Order Balance Being Well

Fitting a family of 6 in 900 square feet? Well, it's about 1200 square feet when I factor in our older children staying in bedrooms two stories above ours. This was our challenge for the next year. I love this basement. It holds such a fond place in my heart. Forever, it will feel like a new beginnings. When we moved to PA from North Carolina, this is where we got settled. There are so many beautiful memories of our kids, being kids, not the almost teens they are now. Growing up, I lived in small places out of necessity; I never appreciated that fact. As an adult, I chose bigger until I learned bigger is not always better. Our townhome taught me to enjoy having just enough space.   It is less to clean, easier to keep up, cheaper to fix everything, less monthly costs, and more time and money for our family and the things we love. A year in the basement with only the necessities was welcome and exciting. In preparing to sell the townhouse, we went through each room, packing awa

You may have heard the saying, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.” This could not be more true than when we decided to sell the townhouse. We had decided to stay. We could likely get 3 to 5 more years from the space. Our little ones were growing up. More space would be ideal, but this was enough. Interest rates were low in the summer of 2021, but we didn’t want to refinance since we wouldn’t be here long-term. Then it happened. One afternoon, I woke up from a nap and started scrolling through Facebook. Our son’s daycare teacher posted a listing for her brother’s house. 4 bedrooms, with a basement and a fenced-in yard. Our toddler loved to be outside. With the lack of a fenced-in yard (and no way to achieve it), this had been added to the want list. It was the perfect house. I told my husband let’s just go look. That is what started it all. We did look, and we loved it. However, it was in the next school district. A change we were not willing to make. Rega

When my daughter turned 8 she wanted to have her friends over to watch a movie. She had never had a big party with all her friends, so I was very excited to make this happen for her. The Dollar Tree came in handy for popcorn buckets and a variety of movie theater candy.  Amazon also has paper buckets. Amazon had a great selection of themed décor. We even used leftover table runners to line the walkway. ( Banner ,  Hanging Decor , Balloons ) We prefilled buckets with popped popcorn, and lined up the many popcorn salt varieties. Something that never occurred to me before the day, not all kids like popcorn. I would have had a backup up of chips and pretzels if I could do it again. There was also plenty of mini waters with all that salty food. We set up every seating option we could think of, so everyone could have a cozy spot. For a take home treat we sent popcorn, candy, and popcorn bucket’s. ( Clear Bags . 

  I had always lived in rentals my adult life. I married young and my husband at the time was in the military. Never knowing if we were going to be sent somewhere new, the commitment of buying a house didn’t seem worth it. When my current husband relocated to his hometown, we followed. Initially we moved into the basement apartment of his mother’s house. We were very lucky for this opportunity. It allowed us to save money, which allowed us to have our youngest son. 1 year in, we knew we needed more space. Our oldest children shared a bedroom. When our son turned 7, that’s when we knew we had to start looking for a home.   We looked and looked and looked. We were not in the position financially to buy or build (the dream) our forever home. We just needed that third bedroom, and enough room for a hopeful baby. The townhouse felt right. It was just enough space. A perfect first home until we figured out exactly what we wanted. It was the newest of all the properties we visited, move

 Have you heard the phrase? Jack of all trades, master of none. That is this Master Bedroom—the space in the house for my husband and me. When you’re living in just enough space, you make use of every inch. However, as you can see, we were not using it best. This music, craft, TV, and sleep space, complete with a late-night baby bottle station, really needed some help, considering how much time we spend here.  The main problem is in our hobby space. If you use the bedroom for working (even work you enjoy), it’s essential to keep it contained. You want to be able to put it away so that when it is time for bed, you can shut your brain off. (Or at least try). We had great bones. This desk I already owned was full of surface space. It allowed me to have my sewing machine set up all the time, with plenty of room for my cutter, computer, and a surface to paint when I tucked my laptop away. ( Ameriwood Home Dakota L-Shaped Desk ). Tucking my bulky Brother cutter in the corner made the space f

When we asked our youngest daughter what she would choose to make the house more enjoyable, she said she would redo her Art Space. We have a landing space at the top of the steps. The desk had been deemed the homework space, but our daughter and her Art slowly took over. Considering that no one does their homework in this spot, Ira’s art space was born. Our kids hang out in the landing space, so we try to have them reset it once a week. Everything returns to its proper home, along with dusting and vacuuming. If they stay on top of it, it never gets too bad. I took a trip to Target and the Dollar Tree. I was open to whatever they had available but knew I needed some small and paper-size bins. She made this super cute sign that I used as inspiration for a larger sign I made for the wall. I first pulled everything from the area, got rid of what we didn’t need, and then put it back in its new home.   Plastic cups in long bins keep the crayons separated by color family. Copic markers st