Just a bit stir crazy

As anyone with a internet/cable/newspaper/not living under a rock knows, the federal government is shut down.  Since I work for the Federal government I was deemed "non essential" and have been sitting at home since October 1st.  I had never had a stay at home vacation so I was a little excited at the beginning to be able to do some house stuff as well as stuff that I always wanted to accomplish once I had more time.  The one catch was that Federal employees didn't know if we were getting paid during the shutdown or not, so I wanted to make sure that I was being fiscally responsible while still getting some things around the house done.

I definitely have fallen into a bit of a routine: wake up, read in bed, watch the news for a couple of hours, try to be productive, then go back to TV and catching up on shows then eventually figure out what to make for dinner out of things I already had on hand - I'm currently determined to not go to the grocery store while we are shut down (I did go to a market to get fresh produce, have to be healthy!)  I managed to clean the house, including cleaning out the fridge, vacuum, work on organizing my room, decorating for Fall and Halloween, and reorganizing the bathroom.  Needless to say, I'm going slightly stir crazy - there's only so many times I can vacuum such a small apartment, but I haven't resorted to watching soap operas yet!

During the shutdown you can definitely tell that this city bans together, there's a certain "us against the world" for those of us who are furloughed.  Walking around the city there are countless restaurants and bars that are offering discounts and deals to anyone with a Federal Employee ID, many of those same places that are offering discounts to employees also charge Members more for their meals :)

When I moved here I didn't expect to find a great sense of community however I have been greatly surprised that there is a huge sense of community.  The bonding together of those of us who are furloughed and the business owners trying to help ease the burden is astounding and absolutely wonderful.  Even though I'm going stir crazy I know I'm not the only one and that sense of community keeps me reassured.  I never thought I would be able to write about the bond of community in this large city that I moved to a little over two years ago, but while this shutdown is awful for a number of reasons, the silver lining is getting able to see the great community that Washington DC really has to offer for all it's residents.

 (Because remember the people that shutdown the government don't actually live here...)

Cardboard, Duct tape and scissors

While this next project is certainly not the prettiest thing I've ever made, it makes an order-loving person such as myself smile.

Let's start with the problem:

See how if you wanted anything behind the closed doors of storage, you would more then likely make something fall and/or jump out at you?

Well, after searching a multitude of stores (Ikea, TJ Maxx, Homegoods, Target, etc...) for a small basket or something to help me corral the mess to no avail, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make a basket out of cardboard (from my Ikea shoe storage purchase) and some leftover colored duct tape (from labeling moving containers) and create and organization basket for the bathroom cupboard.

I started by measuring the space which ended up being 7" x 21"  And immediately went to work cutting out my cardboard for a basket.  I tried to use the bendable sides and corners that were already in the box I was cutting up.  This resulted in 4 pieces of cardboard that I Frankensteined together to create my base.  (This is where I later discovered I immediately went wrong.  I forgot to compensate for the thickness of the cardboard which meant that the basket ended up being almost 1/2" too big for the shelf.  Luckily the shelf has an open back so I could manipulate it enough to make it work Tim Gunn style.)

Next I said to my self, "self, you should totally create compartments so everything can have it's own space and then when you move something nothing will collapse or shift"  So I ended up cutting pieces of cardboard for dividers.  Now, this is where if you were even more detail-oriented then myself, you would take everything off of your shelf, put it in the cardboard box and move it around so you know where every divider should go.  I wasn't feeling that step, so the only thing I measured was my contact solution so I would know that a bottle of it would fit in one of the sections.  The rest of it I made up on a whim.

I used two different bright colored duct tape because 1) it's what I had, 2) I ran out of pink after doing the entire outside so I had to move onto orange, 3) no one will see it unless they open my cupboards.

And here's the final product being put to good use!  It cheers me to no end since I can now find everything with out digging through the mess and having random toiletries jump out at me.

I absolutely love all the function it offers and the fact that it was entirely free to make!  Now, I just have to wrangle the extra bath towels as well as make everything on the open shelves look pretty.  I'll keep you updated!

Small tweaks courtesy of Ikea

**I was not paid or perked by Ikea to write this post, I just love Ikea and was excited about my purchases to add some more pretty function to my small abode.

When I moved out to DC about 2.5 years ago I didn't bring a car with me and in the 2.5 years I've lived here I've gotten along pretty well without a car.  But something I've learned about not having a car is that when you hear one of your friends is going shopping with their car you immediately ask if you can go with them (only if you like the location they are going).  When my friend mentioned that she was planning on going to Ikea and then some outlet malls I jumped on that like white on rice and asked if I could accompany her on the excursion.

I looked through the Ikea catalog online, measured spaces in my apartment and then created a shopping list using Ikea's shopping list feature on their website (I am obsessed in love with lists).  We managed to go early on a Saturday morning so we also splurged and got breakfast there. Yep, I know how to party.

An hour and a half later we left Ikea, and I was immensely proud of spending only $60, especially since I only get to Ikea once every 6 months or so, so I tend to stock up when I do go.  Here are a few updates to my place featuring some of the things I bought at Ikea:

First up, I really, really needed to organize the clutter on our table.  The table is in our entry way/living room/pantry/only space to hang out and it has become a dumping ground for mail and a bunch of other stuff that makes a neat freak like me want to scream every time I see it.

 Luckily I found these Kassett magazine folder, at Ikea 2 for $3.99.  Good, easy solution for under $4?  Yes please!  I got to label both of them, one for me and one for my roommate Katie.

Next up, also in the entry way/living room/pantry/only space to hang out, was our shoes.  Being two young women in one apartment we have a ridiculous healthy amount of shoes between us.  I have brought these wire racks with me from my first place in DC and have always hated them and hated how cluttered they make the entry way look.  I could ignore it in our last house since as soon as the door was opened it was behind the door - here it just screams "DISORDER & MESS!" Anyone else hear it? No? Just me?

 At Ikea, I wasn't sure what I was going to find but I know I needed to find something because I was sick of our shoes being all over.  Luckily, when I was in Ikea my friend and I spotted this shoe cabinet, Bissa, after considering some recycling bins that I thought could work - but this was so much better.  At $24.99 it wasn't too expensive, and after living with wire shelves for over 2 years, I was ready to commit.

  So much better, right?  I love how it also provided a table top space to relocate the key bowl, sunglasses and a happy plant (which I may need to water) so I could free up space on our mail dumping ground shown above.  It's so beautiful and fits both of our shoes really well.  I can see us having issues with tall boots in the Fall, but to be honest, the tall boots didn't work in the wire shelves either so I'll just have to live with those laying out - or maybe tucked to the left of this beautiful guy.

Side note: I love the shoe holder so much that I would love to use a few of them in the bottom of my closet to wrangle my shoes, instead of cheap plastic bins like these, which I like but Bissa is so much prettier!