THE RED NOTEBOOK”

We are doing it. Crazy huh!?! We are diving into our version of “The Compact”. Some might be exclaiming, “not you guys”, YES US, others might be cheering us on, THANK YOU, and yet most of you are probably saying “what the heck is a compact?” Well over the next months I will probably be in each one of your shoes. I am going to blog some of our journeys in compacting here, however most of the documenting is going to be done in a spiral bound red notebook. I am going old-school, I am going to hand write journal entries, can you believe it.

To get me to where I am it has been a long road.

I am a struggling Target, WalMart, $Store addict, I like nice clothes and things, I always am wanting more, I waste money on eating out and drinking “glamorous” coffee, I like the readily accessibility of new, I am a sucker for sales, clearance and anything that seems like a GREAT deal, even if I don’t need it and sometimes I don’t even want it.

We are a family of 6 living in a 1 1/2 bedroom, less than 1000 square foot house, with two cats and soon a puppy. We have been decluttering for over a year and simplifying and organizing throughout that time. We are earthy (some say). We cloth diaper, use cloth wipes, eat mainly vegetarian, we are about 50% organic at this point, we use natural cleaning products, recycle, we don’t vaccinate, by kids breastfeed for a long time, I love tie dye and by goly I rarely shave my legs

Well anyway, I wanted to give you a little background on us. Moving on…

December 29, 2007

I am on a journey of less spending, less consuming, more happiness, no debt, figuring out what *I* really need, what we (our family) really needs.

I have some thoughts about what “COMPACTING” would look like to me.

*One time per month trip to Target and only for necessities

*No brand new clothes for kids until 2009

*Limit brand new clothing for Nick and I

*REALLY THINK ABOUT PURCHASES

*Do not use credit

*Buy local as much as possible

*Bake bread once a week

*Declutter 2008 things in 2008

EXCEPTIONS

*Aidan’s uniform clothes (I will try to first buy used)

*Underwear, socks, undershirts, shoes

*New car seats for Aidan and Coda

*Things that will help us to become more self-sufficient (not sure if that is the right word), such as cloth diapers, seeds, potting soil, etc for planting vegetables.

*Items needed to run our business

January 1, 2007

So far today I wanted to buy a new magazine “Mothering” (maybe Kristy could send me her copy when she is done with it), I wanted to buy a new book, I am going to check out the used bookstores.

Téadora’s birthday is in 16 days. We really wanted to make her a play kitchen for her birthday. So today/tonight I am going to search in the house and garage for items that could be used. I wish myself luck.
Taken from “The Red Notebook”