Around the House Lately

January and spring are the two times of the year I feel like making home improvements. Last year, I bought a new duvet because my room was cold and lacking color. I’m holding off on purchases this year because of the registry, but I’ve found myself walking around the apartment looking for things to straighten or improve.

I did a closet cleanse two weeks ago. I saw all the summer dresses in the back and got really excited!

In a recent post, I begged for advice for cleaning my shower. After almost two years, I haven’t been able to get the scum out of the corners and cracks and it drives me nuts. I basically gave up, and then it started to accumulate even more. Well, my friend Rachel recommended this bathroom foamer, and although its probably the most un-green cleaner out there, it made my shower pure white!!!! And the best part is that I didn’t even have to scrub (works for toilets without a brush too) – I just sprayed and left it for an hour and when I came back it had worked!! I keep going in my bathroom just to look at the shower:)

There’s not a washer and dryer in my apartment, so doing laundry is a big deal every weekend. Matt and I try to tag team it, but when we finally complete the wash-dry process, we never feel like folding anything. Sometimes the clothes sit beside the couch for days! I’ve been making a point to enjoy laundry-folding by doing it with a good TV show on. It’s kinda working….

I rearranged my bed, to create more space in the bedroom. But, this involved Matt and I switching sides and I’ve slept horribly for the past two nights. You wouldn’t think something like that would make a difference….

Cooking, blah. It seems my desire to be in the kitchen is cyclical throughout the year. I’m currently in a lazy stage. There are so many fantastic recipes out there that I’ve tried and loved, but I just never remember them before my grocery trip. Pasta and red sauce is a staple here for on-your-own nights or when the food runs out. This week, I realized I could put just a tiny but more effort into my pasta to spice it up. I just added a chopped chicken sausage, grated cheese, and baked in the oven and it was much more interesting than the usual with minimal effort.

And lastly, I’ve tackled my receipts. How do you guys organize yours? I can never quite figure out a system that works, but I’m trying to only save receipts for things I might return. I hold on to the others for a month or so until purchases clear the bank and then rip them up. I moved the long-term storage to this new file thingy.

So that’s what I’ve been doing around the house lately:)