Get rid of your spare change!

Does your home have change all over the place? Here is how I got rid of all of our change and narrowed it down to only having one piggy bank for the household.


1. Collect all of your change (Every Single Penny)

A penny laying here, over there, in the junk drawer and so on? Go out to your car and collect all of your change too! It is time to go through every single room and put all of your spare change in one bag or piggy bank. I combined my change and my husband's change and put it into one big bag. Change can get really heavy and it can take up a lot of space! Besides there  could be several hundred dollars worth of change just sitting around in your home! Wouldn't you rather put that money toward something rather than just having it lay around in your home collecting dust?


2. Take your change to the store that has a coin star or a machine similar to it

I headed to my local Food Lion because they have a coin machine called Coin Star. I dumped all of our change into it and the machine counts all of your change for you. Just make sure you are checking the little change dispenser near the bottom for coins that didn't get counted or fell through the cracks. After checking the dispenser put the change back through the machine to get counted.


3. Get a gift card code or paper cash for all of your change

I think a lot of people avoid these machines because they charge you a fee. I found out that by choosing the option of getting a gift card code from your favorite stores doesn't charge you a fee at all! Last year my husband and I did most of our Christmas shopping on Amazon online so we just got the gift card code for Amazon. We will be using the gift card for Christmas this year! Now if there isn't a gift card option you desire you can get paper cash instead but there is a fee of about $8 if I am not mistaken.


4. Repeat the process in 6 months or a year 

Since change can add up fast I told my husband that we should take our change and trade it in for gift cards twice a year and we chose June and December. We are putting our change toward our Christmas gift budget so June and December makes a lot of sense to us. Of course you can put your change money to whatever you decide like a dream vacation or home!


Hope this post helps to declutter your home and get you some extra spending money ;)


XO, Hannah 

A little Bit of Organizing Each Day

With a lot of traveling and being sick for almost 2 weeks I am finally back to the swing of things! I will get back to posting more soon, but these past few weeks have been busy and rough! Anyways I wanted to share a quick post about how you can organize a little each day. These are some things I do that have helped me stay motivated to organize and declutter as well as have a nice organized home for the most part.


Tidy up the house before going to bed

Even if you do no have time to organize the entire house, if you can organize just one room or area of a room it makes a huge difference mentally. I try to have the kitchen cleaned up so that I can walk in to a nice fresh and clean kitchen. When something is already clean and organized you want to keep it that way. I also tidy up the living room right before bed even though I know it will get messy again the next day. I tidy these two places because it gives me a sense of closure and a peace of mind before going to bed. Some days I am so tired that I only have the energy to tidy up the couch by fluffing the pillows and folding the blankets and draping them over the couch. Even doing some easy and quick tidying before bed makes a difference for me.



Have bins or boxes for items you want to donate or sell

I have designated boxes that I can immediately put things in if they no longer fit or I just do not need anymore. Having these boxes makes it easier to discard something and for other family members as well. I am constantly filling these boxes and it helps me to not keep clutter.



Being careful of what you bring in your home

I am not a huge fan of yard sales unless I am looking for something specific. My husband on the other hand loves yard sales and he will go every weekend if he could. My husband loves finding good deals and a lot of times brings things home that "could" come in handy or we might be able to use. I appreciate his thoughtfulness but I have gotten to the point where I tell my husband that he needs to only get things we absolutely need. Being a family of three living in a one bedroom apartment we do not have any extra space to store things. We barely have enough space for things we do use and need. I have been very careful to monitor and watch our items because if I don't our apartment will feel and look like we are living in a storage unit. To make sure our apartment is a comfortable and pleasant home I need to constantly be throwing things away, donating, or selling. I've noticed what a big difference it has made since I started organizing and I think tidying up a bit each day goes a long way. Shopping and buying things are not bad, but if you do buy something you should replace the new with the old or get items that can serve multiple purposes so you can save space.

What are some things you do to stay organized?

♡Hannah 

Capsule Closet Goals

I visited a friend's home who has a capsule closet. I had never seen a capsule closet in person so I was pretty excited. When I saw my friend's closet I was not disappointed. I was amazed and totally inspired by it! She had 1 black dress with a design, 3 skirts, 3 sleeveless tops, a few regular tops, and some cardigans. She also told me she has 3 pairs of pants (a black pair, skinny jeans, and a pair with flares). She mostly had black or grey clothing items that can easily be paired with other colors. Here are some tips I learned from the visit.


Tip 1: Accessorize to make different outfits with your clothes
Tip 2: Less is more
Tip 3: Keep clothing items that you can use multiple ways
             
My friend said she uses the one dress she has for funerals, weddings, or to church. She simply wears a cardigan or tights to totally change the look of her black dress.

Here is an image I found on Pinterest for those who need a visual. Only a few basics and you can layer to make several different outfits.

By: Kristin727  Polyvore

I cut down my closet by more than half but I still have a long way to go for a capsule closet. Special thank you to my friend for sharing her tips and showing me her capsule closet!

♥ Hannah

Organizing to Change Your Mind-Set

I was able to go to a client's home to help her get started with her organizing journey. Let me just say it took about 10 hours of work and we only got to organize her tops! Even though I was organizing someone else's home, I got the same good feeling I did after I organized my own place. I have always enjoyed organizing, but there is something about organizing in one go that really changes you. Maybe because you see the before and after and the dramatic change happening right before your eyes!


"If you tidy up in one shot, rather than little by little, you can dramatically change your mind-set."

                                                                                              - Marie Kondo

Here are some before and after pictures of W's bedroom. I will post about this transformation soon!

Before 

Before: Bedroom Floor

After

After

It was such a huge transformation that we got compliments from W's family members when they visited! The almost 10 hours of work was worth it after seeing such a drastic change with the before and after!

Go ahead and schedule a time where you can tackle your clothes or another category to organize all in one go! I promise it will change you and make you feel good!

♥ Hannah

Extreme Organizing - Meaningful Papers

For this post I am going to talk about organizing your papers that are meaningful to you. This usually would include your letters or cards from special occasions. I have kept all of my letters since I was in first grade. Almost every day my classmates and I would write letters to each other in Elementary school. There are folders and boxes full of letters still at my house in Japan, my mothers house, and my own home. That's right I was hoarding letters in three different locations. How bad was that?

As you get older it seems like you get more cards too. Especially around the holidays.
I posted about a mistake I made as far as organizing meaningful papers. One of them being that I showed my husband a box of birthday cards and other letters I was going to throw away. My husband is a very sentimental person and I did not think of this until it was too late. It is best to organize your own meaningful papers on your own and privately. Also, only organize things that belong to you and not things that belong to your mate or things that are addressed to both of you.

Take the same steps as you would with organizing your clothes. Make a pile of every single card and letter that you own. (Remember to only organize your own!) Pick up each card and letter and decide if it brings you joy (konmari method). If it does not throw it away! Now if letters and cards are something that truly brings you joy then keep all of them! The organizing process should be to keep only the things you love and use, NOT how much stuff you can get rid of. 

♡ Hannah

Motivation to Organize More!

I love organizing and the feeling I get from organizing, but as I organized there were several more things that really pushed me to organize than just the good feeling I got.

1. Getting Money
I started to make money off of clothes, furniture, and other things I simply didn't need anymore. I really had success with the online yard sale pages on Facebook and the Letgo app. I decided to keep track of the money I made and made envelopes for what my husband and I wanted to save the money for.

• Christmas Presents 
• Vacation
• Date Night 

We decided that most of the money we got from selling our unwanted stuff should go towards a fund for Christmas. Our budget always gets tight around December with the traveling and Christmas presents that we decided to put all of the cash in the envelope we had labeled for Christmas. Our goal is to use only money we made by selling our stuff for Christmas. This is what we had decided to do, but you could make an envelope for anything! A new car, paying off loans, or a nice vacation.

2. Blessing Others
I was able to cut my closet size in half if not more since I started to organize. Some clothes I was able to sell but most of my clothes I gave to a family with teenage girls who do not have much. When the girls get my clothes they would describe it as Christmas morning. I think that is so neat that I was able to make these girls so happy! After hearing their stories of how happy they got by getting my clothes, it really motivated me to do a second round of organizing my closet. Since I am a stay at home mother I really do not need as many clothes as I had when I was working full time. My new goal is to reduce my closet to a capsule closet and donate my clothes to bless these girls!

3. Getting Compliments
It seemed like every week I had a pile of things sitting at the door because I had a pile for Goodwill, selling, giving away, and so on. Whenever I come across something that I do not need or do not want I immediately put them in the appropriate pile. After about a few weeks people really started to notice how much stuff I had gotten rid of. The living room looked neater, more organized, and more spacious! I was getting compliments from people and it definitely encouraged me to keep up the organizing!

4. Saving Time 
After getting rid of I don't know how many bags and boxes of stuff I noticed how quickly I could clean up before guests would come to our home! It was amazing to me that I could get my living room cleaned up in less time than ever before. By having less stuff the less you have to clean and more time to do what you want to do!

5. Feeling happier
Another big motivator was that I felt happier since I started organizing. I would consider myself a pretty happy person overall, but as I got rid of stuff the more lighter and happier I felt! It is as if every single item you own weighs you down, but you do not notice that it is weighing you down until you get rid of it. Maybe that is why the tiny houses and the minimalism movement is becoming more and more popular.

I hope this motivates you to organize more! :)

XO, Hannah

Minimalism Challenge

As I have been reading books and watching documentaries on minimalism, I kept hearing about getting rid of one item each day for a year. I decided to do the challenge for 1 month to see how it goes! I started March 1st and these are things I got rid of just in 1 month.

So here was my March Challenge!

Day 1     Candle
Day 2     Pen holder
Day 3     Dog dish (Brand new so I decide to sell it online)
Day 4     A little bird decoration
Day 5     Dog clothing (10)
Day 6     Plastic dish
Day 7     Soccer Ball
Day 8     Pajamas (1)
Day 9     Magnet
Day 10   Movies (7)
Day 11   Mugs & cups (11)
Day 12   Baby bouncer
Day 13   Necklaces (3)
Day 14   Old College Textbooks (5)
Day 15   Lap desk
Day 16   Jewelry organizer
Day 17   Desk shelf
Day 18   CDs (8)
Day 19   Glue sticks (5)
Day 20   Note pads and stationary
Day 21   Craft things such as stickers and scrapbook stuff
Day 22   Bag
Day 23   Shoes (4 pairs)
Day 24   Skirt
Day 25   Shirts (5)
Day 26   Jackets (2)
Day 27   Binders (2)
Day 28   Board games (2)
Day 29   Flower vase
Day 30   Brooch
Day 31   Hair ties and cosmetics (3)

I had gotten rid of a lot in just 31 days. Some of the things I sold online and got some money for them which is a huge score! Since these were most things that I wanted to get rid of anyways I didn't list them online for that much money. People love getting deals so the items got snagged quickly! After doing this challenge for only a month I feel happier and lighter. Because I have less stuff now there is less to clean and I felt like I saved myself some time and really focus on things that were important to me.

I know I still can get rid of more things and I haven't reached the point where I feel satisfied, but I am definitely getting closer to that point! My closet size has been cut in half since I started my journey of organizing, and I know I am almost there with getting to the clicking point (Konmari method).

♡ Hannah 

The Best Book on Organizing

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo

I mentioned a little bit about the book I read from Marie Kondo in some of my older posts. I amt thinking about doing a book review in the future on my blog about her book. I read her book twice because I enjoyed it so much and I am currently reading her second book called Spark Joy. One thing she really emphasizes on in her book is to keep the things that only spark joy. When I first started my organizing process I kept the items that I love which is pretty much the same as items that spark joy. By just going through my items and keeping things that I truly love and use had lead me to getting rid of a bunch of things and resulted in my closet size getting cut in more than 50%. It's such a good feeling to only be surrounded by things you love and use on a daily basis. I have found myself to be happier and calmer after getting rid of stuff I do not need. As I would get rid of things I felt lighter and lighter.

I had seen such amazing results and change in my own life that I recommend this book to anyone! Especially to those who live in first world countries ;)

Have you read this book and if so what did you like about it?

XO, Hannah

Tips on Selling Your Stuff

After decluttering a category of stuff, I would separate my things into categories of donating, giving away, selling, and trash. To be able to bless someone else with things you no longer need or want is a huge blessing to me!

Donating / Giving Away

Person in need - I give away my clothing to a teen girl who doesn't have a whole lot and she gets really excited when she gets my clothes. I love that I am able to bless someone and make them happy! I would much rather see her excitement than to have clothes that I don't wear sitting in my closet.

Family & Friends - My mom is a teacher so if I have some little knick nacks that are kid appropriate I put them in a bag to give to her so she can use them to give away as prizes.

Goodwill - If it's something that I know won't sell I usually donate the items to Goodwill.

Women's Shelter - I personally have not donated to a women's shelter yet, but I heard they really like getting things like make-up (new) and purses and such! I sell Mary Kay so I am thinking about getting some discontinued make up items together to donate!

Selling

For each category of things I organize, I toss everything I do not want in a box to sort through once it is full or I am done organizing. I take pictures of each item and post them on online yard sale groups and pages. I usually start off a little high with the price but if a week goes by and there are no offers I mark the price down about $5 or so.

For name brand clothing I like to consign or take to Plato's Closet. I prefer Plato's Closet more just because I get cash right away.

Things that do not sell on the online yard sale pages I keep for yard sales. If items still do not sale after a yard sale then I donate them to Goodwill.

I hope these tips help and hopefully you can make some extra cash! :)


XO, Hannah

TED Talks on Minimalism

Other than reading some books on organizing and reading articles, I came across a documentary on Netflix about Minimalism. I enjoyed it so much I decided to see if there were any TED talks on minimalism. Sure enough I found a page with 8 Ted talks all in one spot.

Here is the page with the TED talks
http://frugaling.org/8-ted-talks-will-inspire-become-minimalist/

Also the documentary on minimalism I had just mentioned is on Netflix!
http://www.theminimalists.com/netflix/

The guys who made the documentary also have a TED talk and a website. The documentary and TED talk pretty much had the same information, but I enjoyed both of them. If you only want to watch one I recommend the documentary.

Check out their website below!
http://www.theminimalists.com/



♡Hannah 

Extreme Organizing - Entry Way

Your Entry Way is pretty important because it's usually the first thing that you and your visitors see when entering your home! I have seen beautiful entry ways on Pinterest but I never really liked mine, so I decided to change that!

Before

The image above was my entry way before organizing. I had all kinds of things that shouldn't be there. You can see the baby wipes, dog treats, and little knick knacks that I didn't really know where to put. The Baby Car Seat that should be in the car and pacifiers that I never used were also by the entry way. I took everything off of the shelf and put things that I only love on there. 

After

A mirror was a must because I like to check my appearance before leaving the house. I also placed pictures of me and my husband, candles, and some other things that I love. On the bottom right I have my baby's books because I let her play there like it's her own little reading nook! Next to the door I have a box with hooks where my husband and I can hang our keys on so we never misplace them. Now that I organized my entry way I actually love the space now! 

What do you think of the transformation?

♥ Hannah

5 Date Ideas You Haven't Thought Of

I always enjoyed getting date ideas off of Pinterest, but after awhile they seemed to have the same date ideas and I started getting tired of them. I figured I would list some of my date ideas for those who may be feeling the same way I do!

1. Visit the Planetarium

This is way cool! If there is one locally, take your loved one and visit. Besides looking at stars together is so romantic ♥

Or you could look at the stars from you back yard if you don't have a planetarium locally.


2. Dig in to your Ancestry

After we got our DNA kits from Ancestry.com we took a night to build our family tree online. It was really neat being able to find some pictures of a great great great grandmother! We had a blast looking into our heritage and where we came from. We decided to do it again and we got our family involved with this too. My grandparents had some books about their ancestry and found out we were related to some cool people! So grab your laptop and cuddle up to discover history that leads down to you!

3. Organize together

If you had read any of my other posts on my blog you can probably tell that I am big into organizing. Well when I organize I only organize things that belong to me. My husband decided to organize his clothing and he asked for my help. I loved helping him organize and as we went through each clothing we sorted out his unwanted clothing into categories of trash, donate, or give away. He would model some of his clothes and it was a lot of fun. Ha. After we organized his clothes we took the trash pile out, put some of the bags into the Goodwill donation box, and sold some items to Plato's Closet. You can organize other things too like old greeting cards or some pictures! It would be fun to look back on some old memories.

4. Watch the Storm 

It can depend on the weather and location but this was one date we loved doing. We have a pretty nice patio at our apartment and it was big enough that the rain doesn't get to you. We got alerts on our phone that there was going to be a severe thunder storm and we waited until the rain poured down like crazy. We got some sodas and sat on our balcony watching the crazy storm. It lasted a while but it was a really cool experience and we just sat and talked. You could still do this without a crazy storm going on ;)

5. Learn another language

At one point we would go to the library pretty often because our old apartment used to be near by. We were working at a warehouse job where you could listen to music and such, so we would go to the library and get audio books. While we were browsing the audio books we came across some language learning CDs. We got one to learn Korean and we had so much fun listening to it. When we would go out to do errands or whatever we were trying to learn Korean! Ha. It was a bunch of fun and we still throw out Korean words to each other at random. So whether you get a CD or take a class learn a new language together! ☺

Go out there and spend some time with your mate! ;) 
♥ Hannah 

Extreme Organizing - DVDs

DVDs have always been something that I keep organized. I organized them alphabetically, so I always thought I was on top of my game, but the challenge for me was deciding what movies to keep and what to get rid of.

Before

There are two cabinets on the TV stand, and both were full of DVDs, along with some video games. After organizing the DVDs I got them to all fit on one side. I will be putting all of the video games on the other side (keep an eye out for organizing your video games!).

My DVDs are all in alphabetical order

I took out all of my DVDs and went through each one alphabetically. Instead of the mind set of what can I get rid of, I went with the mind set of which ones do I really enjoy watching?

DVDs I decided to sell or donate

 I got rid of a bunch of teen movies that I used to enjoy when I was younger, and chick flicks that I don't really enjoy anymore. As I was clearing through, I realized how much I have matured since my teen days, and how my tastes have changed in movies. As you organize you can look back on the old days and appreciate who you have become.

I had DVDs laying around the apartment so I gathered all of them and put them in the same spot. I need to remember to put DVDs right back where they belong after I watch one.

All of the DVDs we own fit in one side of the TV stand

Here is a sample list I went by while organizing my movies. Make sure you are just organizing your own movies!

• Will I watch this movie again?
• Will my children enjoy this movie?
• Is this a movie that I enjoy watching?

Thoughts or comments?

♥ Hannah

Best Places to Get Maternity Clothes!

I am only going to list the stores that I actually got my maternity clothes from. I am not a huge fan of online clothes shopping because I am very picky and I need to try on each item to make sure it fits right. So here is a list of places I got my maternity clothes from!

Target

First of all I love Target. I go to Target for almost everything so I definitely checked out their maternity section when I was pregnant. I wouldn't say that Target is my favorite maternity clothing place because I felt like there wasn't a whole lot to choose from, but I did get some really comfy sweatshirts and basic tank tops and such! 

Macy's

I got a few things from Macy's and they have a pretty good collection. I have been to two Macy's while pregnant and they both carried brands like Jessica Simpson and Motherhood. I really like both of those brands because they are comfortable and fashionable! 

Motherhood (The actual store)

This one was hands down my favorite place to buy maternity clothes! I worked my full time job until my third trimester and had to wear business casual clothing. Motherhood had really comfy and cute work clothes that I got and it made the work day so much better! I got several maternity jeans, sweaters, and adorable tops from them too. Motherhood also sell clothing for postpartum and their nursing bras and nursing camis were the most comfortable and user friendly out of any other brands. I literally wore the nursing bra and nursing cami every single day and most of the time still do!

Old Navy

I was never a huge Old Navy fan for regular clothes but I found some really cute maternity clothes. I got several dresses, tops, and shorts from them. I really appreciated their casual style and how comfortable their clothing was! I was pretty impressed with their maternity section!

I know there are other stores that have maternity clothing but these were the stores I got mine from. I will definitely be checking out other stores for my second pregnancy :) 
What are some of your favorite maternity clothing brands?

♥ Hannah

Why Organize?

I wanted to share my story of why I started organizing and decluttering. Whenever I organized something even if it was just my bath towels I would feel really good afterwards and felt like I accomplished something. I believe there is a correlation between organizing and feeling good. I have heard many people say that they start to feel depressed when their house starts to get cluttered. I know for myself I like to clean and organize when I am stressed. Organizing is therapeutic for me in a sense. I also love the idea of being a minimalist and surrounding myself with just the things I love. We surround our selves with so much stuff that maybe that is why many people are depressed and overwhelmed. I figured I could share my tips and mistakes of my organizing journey to help others too!




♥ Hannah

Freebies for Mommies To Be!

I was actually working on this post while I was pregnant but never had the chance to finish it. Even though I am no longer pregnant, I figured this post could benefit some mothers to be out there! My husband and I live in a one bedroom apartment and we are on a tight budget, so I got really excited about freebies and who doesn't love a free gift anyways? Here are some freebies I got and discovered while I was pregnant.

Target & Babies R Us
At Target you get a cute little goody bag when you register for your baby items! I believe you only get the goody bag if you register at the store in person. Besides there is something satisfying about scanning items with the hand held scanner! When we finished and handed the scanner back that is when they gave us a little bag with coupons, a bottle, a pacifier, samples of laundry detergent, and other product samples like lotions. I used the free samples of laundry detergent to wash all of the baby clothes we got from our baby showers! Babies R Us also gives a little goody bag according to my friend who registered there, but she claimed it was not as good as Target's goody bag. I registered with Babies R Us online so I did not get one. They did send me some coupons in the mail though!

Motherhood
I had a really hard time finding maternity clothes in my area that I liked so I had to go to a bigger city for maternity clothes shopping. The store called Motherhood had cute maternity clothes I really liked and they give you a little goody bag if it is your first time there! I honestly can't remember everything that was in the bag, but I know there were several coupons and a baby bottle inside!

CarseatCanopy.com
This was one of the many websites that offers freebies if you have a promo code. Some people may not consider this to be free since you do have to pay for shipping, but I ordered a car seat cover because we did not get one at our baby shower. They even have the option to customize your car seat cover so you can add your baby's name to it. This site also has sister sites that give away free things like a baby sling, books, diaper covers and such! I found out about these sites because of the coupons from Target and Motherhood. I think it is definitely worth it to check it out! 

Seven Slings
I believe this is a sister site to the carseatcanopy.com but I had a free promo code for a baby sling too. I had to pay for shipping but I did score a cute sling! Here is a list of other websites that you can get some freebies with a promo code! (Promo codes were included in the goody bags from Target & Motherhood).

• http://www.nursingpillow.com
• http://www.uddercovers.com
• http://www.breastpads.com
• http://www.babyleggings.com
• http://www.babsybooks.com
• http://www.rufflebuns.com
• http://www.pregnancypillow.com

Free Formula Samples
I got a lot of coupons and samples from Similac and Enfamil. I didn't sign up on their website but I am guessing they got my information through my baby registry. Apparently you get free samples from them when you sign up online though. I got a box of formula samples which really came in handy because I ended up using them for emergencies. Even if you are planning on exclusively breastfeeding your baby, a few formula samples for emergencies wouldn't hurt! They also send you coupons almost every month for formula as well. 

Local Pregnancy Center
I know about this because I did my college internship at a local pregnancy center. At the specific place that I did my internship they encouraged mothers to attend parenting classes and Bible studies. By doing classes or Bible studies they could earn points which they could trade in to get baby essentials in their boutique. They had some really nice stuff from baby clothes, toys, blankets, diapers, wipes, to essential stuff for moms like body lotion and maternity clothes! They also had a one time only emergency give away where a mother in need could get a pack of diapers, formula, and wipes. I recommend that you check in your area for a pregnancy center! 

Freebies While Traveling
While I was pregnant I had to go to Japan unexpectedly due to a family member dying. Lets just say traveling over seas on a long flight with a significant time zone change is the absolute worst while being pregnant. Jet lag and eating different foods were never a big deal to me until I had another human being in my body! Anyways... one thing I would encourage expecting mothers to do on a flight is to tell the flight attendant. They gave me extra snacks and drinks (water and juice) during my flight and it definitely helped. 

Ask Around and Check Out Free & Yard Sale Facebook Pages 
We did not register for a crib, a swing, a diaper changing table, and some other things because we did not have the room for all these baby items. However a lady from our church had a friend who was giving away their diaper changing table away and we got it for free! We were able to barely fit the changing table by rearranging our entire bedroom haha. I also joined some Facebook yard sale pages because you can score some free or really cheap baby items on there too.

Hospital (After having baby freebies)
I was very impressed with the hospital I had my baby at! There were so many nice things about the hospital but one of them was the free stuff they give you! They gave us a diaper bag full of stuff like diapers, nose sucker, wipes, changing mat, hat, swaddle blankets, and coupons. I asked for a few more things for myself and they were very generous. Don't be afraid to ask the nurses for some extra goodies ☺

Am I missing any freebies for expecting mothers? Comment below!
♥ Hannah

♥ January Favorites ♥

Here are some of my favorite things from January!

1. Ancestry.com

My husband got me a DNA kit from ancestry.com for Christmas. Since I am half Japanese I was pretty pumped about getting one! I cannot wait to get the results for this because I know I am pretty mixed! I know the Holidays are over but you can score a really good deal around the holidays!

Get your DNA kit to find out your heritage!
www.ancestry.com/dna

2. Fresh Flowers

There is something about fresh flowers that really makes me happy. My husband got me Red Tulips just because :) I think my favorite are pink tulips but I loved the red ones because it goes well with the Christmas and winter decorations I had up in the apartment. Great job Honey ♥

3. Tervis Water Bottle

Drinking water is important for everyone and especially for pregnant or nursing mothers! Why not invest in a good water bottle to keep track of how much water you have been drinking?

4. Kisses from Katie (Good Reads & Faith)

This year I definitely want to do more reading. My MIL (Mother In-Law) read this and let me borrow her copy. I have heard good things about this book so I was pretty excited to read it myself. If you are a Christian and ready to grow and know more about missions then this book is for you! My husband and I are looking to sponsor a child in Africa after reading this book and I am definitely more thankful for things we had been taking for granted. We have plenty of food to eat, running water, medicine, and so much more. This book inspired me and convicted me to be more thankful and to truly live to the fullest every day just like the author Katie Davis does. 

This is Katie's ministry! Check it out!

https://amazima.org/

5. Marie Kondo and "the life changing magic of tidying" (Good Reads)

Marie Kondo is the author who wrote the book "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying." I got this book from my MIL also and I fell in LOVE with this book. I have always enjoyed organizing so getting this book was very exciting for me! (as excited as a child getting up on Christmas morning). Let's just say I loved the book she wrote so much I read it twice in the same month and took notes as I read through the second time. Her method called the KonMari method is truly amazing. I am planning on writing a blog post specifically about this in the near future.

♥ Hannah 

Extreme Organizing - Board Games

My husband and I love board games! We love having people over and having game night almost once a week. It seems like we always get a new game for Christmas every year but we don't mind! Since we have limited space in our apartment, I had to organize all of our games and get rid of anything we do not play with. 

I got every single game out and made a pile on the floor. This included card games, board games, and any electronic games such as catchphrase. We got rid of a few games that we don't really enjoy playing with or some that are out dated. 

Card Games

I put all of our card games in a basket to keep them all together. By simply putting all of the cards in a basket or a box will instantly make them look organized and neat.

Board Games

Since we have a lot of games I stacked them on the bottom half of the book shelf. Below you can see the images of Before and After. 

Before

 We had so many board games that I was stacking them on the floor. Talk about eye sore!

After

No more board games on the floor and everything fits neatly! Each board game has a designated spot so the board games won't get cluttered again. 

Do you have any good tips for organizing board games?

♥ Hannah

Extreme Organizing - Mistake No.1

As I have been organizing my entire apartment I hit some bumps along the way. I thought it would be helpful to share some of my mistakes because these same mistakes could be one of the many reasons someone may quit organizing. 

After I finished cleaning through my papers, I moved on to organize my papers that had sentimental value such as letters. I was going through a box of cards I had that belonged specifically to me (I am only organizing things that belong to me so far). I saved letters and cards that I still really liked and threw the rest in a box to throw away later. When my husband came home from work I told him I was going through some of the cards as the next step to my organizing process. He started looking through some of the cards I was going to throw away and started making comments such as "Why are you throwing this away? This is from such and such!" or "Aw, This is from so and so." I was a little caught off guard because he had been really impressed with all of the organizing I had done so far. I thought he would be supportive and keep on encouraging me. Let's just say it got to the point that I had to put them away and promise him that I would not throw any of the cards away. My husband is a very sentimental guy and cards are something that are very meaningful to him. 

So what was the mistake exactly? The mistake was that I was organizing and clearing through sentimental things before finishing other categories first. Sentimental things should be saved for the very last. I put all of my cards back in a box and put them back where they were.

Thoughts about this? Feel free to comment below!
Next Up! Organizing board games!

♥ Hannah

Extreme Organizing - Papers

I always had the fear of throwing away papers. My mind would always say "What if I need those later?" Does that sound familiar at all? This is what my section of the filing cabinet looked like before organizing. I kept stuffing papers in the drawer thinking I might need this later or I will sort through this later.

File Drawer Before (Just mine)

Well I decided to tackle all those papers because I got a paper shredder for Christmas! Now for this post I am talking about papers that are pay stubs, bills, insurance forms, and receipts. I am saving cards, letters, and other meaningful papers for my next post and another time. As I was separating my papers I organized them by categories as listed below.

• Pay stubs
• Bank statements
• Insurance forms/cards
• Manuals
• Receipts
• Credit card statements or info 
• Bills
• Student Loan Statements
• Lease information
• Important documents (Marriage license, Social Security, Diplomas, etc)
• Papers belonging to our dog (vaccination papers, shot records, etc)
• Papers belonging to our child (Doctor bills, etc)

Pay Stubs

I kept all of my pay stubs for the current year as well as last years just in case. Some people may prefer to keep pay stubs from 7 years ago for tax purposes, but I just kept the year end ones from the W-2's for the past 7 years instead of each pay stub. I put all the pay stubs I was getting rid of through the paper shredder. 

Bank Statements

You know the receipt that whenever you would deposit money in or withdrawal money from your bank account? I would keep those receipts because I was terrified of throwing them away (besides it had my bank account number on there!). As I put all of the bank receipts together, I still had bank receipts from when I was a high school student! For these kind of receipts, you should just keep them until you receive your monthly bank statement or see the correct amount on your online banking. I put all of these receipts through the shredder.

For bank statements, I recommend that you get them electronically instead of the paper statements. It really depends on which bank you have because one of the banks that I use does not have anything set up online, so I get the paper statements through the mail. I had kept all of my bank statements from them since I opened my account several years ago. I shredded all of them except for the past years. For my other bank account, I check my account online at least once a month and keep the yearly statements in a folder and shredded the rest. 

Insurance Forms/Cards (Health, Dental, Vision, Rental, etc)

Does your insurance keep sending you what seems to be the exact same insurance cards every few months? I feel like my family gets the same cards in the mail what seems to be like all the time. I switch my old ones out with the new ones and I shred the old cards right away. There is no point in keeping all of the previous cards (especially if you keep getting them in the mail). For the statement forms, I only keep the past years statements and that is it! I shredded the rest. I also shredded any insurance papers that we no longer have too. 

Manuals

Did you know you could get most of the manuals online now? Amazing right?

I kept a few manuals for the baby gear my family uses now so I know how to collapse or unfold something for travel, but other than that do you really need the manuals for the little appliances or electrical gadget like a sound machine? I think most of us just asks Google how to fix something so there is probably no reason to keep those manuals. If you have a warranty on something, I make sure I keep the manual along with the warranty papers. As you go through your manuals, you will most likely discover manuals for things that you no longer have anymore. Discard manuals for things you no longer have right away. 

Receipts

I usually just keep receipts for the past month to make sure my credit card statement are correct then throw it away. For Christmas time I usually save the receipts a bit longer in case I need to return anything, but when January comes I throw them all away. I also save receipts if I buy something expensive and keep the receipt until it expires or attach it with the warranty so I won't lose it. 

Credit Card Information

I switched all of my credit card statements to get them electronically. Besides depending on your credit card company they keep all of the statements on your online profile so you can easily access them anytime!

Bills

Just like many other papers, I would switch to getting your bills electronically. In my email I have folders for each kind of bill such as electric, gas, phone, and others. Just put your bill in the designated folder and keep the receipt for that bill there too! 

Student Loans Statements

I switched my loan statements from receiving paper ones to getting them by email. I shredded all of the paper statements because I had saved the recipts on my computer by PDF files.

Lease Information

If you are currently renting a home or an apartment you should keep your lease papers in a folder where you can access it pretty easily. If you were living at another rental place not too long ago, I would hold on to the papers just in case issues arise. If you have gotten your security deposit back and got the final papers to close on everything than it is likely you will not need the previous lease forms anymore. My first apartment as a college student had all kinds of problems and I needed to keep my lease forms for almost two years after moving out. As long as there is unfinished business it would be wise to keep your lease papers. 

Important Documents

For important documents such as your social security card, marriage license and such should be kept forever and kept in a safe place. It would be a good idea to invest in a safe that is life proof! 

Papers for Family Pet

I made a binder for our dog and kept the important paper work. 

Here are some examples of the papers you should keep!

• Adoption papers
• Microchip number and papers regarding it

Papers for Child

Just like for the family pet, I made a binder for our child as well. I put in each bi-monthly visit papers (our baby is only 5 months) and doctor bills/receipts from the past year.

After Organizing All of  the Papers

After organizing my papers I put them all in a folder like the picture above. Each section in the folder has its own category like the list above. The filing cabinet looks so much neater and I know where everything is! I filled up my paper shredder 4 times and filled about 3 or 4 trash bags full of non shredded paper. Paper can easily accumulate and I think it is best to sort through at least once a year.

Tabs inside the folder 

I would say the biggest tip to have less paper clutter is to switch your papers to receiving them electronically or online as much as you can! You can nicely store those online receipts in folders on your email or desktop on your computer. I find it much easier to find something on my computer than to dig through papers.

Next Up! Organizing meaningful papers like birthday cards and letters.

♥ Hannah

Extreme Organizing - Books

I think most people have a hard time getting rid of books unless they are selling them. I know I had a hard time getting rid of some books, but maybe this post will help! My husband and I have two book shelves. One tall book shelf in the living room and one in the bedroom. The one in the bed room only has my husbands books so I won't organize that one unless my husband wants to. The shelf in the living room I am using three shelves out of the five to put my books on them. 

I took all of my books off of the shelf and made a pile in the middle of the living room. While the shelves were empty I dusted them (It needed to be dusted like really bad...). I put my books into categories like the list below! You can customize your categories depending on what kind of books you have. 

• Fiction
• Non-Fiction
• Magazines
• Cook Books
• Resources
• Textbooks
• Bibles & Devotionals
• Coloring books

Before

First Shelf

I started organizing my fictional books first. I kept the classics because I want my kids to read them when they are older and I know I would want to read them again. Some of the classics I kept included the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings. I know some people organize their books by the author, alphabetical, or even color, but I organized them by category, size of the book, and the author. I put the big books in the back and put the smaller ones in the front of the big books so you can see both. By doing so you can create more space on your book shelves as well! 

For the non-fiction, I realized I didn't have too many and they were all books that I have not read yet. I don't even know if this was a good idea or not, but I organized them by the order I wanted to read them in. After I read them I will most likely organize them like I did with the fictional books. Since I had space on the right side of the shelf I decided to put my magazines there. The magazines are tall and big so it looked much better on the end of the shelf than in the middle. I used to keep all of my magazines that I had like Seventeen, Glamour, and Vogue. I tossed them all out because was I really going to read them again? Probably not... Besides I feel like most of the magazines were just ad pages with hardly any content! The magazines I did decide to keep were my fashion magazines I got in Japan that I still really enjoy looking over once in awhile and a few wedding magazines I had gotten while I was engaged. The magazines I kept still bring back happy memories for me :) 

Second Shelf

For my second shelf I decided to put the books that I use as resources. The resource books included cook books, marriage books, books about babies, kids, teens, and textbooks. I also put my Bibles and devotionals on this shelf as well.

Since my cookbooks are pretty tall I placed them all the way to the left (plus easier access for when I meal plan) and then organized my resource books in order by life events. For example, marriage related books, baby related books, children related books, teen related books, and college textbooks. My husband and I were both Psychology majors in college so we took a lot of the same classes. We were dating in college so we got the advantage of only getting one copy of the textbook instead of each getting our own copy (one way to save money haha!). All out of all of the textbooks we kept from our college days, I decided to only keep one of them and it was our abnormal psychology textbook. This was one class I truly enjoyed and I still have a lot of interest in. I want to eventually get my Masters in counseling so I thought it would be best to hold on to it anyways. As far as the rest of the textbooks I handed them all to my husband to see if he wanted to keep any in case my husband still wanted them for some reason.

Growing up in a Christian home I had a lot of Bibles. From Baby's first Bible, Children's Bible, Teen Bible, to the "regular" Bible. I also had many different translations of the Bible too. The only Bibles I decided to keep were my one study Bible that my husband gave me that I really enjoy studying, one small Bible that I can take with me on trips, and my one and only Japanese Bible. My little Bible and Japanese Bible are both pretty small so I placed them in front of the taller books. Both the tall books and the Bibles are both visible and still look neat. For my study Bible, I kept it on my coffee table along with my journal notebook.

Finally, for my coloring books or other books that did not fit into categories listed above I placed them next to my magazines. Also, like the picture above if you have anything on the shelf that is not a book move it to where it belongs. I think placing a candle or picture would be fine (keep it simple with only one or two items) as long as it does not block any books.

After organizing, I had some space in between my books so I moved the books I had originally put in front to the empty space to fill the shelf. Before I organized my books I had taken up three shelves, but I got it down to two! All of the books I did not want or never saw myself reading, I donated them to Goodwill or gave them away to someone who would enjoy them!

After!

Next Up! Organizing your papers!

♥ Hannah