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

I hope you and yours are having a fun summer filled with cozy pretty things. It's been HOT in the Phoenix, AZ area, where we live. +119F degrees yesterday and record breaking temps before that for days in a row. Every year we have our AC looked at by a pro company before our HOT season begins and they tell us they wish everyone did that. It seems only prudent, and we are planners in most things! We could not have planned our power being out the other day though, and that was a little unsettling in these scorching temps. Thankfully it was resolved in around an hour. We keep "Grab & Go" bags packed though in the event we'd need to go to a hotel. These work great for that. The power outage came on the end of us being without water for two days because a workman in our housing community hit a pipe or some such. Anybody who knows me knows I don't "camp" well, and it was kind of like camping, but I did my best to stay positive and do what I needed to do with dishpans. Good thing too we keep LOTS of bottled water behind our sofa since there's a lot of room back there as it's angled in the corner of the room which gives us a nice "storage space" for water and you can't see it hiding back there. An old saying that's always made me smile is, "Plan ahead; it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark!" Well, all that said, and what I am sharing here below is what has kept me from posting for quite some time. (Sorry Edna, but I am back!) :) Steve and I have been working on more home projects this summer and our biggest accomplishment to date is adding more cottage-style charm to our small kitchen using our budget-friendly kitchen updates. But before I show you the details of our recent particular method of "DIY madness," let's take a little walk together down memory lane to see what our kitchen looked like five years ago when we bought our little Arizona home new. DISCLOSURES Circa 2018. Nice if you like brown, but not exactly our preferred colorful cozy style. But since the overall bones were good, the home was clean as a whistle, and all appliances were new etc., we knew we could turn it into our style of cozy cottage - one that felt a little more "historic" if you will, but still with a modern sensibility. By an "historic" feel for our home, I mean as in this example: There's a creak in our bedroom floor that refuses to be quiet no matter what Steve has done to it, so I told him oh well, then let's just pretend our cottage was built in 1600s-or-such England as an historic cottage behind a stately Downton Abbey-ish estate instead of in a U.S. factory in the middle of the Arizona desert. Or how about we imagine that it's like one of these charmingly-old English cottages? It's all in the attitude, after all, so now I feel at peace with our bedroom floor creak every time I walk over it to go the bathroom six times a night or so in my Downton-esque PJs. I simply conjure up a cozy historic English cottage in my head since a real English cottage is supposed to have creaky floors, and I call it a happy night! It pays sometimes to look at life through an imaginative lens, don't you think? :) But back to our budget kitchen revamp ... Of course, things never go exactly as planned when you are doing home updates, DIY or otherwise, in our experience. You've heard of Murphy's Law? I thought so. That's what happened here when I got the bright idea that I would like to add a greenhouse/garden plant window to our kitchen window like the charming one we had in a house we bought long ago in Omaha, NE. I loved that plant window over my kitchen sink! But then Steve diplomatically pointed out to me that we now live in Arizona, not Nebraska, and it gets hotter here in the summer than you-know-where, as I just mentioned above, and so real plants in a garden window here would probably not wilt, but fry in two minutes or so. Also, the cost of a plant window has gone way up since we bought our house that had one in 1986. Imagine that; prices have gone up since 1986! Um yeah, and they've even gone up since yesterday. :) So anyway, it was time to put on my creative thinking cap because I was determined to have a "garden window" -- and one that did not kill my plants nor our careful-spenders retirement budget. And so, I suggested to Steve that we "just" install two shelves on brackets inside in front of the kitchen window, and he was game. "It'll be easy!" I said, and he good naturedly said, "Yep." (As of this year, this man has put up with my DIY home ideas for 43 years, God love him, and he just goes with the flow.) Two brown shelves that didn't look so great as they blended in too much with our cabinet color, two coats of sealer on the brown shelves as they smelled like pine and that bothered my allergies, one coat of primer paint, four coats of Peg's Promise green semi-gloss paint, ten days of dry time, and black touch-ups to the new-but-scratched brackets, plus finagling the shelves around the shade and window latch so we could still open the window, and we were home! I told you it would be "easy." :) Steve insisted on doing the panting outside in the heat so I made sure he had copious amounts of water. He insisted because he said the heat bakes the paint to a solid finish! Fortunately he had our cabana ceiling in our Secret Garden to shield him from the sun, as well as our carport cover over the cabana too. Did I mention that when we took down what was on the end of the cabinets, it pulled the finish off the cabinets so it was problem-solving time once again. I suggested we use the same wallpaper that we had done in a couple other places already in our kitchen as the wallpaper would only add more cottage charm. He liked that idea since we still had some of that brick wallpaper on hand which that also meant it would save him money. (My husband was a career banker for 40-some years before he retired from that career, so trust me, he likes saving money!) You might like to know that when I decorate and DIY, I make an overall "loose plan" but then we go with the flow and let our creativity take over both because that's more fun, and also because as I said, Murphy's Law and all, so sometimes you have to pivot to get it to look just right. Here's how we did that. Here's how we created our "root cellar." I always decorate for the particular space and our kitchen is narrow, with the laundry area in there too, and also our kitchen goes to our Master Bedroom, so when the kitchen cabinet doors were open, sometimes it felt like they were impeding the traffic flow if one of us wanted to go to the bedroom, or deal with laundry while the other one was cooking. Also one of us is prone to leaving cabinet doors open, (not naming names!), so if the other one was at the dining table conversing with the cabinet door hanging open, they were looking at the cabinet door, not the person, which felt odd, so I suggested we remove (just some) of the doors. It was strategic, and we both really like that it functions so much easier now! See the green paper hanging up there? Usually I order paint samples and try them in person, but I wanted this to go faster so I simply found the paint color on Ecos Paints which is my fave non-toxic paint, and I just printed it out and then hung it on the cabinet to "test" the color. It worked great! This was a lot of fun and I chose different colors and shapes for interest. I found them on Amazon. As for the plants, I chose faux succulents as I love the varied colors and shapes and they hold up well in the sun plus are easy to just rinse the dust off of in the sink. Easy to order off Amazon and quick delivery. No potting soil required! We had a few nicks on our cabinets so Steve used furniture touch-up pens which I love and have bought since we were newlyweds to keep things looking nice. I like the ones that are like wet felt markers rather than the wax-like color crayon type. The felt ones may stink a tad when wet, but they work better in my opinion. Another thing we did was change out the cabinet handles, which I have not liked since we moved in five years ago as they screamed "cheap-looking" to me, but they were there when we bought the house and we had other projects that took priority. We liked the new handles so much in the kitchen that we did the bathrooms and our Master Bedroom too. It does not look matchy-matchy but instead makes the eye flow from room to room which is a good decorative thing. They come in different sizes which was great as we needed two different sizes. (Murphy's Law again!) :) This is the modern sensibility to go with the cottage charm that I was talking about earlier. I love how these black handles look and they were budget-friendly too. I love the look of butcher block countertops, but we didn't want to replace our counters as they are really user-friendly and still look new. We also wanted to add some cooking prep space so by putting three cutting boards down, we achieved both the aesthetic we were going for as well as the practical cooking function. Steve mentioned again today to me how much he likes the added prep space. He put these rubber feet on the bottom so they don't slide around. And we added a Kiss the Cook sign as I like a little whimsy in my home. We use coconut oil on our cutting boards to keep them in good condition, plus it's antibacterial too. I also added a "pop of pretty" with these colorful mugs, and the jumbo size is great for soup so there's the practical function of double duty. And I like using vertical space well in a small kitchen. Our cute sign above the door and the canvas painting added charm to our Master Bedroom door located at the end of our kitchen. Our rug we have had for quite some time and it still looks great so we kept it. I purposely bought one with lots of pattern and color so that in case we spilled on it when we wiped it up it might not show. That worked! Updates completed in our little cottage-style kitchen, for now. One day we will paint the kitchen cabinets but we have not decided whether we want to tackle that ourselves or hire someone to come in and do it after Covid is not such a thing anymore. We painted our cabinets ourselves in the first home we ever bought and it was not the most fun nor easy project we ever did, and we were only mid-twenties at the time. Pix. I hope you enjoyed our budget-friendly kitchen updates and perhaps found some inspiration to add charm to your own kitchen, wherever you may live in the world. Kathryn :) P.S. If you would like more budget-friendly cottage-style decorating ideas, my eBook has 191 cottage-style decorating and organizing tips that are easy to do. No second-mortgage loan required! Speaking of dreaming of an historic English cottage, I recently came upon a lovely cottage home and garden in the cottage-cute-village of Kibworth, England. Be sure to enjoy a cup of tea and tour Angela's beautiful minimalist home, Hideaway Cottage. (Be still, my Anglophile and Anglican heart!) Thank you for sharing it, Angela! #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #dollarwisedecorating #budgetfriendlydecorating #homedecorating #cottagedecorating #cottagestyle #cottagestyledecorating #decoratingcottagestyle #cottagestyleorganizing #organizingsmallcottage #smallcottageorganizing #smallspaces #smallspaceliving #decoratingsmallspaces #smallspacedecorating #cottageliving #charmingcottage #budgetfriendlyhomemakeover #budgetfriendlykitchenmakeover #budgetfriendlykitchenupdates #budgetfriendlysmallkitchens

The view out our kitchen window has been glorious this spring. I love the simple majesty of palm trees! My husband Steve tells me that in about a week, the cactus will be blooming. BTW, if you have windows that need some privacy from a busy street or some such, but you still want to let in the light, this window film is similar to what you you see on our windows above. If you are new to my blog and website, welcome. Below is a bit about me and the topics I write about so you can see if you'd like to come back here now and then to join my happy little lifestyle tribe. Living a full and eclectic life, I am now in my mid-60s, (but young at heart), and I currently live with my husband Steve Bechen in Greater Phoenix Arizona, a.k.a. "The Valley of the Sun." Come this June 7th, we have been married 43 years. (You read right.) We are veteran home DIY-selfers and currently we enjoy sprucing up our little cottage-style retirement home together, inside and out, and we usually have one or two projects minimum on our radar. Our home is a manufactured home built by Cavco and because it's small, it's easy to clean, maintain, cool, and live in, and we like it that way. It's also paid for 100% as we did not want to enter our retirement years with any debt so we worked hard and strategized for many years to achieve that goal. And we have maintained our zero-debt status during these times too. How? Hard work, strategic spending, simpler living, and saving. Did we have hurdles? You bet; it's called life. (I read a book on resilience the other day. Don't bother. This is the only book any of us needs to study and achieve resilience, in my opinion. My favorite edition that I began reading in my teens, before Kindle was a word.) Last year around this time, we created our secret garden patio on our home's side driveway/carport and we enjoy having a cool drink and snack out there in a pretty space that was once a blah space. Aesthetic transformation and home comfort is our gig! This was also our positive way around not being able to travel during the pandemic; instead we brought the "vacation party" home. Here's how we created our secret garden if you'd like to give your carport or patio an upgrade and create more living space too when you make it like your outdoor room. I outlined the process we thought through and planned out here before we started and our planning m.o. can be used by anyone who wants to upgrade a patio space, whatever the size of your home or patio space. Do you love your home? Does it need sprucing up? Do you want or need to move to a different home space? Here's help. In addition to our home projects, we also enjoy dollarwise travel and especially staying in Bed & Breakfast Inns because they feel more like home. More about that here. We also love little bistros and charming towns. (Pre-pandemic.) Big and loud venues are not for us, so you won't find us anywhere near Disneyland-esque places. (Sorry, Mickey!) Even though I am retired now from writing for publications/publishers, I still write this blog (I've had several blogs over the years, but this is my current one), and I also write my own eBooks that are mostly about dollarwise home and home office organizing and decorating. Over the years, I have written several eBooks, and am writing more. (Slowly; I am now retired after all!) I also manage my website and blog all on my own now with no outside tech help. This gives me autonomy and is avoiding past tech headaches that became a nuisance. How did I get started doing all this? Oh, that's a long winding road story but here it is if you're interested. We've been sprucing up the front of our little home this spring to "up our curb appeal" a bit. Why do we do this or care about it? Because driving up to our home and seeing it spruced up makes us happy Because it's nice when neighbors who are walking by tell Steve how cute our house is when he is working the the "yard" Because we like making our neighborhood prettier and tidier; we think that's being a good citizen. Some who walk by have told Steve they are going to install sun/privacy shades like ours Because it's fun when the Amazon drivers now give us a thumbs up for our new sign that tells them exactly where to put the packages Because Steve enjoys being outside just putzing around our property now that he is retired Because curb appeal and home spruce-ups increase the value of your home DISCLOSURES Our latest spring home spruce-ups have included: Urn planters that Steve screwed down really well so they don't fall off in the wind. (We get 70 mph winds sometimes. It's the desert!) Flowers for the urns. If I had to choose again, I would buy more colorful flowers, but oh well, that was an experiment so those can be replaced another year. We put foam inserts in the bottom of the pot and I just stuck the flowers in at random. Easy; no floral design degree required! I love the new wreath we hung on our door; the bright color is yummy! Similar. Last year we installed a white trellis near the step and I recently ordered this flower basket to hang on it but it has not arrived yet. Similar trellis. Does your home need some dollarwise curb appeal? Remember that you don't have to build on a whole new front porch or paint your whole house, (unless you do have to do those things because the porch is rickety and unsafe or the paint is peeling and scaring off the neighbors!) You can usually make your curb appeal look better with just some simple little dollarwise spruce-ups like shown here. Use your own creativity and resourcefulness. You'll hear me encourage you to do that a lot because I believe God planted creativity into all of us and we should use it! BTW, if you'd like more cottage-style outdoor decorating tips, here is my tips eBook on cottage style. But as I said, they are just ideas that will hopefully help you come up with your own! I want to paint our front door a bright color, but Steve's desk is on the other side of the door inside and it's a Herculean task to move three L-shaped desks and all his computer stuff so we have not painted the door just yet. Also, we get such intense sun in AZ that it might be better off to leave it white as paint colors fade easily. That's the thing with home DIY; you go with the flow and you go with the house, apartment, or condo that you have now. In other words, there is no sense trying too hard to make your home look like a stately colonial mansion when you live in cozy cottage or studio apartment. (That would be like 64 year old me trying to dress up like a super model. Um, NO.) On the right side of our cottage, we added this architectural element on the wall. I am not sure if I like the shabby chic paint on it, but that can always be repainted so we shall see if this look grows on me. If not, paint has always been my number one favorite dollarwise decorating tool. It's a game changer that can make any room or home look better fast. Ecos is my favorite paint. It's not inexpensive, but it's totally worth it because it's non-toxic! It applies like a dream. No smell. They have stains and sealers and many other products too. This new sign is why the Amazon delivery drivers can now put the packages in a place we can find them! How's your package delivery going? For me, I don't think I will ever go back to in-store shopping as I like delivery so much. And I have set up several lists on my Amazon account so I can shop easily and not forget something. I weed them out now and then and it shows me how much I don't need to buy. Like Thoreau, I prefer simpler living. (Without having to cut down my own trees for firewood though. For me, that would hardly be simple.) :) The new blue sign replaced our ugly old computer sign. Much better! And since the drivers were going up the stairs and banging banging banging on the door right by Steve's desk every time they delivered something, Steve installed a locked gate so they can't bang on the door because they'd have to jump over the gate to get up the stairs! :) Similar gate. Now they give us thumbs up and put the packages in our trunk as they can see the blue sign very clearly. Problem solved. We also added this cute cardinals house numbers sign to our gate, but I don't have a photo of that. Our kitchen has been feeling blah to me. (Yes, I get like this.) :) I considered painting the end wall for color but instead I decided on this removable vine wallpaper. Can't wait to see how that goes! I added a little cutting board to the wall. One of these days we plan to install this vinyl backsplash tile which always adds a nice touch for little money. But as Steve says, "One project at a time." It's the little details that make a house feel like a personalized home, truly. You may not have ornate crown molding or gold cabinet handles, or a big gourmet kitchen, but you can easily change that with a few dollarwise techniques. (Other than a BIG gourmet kitchen, but if you make tuna sandwiches for lunch, like I do now since we added tuna and salmon back into our diet, there is no need for a BIG kitchen.) :) Adding faux fur rugs to hard chairs helps "TT syndrome." (Tired tush.) :) I folded our rugs in half and they fit perfectly and that made double padding. They wash up well in the washer too. Might not win any interior design awards, but they serve the purpose. Sure, with age comes TT Syndrome, but also wisdom to know when good enough is good enough. (Contrary to what Instagram would have you believe.) I love these elastic band tablecloths. Any food wipes right off and once in awhile you can just toss them in the washer and just a minute in the dryer and zero wrinkles. (I don't do wrinkles. I do still have some standards, never fear.) I bought three colorful ones that make me smile. We bought our vertical bistro sign last year, (no longer available), and the wall basket works great for our napkins and coasters and salt etc. as we have a small table. These napkins are wonderful for every day and they come in nice colors. The stains come right out, (even spaghetti sauce), and they are so soft. They don't wrinkle and I think the fabric will last a long time. I personally have used cloth napkins forever; I don't like paper napkins -- how they feel or the waste they create. Bistro sign. Notice this bistro sign is horizontal and ours had to be vertical to fit our wall. A great example of what I meant by decorating around the house you have. Yes, when it comes to home and life, I am environmentally conscious, as much as I can realistically be without living in a cave or owning a bicycle. (Steve has the bicycle.) You're welcome, climate change. :) We also repurpose things as much as we can, and we don't buy all that much either which is the first step in being environmentally friendly, and in living a dollarwise lifestyle, in my opinion. Also, repurposing goods. I used to shop at least some at thrift and antique stores, but with the pandemic, I use Amazon now for efficiency and delivery. (Don't email me about all the boxes; we recycle.) Steve replaced our old shelf liner with new brick removable paper. (That is not environmentally friendly, no doubt.) One day I opened the cabinet door and it was in my hands as the entire hinge pulled right out of the cabinet and was headed for my foot! This is because AZ is so dry, no matter how many humidifiers you have. (We have three like this in case you are wondering.) This cabinet door situation comes under my mantra of "don't let your house hurt you," so I asked Steve to just leave the door off and I said we could turn the space into a cute open pantry! At first he wasn't overly thrilled about having no cabinet door, but now he likes it. This is a life theme with him, and then he tells everyone how great it is, when at first he thought NO! God love him; he's the practical analytic sort so living with my creative brain must surely be taxing to his. :) Why is it anyway that most men don't like open shelving showing dishes and food, and painting cabinets seems like a cardinal sin to them compared to stained wood! Does that go back to dark cave man times do you think?! Geesh, I can just hear a cave man say (grunt) to his wife, "No honey, we don't need container labels and a Sharpie pen, or wallpaper, because we have hieroglyphics!" See what I mean, wives?! :) Mission accomplished: I hung my heart cutting board in there and organized the food. I weeded out our recipes and put the ones we wanted to keep in these lovely and sturdy floral binders. I store my foil and roll our brand of Ziploc-like bags in a magazine holder. Cute so far! I want to either paint the side walls a pretty color or wallpaper them in another pattern than the brick, for some contrast. Also, these removable labels I just bought are wonderful along with a Sharpie pen. We weeded out our art recently and made a new wall arrangement in our Master Bedroom, which we are sprucing up too. Memories of our travels in our collected paintings make us happy. New York City, Coronado Island, San Francisco. Long long ago. So far, I have found these pretty linen pillow shams, a new shower curtain, and ... this removable wallpaper. I was going to paint the wall but the more I thought about it, and since I wanted a Bed & Breakfast Inn feeling like I wrote about here way back when, I decided to go with wallpaper. Stay tuned; this might get done in a few months. If you need dollarwise decorating tips, this eBook will help you with that. Want to make your home feel like a cozy cottage inside and outside? My cottage-style eBook will give you oodles of affordable ideas you can easily implement. 191 ideas, to be exact. (As one reader once wrote about a book of mine: "Kathryn's decorating ideas don't require you to take out a second mortgage on your home.") Amen, sister! I was under the weather over Easter so did not blog Easter greetings so I send you belated ones now. He is risen! Speaking of the cross, I took this cross photo at the San Diego Mission many years ago. If you ever get a chance to visit there, it's beautiful. My favorite mission in Cali is Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside. Below is a pix of Steve from years ago there, toting my purse for me, God love him. This mission has "Quiet Days." For $40 you get a private room with a bed and lunch. And quiet. Wow; what a value in today's noisy and expensive world! The mission's grounds/gardens are beautiful. Steve and I enjoyed several events and retreats at that mission when we lived in California and I miss that place. Speaking of Easter, I read a young Christian pastor's book recently that I really liked so thought I'd share something he wrote in there with you as I find it so beautiful and true. He wrote ... "To follow Jesus, especially in the Western world, is to live in the same tension between grateful, happy enjoyment of nice, beautiful things, and simplicity. And when in doubt, to err on the side of generous, simple living." p. 203 on my Kindle from John Mark Comer's book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. I love this sentiment. Thank you author/pastor Comer! I wish you a beautiful dollarwise home and lifestyle, whatever its size, shape, and location. I wish you a calming home, and a tidy one. Many are struggling with housing availability and costs right now for varying reasons so if you have a home, please thank God for that every day. “For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.” Hebrews 3:4 Happy almost summer! Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #DIY #decorating #organizing #homedecorating #homeorganizing #smallhomes #smallspaces #tinyhomes #retirement #dollarwisedecorating #dollarwiseorganizing #dollarwiseliving

I have been offline for awhile as we have been busy doing super exciting things like fixing our Master Bedroom toilet that broke in the middle of the night, (the handle quit working), so that was interesting! Stick with me here and we will get to the Valentine fun at the end of this post, but for now, I'm going to share of few of my little dollarwise home spruce-up hacks with you. In addition to our toilet project, Steve also has recently taken great pains to creatively trim our bushes into little orb shapes. Cute, yes?! DISCLOSURES Want to get your PhD in cord control? Just cover the insert of a clean toilet paper roll with removable wallpaper or contact paper and you have ... The best small appliance cord control m.o. on the planet! Credit must go for this project to my Grandma who taught me this when I was about seven years old. I still prefer it as my go-to cord control method. The other way I do cord control is just wrap a rubber band around a cord that has been folded into an "S" shape if you will. For more house fun, I bought a new bamboo silverware tray as our old plastic one had seen better days and always moved around in the drawer. Not this one! Steve put double stick tape on the bottom and that thing isn't going anywhere. The reason I love this tray is it expands on both sides so you can adjust to most any size drawer. Just be sure to measure your drawer length and width even so, and remember to measure the height of your drawer too so the tray isn't too tall. See how the sides expand if you need them to fit that large of a drawer? If not, just push both sides, or one side, in again. In my continuing effort to simplify our meals and prep, but have a pretty table still, I bought these two really nice large white trays. They were noisy though as they are melamine, so Steve cut two pieces of this shelf liner and that worked great to curb the dish clanking noise. BTW, I love these non-breakable champagne glasses. I filled ours with half apple juice and half seltzer for "faux" champagne. I also really like my new acrylic tumblers as the hammered finish doesn't show water spots as much from our Arizona very hard water. I have gone away now from as much glassware in the kitchen as possible after my senior hands dropped and shattered two glasses. Too dangerous and too much cleanup to use glass as the shards were everywhere. Back to the trays: you can just lift the black flowered shelf paper right up and wipe everything off. These new tablecloths are wonderful to just wipe down too. And I love the elastic on the edge as they don't catch on your clothes or slide off the table. And here's why I use flower patterns to decorate so much ... I tend to be a bit messy when it comes to things like White-Out, which would not wipe off of this tablecloth which was brand new, of course. But alas, now it just kind of blends in with the floral and white pattern so you really can't even notice it from far away. Had that been a solid color tablecloth, you'd have to cut it up for rags! BTW, I call floral decorating and floral clothing "camouflage" decorating/wardrobing. In other words: Floral patterns hide stains so you can still get use out of the item rather than toss it. Our next really quick home project was this chimney I think even Santa Claus would be proud of! All this project took was the leftover removable wallpaper from our "faux root cellar" project. How did this come about? I was sitting at our dining table one day looking down our small galley kitchen that we are trying to make feel more like a cottage kitchen and all of a sudden I thought ... "Hey, if we put brick wallpaper on the end of that tall cabinet it would look like a chimney!" I have always loved exposed old brick in homes, but if you don't have any of that right at hand, add your own "faux" version! It adds charm, texture, and color. Not sure what to do in your own home with brick wallpaper? Just go to Amazon to search for a brick style and color of wallpaper that you like and then take a look at some of the reviews as people show great pix of how they did projects in their own real-life homes so you can get inspired by their ideas. I especially love the kitchens that show brick wallpaper on prep island side walls. Instant charm! Steve also replaced our kitchen window privacy film. Lets the light in, but still private from the busy street outside our window and we can always pull the shade for darkening if we wish. BTW, window film like this works great on glass doors as well as the skinny glass panel next to some front doors. Great for privacy from the Amazon delivery person when you're in your PJs! Also, we replaced our faucet a year or so ago with one of these tall faucets and I can't tell you how much easier it is to wash something like a 9x13 inch cake pan or big pot. I feel like we have a new dreamy farmhouse style sink just by replacing our faucet! Okay, enough of the whine & toilets projects and now to the wine & roses part! We took time this weekend to celebrate Valentine's Day. Our 45th one together since we met in the 1970s! This year, I made heart-shaped sandwiches using these cookie cutters, cut up some paper hearts from my favorite floral postcards, made strawberry smoothies for pink color, bought chocolate vegan truffles, and Steve poured coffee he made into our new his and hers mugs, which we love. Similar mugs. I also bought this cute heart cutting board and now it hangs in our kitchen. To keep my wood cutting boards in good condition, I rub them once a week or so with coconut oil, (the kind that doesn't smell like coconut). I like this better than board oils made for this. Coconut oil is antibacterial and inexpensive too. This is my fave brand. We kept it all super simple for Val Day this year! No flowers or cards from Hallmark; we preferred to spend our time, energy, and money on our little home upgrades, but we did write each other a love note on the back of my favorite floral postcards and we save those. Steve files his in a greeting card box I gave him as a gift and I file mine in my Quote Garden under the category tab "Steve." :) My husband is a man of few words, compared to me anyway, but when he says something profound I write it down as a "quote" by him and file it away. (You know how I love filing systems!) My "Quote Garden" using postcards and file boxes and topical tabs that I label with my label maker. I have collected quotes my whole life and now I have four of those turquoise file boxes filled with them. (This photo is a couple years ago.) Much better than on the computer. Not to mention prettier; it's my Quote Garden after all! Steve placed white hooks for the mugs next to our coffee bar. He keeps a stash in our shed. Hooks are another big DIY thing I love to use in our home. They are especially good for small homes with limited space as they work great for hanging towels, kitchen pans, pot holders, cutting boards, you name it. They come in so many pretty sizes, shapes and colors now too. I love the ones that look vintage-y. Even plastic Command Hooks come in gold, silver, and black now. How "chic!" Steve made me laugh when he came out for our Valentine lunch in a pink shirt and socks and said, "I wore them just for you for Valentine's Day, honey!" Awww, so sweet. I wore my new red floral caftan. Listen up my fellow senior ladies who like comfort, and you young ladies who need a bikini coverup: These will change your life! They are a lightweight no-wrinkle polyester that feels almost as good as silk. They wash up like a dream. I wear them now around the house and as I said above, with the floral patterns they hide stains -- move over spaghetti sauce! I plan to stock up when they go on sale as I think they will be great to roll up in a small suitcase as they are lightweight and therefore very easy to hand-wash in a hotel sink if need be, plus they air-dry fast on a hanger. No wrinkles. Zero. And all the gorgeous colors! You're welcome; this is my Valentine's Day gift to you, dear readers. :) After all our home projects and our Valentine lunch, we watched a cute movie set in the beautiful Tuscan countryside. Predictably charming, and great for a snuggle-up. When we bought our new flash-sale TV, it came with some free channels and we have really enjoyed some of these kinds of simple sappy movies as the scenery is beautiful, there's romance, and nothing ugly going on. How we measured for a new TV to fit the space. Life isn't always about wine and roses on Valentine's Day or any day for that matter; some days life feels more like whine & broken toilets for everyone in this life. But we can all choose, one day at a time, to make our life the best it can be with what we have in the place that matters most to most of us: home. Is that always easy? No. But it's both wise and necessary, I think. Personally, I try to be grateful for all I have rather than whine about or long for what I don't have. Please come back here to visit; I will soon be sharing my dollarwise decorating tips and some pix to help you make your bedroom a pretty cozy sanctuary. Spoiler alert. And yes, I realize not everyone has money to burn these days, and that some people think decorating is frivolous, but in uncertain times like these, I think it's even more important to make a pretty nest for yourself, and I will give you some very low cost, or even free, ways that you can do that! "May there be peace within your walls." Psalm 122:7. Kathryn :) P.S. More of my dollarwise decorating and organizing tips are here. #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #smallspaces #smallspacedecorating #smallspaceorganizing #homedecorating #homeorganizing #dollarwisedecorating #DIYdecorating

How's your home office looking/working out these days? DISCLOSURES In my earlier lifetime I developed and taught paperwork/information management seminars in person for several years as my own business and I've spoken to groups as large as 400 on this topic. I also helped people organize their offices/home offices in person and virtually. (See below how they said it helped them.) Now 64, I am semi-retired and so I just write about it all. My first home office as an organizer And me in that home office, with my 90s coiffed hair. :) When January rolls around, most people are saying: "Help!" when it comes to their paperwork. Now, before you say, "Yeah yeah old school Boomer, but it's now 2023 and everything's digital and paperless, in case you haven't noticed so what's with the paperwork thing?!" To that I say: "Yes, I have noticed, and I practice digital paperwork management now myself, but there are still some things that require at least some 'paper paperwork management,' even if only temporarily." Me teaching an organizing seminar when I was just a baby organizer in my 30s A red Work-in-Progress paperwork system I set up for a former boss in the 90s Also, anyone who knows me well knows that in addition to loving organizing, I am a longtime Anglophile. But what does that have to do with paperwork management? Quite a lot, as it turns out: As I watched and read with riveted eyes last year the late Queen Elizabeth's tributes to her after she passed away, here's what really stood out to me about this lovely royal leading lady: The Queen's red boxes put her in excellent control of her paperwork! Yes indeed, this dignified monarch was organized and disciplined for 70 years of leadership and one of the ways she maintained that to the end was her red boxes which helped her manage her paperwork on a daily basis, except for Easter and Christmas since she was a woman of deep Christian faith so she took those days off. Queen Elizabeth II said if she missed a day or two with her red boxes her paperwork built up and she didn't like that because it just made things stressful. Totally true, my friends! Now, if the Queen of England can stay in control of her paperwork for 70 years, trust me here, you and I can too. (Yes, I know she had a staff of 1200 or so and you and I don't, but she probably had lots more to do too than we do, so it evens out.) :) So, let's get going! First we need a red inbox and to remember this: All that little red box or bin or basket is is a place to store your papers temporarily that you will eventually need to make a decision about. I repeat: It's a temporary holding pen so that papers are not all over your desk or dining room table, (or in a closet inside paper bags like a former client of mine), with no "home." It's not a filing system. Did I mention it's not a filing system? Also, your red box or bin should not become overflowing. If it does, you need to immediately start sorting and deciding and doing, sister! Once you have your red box, as papers come into your home/office just toss them in there until you can sit down with your red box/basket and sort through them. At the point you toss them in there, you don't want to think; you just want a home for them temporarily. When you are ready to take action on the papers, start thinking and then do this: If you still want to keep the info, scan it into your computer by topical files and then shred the actual paper. You can also file it as a paper if you prefer. I like my purposely easy A-Z filing system eBook for that, personally. And you can use the same instructions I give in my eBook for a computer-based filing system if you prefer as the filing principles are the same whether it's computer files or paper files. PRO TIP: That eBook has a very negative review on Amazon and while I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion, I heartily disagree with the person who wrote this review as they truly missed the whole point of why it's purposefully short: Because most people's "filing systems" are just too complicated so they seldom or never use them, get frustrated, and are right back where they started with piles of paper. Trust me, my easy A-Z filing method works! (If you use it, of course.) My own home office currently, with my new red in-basket. Here are some nice red basket and bin choices for you to consider buying below. PRO TIPS: Buy a basket or box or bin big enough to hold 8 1/2 x 11 papers without them catching on the sides of the basket or bin or you will be annoyed and likely not do your paperwork tasks, or you will buy a second bigger bin, wasting money and time. Don't do that! If you work from your home office, or for personal papers at home, try these: Here's my basket as shown above. Basket 2 Basket 3 If you want your "red box" to be portable so you can take it with you to work on your paperwork somewhere other than your home office, then buy something like this with a lid so your papers don't end up all over your car or you will have a big mess and possibly lose a very important paper. Take some binder clips, post it notes, a highlighter, a mini stapler, and a pen with you, stored in a pouch or Ziploc bag in the box. Sort your papers into categories, make Post-it notes on the front of what needs to be done with the papers when you get home (file, scan, call Susie's teacher about this later) etc. and then put them back in your box for when you get back home. That way you can take action on them quickly with the Post-It notes reminding you what needs to be done. (I really don't recommend working on paperwork in your car or van or SUV, but some people have to do so, so a basket/box/bin with a lid will help you ...) ABOVE: I once helped a client get organized who worked between a van and a very small office. Before pix on top and after below. Why a RED basket, box, or bin? There are various legends about why Queen Elizabeth used red boxes, all of them interesting tales. I don't know why she chose red in reality, but my take on using red is you can see/find it easily if your office is a super super mess! (Red file jackets were a game-changer for my former boss above, and I chose that color for him purposely.) You can become Queen of Your Paperwork, my dear readers! Happy New Year and don't let your paperwork tiara get tarnished! Kathryn :) P.S. In 2022 I went through some of my past work memorabilia and I smiled when I came across these comments below from former seminar attendees and consulting clients near and far; I felt so blessed that my organizing work helped them empower themselves. “Thanks for starting me down the road to freedom from my paper prisons! Ginger, Kansas City "You have an amazing ability to put in words several things that are treasures for me: concrete and purposeful questions, accurate answers, perfect timing quotes, and sensible suggestions that have made me smarter, comfortable, self-confident and self-assured. I used to not like organized people a little because all I could remember was bad input from their perfectly particular way of being. You changed that feeling and I trust you. You are so professional. I want to be like you! I am paying you back with a daily reminder about you, from me, to our Lord." Cindy, Costa Rica "I feel like I lost 50 pounds! Your system for mail saved me at least an hour a day!" Lou, Omaha "Very very honest. Has the human touch." Marla, San Francisco “Thank you for your valuable resources for my office. It’s been a month now and I’m pleased to report the new “organization” is very functional and I’m still using everything I learned from you.” Susan, Omaha #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #queenofpaperwork #organizedpaperwork #paperworkorganizing #homeofficeorganizing

How do you like to "do" Christmas? One of the fun things about Christmas I think is seeing how families, towns, cities, and countries celebrate it differently. My husband Steve and I have always kept fairly simple Christmas celebrations, but a few years ago we simplified our Christmas even more, down to just one bin of Christmas decor. If we want something new, our new "rule" is it has to fit inside our one Christmas bin, or else something else must be donated from the bin. So far, it's not even full so we are fine. DISCLOSURES This year, I did buy the cute Santa pillow covers shown above to create a cozy Christmas corner with our sofa as the main event, and since the pillow covers are such nice fabric I am sure we will keep them for years. (They washed up like a dream.) Other than some Christmas napkins on our dining nook table, and a wreath on each of our two doors outside, that's all of the Christmas decorating at our house! Easy. Affordable. Less storage. Less organizing. Less fiddling. More cozy movie time. Why did we personally choose to simplify our Christmas even more than before? So that we focus more on what we believe is the true meaning of Christmas: Jesus, as these adorable children so beautifully sing it. For us, the overly commercial Christmas just isn't our thing. So that we don't buy and store more "stuff" than we need or want because reading Christmas tales like this gives me a headache and it makes me feel sad that people would do that when this could help them avoid it. To stick to a realistic decor budget for our home. I've never been a big holiday decorator, for any holiday, and now that I'm officially a senior, I simply don't want to store or pay for more stuff that's only out for one month a year. In the past, we traveled sometimes for Christmas, so we didn't want to spend a lot of time, energy, or money on Christmas decor as we preferred to spend the money on a trip together, a nice local dinner out, and making a charitable donation too instead of buying a lot of Christmas decor for our home. This Christmas, in all honesty, like many people, we feel exhausted from nearly three years of the pandemic drama dragging on and on, so we are keeping Christmas extra simple and cozy at home, and this just feels good to us right now. We have been binge-watching Hallmark Christmas movies together in our PJs from our bed, and loving it! Snacks included. (How we made our little "home movie theater.") We once lived where it was so COLD Steve didn't want to put up and take down outdoor lights in sub-zero weather, and now that we have lived out of cold weather climates for so long, we prefer to enjoy time in our outdoor secret garden instead! We don't want to contribute any more to already overflowing landfills than absolutely necessary. Here's a little help on that topic for Christmas. And more good tips. Those are pretty much the reasons in a nutshell that we simplified our Christmas. And we both feel really peaceful about it. Do you feel the need/want to simplify your Christmas, but still keep it festive? If so, read on ... One Christmas bin that latches well makes it easy to take out our Christmas decor and easy to put it away. Probably 30 minutes on each end. Wowza; simple! TIP: If you want to save money on bins for Christmas decor storage, buy clear, not the red and green Christmas-colors ones. BTW, notice how much storage bins cost these days? Oh boy. Well, that's another good reason to simplify "stuff" ... not so many bins for your budget to buy in the future, and less plastic too. A small wreath on each of our doors is all of our outdoor decor this year. We do like to be festive with comfy-cozy-wear now at Christmas. Steve wears his PJs to cook, complete with his Santa socks! (Those knit PJs will some day be cut up for rags as they are soft and cozy fabric which will work great for cleaning. Sorry, honey!) Some of our "red and green" cozy meals over the holidays are easy to make things like ... Almost homemade spaghetti with a green salad and garlic toast. We like this organic pasta sauce* and I doctor it up with a little more garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Since we now eat plant-based 99 % of the time, we like this plant cheese. Our pasta bowls make serving this nice and easy. *NOTE: Remember when organic pasta sauce was about $1.89 a jar? Yes, I thought so, but no more, so these are easy meals to make to also stay within your budget even with inflated food prices. Inflation is nothing new, but you can outsmart it with your savvy money managing skills my friends, and the kitchen is one place that you can make a difference with clever cooking, not wasting food, and still feed yourselves good meals. I will be writing more about that in 2023 as lucky me, I first started to learn to cook homemade meals at home when I was about eight and I had a front row seat too in many friends' homes I stayed overnight with and ate at their dinner tables, so I picked up lots of good cooking tips from some wonderful Moms who could make anything look and taste like the best restaurant, ala Midwestern style. Midwesterners like hearty, yet affordable food as they tend to be thrifty and resourceful people overall, so those cooking skills I learned as a young girl and teen never left me, no matter how many cute chic bistros I later went out to eat at. Stay tuned; I will share and we're gonna go a little yummy retro, but healthified for today's times/knowledge. Anyhow, back to Christmas. I also like to make stuffed green and red peppers and serve them with a muffin. Just cut the top of the pepper off and dice up and set aside. Clean inside of seeds. In a bowl put the extra chopped pepper from the top you cut off, plus some cooked rice, black beans, onion, and garlic. Add a can or so of tomato paste and salt and pepper. Mix well and add a little water if needed, and stuff the peppers. Bake covered in a bit of water in the bottom of the pan for about 45 minutes until pepper is tender when pricked with a fork and inside rice is hot. Easy, yummy, economical, and Christmas colors! I found a wonderful muffin recipe online and "veganized" it by leaving out the egg and substituting 1 T. chia seeds soaked in 3 T. hot water which when set aside for 10 minutes makes an "egg." Perfect! I have made many muffins over the years and tried to veganize them with not so good results, but this one is absolutely delicious! Original recipe here. As I mentioned, I subbed out the egg with chia seeds and instead of chocolate chips I used raisins and since I didn't have any walnuts I used 2 T. sunflower seeds. Worked great. Also, I had some applesauce left over as it was a big jar so here's what I did ... I immediately put 1/3 cup applesauce in containers and froze them after labeling. Now next muffin-baking-fest all I have to do is thaw out, dump in, wash the container and nothing goes to waste gathering mold in the back of the fridge. These containers in three sizes are my new go-to freezer containers as they stack well and the lids seal well. TIP FROM STEVE: Turn the lid counterclockwise 'til it clicks and then clockwise to close. And, BTW, don't close it too tight or your wife will let you know that she can't get it open because you man-handled her lid and she will be coming back to you to open it! (You ladies who have been married a long time know about the man-handled lid closing thing, right?! God love 'em.) I will share my crockpot stew recipe with you later; it's a breeze to make! Reader Lolit in the Philippines sent me this photo last year at Christmas and said I could share it so here it is again as I saved it since I love it! So simple and sweet. Thanks again, Lolit! Christ-mas is for everyone, no matter who you are or where you live. Rejoice! Wishing you all a blessed Christmas season, Kathryn & Steve #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #Christmaskathrynbechen #kathrynbechenChristmas #Christmas #JesusChristmas #kathrynbechencottage #kathrynbechencottagehome #cottagestylehome #cottagehome #homecooking #cookathome

Do you have something(s) in your home that could hurt you? Not good, and time to do something about it! In our home, it was doors. Several doors. Nice white doors. Heavy solid-wood doors. That came off the track sometimes and fell forward on me. Or, were just plain hard to slide open. Yes, Steve fixed the track more than once but it would just go back to the same. DISCLOSURES Did I also mention I am a senior lady who does not know how to do things like operate a fork lift or install closet doors, nor do I have any interest in learning. (I'm a girl who likes to head for high tea when the going gets tough, and although I value creative thrift and simplicity in most things I do, I keep a little "splurge fund" set aside to indulge in fancy-ish things like high tea now and then. This is one of my stress-management life tools, and trust me, it works wonders. Well, at least it did before a thing called a pandemic came along, and now we all need an afternoon tea party even more, right?! Well for now anyway, our new at-home tea set and this tray are going to have to do! Exasperated about our door challenge, I said to Steve: "Those doors have got to go! I want curtains that I can move freely and that I won't be injured or killed by." (Drama can be a good thing when your life could be at stake!) :) Well, we've organized and decorated enough homes together by now, (15, if I remember right), that my hubby knew that voice of determination of mine was not worth debating so he just grinned and said, "Okay, honey." In the past he, (or I too), might have said, "Yeah, but those are nice doors that were also expensive and what about the resale value of our house?" That's kind of like the line of thinking when you are decluttering your wardrobe closet and say to your imaginary professional organizer who is charging you $100 per hour: "But I paid good money for that beautiful dress and when I lose 100 pounds it's going to look great on me, so I'm keeping it in my closet. (For a few years, when it will be woefully out of style, and you've only lost 10 pounds!) Here is my current line of thinking: "We live in this house now and whoever buys this house after we decide to sell it for whatever reason or whenever, can remodel it to their own taste and style but until then I want it to be comfy for us." Did I mention our closet doors were big? That meant Steve had to haul them away tied on top of our car. (We have a Camry car; not a huge pickup truck.) I truly felt sorry for Steve to have to remove these doors and haul them away, but I was tired of my house hurting me, so out they had to go. I suggested we could call 1-800-GOT-JUNK. We have used various haul-away-junk services before and they were fine but we wanted the doors gone sooner than later, and some haul-away services have a waiting list in AZ during snowbird season, plus also charge quite a fee, ($125 to haul away our very heavy and non-functioning washer/dryer that was stacked, but lots cheaper than owning a truck so that time it was totally worth it!) So then I got this idea in a moment of resourceful DIY thinking, (a.k.a. frustration), and I said to Steve ... "You have an electric saw, right?" "Yes, I do." "How about cutting the doors in three or four pieces and hauling them up to the recycling bin in the trunk of the car?" He grinned and said: "Good idea!" We then lived with an open wardrobe closet for a week until these new curtains arrived from Amazon and I really like them and so does Steve. They hang nicely, are blackout weight, and after washing were no iron. (I consider ironing a waste of precious time.) Easy to slide and they go nicely with our garden-y themed bedroom. We used large spring-y rods which are sturdier than regular tension rods. Who wants to remove a door only to have a large rod of heavyweight curtains fall on top of you?! The curtain tie back Steve had saved from a previous home project in our San Diego apartment and he still had it in our shed, saving us money in buying a new one, according to him. He said he kept it because he figured I'd want one of these again some day! That's my man! We also had two doors on our Master Bedroom bathroom. One entry door and one closet door that banged into that entry door every time you opened the toiletries/medicine closet. Like every day, at least once a day. I have pinched my finger more than once from those dumb doors. Middle of the night? You get the idea. Out. Out! Bye bye baby! We put the same curtains up there on our bathroom entry door with about a six inch space on top and bottom which immediately sold my husband just on airflow principles alone, plus I no longer say I am too hot or cold when we watch movies from bed together, so he probably likes that fact too. :) BTW, we have been really enjoying watching free romance movies from the Freevee channel lately as it came with our TV. This was our latest movie we watched; a bit dorky I thought, yet cute. All these movies are also set in charming small towns with beautiful scenery for a bonus. Or places like gorgeous tropical islands etc. (We both love visiting charming small towns like these.) Anyway, I decided not to put any curtain at all on our toiletry closet door because it's nicely organized and labeled and having no door or curtain makes it easier to get in there and put things away when you buy in multiples like I do. No door or curtain also forces me to keep it nicely organized and clean as I don't like messy closets. (I know this surprises you!) BTW, I like these stacking drawers to organize our toiletries and medications inventory. I don't need a closet that costs a million dollars in custom organizing shelves and drawers that if you move you only have to leave them there. I make my own portable system. I do this because I stock up on toiletries, homeopathic remedies, and healthier pantry foods at Vitacost as they run great sales. If you use Vitacost, be sure to enter the site Rakuten first, and then enter Vitacost within Rakuten so you also get a rebate check from Rakuten auto-deposited. IMPORTANT NOTE: Inflation, I'm looking at you! I have saved us nearly $100 per month this year on groceries and toiletries shopping strategically on Vitacost through Rakuten, and $2,408.35 in just Rakuten rebates since 6/1/11. That's money saved just shopping for what you need anyway that you can tuck away in your little splurge fund to go to high tea, or stay in a really nice Bed & Breakfast Inn once in awhile. Or if you have debt or other obligations you can use that "found money" you saved from strategic shopping for debt payoff etc. instead of for splurging. Or maybe put 75% to obligations and 25% to the splurge fund for stress management. Also, I just bought two of these round turntables to keep all my personal care things at hand on the bathroom counter and they work dandy. They come in different colors etc. too. Suggestion: Make a list of anything around your home that is annoying you, or worse yet, hurting you. And then take whatever steps needed to fix the situation. Soon. That might require hiring a professional handy person but fixing things will make your home and life so much better, and it's safer for you to live there too. Hope you have a great day; I'm off on my imaginary jet to high tea here if you'd like to join me! Kathryn :) P.S. If you have questions or comments, please email them to me here: kathrynbechen (@ sign) gmail (dot) com. And if you'd like more dollarwise decorating tips for your home, here is my eBook on that topic. #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechen #authorkathrynbechen #kathrynbechenhomeorganizing #kathrynbechenhomedecorating #DIYhomedecorating #homedecorating #smallhomes #smallspaces #organizing #homeorganizing #dollarwisedecorating #budgetdecorating

It's time for another dollarwise DIY home project! Right after the pandemic started, our dishwasher quit working. Permanently. Good timing, I know, and it was under three years old. After researching new dishwashers and seeing so many complaints about many different models we decided that for two people we didn't need a dishwasher, not to mention I didn't want to have to program a bunch of electronic buttons and preferred a sink and my two hands. The good news was that removing our dishwasher gave us a block of space in our little home that we could turn into coveted storage space. But, as usual, I wanted cute storage space! And so, we turned our dishwasher space into a faux "wine cellar" or "root cellar" look, (even though we weren't planning to store wine or root veggies or canned goods in there.) It was the "charming" look I was after. I doubt this surprises anyone who reads my work or knows me in person or via my writing because I like charming everything! (Harder to find these days, but not impossible.) DISCLOSURES I found this self-adhesive wallpaper online, and after looking at how nice some of the reviewers' projects turned out for them, I was sold. The color goes nicely with our flooring too. Steve implements our DIY home projects like this as I am not handy with installing things. But I like coming up with think-outside-the-box home solutions and researching for the goods to bring the ideas to life, and since Steve doesn't like researching for home goods online but he likes the finished home improvement result, and handyman tinkering, I guess that makes us a match made in home-sweet-home-DIY heaven. :) Well anyway, it all works for us, even though our m.o. might annoy some couples. We used a cart similar to this one to store extra storage containers we use daily. (I especially like these white baskets.) I am so thrilled with how cute this project turned out that I keep the bedroom door open now sometimes just so I can see our new little "bricked" storage "cave" while sitting in my bed writing on my laptop. For me, it's the little things at home that give me a thrill. Hoping that you make your home feel happy this fall with a little DIY project, Kathryn :) P.S. If you want more dollarwise DIY ideas for your home, this eBook is the best one I've written for that. Please send questions or comments here: kathrynbechen (@ sign) gmail (dot) com #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #DIYdecorating #homedecorating #smallspacedecorating #smallspaceorganizing

Oh my, even in Arizona I can feel fall in the air so I thought it was time for some homemade muffins! I jokingly call these "faux" muffins because I have modified an old recipe I had to be dairy free, gluten-free, and egg-free. They are denser and not as fluffy as an egg-based muffin, so don't expect light and fluffy, but they are still good. Steve actually whipped this batch up for the first time and he did a great job! DISCLOSURES RECIPE Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix 2 T. dry chia seeds with 6 T. boiling hot water in a bowl and set aside for about ten minutes. This will make a sticky "faux egg" that will bind the dough together. In another bowl, mix together 1 cup nut milk (almond, coconut, or such) with 1/2 c. oil (I like sunflower oil), and 2 t. vanilla extract and then mix well with the cooled chia seed "eggs." In another bowl mix well the dry ingredients of 1 cup coconut sugar, 3 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour, 4 t. baking powder, and 1 t. salt. Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients and add fruit and nuts of your choice. I used blueberries/cherries I bought frozen and then I thawed them and then tossed them with 1 T. of lemon juice before putting them in the dough and mixing well. Any nuts will add a nice touch too. Raisins and chopped apples would be great too! Whatever fruit you like is the best. Put in muffin tins and bake 16-20 minutes. Do not bake too long; test them with a fork or toothpick 'til it comes out clean. These freeze well so just contain and enjoy your muffins for breakfast or with a nice salad lunch. FALL FRUIT BREAKFAST COMPOTE I also like to make an easy baked apples/pears/oatmeal compote in my slow cooker when fall arrives. This is yummy as a breakfast meal with nut milk on top or even as a dessert with dinner with a scoop of non-dairy "nice cream." (Or go ahead and have real dairy ice cream if that's your thing; some of us just can't do that without feeling ill.) Here's what I do to make this little recipe ... Dice apples and pears and toss in slow cooker. I use four or five of each. Cover with one or two individual packages of instant oatmeal. Add a dash of cinnamon, vanilla, and a little water. Stir it all well and turn the slow cooker on high and it will be done in no time. Stir once during cooking so it all mixes up well. if it seems dry, you can add more water or even a little coconut or other oil. MY KITCHEN FAVES I am still partial to my old-fashioned Crockpots with no buttons to program. I like just high, low, and maybe warm settings with a plain old knob. Easy-peasy. I also now prefer a smaller size and we keep two slow cookers on hand so I can cook different things at the same time. (I love to make "boiled" potatoes in my slow cooker and I will tell you how I do that in another post.) I really like these non-stick muffin tins. Also, I am so in love with my new lemon dish towels that you see in the pix above. Soft, absorbent, great price. They look so pretty hanging on our black-glass oven door; they just make me smile! I also love these dishcloths. They are a happy yellow color, absorbent, and have enough "scrubby nubby" on them to get tough stuff. It's the little simple things in life and at home that bring joy, don't you think? Kathryn #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #food #homemadecooking #homemadebaking #homemademuffins

DISCLOSURES While working on my new website, I perused lots of files on my computer and found many letters from readers that I had saved. The letter below, from way back in 2006, brought tears to my eyes because it so aptly conveys why I love writing "how-to-with-heart" about all things home. My writing is my gift to you, like the girl offering you flowers above, and now I do that exclusively in the form of my books and eBooks. Donna's letter: "I wanted you to know that the day I discovered your site* we had just moved into our 'own' first home, and I was overwhelmed with what to do to make it feel like our place. The previous owner's taste in paint, color, design is so drastically different from my own. Your site just really helped me to settle in, soak up some much-needed inspiration and then get started -- a little bit at a time. You are a visual artist and that comes shining through in your writing. Kudos!" --Donna in Georgia, October, 2006 And thank you, Donna. It makes my heart glad all these years later to know that my online presence inspired you to create a home that feels like you. *I no longer operate that cottage decorating website and blog that Donna is referring to in her letter. My thoughts: Donna is wise to make her home feel like her own taste. She's also wise to do it a little at a time. Need help getting started making your home feel like you? My eBook 121 Dollarwise Decorating & Organizing Tips to Make Your House a Home will help you along. Want easy ways to make your home feel cottage-cozy? Sign up for my e-mail list at the bottom of this page and you'll get a free instant download of A-Z tips. If you want even more cottage-style decorating tips, here are my 191 easy and affordable tips! Here's the "Grace" mug in the photo above if you'd like one of those for your morning coffee or tea. Many blessings, and make your home feel like you! Kathryn #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #decorating #organizing #homedecorating #homeorganizing #dollarwisedecorating #cottagedecorating #smallspacedecorating #smallspaceorganizing #maximizingyourspace

I've always smiled at this quote: "I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights." --Maya Angelou So, I thought I'd share some nifty organizing products for Christmas decor storage below. BUT HERE'S ANOTHER THOUGHT: Alternatively, you could go super-minimalist-Christmas like we purposely chose to do a couple years ago and now all our Christmas decor fits in one small bin. That m.o. might not be for everyone, but we have really enjoyed just putting out a few things at Christmas now and it's SO easy to put them away after Christmas too. STORAGE TIP: When possible, I chose plastic storage products below vs. fabric so they can easily be wiped off. DISCLOSURES A great way to store your artificial tree Wreath storage Wrapping paper & bows storage Large container for storing ornaments Smaller container for storing ornaments Storage for Christmas-themed blankets/throws & pillows Christmas dinnerware set storage Great way to store your Christmas flatware Christmas lights organizer Christmas lights organizer Christmas lights organizer Handy Christmas lights storage organizer Happy after-Christmas organizing! Kathryn #KathrynBechen #AuthorKathrynBechen #KathrynBechenauthor #Christmas #Christmasdecorstorage #Christmasdecororganizing