Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and this one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. And I always get a bunch of questions about my skin routine. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this
#63: Let’s Talk About Money & How To Spend It Smarter
Who wouldn’t want more money in the ol’ bank account? So we picked a money expert’s brain for the most common places he finds his clients overspending, and for his best tips on making (and sticking to!) an easy household budget – which is definitely the key to saving more each month. Plus we share our not-scary techniques for negotiating with contractors, including how one short sentence has saved us $1500 in the past two weeks. We also dive into the not-so-straightforward process of fixing up our vintage pink stove, and a simple craft idea to keep little hands busy (which is always a good thing). You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn
Labor Day Furniture & Home Decor Sales!
I’m doing that thing where I tell myself I’m writing a post to help you guys find all the best deals but really I’m adding a million things to my own cart and whispering “I should just click buy because everything is such a good deal right now!” So whether this post is truly for me or for you (debatable – can’t we just say BOTH?!), here’s what I’ve found so far: Target has a lot of things that are up to 30% off with an extra 15% off at checkout with the code LABORDAY. These arm chairs at Target are so well rated and look awesome in every room I’ve seen them in (like this
#62: What The New Owners Changed In Our Old Houses
Watching your former homes get altered by their new owners can be tough, and we witnessed a couple of changes that bothered us more than we expected. So this week we’re sharing how we got over those feelings and how to find the silver lining in seeing someone undo your designs. And back at our current house, we took a big step in making our driveway more kid-friendly that was long overdue and surprisingly painless to pull off. We also look at what items you shouldn’t be buying secondhand, why Sherry has been sentenced to more time in “tooth jail,” and how our beach house is having a brush with a true-crime saga. You can
White And Blue Hex Tile Installed At The Beach House
We had another progress-filled week at the beach house thanks to clocking over 40 hours of tiling across four days to finally finish all of the tile (well, almost all of the tile). Just like last week’s super-sized post on trim, doors, and tile, we made a video to show you guys all the good stuff that’s happening over there – including two other not-tile-related milestones. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you might have to click through to the post to see the player. We tiled the floors and shower pans by zooming in and out for two 2-day trips and tackling them together, but we knew knocking out EIGHT shower walls would
#61: How To Conquer Paper Clutter (Once And For All!)
When it comes to paper clutter around the house, the struggle is real. Where does it come from? Is it in the rabbit family, because HOW IS IT MULTIPLYING?! We get it. And this week we’re sharing exactly how we keep it at bay (and exactly where we put everything, from receipts and school papers to bills, party invitations, and coupons). Also, a recent trip to tile at the beach house went less than smoothly, but a bout of good karma saved the day. I also share some psychology behind how to price your items on Craigslist, Sherry drops an easy way to keep frame galleries in order, and – believe it or not –
Beach House Update: Tile, Trim, & Doors!
Compared to the last nine months of gradual progress on our beach house, it feels like things are moving at breakneck speed lately. So this post is one big smorgasbord of updates (but the good kind of smorgasbord, with exotic cheeses and chocolate fondue). Just like I consider this picture of the house’s foyer to be the good kind of messy. I guess practically anything is a good kind of mess compared to the actual mess we had at the start of this project. Memmm-ries…. I know, I know, those two photos don’t look all that different, but what you can’t see is the repaired not-collapsing foundation, the new not-leaking roof, the fresh not-rotting siding,
#60: The Home Edit’s Best Organizing Tips
We’ve been on an organizing bender lately, so we called up pro organizers to the stars (yes, they’ve done Gwyneth Paltrow’s pantry!) and Target’s new home organizing experts: The Home Edit. Clea and Joanna explain how people are sabotaging their own organizing efforts, the right way to shop for baskets and bins, and how to not drive yourself crazy with labels. Also, Sherry shares two new (free!) sources of design inspiration that she has been devouring, John faces the facts about our online shopping habits, and we revisit if it’s really free to use a buyer’s agent when buying a house. You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it
How To Install An Irrigation System
Welp, I’ve found it guys – the DIY project I most regret undertaking: installing an irrigation system in our yard. Don’t be fooled by my friendly wave below. Why? The short answer is that it was much more exhausting and took much longer than I expected. A professional crew could’ve knocked it out in a day or two (I know this because I watched two neighbors get theirs installed in no time while I sweated and stressed through my own installation over a three-week period). Sure, DIY projects almost always take more time and elbow grease than just writing a check – but usually, the satisfaction of doing it yourself, learning a new skill, or saving some dough
#59: The Renovation Rollercoaster That Made Sherry Cry
It’s been a busy few weeks on our beach house renovation and they’ve been… well… less than smooth, to say the least. So this week we’re taking you through the saga of three setbacks that happened pretty much back to back (including a missed deadline, having no water line to our house, and a surprise medical complication). And although we’re keeping it real about renovations not always being easy or straightforward, it all has a happy ending: we survived nearly 20 hours of tiling, and we share the handy gadget that made working in a house with no electricity possible. Also Sherry continues to refuse to be a clean freak, and we spill what it’s
Kids Room Ideas From The Cutest Kids Bookstore Ever
When we were visiting the Bowers this weekend, we shared some fleeting photos of a super adorable kids bookstore on Instagram stories. Then we got a barrage of messages and comments to the tune of: PLEASE DO A POST ABOUT THIS STORE SO IT WON’T BE GONE IN 24 HOURS! So here we are, with those photos (and some more we didn’t share on IG) for anyone who’s looking for some fun kids room ideas. Or adult room ideas. We all LOVED this place so much. It’s in Monroe, Georgia and it’s called The Story Shop – and it’s the cutest bookstore we’ve ever seen. You think I’m exaggerating with that description but in the words of
#58: Why We Stopped Sharing Our Kids Online
When does sharing things about your kids online become oversharing? And how do older kids who have grown up on their parents’ blogs and social media feeds feel about having their childhoods posted for public consumption? You’ve probably noticed we’re much more private about our own kids these days, and in this special episode we’re diving into “sharenting” and the reasons why we’ve decided to scale back. We also talked with four other bloggers (Erin Loechner, Myquillyn Smith, Cassie Freeman, and Joy Cho) about how much is too much to share – and we loved hearing how they find the right balance for their family. It was fascinating to chat with people who all come
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