Feed Sacks, Organized

 


For the last few months,
I've been selling daisy totes.
They are upcycled tote bags made from used feed sacks.
It's been a fun and educational undertaking.
There were a few people who were able to supply me with sacks.
Once things started taking off,
I knew that I'd need to find more resources.
Enter Craig's List.
I placed an ad under the "Farm & Garden" section,
stating that I was looking for feed sacks that were no longer needed.

The call was answered.

Overwhelmingly.

Seems there are a lot of folks in our area who love animals.

Horses, birds, cows, pigs, rabbits, and a multitude of poultry

all need to be fed.

Most people I meet up with say that if we didn't take the sacks,

they would be burned or thrown away.

It's a good feeling to know that they will be collected
for something useful.

Storing them in a systematic way makes sense.
I call myself "chronically organized" because I don't do well with anything less.
Last weekend was the perfect opportunity to tackle this task. 
The weather was cool and I had the garage all to myself.

As with any organizing project,
it's best to sort like objects.
Sacks were laid in piles according to type of feed.

 Some, like these Egg Maker sacks, were so numerous,
that I decided to use one bag to hold some of them.
Many were received this way from contributors.
This takes up less space than if they were all stored separately.

Needless to say,
we'll have sacks to keep me busy for quite some time.
The ad was promptly taken off of Craig's List.
There are still some folks who call me as repeat customers,
to come and collect their excess sacks.

We happen to have quite a few moving boxes,
so they were used to corral the sacks.
Of course, labeling always helps one to find what is needed.

Even when we sell our house and move,
these will be taken with us so that I can get right to work
at whatever Farmers' Markets or local events might serve as a good venue for the daisy totes.

I think we'll be ready.

Ten Things to Improve Your New Year

Resolutions are often forgotten 
by the 3rd of 4th week of the year.

Unless we are unwavering in our conscientiousness to live in the moment,

it can be challenging to maintain a toehold on those goals.
With busy lives, it can be a tall order.

Here are some simple things to try.
Try one or all of them!

They are easily incorporated into a daily routine.

Some may be more difficult than others,

but no matter how many you decide to test drive,
one of them may just change your life for the better.
Give 'em a whirl.

1.  Get rid of your full-length mirror.
If you find yourself being critical about the way you look,
give yourself a week without the opportunity to see "the worst".
You may find that you really feel better about yourself.

2.  Start using butter.
Okay, this really does NOT have anything to do with number one up there.
Think about assimilating your new view of yourself (sans mirror),
with seeing, being and enjoying the real you.
Make the transition to eating real foods.
Eating simply adds simplicity to your life.
Butter is made with cream, water and salt.
That's it.  
Besides, butter just makes everything taste better.

3.  Get outside daily.
This will affect you no matter the season.
We all need a dose of the sun's Vitamin D
and it's not the same when supplemented in a pill.
Take a walk, look at snowflakes, listen to the birds singing.
Being connected to the outdoors can be a sacred thing.
You deserve to embrace all of Mother Nature's blessings.

4.  Create 5 minutes of silence for yourself.
Whether you work full-time, go to school,
run a household, or are independently wealthy,
it's vital to listen to the wisdom inside of you.
When we are so busy that we keep silence at bay,
we lose the chance to learn what we need to grow.
Feel free to combine numbers 3 & 4!

5.  Consider your intention first when making decisions.
Using this powerful tool can make the difference between
smooth transitions and hard lessons learned.
If we focus on what we hope to accomplish first,
we learn to develop our sense of purpose,
and preferences will be more easily  determined.

6.  Make yourself smile.
Just remembering a fond memory can change our mood.
Whether it's something from long ago, or earlier in the day,
 bringing to mind those things that cheer or encourage us,
can alter our entire day, in a good way.
We can control the thoughts we allow,
so why not use them to our advantage?

7.  Give something to someone at least once a day.
It could be a compliment, a hug, or a small token,
but make it sincere.
This is a win-win, because not only will you feel better,
it's sure to brighten someone's day.
And hey, then you can use this situation to cross number 6 off of your list.

8.  Say thank you more often.
Surely there is someone who has done something kind toward you.
Be sure to acknowledge and appreciate those acts of generosity.
It could be something as basic as opening a door so that you can pass, 
or as compelling as taking the time to shake a veteran's hand 
and thanking him/her for their service to our country.
Not only do you feel good doing it, 
but it also solidifies the perspective that good souls surround you.
Sometimes we need to be reminded.

9.  Make something yourself.
It could be your first loaf of homemade bread,
sewing a pillow, writing a poem, or building a bench.
Fostering the sense of creativity that we all have
is paramount to one's well-being.
We are innately creative,
we sometimes just get too busy to nurture that part of us.
It's worth it.
Trust me.

10.  Simplify in any way you can.
Start with one shelf in a bookcase, one bathroom cabinet,
or one corner of the garage.
Sometimes we need to get the "stuff" out of our way.
Keeping in mind what is working for you,
or what might be better used by someone else is key.
Always focus on intention when clearing the clutter.
It really does make a difference.

I'd love to hear some of your ideas for improving your new year.
Have you already started?
It's never too late to get crackin'!
Enjoy your weekend, y'all!
~daisy~

One Simple Thing-Kitchen Drawer Liners

I like lined drawers and shelves.
It not only adds color to the kitchen,
it gives a more finished look and makes cleaning a breeze.
The older I get, the more I look for 
easier ways to keep the house clean.
After all, I'd rather be gardening, reading or sewing.
With the house on the market, it just makes sense
to keep everything neat and tidy.
Here's our simple solution to messy drawers. 

I found these brown cloth napkins for a steal at a thrift store.
It's one of those things that I keep my eye out for,
as they have so many uses.
Here we used them to line our kitchen drawers.
I don't like using the vinyl liners with adhesive
because I think the glue attracts bugs.

Not all of our drawers are the same size,
so the napkins were just folded over to fit.
Custom for a fraction of the cost!

With a dozen in the set, there were enough to fill every drawer
in our kitchen, which has generous storage.




When they get crumby or dirty,
we just take them out, shake them off,
or launder if necessary.
 Our drawers never looked so good!

One Simple Thing

The House Blog

Today we are shamelessly promoting our home for sale.
Since we'd tried to sell it twice before with two different realtors,
we thought we'd give it a go ourselves.
It seems to be a good time to sell and the market is picking up a bit here.

The worst that can happen is that we don't get enough traffic
and end up having to list it again with our realtor of choice.
Without a listing on the MLS, buyers aren't able to see all of the homes available.
We found a way to (hopefully) get more exposure for our home.

When researching safety considerations when selling yourself,
I stumbled upon a blog by Andrea Dekker,
who created a blog for her home
and put it on Craig's List.
Brilliant!

So, that's what I've been working on for the past couple of weeks.
I'm asking everyone I know to put a link up on their Facebook account,
or any other type of social media,
as well as listing it on Craig's List ourselves.
We trust that the right buyer will find it
and be quite content here.

The next time you need to sell a home, 

consider creating a blog for it.

We hope that this endeavor 
will allow our dreams to move forward.
 Here's the link.
(The house blog was removed when we ended up 
listing with a realtor.) 

Pantry Remix

One key of thriftiness is having a well-stocked pantry.
We scratch cook and don't eat out much,
so we save a ton of money,
and the bonus is that we feel we are eating as healthy as we can.
Knowing what you have on hand ensures that meals can be quickly prepared,
which makes life so much easier.

before

We posted about organizing the pantry a while back.
You can read that here.
With the house on the market again,
I've been tweaking some of our most used spaces,
including the pantry and baking/spice areas of our kitchen.
Not only will an organized pantry make our home more appealing to buyers,
it's more motivating for us to whip up something delicious.

The main reason for tweaking the shelves in the pantry 
was to separate the gluten-free items from
the other baking ingredients.
Cross-contamination hasn't been an issue,
but it just seemed like a good idea to keep these things apart.

after

Now those items that are safe for Lil' Guy are on the second shelf,
and the other flours and conventional pastas are on the bottom shelf.
We love using jars to keep everything fresh and easily visible.

Another area where we keep ingredients for baking is one of our cabinets.
It houses things like spices, baking soda, baking powder,
pear sauce that gets added to all of our gluten-free concoctions (it keeps things moist),
and the gf flour mix we use. 
There are so many cabinets in this kitchen,
we have ample room for all of our goodies.

before

after

It may not seem like much of a transformation,
but I like the streamlined effect.
Adding the spice racks onto the inside of the doors
really does free up space elsewhere
and makes it easier to see just what you have.
(You can make photos larger by clicking on them.)

It is such a blessing to have a kitchen so well stocked
with good things for my family to enjoy.
Hopefully, the new owners will feel the same way.

All this week we've been focusing on our home being up for sale.
Tomorrow we'll show you a new way we found to market it!

Other organizing posts on Maple Hill 101:
Kitchen Organizing Ideas 
Organizing in the New Year-Kitchens 
Kid's Menu 
Pantry, Organized 
Kitchen, Organized 
Recipes, Organized
Baking, Organized