Sherry’s Ramblings of the Week
WHY IS EVERYTHING SO UNNECESSARILY COMPLICATED?
Are people just lazy or what?
I won’t go into specifics but I’m sort of flabbergasted that we’re ponying up $600K in cash and to close the deal, people can’t get their butts in gear to give us the proper documentation that is readable and able to be used properly to close the whole thing. I am not accepting any janky photographs of documents as acceptable proof.
Get ye butt to a Staples and scan those mofos.
I mean… WTF.
You’re just going to do what I want in the end, why don’t you just go ahead and DO IT?
CHILDREN’S BOOKS: A QUESTION FOR PARENTS
I am a huge fan of the library and a huge fan of ZERO clutter in the home if it is not necessary, so I am asking all parents out there:
How long do board books with simple stories last your children?
(e.g. Goodnight moon, Hungry Caterpillar)..
I am considering buying our own copies so that we don’t have to keep renewing the library copy, but I am not keen on spending the money at $10 a pop if he’s going to just get bored of it after he has memorized it in a few months.
I want to spend the money on something he will enjoy and get lots of play and love out of. Books, we can always get more and new stories from the library in droves, so I’ve been leaning towards zero owned books, but plenty of library ones.
I see other parents with toddlers who have HUGE bookshelves with board books up to the ceiling, and I don’t see their kids showing any interest in reading them.
Then again, these kids have 5 play chests stuffed with toys as well, so that’s probably more what’s happening there.
Thoughts?
CHEAP BUT STURDY CLOSET SOLUTION?
How expensive is it for custom closets?
I have no idea what anything costs.
Or for cheap DIY closets? I need to figure out how to fit all my clothes into a closet that won’t fall down on me (no wire closets please), and I was thinking I would do full wood closets but that might be pricey.
Help!
I AM CONSTANTLY EXHAUSTED BUT HAPPIER
After reading more Mommy Help, Relationship Help books which I thought were all a bunch of hokey before, I am understanding Baby Bun and my partner better than I ever could just guessing.
Would anyone be interested if I posted a list of the best books I’ve found so far?
It would be great if others found as much solace and help in these books as I have.
Let me know in the comments.
Have a relaxing weekend!!
19 Comments
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sherry@savespendsplurge.com
Interesting. Like jewellery drawers I’d imagine. I think we are going with the DIY option.. and if we hate it, oh well. 🙂
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Tania
When I priced out DIY custom closets vs. hiring the local closet contractor, the difference wasn’t that much. So, I decided to hire the local custom closet company (The Maui Closet Company). Locally owned but a full operation with carpenters and designers. But I live on Maui so my comparison cost including freight. It’s generally more expensive to buy or do anything on Maui. If you live in a city with more resources or a bigger population, DIY could come out much cheaper than it would’ve for me. We also don’t have Ikea in Hawaii (or anything similar).I can’t recall the exact pricing but it was under $2K for 11 feet. My walk-in is 6 X 11 ft and I only did custom on one side (it was new construction and the walk-in storage also serves as the divider of the studio like space (that’s why the dimensions are kind of odd). The designer I worked with was very helpful, kept me from making a few errors in judgement. I had a cabinet with doors put in for bags and camera equipment, hanging rods of various heights and shelving. I am able to adjust the shelves if needed. On the non-custom side, I added a baker’s rack and hung up an organizer I picked up from the hardware store that have cube like spaces meant for mail in an office space (I use them for sandals/flat shoes/kitten heels as my feet are fairly small). At one end I have a huge mirror and at the other end 2 Herman Miller “Hang it all”. I store linens, art (I rotate my art), craft supplies and other random things in the closet besides clothes. I don’t regret doing the custom half at all, it was well worth it. I will be moving next year though and will need to squeeze into a smaller closet at my BF’s apartment. I’m not worried about culling down to less clothing (looking forward to the forced minimalism!) but I am trying to decide how to get the most out of the space I do have. He’s a DIY type, which I’m not but he already has a ton of unfinished projects. I’m not sure yet how he’d feel about me paying for customization or if the contractors in that area would do 1 closet of that size, it’d be a small job. My old closet is on my family property but on another island so I won’t use be able to use it for overflow. Look forward to seeing your finished closet!
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Leigh
Re: closets – I spent about $1,800 on California Closets for our master bedroom closets and we absolutely love them! We have a combination of shelves, short hanging space and long hanging space.
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sherry@savespendsplurge.com
OK so we had about the right budget of $2000 or so to set up everything custom-made… My partner thinks he can do it for less than that, so we’ll see with ClosetMaid.
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Sarah
Yes, would love to see a list of hose books! Trying to read up on morequest myself…
As for books, I’m lucky I have a discount store near me where they’re like 3 bucks a pop, but I’m all about not ,ucb clutter as well. As for how long they last, week my son ate one, a ripped the pages in a another (he love it so much he reads but not super coordinated to think to not turn a page when he isn’t sitting on the book ). But all the others I think will last, only because he’s fixated on stuff he likes. In any case I can sell them and make most of the money back.
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raluca
Is Ikea not an option? I know it’s supposed to be cheap and low quaity, but we have never regreted a purchase from Ikea. We got some things 8 years ago and they are still going strong. Also, some options are quite stylish.
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sherry@savespendsplurge.com
We aren’t a fan of pressed wood.. we have a few Ikea items and we want actual wood…
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raluca
Actually, Ikea sells some solid wood pieces. They are not very stylish, but the great thing is that they can be painted (since they come in pieces anyway). The FJELL line is natural colored solid pine for example. Also the Hemnes line is solid wood, at least that’s what Ikea’s website says.
Still, the aesthetics is not necesarly great.-
sherry@savespendsplurge.com
Hmm. I’ll have to take a look. I’m also wondering about how solid that wood is.. a thin sheet of wood is not as great as something thicker. I’ll pester my partner to drive there to look..
Thanks!
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Linda
Hi Sherry!
I’d be interested in seeing your list of books that are worth reading.
Reg closet – we went with closet maid. It cost us I think $3-400USD bucks but worth it. You would buy the pieces you like and install yourself. Totally doable.
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sherry@savespendsplurge.com
THANK YOU! I was wondering about ClosetMaid, and my partner has been getting excited that he could DIY it and it would look just as nice as a custom one for a fraction of the price. I’ll be going with that option I think.
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Anne
My nieces and nephews all loved the kind of books where they can lift a flap and see some story related details under. They read them to pieces.
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hope
re kids books. You are right, most books are not getting love and attention from kids; however, once the kid zeroes in on that one book, you will be reading the same book every night 🙂 Library or a good thrift store would be some sources for kid books without spending lots of money.
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sherry@savespendsplurge.com
I already have the same books from the library but I was wondering if I should buy the copy for myself rather than having to keep checking out the book. I can tell which ones he likes and doesn’t.
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Taylor Lee @ Yuppie Millennial
Depends on what kind of closet solution you want, your handy level, and your existing tools. You can easily DIY a closet for $50 in materials if you feel like you can design and install yourself. Prepackaged systems run from a couple hundred to a thousand dollars. Getting a custom closet designed installed can easily run $1.5k+. These are prices I have seen in our HCOL area, may be less where you are if labor is cheaper.
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sherry@savespendsplurge.com
OK thanks for the tip. I think we may end up doing it ourselves.. We would just need to measure, then tell them what sizes to cut the wood & then put it together.
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We used California Closets when it was time to update some of our reach-in closets at home. They’re a franchise so they may actually have an outlet where you live. I got quotes from independent contractors and we also looked at DIY options.
I went with California Closets because their sales person was quite knowledgeable. My townhouse is 50 years old and the closets are pretty small. He gave us some great, out-of-the-box ideas for maximizing the little space that we had and some of the customizations we put in are not things you’d readily find in Home Depot etc.