Hello everyone! Just a note to let you know that I have three new handy features on my website to make things easier for you to find. Here they are on the desktop version, and the mobile version adapts. A bright pink "View Latest Post" button at the top right that leads you to my latest blog post/article. A search bar at the top right so you can quickly find any topic on my blog that I have written about. A sign-up box on the top left side so you can get posts directly to your email inbox if you wish. You may unsubscribe at any time. LIFE & HOME UPDATE ... My husband Steve and I have been doing lots of dollarwise DIY spring spruce-ups in our little retirement cottage. I can tell Steve is feeling better because he's up for home projects once again. Let the painting begin!! He has had four outpatient surgeries in the past several months but he sailed through fine and is doing well now, and fortunately they were not life-threatening, but just like a home, he needed "fix-it maintenance." :) Thanks to a great surgeon, Humpty Dumpty is put back together again and I gave him lots of TLC and homemade soup! I will be sharing some of our home projects here on my blog later, but for now, here's a quick sneak peek ... Steve painted my desk with Ecos Paints, which I love. Here he is priming and the final result and colors I just love and I will show you those later. It was windy and rainy this spring in AZ, so he used our living room to paint, which was fine as he is careful, and it dried well with this method too. He also assembled two bookcase towers to put on either side of my desk. I know I am blessed to have such a handy husband and I never take that for granted. My home office area is in our bedroom on one side, and I needed more room to get things better off my desk, and wanted the area to look prettier, without being too girly for my husband since it is our master bedroom. (He never cares about that, but I am conscious not too make things too foo-foo.) :) I will be sharing more pix and links to some of the dollarwise organizing and decorating products we have used in our latest home spruce-ups, so please come back, and thanks for visiting today. "May your cottage roof be well thatched and those inside be well matched." --Irish Blessing Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #smallspaceorganizing #smallspacedecorating #DIY #homeimprovement #budgetdecorating #decoratingonabudget #dollarwisedecoratin

Hello, lovelies! I hope you had a good last weekend of fun and relaxation. I have always been a tea lover, so when my husband Steve was told by his Dr. recently to stop drinking coffee for health reasons, we both ditched our coffee, cold turkey, and went all-in on tea. So far, neither of us has missed coffee at all and we are really enjoying tea, both hot and iced. DISCLOSURES Now, being in the sunset era of our life where we are streamlining and simplifying every single thing in our entire home and life, we have decided to just use tea bags and not mess with loose tea anymore. I know, the high tea purists are calling me on the phone right now! But don't worry, my tea connoisseur friends. When I go out for tea next time to say Balmoral Castle or the Shangri-La, I will be sure to politely tell them I would like gourmet loose leaf tea and no grocery store tea bags, please. But back to real life in Arizona, USA where I drink at-home tea at my little cottage-style retirement home. Tea in a pretty cup. With cozy garden-esque slippers on my feet and a lovely "Garden Party" dress on my bod. Note that when you like to try many different flavors of tea like I do, you'll likely buy at least six boxes at a time, or so. That's a lot of tea bags! But, you want to buy that many boxes at a time, because just like flour, rice, and other food staples, if tea is your main beverage of choice at home other than plain water, you're going to want to stock up when those bags are on sale. BTW, my favorite tea bag brand is now Bigelow's Steep, sealed in foil wrappers so they don't go stale nor absorb odors during shipping, and my favorite place to buy those tea bags is Vitacost because they have the best price, plus stackable discounts and coupons too at times. (10% off right now!) Be sure to go to Rakuten first and then to Vitacost within Rakuten so you get a cash rebate, too. Steep is Bigelow's premium line of tea and it's organic and non-GMO. I'm impressed. Okay, so you have now stocked up on 9000 tea bags. (Kidding!) So how do you find the flavor you are craving this very day, and none other will do? You organize those tea bags! Like you didn't know by now I was going to say that?! :) And here's the easiest way by far that I have found to organize tea bags so you can find your English Breakfast tea easily without having to go back to bed in frustration. (Hey, it happens.) Think of this tea organizing system below kind of like the Dewey Decimal system of organizing library books. Only for tea bags, not books. (Sorry, but I worked in several libraries when I was young and Dewey became my good friend and informed my future life.) Yes, I realize I am showing you this picture twice in this post. It's that important of a concept. You see that thing on the right here that says "Steep" a lot? Those are tea bags. And they are in drawers. And those drawers have dividers in them. Eureka, it's the sorting principle, once again! As in "divide and conquer!" So for example, my particular tea drawers are sorted by Earl Grey, Lemon Ginger, Mint, (for tummy aches), Chamomile Citrus, (to help you doze off), Chai (yum!), and Dandelion Peach. Those are then followed in the drawer by other flavors, sooooo, you can have a lot of different flavors and tea bags in a very small space. Bye bye, bunch of bulky tea boxes cluttering up your cupboard! When I get my tea boxes, I remove the pouches/bags from the box and I organize them by flavor in the drawers, as I mentioned. Like the title of a book, the tea flavor is on the front of the bag/book cover so you can readily see what flavor of tea it is, of course. Any excess bags go in the clear container marked "tea" shown here, because I keep extra bags on hand that I bought on sale so that Earl Grey and I will always have a date night together. Swoon, we're dancing the tea tango, Earl and me! PRO TIP: Only so many bags will fit in each section of the drawer. Plus one more: Turn the last tea bag upside down so the bulk of the bag is on top and you can fit one more bag in that way. (Steve just said to turn every other bag upside down to get even more bags in. Geeesh, some people think they know everything, don't they?! :) He is laughing as I read this to him.) Here's another way you can organize your tea bags, but I am not fond of this thing-y so I changed to the drawers pronto. Here's why: These stack, which is nice, but it was a pain to take them off the shelf to get at the exact tea flavor I wanted, so Goodwill it was donated to new or not, because I don't do clutter. This is not a waste of my money; it's a charitable donation! Because someone could use this divided box to sort maybe their jewelry if they have a lot of large pieces, or office paperclips etc. I don't have much of either, so I did not need the box and therefore donated it. Also, according to Murphy's Law with this bin/box system, the bag flavor I wanted was usually in the bottom bin, go figure, so I would have to lift the top box off all the time. The drawers are much easier -- just like your dresser drawers. Drawers are sorters. Sorters are good -- no they are great, in your home! Everywhere. Shout it from the "rooftop" of your beautiful backyard tea party: Sorters are great in your home! You could also put these bins with the hinged lid in a drawer in your kitchen, but you're not going to be able to see the tea bag flavor names that way because you will be looking at the top of the bags, and the name is on the front of the bags, and you have to fiddle with the lid. No fiddling! I have helped people get organized in one way or another since I was about two years old, (okay, maybe a little older than that), and you should know that I do not advise "fiddling" with anything in your home, (unless it's the musical instrument, of course), because you are a busy person who needs things at home efficient and easy, so just like me, you don't want to fiddle with anything but a musical fiddle. And in order to not fiddle, you need a system. And this tea bag drawer system is it if you want to be Queen of Your Tea Bags just like you are Queen of Your Paperwork. :) Okay, I'm done with my former 8th grade teacher voice who only wants you to learn and do your very best. So that your home is organized and runs smoothly so that you have time to have a little daily tea party for one at home. :) May you have tea bags at home organized by flavor, a pretty dollarwise tea pot, and a loved one to share tea time with, wherever you live in the world. Love and tea hugs, Kathryn :) P.S. The Cup of Life and Tea Thoughts and Thirsty for Tea are lovely and informative blogs about all things tea. They have a nice eBook too. I don't know these ladies personally, but I like their blogs and tea vision so wanted to share them with you here. Enjoy! #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #kathrynbechenteatime #teatime #drinktea

Greetings! I hope you all had a blessed Easter. Christ is Risen! OUR EASTER CELEBRATION AT HOME Instead of a regular meal at home, or going out, Steve and I decided to make an Easter tea together at home. We had a lot of fun with it; I think Steve told me at least three times how much he enjoyed the quiet day at home doing this. Me too! DISCLOSURES Here's what I did for planning and what Steve helped with too. I always try to keep things as simple as I can, and I did. In hindsight though, make-ahead quiche, a salad, and iced tea would have been much easier labor-wise. But this was really FUN. I put our pretty new dishtowels on our range as we have limited counter space so this works great as they are just the right size. I never let living in a small home deter me from anything; I just find a creative way! My favorite brand of floral dishtowels. I love my new floral tea pot and I had the other one already. We wanted to make plenty of tea to last the whole day. We already had the wicker tray and tea set and I put a cross on there since it was Easter. We thought ahead of what we wanted for food and bought the ingredients ahead. I made chocolate chip bars and Steve made chocolate chip raisin muffins. For the sandwiches I made three fillings: Salmon with capers Tuna with chopped pickle Vegan feta cheese with strawberry jam on top Steve cut all the crusts off our fave GF sandwich bread, and we saved the crusts. (More on that below; don't toss those!) Once he had the crusts cut off, I cut the bread with my heart-shaped cookie cutter. We loaded everything onto to the tray (similar) and covered it with foil and put it in the fridge until we were ready to eat. (You don't want food poisoning and an emergency room visit on Easter Day. So please use your fridge.) We made our favorite Steep tea in various flavors combined for a new twist. They were wonderfully flavorful. We ate in our little at-home bistro which I "fluffed up" recently with these and these. I love our new little tablecloth. It stays on the table well due to the elastic and reminds me of a Monet painting. Steve loves Monet art. But if you like something else, this tablecloth comes in many colors and sizes and patterns. I wore my new "Garden Party" dress which you can see the pink here a bit. (In other words a floral dress made of knit that is soft and comfy. And stretchy.) In the old days they called them house dresses. Anyway, to keep it fun, instead of calling it a boring-sounding house dress, I call this my "Garden Party" dress and I bought several of them in different colors along with the most comfy floral slipper-shoes I could find, which I love wearing. They even have some arch support in there, but wear like a cozy slipper. They have a nice non-slip bottom too. Perfect to wear to a real live garden party. Just because you mature/age, doesn't mean you lose your creativity and imagination. At least not in this house, if I have anything to say about it! Everyone has some life limitations at some point in life; being aging or whatever, and I make the best of mine and carry on, making things pretty and orderly to lift our spirits. It's my art! And sharing it on my blog and website and in my eBooks is how I help and serve others. It can be your art too, to make your home a pretty place to live. And you can do it on a budget if you need to do that. (Unless you are a multi-millionaire, I think everyone should decorate and organize on a dollarwise budget. It increases your creativity, and gives you nice retirement money to tuck away for your later years. I know that, because I have done that myself with what I saved via my dollarwise decorating.) Here are my best tips for making a cozy pretty home on a budget. I use these pretty stainless floral tumblers instead of glassware now. It's safer than shattered glass and they clean up really well, and I love the pretty colors. Our floral napkins make me smile. They wash, dry, and iron easily too. During our tea planning week the weather was nice and we enjoyed our palm trees outside our dining nook window. On Easter Day it rained. And rained. It's the first time it rained on Easter Day in The Valley of the Sun in Arizona in 20 years according to the internet. But for us, that was okay as we watched sappy-style movies from bed in the afternoon, which we love doing because there is nothing icky in those. Just people falling in love, cute towns, beautiful scenery, pretty dresses and hairstyles, and young people having fun. Why not?! We use the Freevee program that came with our TV. Free makes it even better in my dollarwise lifestyle book! LIFE INSIGHT When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, as the old cliche goes. When life rains, your plants will grow, and you can watch a cozy movie inside. In other words, you might be disappointed you were not able to dine on the patio, but trust me, you will live, and the sun will shine again. Now for those bread crusts that we saved. Steve diced them up and put them in a cake pan. I drizzled them with olive oil, and garlic powder, and put them in the oven for about 30 minutes, tossing them once. And here's why ... They make the most wonderful croutons for on top of salad! OUR LIFESTYLE UPDATE I had mentioned that Steve and I had made a new "life plan" last August that we were really excited about. But alas, several things transpired rather unexpectedly in our life after we had decided that to make us change our minds and cancel our plans. But that's okay; we are both fine with it, doing well, and we believe one of the most valuable life skills anyone can cultivate is the ability to pivot while keeping a positive attitude the best you can. We have always tried to do that in life, and we intend to keep doing that as long as we live. Is that Pollyanna? Not in our opinion. It just seems wise to do your best, jump over hurdles, and move forward. "We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within." --Earl Nightingale May you have tea on your table, flowers in your home, and Easter Jesus in your heart. Love, Kathryn P.S. If you have not already, you can sign up by email at the bottom of any page on my website/blog to get my tips and tidbits that I share here delivered right to your inbox. It's free. #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #teaathome #hometeaparty #Easterteaathome

Happy almost spring! If you are new here, welcome. If you are a longtime reader, thanks for stopping by again. If you are money-conscious-yet-creative and you want to set a pretty spring or Easter table, but you don't want to use your credit card to decorate, (please don't!), stick with me kid, because I've been creating dollarwise tables and meals for years. And years. Today I will share a few of my affordable tricks with you so you can use your own creativity for your tables too. None of my ideas are anything dramatic, but maybe you will find one or two ideas you have never thought of, so here we go ... DISCLOSURES As in the photo above, my favorite way to set a table, whether it's just the two of you, you are a single, or you're feeding a crowd is what I call my Sunday trays. I guess they would be my version of a charcuterie board, if you will. All I did above was use a tablecloth and napkins I found on Amazon, set some nibbles dishes on top of white melamine trays and arrange them so the food colors popped, put little appetizer forks in a small pitcher I had long ago purchased at TJMaxx, and I set two small lighted orchids on the table. Festive. Fun. Easy cleanup. Affordable. This was a simple table I created about 20 years ago at our California condo. I tied the tablecloth with pink ribbon I had on hand. The antique chairs we bought at an Omaha antique store. The green folding chairs are very vintage and were purchased from a store in La Jolla, CA that used to repurpose and repaint old funiture. And here are some other easy things I did another time for our same table of four ... I used a blue teapot that was stored in my curio cabinet as my vase. Someone gave me this as a gift so it brought back that nice memory too. And the bright blue added some great color contrast to the pink daisies. Daisies are the ultimate dollarwise flower in my opinion. We had them for our wedding nearly 44 years ago and I still love them. The water goblets were from an antique mall when we lived in Omaha, NE and at that time in our young lives we were scouting antique malls and estate sales and thrift stores to furnish our home affordably. The pink flowered china Steve and I found on a day trip in a little dusty antique shop in a small town in Iowa. We still laugh that there was one plate missing in the set of 12 so they gave us the whole box for $3.00 and since we have never had 12 people to dinner, it was not a big deal. In fact, we had extra plates in case one broke. :) Look around your home beyond your kitchen and dining rooms ... I would imagine that you have things that could be pulled from other rooms in your home to set your table. Look at your things with new eyes and see what you come up with! You don't have to use matching plates or glasses etc. either. Some of the most interesting tables I have ever seen are when the hostess mixed and matched colors and patterns for a "chic boho" look. This was our Easter table at one of our former San Diego, CA apartments. The same pink floral china and goblets. The floral placemats and charger plates were from Marshalls. I like to reuse things, and since I stick to a floral theme with a lot of my home decor it can easily be used over and over and it really never dates as it can be freshened up easily with some more modern touches over time. Steve recovered the chair seats with a matelassé bedspread we no longer used on the bed. To me, pretty fabric is pretty fabric and not to be wasted, no matter the original purpose of it, like a bedspread. Here's what I did for my fresh flower arrangement that was easy and fun ... I sliced some limes for a little interest. Fun, and I don't remember it killing the flower or anything. :) This was another table I set out on our apartment terrace when we lived in San Diego, CA. The vintage lace tablecloth was from a thrift store and I will show you a little trick I used below for that. Again, same china and placemats. I liked back then to use goblets for fruit and desserts. (I have since banned glassware from my home now that I am in my 60s and my hands ache and I don't want to keep cleaning up dropped glasses, so I prefer pretty stainless wine-sized tumblers now.) The candleholders were on a clearance shelf at my neighborhood grocery store, amazingly. Grocery store floral departments also have great containers for both beauty and organizing. This was an anniversary table for us, so I tied festive gold ribbons around the water goblets to go with the gold candleholders. The roses are in a white pitcher I bought at Home Goods. I love to use pitchers as vases. When decorating, I always look on the clearance racks in stores and now shopping online, for coupons and discounts. The corner of this vintage tablecloth had a quarter-size hole in it, and since mending and sewing are not my thing, I tied a knot to hide it. Done! The napkins were vintage linens from a thrift store. The chair was a clearance find at a garden center and Steve spray painted it for me. The cute cushion was found at an antique store. The white privacy screen behind the table was from Burlington, and Steve painted it white for me since it came brown which did not go with our decor. I don't let less-than-perfect things deter me when I decorate a table or anything else in my home; I just find a way around them. And paint is my number one go-to for transforming almost anything in my home. This was a super duper easy and simple Easter table I did long ago. I wrapped a cross necklace around a vase, stacked a cake stand on a plate, and stacked a lidded dish on top of that where I put Jordan almonds that looked like Easter eggs. Steve and I gave each other an Easter card and called it a quiet and peaceful day. I bought the white table at a La Jolla, CA consignment store that is no longer there. The owner told me at the time it was designed by a famous tennis star's sister. Who knows if that's an urban legend or not! I liked it because it was made of heavy metal that was bent to look like twisted vines with roses on it, so it went with my love of garden elements in my home. This was a dinner table in CA that I did on our tiny apartment terrace. The tablecloth is originally a huge scarf from Goodwill. I loved the roses pattern. (I always wash and sanitize secondhand finds, even before the pandemic.) Look through your own linen drawers and even clothes closet. You might find the perfect "table touch" item. I have often used shawls to cover up chair backs, for instance. Again, washed before use. The water goblets were also Goodwill finds. The bistro set was from Amazon. On this table, the silver tray was found at Goodwill and the candle holders from another Goodwill store when we were out and about on a day trip. Steve and I like to stop at antique and thrift stores on day trips and when on vacation. When we tire of something or it no longer fits our current home since we have moved a lot, we re-consign it or donate it to Goodwill as we don't want things to end up in landfills. Above, I took the green center faux plant from elsewhere in our apartment and borrowed it for the table. The glass fruit cups were found at Goodwill too and by their bottom design I recognized them as very old. I like decorating with vintage things sometimes. But I like adding touches of something fresh and modern in too sometimes as well for an interesting mix. BTW, I don't care about "pedigree" nor who a famous dinnerware designer is, because just like I don't want to pay for a designer's name on the rear end of my jeans, I don't see the need to have them on my table either. :) I just buy what I like and for a dollarwise price to me. Side note: Yes, I have endured rolled eyes and condescending remarks about my thrifty decorating ways from "friends" with huge homes and (seemingly) very affluent lives. I ignore them with a smile, knowing that my dollarwise decorating and efficient and organized home management helped us retire three years ago with zero debt, including no mortgage, and a peaceful and pretty yet modest lifestyle which we prefer instead of living like this. This was one of my favorite tables I ever set because I LOVE the colors in the scarf I found at Goodwill. It had a sailboat on the pattern and palm trees so since we lived in San Diego at the time it was perfect. I matched the roses on the table to it. The white tablecloth was another thrift store find and was in perfect condition. I brought our terrace tables and chairs inside just for fun. I hope this gave you at least one dollarwise idea for your spring or Easter table. Look in every room in your home. I know you can find something pretty to repurpose and move to your table, both to save you money and fuel your creativity. I wish you simple beauty on your table and the grace of Easter in your soul. Kathryn :) P.S. If you would like to receive my dollarwise decorating and organizing tips and tidbits right into your email inbox, please subscribe at the bottom of this page. It's free. If you would like my dollarwise decorating tips all in one place so that you can just scroll through them and read quickly, here's my tips eBook on that topic. #kathrynbechen #authorkathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #budgetdecorating #dollarwisedecorating #budgettablesettings #dollarwisetablesettings #tablesettingsEaster #Eastertablesettings #springtablesettings #tablesettingsspring

I like my home to run efficiently and I also like it to be cozy, comfy, and attractive. Did I mention that I like to do all that on a realistic budget? Combine that all together and you have created a wonderfully comfortable home space for yourself and your family. Below are some of my favorite dollarwise home products and how we use them ... DISCLOSURES If you've struggled to get food into a Ziploc bag, this tool is great. My hubby loves using it! It worked perfectly for bagging cooked rice that will go into the freezer. Have a chair that's in good condition but is no longer your upholstery taste? Vacuum it, steam clean it and let it dry well, and then slipcover it! It's an economical way to brighten up your furniture. If you want more dollarwise decorating tips, you can find those here. If you want to add cottage style to your home, you can find my tips here. Before our slipcover: Nice, clean, plus I once loved this elegant fabric for a former more formal apartment of ours but I was going for a more "cottage-y" look in my current more casual home, so the pink floral slipcover achieved that. A hanging zipper jewelry case works great for storing essential oil bottles or Bach Flowers. Great when you travel too as nothing falls out nor rolls around. I cut labels out of heavy card stock and labeled them in large red print with a Sharpie pen which makes the right Bach Flower bottle easy to find in the dark of night if needed. It's also an easy way to check your inventory to see if you are out of a remedy, because the system is so visual. I just tucked the card label in the front of each pocket. It's not attached in any way. I alphabetize my remedies and the cards can easily be moved around as the inventory changes. I use and love Bach Flowers! Now here's an old trick we used a few years ago in our kitchen. Key hangers don't have to just hold keys! The measuring cups and spoons here are from Pioneer Woman. Trouble getting a jar to open? Use a piece of this shelf liner cut to size. Wrap it around your jar lid for a great grip! Just run through your dish water in your sink to clean it off and air dry it in your dish drainer on top of your drying dishes. How easy and inexpensive too! It comes in a roll so you can line your drawers or cupboards while you're at it. :) Large labels work great for labeling bigger bins. Beware though that they are not always removable even if the manufacturer says they are. I have had to just cover a printed label up with another new label as I could not get them off. Also, I have switched to buying bulk all white inexpensive washcloths to save money in the kitchen as we are clean freaks so we go through many dishcloths and towels. When you buy inexpensive washcloths, they are thin with a lot of nap for easy kitchen counter cleanup. Once they are ratty, I cut the corner off and put them in the rag bin. The corner cut off tells me they are a rag and no longer a dishcloth. I bleach them once in awhile so they stay (somewhat) white. I like non-toxic and fragrance free Charlie's bleach and I find the best price for that usually at Vitacost. The best dollarwise dishtowels in my opinion are flour sack dishtowels like our grandmas used way back in the day. Do my same m.o. for when they need to become rags. NOTE: If you use Vitacost, be sure to watch for their coupons and promo codes. Wonderful discounts! Sometimes multiple coupon codes etc. Also before you go into the Vitacost website, go through Rakuten and then search Vitacost in there, click to get into Vitacost. Rakuten gives cash back by percentage and sometimes it is quite high. I have earned over $2000 from Rakuten over the years. Just for using their site to shop for what I would already buy anyway. Sometimes by using Rakuten plus Vitacost's coupons and discounts I save 30% or more. That's a lot! Dollarwise shopping for things to run your home and life will help you avoid this stress. We know because by practicing dollarwise living ourselves, for a long time, we have no debt. Zero. Nada. None. But we don't live a miserable miserly life. We spend carefully on the things we need so we can pay cash for the nice things we want. Like our secret garden patio. All of which we paid cash to set up and decorate. BTW, I don't recommend debting to decorate your home! Use your creativity and some of my tips here instead, and take your time and let it evolve. Living in a small house, condo, or apartment also helps your money go further. "People do not understand what a great revenue economy is." --Cicero If you need help managing your money better, these books are all helpful. May you have ease and beauty in your home, money in your bank account, and grace in your life. Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #homeorganizing #homedecorating #smallspaces #smallspaceorganizing #smallspacedecorating #dollarwiseorganizing #dollarwisedecorating #savemoneyathome #thriftyhome

Here's a fun and dollarwise Valentine's Day breakfast/brunch idea. Really fun for kids with the heart shape! And healthier and cheaper than heart candy, dare I say. After my hubby Steve baked a big pan of these up for us, I put them in the fridge 'til cool and set well so I could cut them cleanly with a cookie cutter. Don't skip the fridge step as it works to solidify the chocolate chips too so they cut well. After you cut the hearts out, you will have some odd size pieces left. Just cut them up in smaller pieces, freeze them, and have one or two with afternoon tea or morning coffee, like a cake-bar. The original recipe for these is from VeganBlueberry.com and I modified it to our health needs to be gluten-free. I also used oat milk and honey instead of maple syrup. (Strict vegans don't usually eat honey, but we do.) DISCLOSURES Here's my version/recipe makeover for our needs below. I used Walmart's Great Value brand ingredients for these and they turned out just fine. Chocolate Chip Oven Pancakes INGREDIENTS 3 cups almond or other milk (I used oat milk) 1 T. apple cider vinegar 3 c. all purpose flour (I used gluten-free) 4 t. baking powder 1 t. salt 1 t. vanilla extract (I left this out as real vanilla is ridiculously expensive these days so I refuse to buy it. I don't feel it affected the taste at all by leaving it out. 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted (This is wonderful and a great price for a big tub! No coconut taste or smell at all. Bonus: I use it to moisturize my face in the dry desert air and it works dandy!) 1/3 cup honey or coconut sugar, which is lower glycemic than white or brown sugar (I love this honey and the price!) 1 bag chocolate chips (I like this brand) INSTRUCTIONS Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl, combine milk and apple cider vinegar and let it sit In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together to combine and set aside Add the vanilla, honey, and coconut oil to the milk mixture and whisk/stir well by hand Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, whisking all together until fully combined Add chocolate chips at end Pour the batter into a 9x13 oiled or non-stick pan and use a spatula to smooth it out (I used and love the Rachael Ray pans) Bake15-20 minutes until toothpick in center comes out clean Serve with maple syrup or honey drizzled on top. Or not. I have also made the blueberry version and they are great too. Just sub out the choc chips with blueberries is all you do. These can be a bit messy, so try my new "never buy paper napkins again" m.o. by using these wonderful microfiber towels as napkins. They are the size of a dishtowel vs. a square napkin and work just great for messy meals and also as "bibs" for kids and adults alike. I was amazed that even spaghetti sauce washed out without using a spray treament in the laundry. Win! I am not sure if blueberry juice would wash out; guess I will have to try that. Since we have a garden theme going in our decor, I chose this pattern. We keep a big stack of them near our table and just toss in the wash. Dry, fold, and never buy paper napkins again. :) Happy upcoming Valentine's Day, my sweets! Kathryn #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #homebaking #budgetbaking #chocolatechipovenpancakes #heartpancakes #Valentineheartpancakes

If your personal chef just happens to be on vacation right now, (like mine is, said tongue-in-cheek), then it's time to make some super easy quick meals for those really busy days. Food has become way too complicated these days I think. We can make quick nutritious meals for ourselves at home that are not that difficult. I started learning to cook and bake when I was about 8 years old, so trust me, this is easy, even if not gourmet! Bonus: You'll be using up things you have in your fridge and pantry so that no food goes to waste. Here's how I winged it recently, with excellent results. In the dish above, I had some leftover white rice, a can of mushrooms, a half jar of kalamata olives, as well as a jar of salsa that needed to be used up. I just dumped it all in a 9x13 pan, added some onion and garlic, stirred it up well, covered the pan with foil, and baked at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. The easiest "Spanish Rice" dish you could ever make! Serve it with a homemade muffin and you have a nice quick lunch or dinner. Bonus: if you live where winter is cold right now, the oven helps heat your home. Steve made cornmeal muffins using gluten-free flour and they were yummy with the rice dish and are also great with soup. We make 12 and freeze them in four-packs for those busy nights. There are many recipes for these on the internet so you can find one that suits you best. I sub out gluten-free flour and a "flax egg" instead of real eggs for ours and they turn out fine. For the flax egg, all you do is put 1 T. of ground flax seed in 3T. boiling water for one "egg" and let it sit for about 10 minutes til it gets kind of thick-ish. That's it! I had some leftover stir-fry with rice and veggies in my fridge that I turned into a "veggie tortilla" by adding some shredded vegan cheese to the mix and doing a quick heat in my new frying pan. We love these gluten-free almond flour tortillas. They are not inexpensive but they are so good! Yummy! Potato soup is a great way to use up potatoes that might be a little shrivel-y, but still good enough to use. Here I used my crockpot with diced potatoes, celery, and frozen white beans I had cooked before freezing, along with some onion, garlic, and Dash. You can use broth as your base or water with a broth cube too. Cover your crockpot with foil and turn on high for about three hours for quick cooking time (for a crockpot.) I don't use an instant pot, but you could. You could also make this in a soup pot on your range. Once the soup is done, I added a little oat milk and flour at the end to thicken it to a sort of stew consistency, like thick white clam chowder you get in a restaurant. You could also make this at night in your crockpot, put in the fridge, and take it out in the morning and turn on low as you work all day long. I used to do that often when I worked full-time outside the home. When you get home you will have a wonderful hearty soup awaiting you. We had ours with our fave homemade bread. I made this soup in the crockpot using the same m.o. I just mentioned. I had some leftover potatoes to use up, so I took the chance to just add black beans that I had already cooked and frozen, along with one can of diced tomatoes, broth, spices, and then again at the end I added some flour w/ water to thicken it. I had no idea how this one would turn out, but my husband Steve came out of his den where he ate it while he worked on his computer, and said, "That soup was killer!" (I think that means really good.) :) Much as I enjoy setting a beautiful table, that just can't happen every day in most households these days, including mine. After all, we are up to our eyeballs busy in dealing with things like climate change now, ya know?! So some days I just make the entree and set it out on the stove and it's "help yourself." One of my favorite things to do that way is baked potatoes with beans, salsa, and cheese. We also had sweet potatoes with butter along with it. I make both my baked potatoes and the sweet potatoes in the crockpot. Just put a little water on the bottom, cover the pot with foil, and turn on high. They cook really fast. Again, you could use an instant pot too I would think. And of course, some hot tea in a pretty cup on a cold winter's day after a warm meal is the grand finale to make simple everyday meals feel a little special. May you have warmth in your tummy and in your heart! Kathryn #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #homecooking #dollarwisehomecooking #budgetmeals #homemademeals

I've been doing my forward planning for 2024 and also I have a new website so please take a look around. And please note whenever a website is new or redesigned there are small things that crop up so it may not look perfect nor function exactly as it should at the moment but I always do my best to make things correct. My goal is to bring you lots of practical + pretty goodies and resources this year to help you streamline your life, so if you are interested in those topics, please be sure to subscribe to get my posts in your inbox. My subscribe form is at the bottom of every page on my website. DISCLOSURES I'm on a bit of a ramble here today, but it's all good things. STREAMLINING POSSESSIONS My husband Steve and I have spent the last 4+ months streamlining all our possessions due to a new adventure we are embarking on sometime in 2024. Not one stone has been left unturned! Even with all my past organizing work, many personal relocations, the organizing knowledge I have written about in my eBooks, it has felt like a lot of work and admittedly there have been a lot of sore muscles and fatigue now that we are in our mid-60s. And we didn't have a large home and garage to declutter either. We live in a small home of 748 SF with three small storage sheds outside and no garage, plus we are what I call "perpetual declutterers" all the time to keep our possessions and clutter under control since we both like our home tidy. If you are in your 60s too, or even older, may I suggest not waiting any longer if you are looking to streamline your current home or are downsizing to move. Honestly, when I think of the huge homes my fellow Americans live in, and their full-to-the-brim garages, I think they just might die of "stuff-itis" before they'll be able to get it all cleaned out, or the physical decluttering/downsizing process alone will maybe kill them! And guess what? Someone is going to have to deal with the mess after they are gone, and usually that someone is burdened by it all so please do your loved ones a favor and take care of your own stuff sooner than later while you are still living. And remember that when you do declutter, you'll have much less home maintenance and cleaning to do and can then have time to do more FUN things! Not sure where to start decluttering? Everyone relates to someone different, so here are some various resource people so that you can find one, or more, really organized people that you relate to so that you get going! I don't know these people personally, but based on what I know about organizing myself, they are all good at it! RESOURCES I have an eBook on dealing with pesky clutter challenges. I love antiques and thrift stores, so much of my eBook focuses on how to use dollarwise Goodwill containers etc. to tidy up your home. (But don't buy too much new stuff in thrift stores to add to your clutter!) If you prefer to watch videos, Dawn at The Minimal Mom has an excellent You Tube channel and a great list of 500 things to declutter in your home. Dawn admits she can be a natural messy but she's figured out what to do about it so kudos to her as her home looks great! Also, Andrea Dekker is another great "Mom simplifier" of all things kids and home. An organized person her whole life, she's a taskmaster and "energizer bunny." She lives in a cute farmhouse where she is great at repurposing everything to both save money and make her home a cozy welcoming place for her family. Think there is no hope for you to ever get your home decluttered? There is! Robin at Faith and Flour is living proof after she confessed on her You Tube channel about how she formerly struggled as a "slob" as she calls it. Not anymore! Robin is now a master at cleaning and organizing her lovely home and running her entire lifestyle because she has learned the skills. Robin has great travel carry-on-only-bag packing videos too. Kudos, Robin! I have always said that organizing is a skill that you can learn. True, some of us are likely a little more prone to "organized DNA" I think, (I'm from a long line of orderly German ancestors, for instance), but still, like anything, you can learn. I am also a past school teacher so I know this to be a truth that things are learnable, even in the toughest of students. Maybe you'll never be perfectly organized, just like I will never be the perfect weight of a super model, but you can at least improve. (And I'm having celery sticks for lunch today!) Kaitlyn at The Simply Organized Home does a great job living with two boys and a husband in a small-ish and lovely simplified home. She has a wonderful home school room with a cute sign, "I had a mother who read to me." How dear; touched my heart as a former reading teacher and tutor of kids who struggled to read. And how her sons share a small bedroom is great too. Here's how she did that. Kaitlyn, you're an organizing/simplifying wow-Mom in my book! In addition to learning from blogs, You Tube, and books, these people can teach you to get organized/declutter privately if you wish. (I no longer do any kind of organizing consulting or coaching; I just write.) True, their tutoring/coaching does not come cheap, but consider how much time and money you are probably wasting being disorganized. Not to mention frustration. One of the ways I have simplified my own life going forward this year is just using a journal (photo at top) to keep track of my tasks and "brain dumps" of ideas. I realize many like to use their phone or computer for their TO DO lists etc., and I do that sometimes too, but I personally still favor a spiral (floral for me!) notebook. I tabbed my new one with TO DO, TO BUY, KBI, and that's good enough. That way I can put my stream of consciousness thoughts down on paper no matter where I am in the house or if my computer is not turned on so I don't forget something I need to do or I get a good idea to write about. And I can toss my journal into my tote bag and be gone. I've long been a list maker to get organized and my husband is too, only he usually uses spreadsheets, which I don't like to use myself, but to each his own method as long as it works. For me, my notebook method avoids "loose lists" floating around. When a list needs to be rewritten, I just tear the page out, copy any things that still need doing and keep adding new things. Rinse and repeat. Low tech? Yep. I used a Franklin Planner in my younger years, and really liked it, but now that I am a senior on my own schedule, I no longer want to "time block" in fifteen minute increments, thank you very much! I do love Franklin's "Blooms" pages though and it's especially a great planning system if you are working and trying to run a home and family at the same time. Ultimately, here's the point of organizing and simplifying: Figure out what works for you so that you maintain it. You can read a million articles, blog posts, or watch scads of You Tube videos on organizing and decluttering, but the bottom line is you just have to figure out what works best for your personality and lifestyle. That takes trial and error sometimes, but don't get discouraged because eventually you do figure out what works for you if you keep at it. News alert: As you go through life, no matter how much you simplify, (unless maybe you live out of one small suitcase), you will always need to declutter some to maintain things because life ebbs and flows and stuff that creeps in one day must go out. In other words, decluttering, to some degree at least, must be a perpetual task over your lifetime, in my opinion. One of the blessings of maturing is you are viewing life in the rear-view mirror and I can tell you as a senior/Boomer that life is incredibly complex these days compared to when I was young. (Like you needed me to point that out!) Streamlining every area of your home and life just makes things easier and gives you at least some space to breathe. Something fun: When I was a young organizer and seminar instructor in the 1990s, I attended a several days workshop/retreat at the home of veteran professional organizer and author Stephanie Culp, who was one of the founders of NAPO in the 1980s. Her book, Streamlining Your Life, is still one of the best books on the topic, I think. Yes, there may be some dated things in there since so many years have passed since the book was published, but much of it still applies. If you are struggling with clutter, buy this book. Organizing would be dull if you never enjoyed life or made it pretty. Just a little, my dears! One of my favorite rewards and treats is tea. My favorite tea recently is Steep brand. You can even visit their beautiful Charleston Tea Garden in Charleston, SC. Wishing you a wonderfully streamlined year filled with less clutter, more calm, and more fun! Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #downsizing #decluttering #organizing #streamlining

I have read countless articles and books about money since I was in my twenties because I worked hard to earn money from the time I had my first babysitting job at age 12, so I wanted to learn how to manage it well and be sure I always had some money in savings. I learned on my own about investments by reading too. Have I been perfect with money? No, since no one is, but I am diligent about saving, learning, and investing, no matter how tough the times. (And we have had some hard times: Illness and job loss more than once due to funding cuts, office closings etc.) I still don't have a formal degree in any kind of finance, but I had a smart common-sense Grandma who gave me a little red leather wallet when I was five years old and she showed me how to save and spend. As in, if I traded in a dime for two nickels, I could spend one and save one. So when she took me to the Ben Franklin Five and Dime store, (remember those?!), I'd buy a book for a nickel and forgo the doll for a dime so I could save. Funny, here's still the most important thing I personally know about money: If you want to save and invest, you have to spend wisely so that you have money to save and invest. That's the only money "secret" that there really is, in my opinion. And for the most part, we have control over what we spend. Fancy car? How about a Toyota Corolla instead? Huge house? How about a 1200 SF house or condo instead? Trips to Disneyland twice a year, (I just saw this online at $10,000 a pop for a family of four, no kidding.) How about once every five years or put that money in your child's college fund and find cheaper ways to love Mickey. Just a thought! Personally, I don't live either a lavish nor an impoverished life; I strive for balance. Some savings/some reasonable treats, in that order so I can sleep at night now in my senior years. Rest in peace my frugal and stylish Grandma, and thank you for my little red wallet lesson from 60 years ago! DISCLOSURES Here are some books about money that I like: Orchids on Your Budget A witty book written during the Great Depression, with great stories of real people, on how to live well on the means you have. Some of it is dated, but much of the spending tips still apply. 1001 Ways to Cut Your Expenses Probably the best book I've ever read to manage your money well so that your bills are paid and you have savings to invest. Live Your Life for Half the Price Mary Hunt, a.k.a. Everyday Cheapskate, brought her life back from large debts and learned to live well on half the price. Money: Master the Money Game Tony Robbins gives you his best money advice. Eye-opening when I read it in 2017. The Millionaire Next Door How everyday people spend to save and grow their wealth. (Spoiler alert: They aren't flashy and many are teachers.) The Automatic Millionaire David Bach of "latte money fame" teaches you how automating savings will help you to never miss a payment to yourself. Smart Women Finish Rich & Smart Couples Finish Rich Great books on taking control of your money and investments to build a long-term solid nest egg. Even Jesus Needed Money Written by retired Episcopal priest Rev. Dennis Maynard, who was our priest when we attended church at St. James La Jolla when we lived in California. A thought-provoking book. Your Money or Your Life Considerations for how to spend and save so you have a meaningfully-rich life. There are many more. As I remember them, I will share them with you. Grow your money, honey! Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #savemoney #growyourmoney #livefrugally #womenandmoney #couplesandmoney

Are you saving money? Even in these challenging times, I am. How? I like to plan ahead and spend as little as possible on everyday necessities so I can have what I call "honey money." To do that, sometimes I research a lot to find best prices and I make lots of lists too. What's "honey money," you ask? Some people call it "fun money" or "slush money" or "pin money" (in the old days ladies would pin extra cash inside their dress or bra which is where the term "pin money" came from). I like the sound of "honey money" better so you can buy yourself something "sweet as honey" as a treat. What would you use your "honey money" for? Make a list! Some of my economical "honey money" purchases might be: Fresh flowers Nice lotion for softer hands An essential oil that helps me sleep/nap A pair of cute slippers A pair of earrings Postcards to write quotes on A soft new throw for the sofa A fruit fizzy drink from the grocery store None of these cost much, but they bring sensory and aesthetic joy and a feeling of pampering yourself. DISCLOSURES Go over your budget carefully so you can find some "honey money" for yourself. You can do it, even if your money is tight! Example: Check your grocery bill; I was ruthless about ours in 2023 and we spent $140 a month less per month than in 2022 and never felt deprived. Hello, honey money! Sometimes you just have to do a few "nips and tucks" as longtime financial journalist and author Jane Bryant Quinn suggests to retirees who often have to make their budget stretch. So if you are not yet retired, make a budget like you are now retired because some day you will be retired/older and you'll already have mastered the art of handling your money well. Remember though: "Honey money" is for the sweet stuff you've planned ahead for so you can pay cash. Please do not use a credit card that racks up interest as your "honey money" or you'll just have a sticky debt mess later on your hands, my dears! Nor do you neglect necessity bills either. After necessities are paid, there's your "honey money" even if it's a small amount. Or, maybe a "side hustle" will be needed for your "honey money." Only you will know how to (legally and ethically) find your own honey money! Pamper economically on, my dollarwise darlings! Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #savemoney #honeymoney #dollarwiseliving #budgetliving

We all need a safe place to land in life. For me, that's our cozy bedroom, and I like to change it out fairly often. When it was feeling blah again , we decided to give it a quick little dollarwise spruce up. Here's what we did and you can easily do too if your bedroom is feeling blah. Steve painted an accent wall in pale peach to go with our art. I found a new bedspread to compliment the wall color and floral art. We shampooed the carpet with one of these. I bought a small faux fur rug that feels so soft on the tootsies! I bought new fresh while pillow shams. I bought a new cute "Dream" pillow with turquoise stitching to match our painting. I tidied up my nightstand with this small two-tier shelf and I really love it! We bought new natural fiber curtains to tone down all the florals and make the room feel serene. That's it. For just a bit of money and a little labor we have a whole new look. PAINTING TIP 1: My hubby Steve suggests 3 inch blue painter tape so you don't get paint on adjacent walls and you can easily see the tape. It worked! PAINTER TIP 2: Our wall took three coats of paint, so in between coats Steve stored the brush in a zipper plastic bag so it would not dry out as we waited 2 hours between coats. Works great! Need more dollarwise decorating ideas for your home? My tips eBook will give you 121 economical ideas. Happy home haven! Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #bedroomdecorating #bedroomorganizing #bedroomdecluttering #bedroomspruceup #paintingtips #smallspaces #smallspacedecorating

Is there anything better in the fall than warm homemade apple dessert?! All that rich coziness, paired with ice cream and your favorite tea or coffee. Oh my! It doesn't have to be complicated to make. You won't find me baking apple pie crust with cute fluted edges! All I did here was oil a 9x13 pan and lay our fave gluten-free tortillas inside with a mixture of diced peeled apples coated in coconut sugar, cinnamon, and drizzled with a little honey. Then I put another layer of tortilla shells on top the apples and covered them with foil and baked until the apples were tender. Fast. Yum! Served with our favorite "nice cream" it was a decadent yet thrifty at-home dessert. DISCLOSURES I'm still enjoying our new "garden window." Here's how we did that project. Speaking of at-home cooking, in the fall Steve and I especially love casseroles. We grew up on Midwestern casseroles as a side dish to beef or pork. My Minnesota Grandma called them "hot dishes" and they were often served alongside fish they caught themselves, which is a big Minnesota thing. My favorite casserole is still tuna casserole and here's my latest version, but I don't catch the fish, please note! Safe Catch does that for me. :) KATHRYN'S TUNA CASSEROLE Grease a 9x9 pan and layer the bottom with cooked rice or pasta. Either one works. The next layer is a can of green beans or 1/2 bag frozen broccoli. Then one can tuna, flaked. Then I add some shredded cheese over the tuna. Next I make a sauce of about 1 cup mayo or so mixed with onion/garlic powder and Dash spices vs. salt since Steve can no longer eat salt. Pour that over the rice, beans, and cheese. Top with more cheese and some sliced almonds on top. Bake covered at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Comfort food at its best. Note that you can use Cream of Mushroom or Cream of Celery soup if you wish for the sauce; we don't eat that but I know many do. BTW, I love my new little casserole dish so much I bought four so I have the equivalent of two 9x13 cake pans and can make multiple dishes at once and then freeze them. That size is also lighter to lift than the 9 x13 size, so good for my senior hands. If you're trying to keep your food budget in check, (who isn't these days!), try fruit water instead of juice or soda or sparkling water. Just put your favorite fresh fruit in a carafe, fill with water, and store it in your fridge. They used to do this at a place we liked to go for lunch in Palm Springs years ago and it was always so refreshing. It's very dry in the Arizona desert where we live now, so we adopted the practice. Also, some dates, nuts, and a couple apple slices make a nice fall snack. Leftover tuna you are trying to use up? We like it on these rice crackers. Some applesauce and an apple slice and it's a nice light lunch or snack. I just add mayo and Dash to my tuna and sometimes add in onion/garlic powder, raisins, diced celery or apple and some sliced almonds for crunch. I am into simple these days! I mentioned last post that Steve and I are headed into a new venture over the next few months. That means we are decluttering our home top to bottom again and making some decorative spruce-ups. The Hawaiian party shirts went bye-bye! Thank you to those of you who emailed me good wishes for Steve re: his recent surgery. He actually had two surgeries and he just had his final Dr. appt. and does not need to go back so he's very grateful for his amazing surgeon and my after-care potato soup and smoothies! The doc says he is to no longer salt his food so we are buying stock in Dash seasoning. (Kidding.) We also decided to give up coffee and we changed to herbal teas so we shall see how that goes. My fave brand of tea. And don't you just love this Van Gogh art teapot?! I have been downsizing my own closet and retiree wardrobe during the past couple months. One thing I did was to move some things from our bathroom into hanging bags for storage. The benefit is I can see things quickly at a glance and this avoids over or under buying things. TIP: I use these bags for our homeopathic remedy organizing, essential oils and flower remedy bottles, and these hanging toiletry bags for things like cough drops and syrup, hair accessories, office supplies etc. Doing this is a good use for storage in a small space! They also work great to move residences too, or to travel. Just fold them in half or thirds and put them in a box and tape up the box and when you get to your new home just hang them up! Because they are zippered, you won't have to reorganize when you get to your new home or hotel. l am transitioning my wardrobe to the FLAX brand both for health and comfort reasons. We shall see how my allergy-prone-skin does with more natural fibers but I am not very into the loose look so this might be a stretch for me. It will challenge me to go outside my clothing comfort zone, pun intended! If you'd like to try their clothing, they are having a huge 75% off sale the end of this month on Nov. 27 so check out their website for details. They also have some things on sale now; I'm going to buy some spring dresses on a nice discount. If you sign up for their mailing list you should get their sale notices. Note that although FLAX clothes are not inexpensive, they are wonderful quality and last a long time from my past experiences with them 20-some years ago, and at the sale prices, you can't go wrong. I am doing the small capsule wardrobe thing of just a few pieces I can mix and match so that helps on cost for my retiree budget, plus I plan on keeping them a long time. (I ordered aprons!) Also, you can find them used online on places like Ebay, Etsy, ThredUp etc., but I personally don't buy used clothing as if someone has worn perfume and worn them, even if washed, a scent can linger and I can react allergic-wise so I don't risk it. Also note ironing is optional for their linen clothes and since I am not into ironing, that's a plus! They also have some nice home goods! I bought two aprons that are gorgeous and I love their robes too and the pretty patterns. I plan to use the robes also as long jackets over outfits. Also, their customer service gal was so nice on the phone and guided me through sizing, going over several styles with me for about an hour. Wow! Natural fiber clothing is best, I think. I tested allergic way back when I was just 24 years old to some of the same chemicals as found in these clothes. (But I never got a million dollars for my suffering; on the contrary I've spent thousands and thousands out of our own pocket on allergy doctors over years and years.) Part of our decluttering process has been updating our bedroom a little bit while we are at it. We are not done, but here's where we are at. I wrote an article years ago about how to decorate your bedroom like a B&B, (we have stayed in 67 B&Bs in 17 U.S. states so I've observed many of their decor styles), and we still want that "B&B feeling" but in a much more streamlined way these days as we want to be "streamlined seniors" and not managing any more "stuff" than necessary. The floral curtains are coming down soon and the side wall Steve is going to paint Benjamin Moore Soft White using our fave Ecos paint as they do color matches from other brands. It has a touch of peach in it and I think it will make the room feel serene. I ordered new natural linen curtains that filter light so the room won't be as dark. Serene and simpler are the words! A beige tablecloth toned down my pink desktop and we are thinking of painting the whole desk a creamy white. We shall see; it all takes time and energy. Onward! I have collected quotes for most of my life and a few months ago I sorted them all by topic and wrote them on pretty floral postcards. Four file boxes of them --- in the aqua boxes above. I call it my Quote Garden. So I leave you today with these lifestyle thoughts from my Quote Garden: "Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality, nothing will do, and with them, everything." --Ben Franklin (I love Ben!) "There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort." --Jane Austen "A home-cooked meal offers comfort. Add a well-dressed table to your efforts and the result is a gesture of love." --Christi Carter "The simplification of anything is always sensational." G.K. Chesterton Wishing you all a blessed fall, Kathryn :) P.S. If you need help decluttering, organizing, and decorating your home on a dollarwise budget, I have several eBooks that can help you with all that. I purposely wrote them in a short tips format to make it easy. #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #homeorganizing #homedecorating #smallspaces #smallspaceorganizing #smallspacedecorating #smallspacecooking #thriftycooking