Re-Decorating an Office for only $10

As you can see in the first two “before” pictures, this office really needed to be re-organized and updated. I don’t function well in chaos or small spaces, and I was finding it difficult to concentrate or get any work done in this cramped over-used space. It was functioning as my work office, my dressing room, storage for both businesses and my sewing supplies, space for my son to play computer games and storage of his art supplies, and space for my husband to use his computer.

I decided to move two of the three desks and computers into other spaces in our home, move my clothes into the bedroom, and make this my dedicated work space.

My vision was a serene, light-filled, minimalist space accented with bright pops of colour. I believe I accomplished my goal by re-purposing furniture and art from around our home.

On the back wall are 5 canvases hung together, three solid colours, and two multi-colours. The two multi-colours were done by dh and I, and are our own interpretation of the same picture. I love how they turned out. The other three canvases were inexpensive canvases we found at the dollar store, painted with the three main colours of the two multi-colour paintings. I had them hanging in my son’s room, but wanted to change out the look in his room anyways, so re-used them in my office.

On the bulletin board I cleared everything off except for some art my family made for me as gifts and a calendar.

The big blue vase on my desk was a gift from my grandma to my mom many years ago, and when my mom passed away in 1998, my grandma told me she wanted me to have it. The red flowers were part of a wedding gift from a family member.

All the pottery came from the recycling depot a couple years ago. They had a sale where you could fill a bag for $1, so I filled two bags full of beautiful handmade rustic pottery for only $2. The pottery was hidden away in the large cabinet in the before picture, and now I have space to feature one of my favorite collections.

One night last summer I mentioned to my husband that I needed a desk with more work space. I was on freecycle that night, and someone was giving away the big desk.

The orange dresser was given to me from a friend.

I angled the desk in the middle of the room so I have room to have a couple seats in front of my desk for client consults.

So basically I just collected stuff from around the house and only spent $10 at the dollar store for the storage boxes to re-decorate the whole room… I love how it turned out!

Frugal Living to Get Out of Debt

About a month and a half ago we decided to get rid of our business start up debt, put away the credit cards, and go cash only. If we don’t have the cash to buy it, we don’t buy it. It has been a bit of an adjustment, but it also coincided with our new health regime, so a few things changed immediately anyway when we cut out sugar, caffeine, and dairy, in particular.

All my friends and family know I’m the budget queen, so here are some tips for a more frugal household budget.

• No eating out or outings unless it’s a really special occasion. So far we’ve gone out on one date, and once for dh’s birthday in the last 3.5 months. We enjoy cooking at home, and the library has a huge inventory of movies – for free!
• Cut out luxury item extras, like organic body wash for instance. I use regular bar soap (Pears) instead now, and to be honest, my skin feels just as a moisturized and soft. I haven’t had a manicure or pedicure in ages, but I keep my nails trimmed and neat, and who knows, maybe I’ll get one for my birthday (hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink).
• Cut back on packaged foods and buy whole foods in bulk. I bought brown rice and kamut grain in bulk. It’s fresher, and the money we spent goes a lot farther. We also bought a bread machine so we could make our own healthy whole grain bread, and we can buy the ingredients in bulk. A loaf of decent healthy bread is hard to find for under $5.00. Even the organic loaves have sugar, so we have really come to love having fresh homemade bread.
• Buy in-season foods locally. We bought our produce from a local organic farm for as long as they had food remaining for the season instead of buying organic produce that has been shipped from far reaching warmer climates at a premium price. Now that they are closed for the winter, we will be shopping for as much local oganic in-season foods we can find available.
• Pre-plan larger expenses or purchases and save up for them. Our car needs a full brake job, so we have a plan for going car-free until we’re able to save up enough to cover this expense.
• Make a list and pre-plan your purchase budget before shopping. Today we’re going to “town” and we need a new rain suit for our son. We did some research online and found they run about $35 new. We checked in-store flyers for any specials, and have a budget set for our purchase.
• Don’t go grocery shopping without a list. Before I shop I go through my freezer, fridge and cupboards and figure out my menu plan for the week based on ingredients we already have. Say I have some spaghetti noodles, some green peppers, and a jar of diced tomatoes, I just get the missing ingredients to make a spaghetti dinner. Sometimes I don’t get around to making all the meals on my menu, or leftovers last a bit longer than I expected, so it goes on my menu for the following week or the ingredients are split to become different meals.
• Shop less frequently. We plan a big shopping day bi-monthly for our business supplies and any items not available locally, so we keep a magnetic shopping list on our fridge with a running “order” of what we need. It saves gas, time, and money to buy everything at once instead of running to the store multiple times a week. It also prevents the impulse buys that inevitably happen.
• Avoid big chain stores and support smaller local businesses. We did an experiment recently. We noticed the prices for our small local grocery store were more than the bigger chain grocery stores, so we decided to do our weekly grocery shopping at the chain store and see how much we saved. We actually spent more in the big chain store because we were buying foods we don’t normally have available to us locally, and because of the added variety, we bought more. Add to that the cost of the ferry, gas in the car for the added distance, and time taken away from working at home, we actually spent $60 more than we usually do.
• Service trades are a great way to fit luxuries in. We have an agreement with a local masseuse. We do a trade for 2 full body 1 hour hot stone massages in exchange for a full colour, cut and style in the hair salon.

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