A lot of people ask me how the house is. I usually sigh and say, “It’s okay.”

I try to explain that I like the neighborhood, I like the POTENTIAL of the house, but I don’t love what it is right now.

These past few months, I’ve learned that fixer-uppers can be fun, if you have the money. When I let myself dream, I get excited, but the realities bring me back down to earth. Even the $8,000 we’re getting from the government is going to go fast and not even getting to cross many things off our list.

I mentioned all the work Paul and I put into cleaning up outside. As I stood back and surveyed the areas that look sooo much better now, I realized how much I had let that trash and junk affect my outlook. My discouragement over not having the money to do the big things spilled over into how I took care of the little things. Letting garbage bags collect into the carport seems unimportant, but now that they’re gone the house has greatly increased its appeal to me.

Also, after spending a hard day’s work beautifying something, you can’t help but feel some pride.

I realized that it’s important for me to keep up with the small things in order for our house to feel like a warm and inviting home. When I let those go, it just looks like a cluttered house in need of work. A dirty and disorganized kitchen makes it seem even smaller and less efficient. The opposite hides the lack of a pantry, the size, and the need of updating.

It’s slow going, but I’m trying to tackle some of the projects in the house that only cost my time. I realized that I need to be conscious about simplifying our lives to better fit in the house. It was built for the 1960’s family, and the closer I stick to that lifestyle the better I will make use of the space. It’s an interesting concept to me, and has helped guide my ideas for how to organize and decorate.

Our den has become somewhat of a junk room, so earlier this week while my mom was visiting, we organized it. Some boxes were brought upstairs and put away. Some stuff was placed on newly built shelves in our utility room. Plans were made for how to tackle the rest of the things. It needs to be completely emptied so we can paint and put down carpet.

All this organizing made me feel good, so I continued in other areas of the house. I ran out of time before our guests arrived (my brother-in-law and his girlfriend are visiting), but I feel good about what I did accomplish.

I’m hoping to continue in this vein, working on making our house a home despite limitations in budget. I need to do it, or I’ll just continue to be miserable and discontent. And, I’ll try to take pictures along the way. :-)