Where do i start...

so i guess i can take a look at all the things i am currently doing that are considered all natural - cleaning with vinegar and water and baking soda, on and off cleansing my face with olive oil and castor oil; and then i have also been exploring cooking some things from scratch. like pizza dough and crackers. My focus is on eating more fruits and vegetables and cutting down on the processed foods trying to fill my body with more natural ingredients. i like to combine the all natural ways with keeping the costs down.. or if one area saves lots of money i have room to spend more money on other products like organic foods. things i want to work towards in the next few months - making my own laundry detergent, deoderant, and toothpaste; and making my own bread, soup, and pie. recently i am studying to get my food safety handling certificate and i came across reading about food/chemical contamination - having and storing food in the same cupboards as cleaning products.. and i thought to myself, if they use vinegar and water then this wouldn't/couldn't happen. people have been using vinegar to clean with for years and years, how come they can't implement this into businesses? also, when i go to the early years centre i find that they use bleach to sterilize the kids dishes after washing them. i just can't believe this is happening... this should be illegal, instead of policy. bleach is soo bad for us never mind for infants and kids. it just blows my mind. so.. one step at a time... i would like to create a group of women who get together to try homemade products and learn how to make their own homemade products. beginning with face and skin care. focusing on frugal and all-natural. and i think it would be a place where others are encouraged to share their homemade projects and teach others how to make them. everyone needs to reduce their spending habits and reduce the chemicals they put on or in their bodies but its hard to do this when all our advertisements surround us telling us we need this and that hair care product or face cream. we need to step away from this and help eachother to work towards a healthier lifestyle.

hotspot #4 - kitchen pantry and fridge.

so i finished. well, i got the snack/condiment cupboard in order and my fridge. (and since we rent, there isn't much we can do with the fridge.. ) anyways, to be honest i am loving this spring cleaning hotspot project (all of them), but i am having a rough time because of my hands. i have eczema. and it doesnt matter if i wear gloves or not.. well the gloves do help, but they also hurt my hands.. and sometimes i am even usuing my dish gloves to wash the veggies too... (which i am trying to eat more of because of the eczema) and so this part has not been so fun for me.. which i think is partly why i havent finished hotspot 2 or 3 yet. and so now i am starting to eat less breads and dairy and more veggies and fish. ok so enough complaining. here are my before pictures.

and after:

update on the paper clutter and hotspot #3 - kids toys and clothes

so i'm not quite finished with the paper clutter (hotspot#2).. it was definitely a challenge for me and we have lots of paper. so far in 2 sittings i got rid of all the recyclable stuff and i now have a box for shredding .. which had income tax stuff back to 1998.. it was crazy.. but even though i haven't finished hotspot #2, i still feel really good.. so much weight has been lifted..and i now have a better idea of what papers i actually have. and thanks to tsh and some other's i have gotten some really great ideas of how i can store/file the tax papers that i need to keep.. instead of keeping it in a big rubbermaid container (see photo). now keep in mind all this paper clutter that i have gone through is mine only.. (maybe a few of my 2 year old son's papers.. )but really still my husband has so many papers all mixed up everywhere esp in his dresser drawers.. and i would really like to organize it. esp the tax papers.. he really wants to keep everything he has too.. esp the wedding invites or tickets to ireland tours or (i really don't know why) but he wants to still keep a Panasonic video camera Manual. which he doesnt own the video camera and probably never will (its some kind people in the tv industry use.. ) and he really won't let me throw it out.. ahhh! anyways.. this is my husband.. and i will love him either way.. :) so on to the hotspot #3. kids toys and clothes... now to confess, i kinda did this slightly during the week of hotspot #1 but i still have lots to do.. plus i have some toys and clothes stored at my parents and my in-laws.. so it would be great to go through them as well. as for my son helping me purge his stuff.. i really don't think he is at the stage of understanding.. but i can at least get an idea of the toys that he really doesn't enjoy.. I can spend this week cleaning most of his toys and cleaning the containers.. i am planning to reuse kitty litter tubs. they may be slightly small but they are made of plastic and have a lid. so i think it will be better than the current diaper boxes that i use to keep his toys all mixed together in. i will add some photos shortly.

Hotspot #2 - paper clutter...

this is an excellent one for me. we have so much paper clutter all over the place. along with a bunch of receipts that we keep and are supposed to be logging in a book to help us better organize our finances, but we havent done the "logging in to book" stage in a few weeks. we were lucky enough to find a free credit counsellor who can help us out really close to where we live, but they are quite busy, so our next appointment isn't until april 6th. and we had to cancel our last appointment because my husband was sick. ok let me start again: we had our first appointment back in january. it went really well and we were both very motivated and very overwhelmed. i don't think either of us were aware of our debts and how we should be distributing our income. we went home and started this weekly budget-date-night that she recommended for us. i think we did it twice. then our feb appointment was cancelled because this counsellor had quit and moved on. then our appointment at the beginning of march was the one my husband was too sick to go to. so we wait for april. but really we should be getting to the receipts this week.. as it totally falls in synch with the hotspot #2. we also have lots of papers that need shredding AND i really like the idea of scanning or photographing a paper and then getting rid if it too.. so wish me luck.. i will post some pics shortly.

before and after pics for project: simplify. hotspot #1 - my wardrobe

i have attached one link of all the pics to make things more simplified. there are more in my other posts. and please bear with me i am still learning how to use this site.. once i think i got something working it disappears on me.. the clothes on the floor in front of both closets:

Closet #1 - before

Closet #2 - before

Closet #2 - before

Closet #1 - after

closet #2 - after

the garbage bag of clothes i am giving away; along with the boxes

for the most part i am finished...

but i still have a long way to go... and when my husband has some time he will drop the items off at the local charity.. so as you will notice in the pics i have taken closet #1 is now my stuff and even though on the bottom it still looks cluttered at least it is organized so that its all my stuff and my husbands (closet #2) now has all his stuff plus the christmas tree and decorations (to the left)and the fan for the summer. i also condensed my summer clothes - some in drawers and some hanging in the closet and the summers clothes bin is empty. all the clothes are off the floor which feels great being able to walk around my room without tripping on anything. the only thing that i have left to do is find a place for the towels and sheets - they are in a basket in our room right now.

sick toddler and job searching...

its been difficult with my son this past month being so sick.. he went from a cough and runny nose, to a fever, to diarrhea, to an ear infection.. when he is sick (unless he has a fever) he is loud and irritble and continually clingy, which makes it very difficult to get much done, unless i put his favorite movie on (which i am trying to cut down on since he watches it 3 or 4 times a week) and he will stay zoned in for almost the full 2 hours.. so this is what i am gonna plan to do in the next hour while i sort out my clothes... so yeah this week has been very challenging and i was supposed to work yesterday and today but i had trouble getting a daycare lined up.. so i missed out on those shifts.. my to-do list for the day: 1. organize clothes and clean out dresser drawers 2. wash hangers 3. clean mold that is growing in our bedroom window 4. pack bags for sarnia (going to see the in-laws) 5. call daycare provider 6. call potential employer for an interview. so i will be back a little later with some pictures of my progress...