Monday, February 22, 2010

The Newest obsession

Its been awhile!  What to even blog about?  I have so many new interests/ideas that I'm not sure where to start.  I guess I can start off where I left off, with the couponing.  Its been harder than I thought it might be.  Coupons are tricky because all of a sudden you think you need to buy everything you have a coupon for.  Not true!  One shopping trip I spent about $50 on a shopping cart FULL of stuff, and I was pretty proud, until I came home and realized it was all junk food.  So yeah, that one is still a work in progress.  I am still determined, and have learned to only use coupons for stuff you usually buy, and to buy it when it is on sale.  THAT'S how you save money.  Ideally, anyway. 

Onto my next ambition!  So thanks to a friend I found this AWESOME blog called Knock off Wood.  Its a blog about this lady who builds furniture and posts the plans on how to make it yourself.  Since we've moved into our house we have had a lot of time on our hands, and now that we've found this blog we can get back to building!  I know, its funny that I just wanted to finish and be done with it, but I kinda fell in love with it.  And now Aaron and I have a hobby we can do together!  I might even be more excited than him!  The only problem is now we need to buy tools.  We have a few, and my brother in law has a lot, but I want my own so I don't have to borrow.  My list of tools to buy is:
circular saw
table saw
miter saw
finish nailer
jig saw
sander
and router w/ table

I think that about covers it.  We obviously don't have the dough to buy all at once, but Aaron's birthday is coming up, which gives us the chance to splurge on one of the more expensive tools like a miter or table saw.  And who knows, if we are good enough maybe we'll sell some pieces to make the money we spent on tools back.  I am excited to start!  I also have a list of stuff I want to build.  All, or most of the furniture we have was given to us.  Not that I'm complaining.  Free furniture is great, but now I'm excited to build exactly the kind of furniture I want:
head board
(the one we have now is my parents old one, and is technically a waterbed head board)
dressers for each of us
a book shelf for Vaeh and Joseph
(they are really cute, a doll house shape for Vaeh, and a rocket for Joseph)
night stands
a work bench
and a new table
(that last one will be my masterpiece, its the hardest, but prettiest!)

I've decided that Aaron and I are DIYers.  We have our babies at home(technically we have a midwife, but she is there mostly for moral support, and cleaning up afterwards), build our own house, homeschooling, growing food.  If there is any way for us to do it ourselves I just find it more gratifying.  I just got a subscription to Mother Earth News (excellent magazine!) which just makes me want to get solar panels so we don't have to pay for electricity.  The idea of homesteading totally appeals to me, but I think I'll take it slow.  I get discouraged fairly easily.  So for now its building furniture.  I think I've gotten to the point of rambling, so that's all for now.  



4 comments:

  1. Hey...I think your AWESOME and totally think one day you'll be teaching me about homesteading! Your coat rack you made was AWESOME,btw! You could sell your stuff and make money~ Your AMAZING~ I'm so excited to see you tomorrow night! LOVE YOU!

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  2. Way to go with the couponing! I got really in to the website pinchingyourpennies.com, I have it on the home page of my facebook so it posts good deals and stuff. I know what you mean about feeling like you have to buy everything when you use coupons...I learned that the hard way too, and realized that you probably end up spending more than you would have and on stuff you don't usually get! It can be a lot of work but very rewarding too. I wanted to tell you about my cousins blog, its called allthingsthrifty.com. It is perfect for do-it-yourself-ers like you guys. She shows you how to do really cool projects for really cheap and finding cool furniture on websites like ksl or craigslist and then fixing them up. Way cool! Anyway sorry for the novel, I just thought I would share the wealth!

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  3. I'm right there with you on the DIY thing. My latest obsession is healthy food, so I've been buying raw milk and organic eggs from a neighbor with chickens. I can't wait until we have a bit more land and can have our own animals to supply us with our healthy and humane foods. I'm gonna check out that blog you mentioned, and also that magazine. I've tried the Savvyshopper thing and kind of fell into the junk food pit, too. As of now I've kind of given up on it....maybe I just need some more motivation. :)

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  4. I know the feeling! I totally agree with the couponing thing...I actually throw away well over half my coupons! I also love that KnockOffWood website...I finally got Jason excited about doing stuff again (he finally put my new faucet in), so we're committed to doing one project a week. I'm excited to see what we all come up with!

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