This past year I have more or less participated in A Year of Abundance, sponsored by A Gracious Home. The basic premise was to enjoy the abundance that God has already bestowed upon us, instead of seeking more and more things. The Depression era motto "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without" were words I strove to live by this past year, although not always successfully.

I hoped to spend less money on things such as new clothing, craft supplies, gifts, and the like and use or wear out what I already owned. I also hoped to spend less money on things such as eating out and food. I started with good intentions like always, and I think I did fairly well with cutting back on my desires for things in the former group. I found several creative ways to use up items instead of purchasing new. My favorite was the quilt I made a friend who was expecting a baby. Towards the end of the year, I did spend money for new projects instead of concentrating on the old, and so I do still have many crafts to work on.

Budgeting for food and eating out was way more difficult than I had originally thought. It was very hard to try to give it up, and I don't think it worked out very successfully. It is something that my husband and I both really enjoy, so it just didn't happen this year.

For me, the Year of Abundance was not just cutting back on things in a legalistic way, just to see how little I could spend. It wasn't about depriving myself, but about learning that I don't need things in order to be content and developing a mindset wherein I am more aware of the blessings that I do have and the Lord who has given me all these things. I was surprised by just how easy it was for me to let go of some things, like new clothes, but not others, like dinner out. I'm hoping that the knowledge that I have gained will become a way of life for me in the years to come. This next year I am hoping to direct my focus more outwards by concentrating less on my own needs and more on the other people around me. I plan on leaving up the Year of Abundance tag on the sidebar to remind me of this in 2008, even if it is officially over.

As you may know, I've been celebrating a year of abundance, and what a wonderful year it has been so far! It is amazing how the Lord has opened my eyes to my selfish desires for "stuff," and it has been wonderful to creatively think of new ways to do things in order to "use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without." I completely reorganized my kitchen decor, trying to spend as little as possible. So here is the finished result!


All of the items on the top of the cabinets are things I already had around the house, mostly given to me as wedding presents. Most of these things I had kept stowed away in my dining hutch, but no more! Now, not only is my kitchen prettier, but I have more room for utilitarian things in the hutch. I did purchase 6 dollars worth of plate stands, as I couldn't find any other way to display them.

I would eventually love to make a rag rug for the floor, preferably in reds and golds. Our apartment is mostly in those shades, but I love the blue in the kitchen! I would love to paint the walls a cranberry red to balance the kitchen's colors with the rest of the apartment, but red paint would be too hard to cover up when we try to leave, and we don't really want to deal with the hassle of painting the kitchen anyway.



I'm so happy to work in a more clutter free environment. With the space being so small, it was getting difficult with all my stuff on the counters!

Thanks for stopping by! :-) To see the before pictures, see my previous post, "Accepting my Kitchen, Pt. 1"

I would really love the kitchen to be a deep red/burgandy, with accents of green, gold, and blue. However, because we live in an apartment, it's not practical for me to paint, so I've had to find other creative ways to liven up the place. As you can see above, there is storage space above the cabinets, which will be great to display treasured knick knacks!


Here are pictures with a much better view of the clutter.


These pictures show my kitchen before I reorganized. This is actually what I considered "clean." As you can see, the clutter is taking over! My plan was to get rid of unnecessary items, reorganize the stuff, and try to find a more efficient system in the kitchen for doing daily tasks. More importantly, my goal was to make the room a joy to be in. I planned on spending less then $10 on organizational items such as plate stands. Everything else I use I planned to make myself.


Next time I'll post the after pictures and what I did to get the new look. Stay tuned!

Just a wee bit late.

Life is settling down a little bit again, so I hope to have a few good posts up soon. Work has been very busy the past recently, but things look like they will quiet down again very soon.

I've been meaning to post on several happenings at home, but since I keep putting it off, I'll throw everything into one post.

. . . I still haven't gotten around to cleaning out my cabinets, but I'm hoping to tackle this project this weekend. I'd like to get rid of several appliances I never use to free up my cabinet space, so that I can have more room to buy some bulk products (like flour, sugar, etc.), since I go through these quickly, and they tend to be cheaper in bulk . . .

. . . I recently picked up the Tightwad Gazette from my library--I absolutely love this book and may try to find it at a local used bookstore. In it are wonderful tips and advice for living the frugal life, which she explains is not depriving oneself, but being a better steward of available resources. As a celebrate a year of abundance, I hope to implement some of her recommendations at home. . . .

. . . I've found another way to put my sewing skills to good use. Hubby and I have been needing coasters for our living room, and the ones we have seen at Target and other places have been about $12 for a set of 4, and these were the ugly cheap coasters. I decided to make a set of 8 from my fabric stash, using this pattern. I'll have to post pictures later, since I've been lazy and have not gotten around to taking pictures . . .

. . . And, finally, I want to share that my coffee habit has been harder to break than I originally thought. I was hoping to rely on a morning cup of tea to get me through the day, since I have a limitless supply. Instead, I still buy coffee most every morning. I'm still trying to cut back and enjoy the tea that I have!

I'm quite good at procrastinating. I find it very easy to get distracted when I have so many things going on. It's not that I'm lazy and sitting around doing nothing, it's that I find it more interesting to be reading or knitting than cleaning or organizing, so the "fun" tasks tend to be done before the more urgent ones.

As a result, my main "projects" this week have been put on the back burner. My goal was to clean and thoroughly reorganize my kitchen, but many distractions have eaten away at my time. The refrigerator has been cleaned out, but the cabinets are still in disarray and the counters are cluttered. I hope to get to them soon, but I'm sure my time will vanish more quickly than I'd like!

While only completing this one extra task has been discouraging, I noticed something about my refrigerator. A lot has gone to waste. I threw out half a pound of asparagus that I bought last week. I tossed an almost unused bag of mozzarella cheese that had turned blue. I cleaned out a storage container with leftovers that had spoiled. I think back to my grandmother's generation, where every last scrap of food is used up. And here I am, throwing out a relatively large portion of what I buy!

When it comes to food, I've got to be more purposeful with my abundance. Hubby and I can afford to eat fresh produce and meat, but I sometimes let it spoil because I forget about it, push that certain food aside to make something else, or just decide to eat out instead. I need to be more purposeful about the way I use up food. Instead of throwing out the old bananas, make bread. Instead of buying lunch, use up leftovers. Once I do that, I hope to see how much more richly God has blessed us in this area of life.

I was wondering what my first main "project" could be while celebrating my Year of Abundance, when it was wonderfully thrown in my face. I was invited to a baby shower this past week, and I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to try to make something for the mother-to-be, instead of buying something at the store. I thought I'd try my hand at knitting something (like a hat or booties), but I didn't think I had the needles or skill in order to make something. So far I can knit, but not purl. I've only just learned this over Thanksgiving.

Then I thought about all of that fabric in my closet. I love blue and yellow together, and I found that I had previously purchased tons of fabric in those colors that I had never used. (And since the happy couple don't yet know the gender of their baby, I thought this combination would be perfect.) I found a simple pattern online and began quickly, since I only had 5 days.

Once I cut up all the fabric and began sewing, I realized that I didn't have enough of light blue and yellow floral fabric. Instead of panicking and buying a suitable replacement, as I didn't have another similar fabric, I decided to make the corner blocks with a solid yellow square instead. (It's hard to make out, but you can tell the top right and bottom left squares are different.) So here is the finished result!

The whole thing was done by machine, a first for me. I've only hand quilted before, but because of time constraints and my newfound knowledge of sewing from making skirts, I found machine quilting wasn't that hard after all. Also, the quilt is only 3 feet squared, so that made it easy as well.

I was quite happy with how this came out. And it was all free! In the end, I'm so glad I tried to make something by hand, and I hope it will be more meaningful for my friend than if I had quickly picked something up at the store.

On a different note, I've begun walking to work. I used to take the light rail in to work, since I only had to travel 2 stops north to my job. However, the light rail recently discontinued a five dollar monthly pass, which I used to purchase for my rides. Now, the monthly rate is $31.50, which is very difficult to cram into Hubby's and my monthly budget.

Now, I walk to work, which in itself has become a great blessing. I now have more time to reflect on the Word, and on top of that I get great exercise. The walk is 25 minutes one way, and half of the journey is indoors, so I should be fine when rain comes. (It doesn't really get cold here in Texas.)

Next up, I plan on cleaning out the kitchen: reorganizing, finding cans of food I never knew I had, getting rid of old appliances I never use, etc. Anyone want a almost-never-been-used waffle maker or George Foreman grill?

I usually seem to make half-hearted attempts at resolutions, wearing out before January has gone. With my resolutions this year, I have the same gusto, but as I plan on posting about my progress, I hope I will keep on track! Along with spending more time growing as a child of the Lord and appreciating my family more, I am going to Celebrate a Year of Abundance. As I mentioned before, this idea has struck such a chord with me that I had to jump on the bandwagon.

Like Sallie, I don't want to do this to limit and deprive myself. That is not the point, although on the surface it may look that way. I want to cut back so I can appreciate what I do have, and I have so much!

I plan on adopting this Depression-era motto for this coming year:

Use it up
Wear it out
Make it do
Do without

Since lists tend to help organize my thoughts and keep me on track, I thought I'd post some of the ways that I plan on celebrating this year of abundance:

1. Cut back on clothing purchases, and sew my own clothes instead. This would cut back significantly in clothing costs, and it's always great to learn a new skill!

2. I love doing crafty stuff, especially knitting, quilting, and cross-stitching. I have so many projects started (and not finished!) or the supplies in storage that I could easily keep myself occupied for a year without buying any more.

3. Drink tea instead of coffee. I have quite a collection of black and green tea in my pantry, but instead I buy coffee every morning. I plan on drinking all this tea instead. And it might take me a year to do it.

4. Bring lunch to work instead of buying it.

5. Go through all my old stuff that I never use and give it away.

This list isn't meant to be exhaustive, and it's only a starting point. To me, this will be more about a change in mindset than a set of rules. I don't want to be legalistic about this. Instead, I want to celebrate the Lord and all His blessings in my life. I think it's so wonderful to use the resources God has given us wisely, and I can't wait to get started!

I can't believe the new year is almost upon us! I don't usually think about New Year's until Christmas is over, but for the past few days I've been thinking about what I can improve upon in this next year. I'm tired of my desire for possessions and thirst for material things. (Christmas, unfortunately, tends to bring this out in me!) I want to cut back on my spending, live simply, and give away what I can to others who need it more than I do.

When I happened upon Sallie's post over at A Gracious Home about
celebrating a year of abundance, it struck such a chord with me that I knew that this was something I could do. I plan on working out specifics once I discuss this more thoroughly with my hubby. Maybe I can get it laid out before the New Year.

If anyone is interested, check out this post and this post (scroll down to the post on Dec. 19) for more information.