SOCIAL MEDIA

Tuesday 26 February 2019

Budget and Due Dates: How do I make them work?

If you follow my Insta stories you may have seen my new shelf/desk.

It's a mix of everything I love: use of height, storage area, trinket holding space, wood tones and CHEAP.

It was marked down to $50 from $600 at Winners/Homesense.
My mom originally bought it for herself but she has no room for it so I stole it.



Now, is it a desk you ask?
It could be!

It would be a great desk and I feel like eventually, that's what it will be.
I can see it in a teens room or in our future finished basement with a nice chair.

For now, I'm going to leave it as is with that white stool underneath and I'm on the hunt for a nice big basket to balance the other side.

We use baskets for everything in the newborn stage, I'll fill this one with baby blankets and newborn diapers.

Noelle's diaper basket is on the other side of the red couch and it's perfect because she knows that her spot and anytime she needs a change I ask her to bring over the diapers and wipes.

Parenting hack: Use open baskets for everything and get your children to help out, early on!

Just this evening I asked Noelle to bring over her diapers and wipes to get changed for bed, I then asked her to toss the used diaper in the trash and I asked her to bring her used clothes to the hamper.
She did it all!

I make it out to be a fun/helpful task and part of our routine, both kids are really good about it.



This is the wall before we moved the shelf/desk over.
I've been meaning to take these photos down and replace with some more up to date family photos, it has been almost 2 years and we don't have a single photo of Noelle framed in the house - LOL!

But because I put them up with command strips I didn't want to mess with them until I had picked and printed the new photos, which never happened! (lol again, 2nd child)



The strips came off easier than anticipated considering they were up for four years, yay!

Click the photo below for the exact ones I use, they're velcro for hanging frames.

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Clean!
Minus a couple of nails, I still use nails for hard to hang items.







So, now the elephant in the room is my fireplace.
I've wanted to replace this fireplace for so many years but the timing was never right.

Ideally, we will get built-ins on this wall but not knowing how soon or far away that would happen has been holding me back from changing the fireplace.



We do love the look of the lit fireplace, I know Nick is a little devastated that I'm so eager to dispose of it but it's driving me nuts!

I hate the balance of the shelf/desk next to the fireplace, the wall seems too full and everything is sloped towards the kitchen, its seriously bothering me.

SO, I went through a big moment of "I'm going to paint the fireplace!"
Look, I LOVE a DIY, I am not scared of putting a ton of work into something that may not even be worth it.

I love a project and I take as much joy in doing the makeover as I do when it's complete.

But, after much debate, I just don't think paint is the answer to my problem.
The sloping sensation will still be there if we keep the fireplace, painted or not!

This stage of life is hard though, its really hard, I've been stressed with the thoughts of "did we plan the timing of this baby, ok?"

There are so many things I want to do that cost a lot of MOOLA!
- Paint the kitchen
- New shelving for the kitchen
- New light fixture in the kitchen
- Paint Nannys curio cabinet
- Paint Nannys rocker
- New couch
- New living room rug
- Wall Mount living room TV
- New wall mounted fireplace for the living room?
- Some sort of faux mantle in the living room?

And if we do those mini living room makeover points then we will definitely be delaying built-ins because Nick is not going to drop $1000 on all of that just to tear it down and replace with built-ins in 4 years.

But am I ready to set aside my built-in dream for another few years??

It's so tough!

Everyone on Instagram makes getting new stuff look so nonchalant but our reality is, anything over $200 is a large purchase that we will discuss and plan for.

My maternity leave will be 4 months of top-up (93% pay, less if you take the 18-month leave) and since I plan to take the 18 months leave the rest of the time I will get around 33% bi-weekly.

It's starting to freak me out a little bit!
100% of pay down to 33% is a leap and it would've been nice to keep that 100% going a little longer since I have such a 'want' list growing.

But, I have to remind myself that the list is nothing but cosmetic work.
It's not urgent and with this timing, I get the first 18 months of Elliotts School life off work, it is going to be amazing to have time to volunteer andshuffle him to and from school everyday.



C'est la vie!



I'm also stumped with this red couch, its the only red thing in our house but I love the low height and it is SO completely practical, WE NEED THIS EXTRA SEATING.

SEE ABOVE! :) 

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