Category: Lifestyle

Currently Inspired By: Homesteading

On September 2, 2020

The first thought I had once the lock-down began in March was a joking, “better start a Victory Garden, I guess!” I assumed the shelter-in-place orders would actually only be for the specified three weeks. I didn’t have any idea how true this thought was. Over the next days and weeks, I quickly learned I couldn’t be more wrong. We’re almost six months in to stay-at-home mandates and there’s no end in sight, a lot of people have done just that–modern day Victory Gardens have sprung up all over the place and homesteads are having a new heyday! I am currently very inspired by the homesteading trend, and am hoping to start homesteading myself!

A shovel in the dirt surrounded by sprouts

Since we became homeowners several months ago, we’ve been thinking about what to do with the 2.4 acres it’s on. Currently, there are a few fruit trees (not thriving mind you), some 6 pine trees that line the road, 4 sago palms on our driveway, and 4 rosebushes in the front, along with three rows for grapevines that were torn out before we bought the house (the horror!) Thankfully we have a few “volunteer” grape plants returning. I would be very happy for them never to have been torn out in the first place.

Our Current Situation

In the back, there’s an acre and a half of oat grass and weeds, along with our well & 3000 gallon tank, a couple old structures, a small backyard area, an old chicken run, and two storage sheds. We have a lot of goals for the area in terms of our future homesteading needs.

The front of the property slopes down towards the street. We are thinking of doing most of our gardening down the front of that hill. That way, drip irrigation can work better through gravity. It would also allow us to keep animals in the back without worrying about them getting into our food source. Currently we have about half an acre fenced off for our horse, Sassy. That’s only a temporary solution until I can move our fence forwards quite a bit to give her more space. I am hoping she will have 0.75-1 acre to hang out in.

This is goals right here! My mom is able to grow all these things in her garden, so I am going to have to have her lend her green thumb to me.

The Dream

I am hoping to build up to growing all the vegetables we need. This includes special veggies for our bearded dragon and extra carrots for miss Sassy (the horse!) Probably for the first few years I will focus on staples, like lettuces, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, etc. In the future I’d like to branch out into more exotic produce. I already have several tomato plants and some herbs growing this year, but unfortunately we moved a little late in the growing season to get much more than that started. (We’re pretty busy remodeling our home interior this year, so I am hoping to be done with the initial portion in the next few months so we can start focusing on the outside of the house!) I wish I had been able to begin more homesteading efforts this year, but for now I am in the research phase.

New Animal Arrivals

Since there’s already a little chicken run in the yard, I’ve been craving chicks every trip to the feed store. I know it’s best to wait until we’re a little more settled in. We’re still adjusting to life in a new place. We adopted a new puppy and a new horse friend, and we are still getting used to life with them. And of course, we also have entirely new situations happening all around us due to the global situation. Waiting until next spring to get chicks will be better for us, and for them. I’m incredibly excited for fresh eggs, though! Southern Revival’s Fancy Farmhouse DIY Chicken Coop has inspired me to build them an even more lux situation when I have the chance.

John also wants to get goats. I think it’s mostly so he doesn’t have to mow as much, but I’m a big fan of that idea! We have no plans to milk them or raise meat goats for now. I am okay with buying those things at the store for the time being, but I am excited just to have them!

I’m super excited to see where this new journey takes us!

Laundry Room Renovation (Part 1): From Nightmare to Peace

By Gwenith J.

On July 31, 2020

In Home, Lifestyle, Renovation

When we toured our new home during its open house, we loved the land, the space, and the potential. One thing we didn’t love? The design choices of the previous tenants. I’m not talking about dated furniture or weird light fixtures–I’m talking about chartreuse, crimson, and royal blue walls. Thankfully, the sellers had painted over some of these interesting choices from the original owners. (The sellers only lived in the home 6 months before we bought it.) Oh, boy, though, was one particular room a nightmare. The laundry room was in desparate need of renovation. Imagine ugly linoleum paired with just the most awful shade of green/chartreuse walls possible… it made me and my husband feel anxious to be in there. In fact, you don’t have to imagine, you can see it….

From the machines toward the garage door, dining area, and mini closet.

This room got to be our first to tackle, because my sweet mother-in-law let us know that she had ordered us a washer and dryer set as a housewarming gift. In her usual style, she goes totally overboard on giving gifts, which is incredibly kind. They were getting delivered a couple weeks after we moved in. That meant we had to move fast to update this room before they arrived. We pretty much started on the laundry room renovation the day we moved in.

The Beginnings

First things first, we pulled up the baseboards. We wanted to make sure to remove them carefully in order to keep them intact. First, we sliced along the top using utility knives to detach the layer of paint holding them to the wall. Then we used our Dasco Pro prybars in order to pull them away from the wall. Finally, we needed a hammer and crowbar to fully detach them.

We then pulled up the two door kick plates on the doors to the garage and back yard. Then, we removed the door to the tiny closet in the corner. (We decided to use that as a pet supplies/cleaning supplies closet with a kitty door at the bottom, and put the litter box at the bottom.) Floor scrapers like this one helped us pull up all the vinyl flooring without much hassle, and then we headed to the store to pick out tiles and paint.

We decided on the paint immediately above the tile in this picture, Valspar Snowy Dusk.

The Renovation

Once we picked out our tile, Della Torre Annabelle Grey, and our paint, Valspar Snowy Dusk (which we will also be using in both bathrooms), we started painting that night. We painted until 2 am in order to start tiling in the morning. Our neighbor used to work installing floors, so he helped us quite a bit. He showed us how to mix thinset (MAPEI Ceramic), cut the tiles (we rented a wet saw from Home Depot Rentals), and make sure they are spaced and leveled correctly (using TAVY 1/8 inch spacers). We’re super grateful for his help!

Inspector Willow checks out our work during the dry layout of the tiles, after paint had dried.

Finally, we grouted the tile with MAPEI Keracolor sanded grout after it had set for 24 hours. Costco delivered our awesome machines a couple days later! I don’t have any pictures of the room with the machines in it yet, unfortunately. (Currently it is full of laundry and an absolute disaster!) I am going to make a second post soon to update y’all. I plan on building a laundry basket shelf, a counter over the machines, and a freestanding pantry in the room within the next few weeks. Stay tuned for the next phase of our laundry room renovation!

The Results!

This was taken as the thinset was drying, with the spacers/levelers still in place.

My husband & me standing in front of our new home!

A New Adventure: Homeownership!

By Gwenith J.

On July 30, 2020

In Home, Lifestyle

About three months ago, John and I took the dive and bought our first home! I meant to make a post about it long ago but I (as I think most people do) underestimated how much time new homeownership and that adjustment takes. After a far too long search (I swear we saw a few dozen homes, between showings, open houses, and model homes) we were exhausted and near the end of our rope. We had made offers on another home we loved, and lost it, and tried to make offers on other homes that were then snatched out from under us. Maybe I’ll make a full post about the search process in the future. Finally, we found our home on March 14, made an offer that was accepted the next day, and then everything hit the fan with the COVID-19 pandemic on the 16th. Our interest rate spiked massively and we were worried that we would lose yet another house we loved–but God came through (as He does), as this was His plan for us.

We are so grateful to finally have a home! Everything was getting so cramped in our little one-bedroom apartment, and we had reached a point where we were just moving our excess stuff from room to room, depending on which space we needed to use at the time. (Not having to compete for parking spots is also a blessing.) Escrow closed on April 20, and we spent the next month and a half moving in. This last month we’ve finally settled in enough to start doing renovations! The house has great bones, but was built ing 1996 (the year we were born!) and not updated since then.

So far, we’ve repainted the lime green laundry room, retiled it, got new machines, and created a makeshift pantry. A post on that whole process is to follow. Currently, the plan is to build a laundry basket shelf on the right side of the machines, a counter on top, and a cabinet pantry on the left side. We have one long 12′ by 6′ room that serves as the walk-through from the house to the garage, an exit to the outdoors, the laundry room, and the pantry. There was a tiny closet in the corner by the back door that was used as the pantry by the previous homeowners, but we cut a hole in the door, installed a cat door, and put the litterbox on the bottom level. The upper shelves are being used to store cleaning supplies, pet supplies, and other things that won’t be sullied by the smell of the litter box.

Our current project is the guest bathroom. One of the previous owners was handicapped, so they had cut the back off the guest bedroom closet. We’re in the midst of putting the wall back in, changing out the 90’s vanity for a new one (that actually has storage space!) and updating the bathroom in general. We’ve got a lot to do in the bathroom and the house in general, but it’s coming along!

all of the products from an order from Grove Collaborative

Grove Collaborative First Impressions & Mini-Review

By Gwenith J.

On February 16, 2020

In Cleaning, Eco-Friendly, Home, Reviews, Subscriptions

Disclaimer: I purchased all these items on my own, no items were sent to me for free for review. Any free items received were as a result of a company promotion, not sent to me in order to post. All opinions are my own. Some links in this post may be affiliate links, please read our affiliate disclosure for full details. Any prices listed below were accurate as of the time of posting.

What is something you hear about constantly but have never actually tried out? If your social media habits are similar to mine, you’ve probably seen a LOT of ads for Grove Collaborative. In the middle of podcasts, on sponsored videos on my Facebook feed, and in banner ads galore, I haven’t heard the end of Grove Collaborative for the last year or so.

To be honest, I was both annoyed and intrigued by the commercials. I wrote Grove off in my mind as having cool products, but as probably overpriced and unnecessarily chemophobic. So for a year, I ignored it. Recently, I’ve been thinking more about my impact on the environment. I decided to research some more reusable products/eco-friendly companies to buy from. Lo and behold, who should pop up but Grove Collaborative? I decided to try them out.

I ordered my first order on Monday the 10th of February. They arrived incredibly promptly on the morning of Wednesday the 12th. I only have had the products for a couple days now, but I wanted to share my first impressions & some mini-reviews of the products I received.

First off, my haul:

Mrs. Meyer’s Hand Soap in Lemon Verbena (free with the 5-piece starter set)
Mrs. Meyer’s Dish Soap in Lemon Verbena (free with the 5-piece starter set)
Mrs. Meyer’s Multi-Purpose Cleaner in Lemon Verbena (free with the 5-piece starter set)
Grove Collaborative 2-piece Walnut Scrubber Set (free with the 5-piece starter set)
Grove Collaborative Bubble Up Dish Soap Dispenser & Brush Set (free with the 5-piece starter set)
Grove Collaborative Glass Spray Bottle & Glass Concentrate (free with a $19.95 purchase)
Grove Collaborative Modern Stoneware Tray (free with a $39 order)
Seedling by Grove Jumbo Tree-Free Paper Towels ($3.45 for 2, or $1.73 each)
Seedling by Grove 3-Ply Jumbo Roll Tree-Free Toilet Paper ($3.95 for 4, or $0.99 each)
Grove Collaborative Reusable Snack Bag, Blue Pattern ($5.95 for 2, or $2.98 each)
Grove Collaborative Shower & Tub Cleaning Kit (paid $21.99, $32.14 value)
- Grove Collaborative Grunge Buster Grout & Tile Brush (individually $6.95)
- Grove Collaborative Tub & Tile Cleaning Concentrate (individually $6.95)
- Grove Collaborative Glass Spray Bottle with Silicone Sleeve, Periwinkle (individually $14.95)
- Method Daily Shower Spray (individually $3.29)
Full Circle Tater Mate Potato Brush with Eye Remover, Green ($5.99)

In total (with tax), I paid $44.84. Shipping was free with a 60-day free trial of Grove’s VIP membership. You do not need a membership in order to use the site. The VIP membership opens up free shipping, the option to ship immediately, free gifts with purchases, and Grove’s price matching ability. (Full disclosure: I have emailed Grove about a price match for the E-Cloth Microfiber Mop, which I found on Zulily for $23.99 and is listed on Grove for $39.99. So far I have not heard back, but it has been less than 24 hours. Because of this, I cannot review or vouch for the quality of Grove’s price matching. I will update this post with further details once I hear more.)

All of the items I received — This is my whole order (minus the walnut scrubber sponges, which I accidentally left in the house when I took these pictures)

Below is a screenshot of my order:

So far, I am enjoying the products! Here are some mini-reviews for the products I’ve used so far:

Mrs. Meyer’s Hand Soap, Dish Soap, and Multi-Purpose Cleaner in Lemon Verbena–I love the scent! I have been using Mrs. Meyer’s products for years, but had been all out for awhile, so I am glad to be able to restock. They are very good quality. The Multi-Purpose cleaner is great at getting daily dirt & grime off surfaces. However, I have noticed it does not perform as well as heavier-duty cleaners on harder things to clean. Our bath/shower combo or the kitchen range are both not fully clean after just using this.
Grove Collaborative 2-piece Walnut Scrubber Set–These arrived slightly damp, which was odd, with a noticeable scent. They’re definitely not scrubby enough to get really burnt or caked-on messes off of my cookware/dishes. (See: the nightmare of a time I am having trying to clean my cast iron pan that has burnt-on remains from searing some steaks) They are doing well so far for everyday dish cleaning. They did get some of the residue from Western Potato Rounds (my husband’s favorite side dish to make) off of my sheet pans though, which is usually a nightmare.
Grove Collaborative Bubble Up Dish Soap Dispenser & Brush Set–I am in the midst of house hunting and trying to move, so I took this out of the box & admired it, but packed it back up. I plan to use it in my new kitchen, once we move. (Full disclosure: Full Circle sells the Bubble Up Dish Soap Dispenser & Brush without the Grove brand for cheaper prices elsewhere. I have found it on Amazon for less than $10, and at Sur La Table for $13. I got it for free with this order, however, so it was definitely a good deal!)
Modern Stoneware Tray–The same goes for this as the Bubble Up set–we definitely plan on using it in our new place (provided we find a new place), but there is just no room for either in our current tiny kitchen setup.
Grove Collaborative Glass Spray Bottle & Glass Concentrate, Orange & Rosemary–I tested this head to head against Windex and can’t notice a difference, other than the fact that the Grove brand one smells a lot more fresh & better in general. I have a huge amount of Windex in my house right now (my husband’s old roommates moved out & left two 2-liter jugs of Windex behind), but once I use all of that, I will most likely switch over to the Grove concentrate! I never thought about it before, but the reason they send concentrates instead of pre-mixed formula is to save the weight of the water being shipped. This keeps the cost of fuel & shipping lower, and it’s super easy to mix up at home! I also hear they have a recycling program for the tubes of concentrate and will send you a prepaid return envelope if you request it. I haven’t tried this out yet, but I plan to!
Seedling by Grove Jumbo Tree-Free Paper Towels–I used these when I tested Windex vs the Grove Window Cleaner head to head. I also used my Member’s Mark (Sam’s Club house brand) paper towels with them, side by side. In both the tests with Windex and the Grove brand cleaner, the Seedling towels cleaned better & left less linty residue on the window. They are not as good as picking up spills as the Member’s Mark brand, though, and tend to not rip off the roll well (if you just grab & tear, rather than pulling down carefully, they tend to rip off in chunks.) I do not plan on buying these again, as I am planning on moving to non-disposable options altogether–microfiber towels, bar mop towels, etc.
Seedling by Grove 3-Ply Jumbo Roll Tree-Free Toilet Paper–my husband says these are fine in his mind, but I will NOT be buying them again, unless they are changed. They are textured on one side and “flat” on the other and (TMI or not)… they just feel WEIRD. Not a fan. I am trying to move towards toilet paper made with post-consumer paper, though.
Grove Collaborative Reusable Snack Bag, Blue Pattern–I am disappointed that I don’t see anywhere that these are freezer-safe, but they didn’t advertise themselves to be, so I won’t knock the product for it. I wouldn’t put anything wet or oily in them as they need to be hand washed, but these are great for dry snacks like nuts and crackers. In general, I have been trying to use less bags and more reusable plastic/glass containers when packing lunches/snacks, however, because they’re less likely to be crushed. I continue my search for reusable freezer bags, though.
Grove Collaborative Grunge Buster Grout & Tile Brush–This is very thin, and fits into the INCREDIBLY ANNOYING gap between my tub & the vinyl walls of our shower enclosure. This gap is the bane of my existence. I do not understand why, if you would wrap a tub and shower enclosure in vinyl, you would leave a half inch gap between the walls and the tub. This gap CONSTANTLY gets filled with water that does not dry or drain, so it is Mildew Metropolis in there. I shudder to think of what the apartment walls are like behind that, but hopefully it will soon no longer be our problem. Anywhoo, we try to clean it as much as possible, and this thin brush will hopefully help us out some (there’s no solving the issue, unfortunately.
Grove Collaborative Glass Spray Bottle with Silicone Sleeve, Periwinkle, and Tub & Tile Cleaning Concentrate, Lavender–LOVE the scent of this, and the bottle is so cute. I have yet to do a head to head comparison of this vs. my usual tub cleaner, but I will update this post when I do.
Method Daily Shower Spray–I’ve been wanting this for a while so it was so great to get it in this set! It won’t help with the aforementioned Tub Gap Of Doom, but definitely makes my bathroom & tub area smell and look cleaner when I’ve used it these last few days!
Full Circle Tater Mate Potato Brush with Eye Remover, Green–I have been eyeing this for years and never pulled the trigger. Literally! It has been sitting in my Amazon wish list for a very, very long time. As I mentioned earlier, my husband LOVES making Western Potato Rounds (and lots of potato dishes), but he drives me INSANE by using a spoon to scoop out the eyes of the potato and basically losing like 20% of the potato in the process. I am hoping the eye remover side of this cute little brush solves this problem once and for all.

The tree-free paper towels, reusable bags, stoneware tray, bubble up brush, Tater Mate, and Mrs. Meyer’s soaps

Bathroom Items from Grove Collaborative — The bathroom items I bought & received: tree-free toilet paper, glass cleaner, tub and tile cleaner, multipurpose cleaner, grout brush, and daily shower spray

Things I plan on buying in the future:

E-Cloth Deep Clean Swivel Mop
Grove Collaborate Floor Cleaning Concentrate Set & All Purpose Cleaning Concentrate Set (both come with 2 tubes of concentrate and a corresponding glass spray bottle)
(Possibly) Grove Collaborative Daily Shower Cleaning Set–we’re going to see how well the Method brand performs over a long period of time, but I do like that the Grove brand ones come as concentrates to save the cost of shipping the water. I might try this one out if I’m not totally happy with the Method brand bottle over the long term.
Grove Collaborative Replaceable Head Dish Brush
Grove Collaborative Universal Wand + different heads (the Glassware Cleaning Head and the Bottle Brush specifically)
Grove Collaborative Sink Caddy
Real Simple Clean Cutting Board Oil
Method Heavy Duty Degreaser
Alba Botanica AcneDote Face & Body Scrub (I’ve bought this before from TJ Maxx and LOVED it)
BullDog Skincare for Men Face Wash (for my husband)

Things I don’t plan on buying from them:

Glass Hand Soap Dispenser or Foaming Hand Soap Dispenser. If either comes in a package deal free with something else, I will definitely get them. For the listed prices, though, I can find 2 packs of even bigger glass hand soap bottles/foaming hand soap bottles on Amazon. The ones on Grove are their proprietary brand, so they do not apply for the price match.
Grove brand Microfiber Cloths–they are around $4 per cloth. I can find comparable quality ones on Amazon for about $1 per cloth. (There are ones on Amazon that are quite a bit cheaper than that, as low as $0.35 per cloth. The cheap ones on Amazon are of lower quality–everything depends on what you’re looking for, though!) The E-Cloth brand is a different matter, however; if I am looking for specifically E-Cloth products (like the E-Cloth microfiber mop, which comes highly recommended) I would buy them on Grove with the price match.
Wool Dryer Balls–I had an existential crisis the other night when I realized I was staying up late watching dryer ball reviews. I clearly have made it to the boring point of adulthood. However, I did learn what I should be paying for wool dryer balls, and $6 is not it. I found a set of 6 on Amazon (the Woolzies brand) for the same price ($17.95) as the set of 3 on Grove. (And, if you were wondering, the dryer ball reviews came up inconclusive. I am going to buy both wool and rubber dryer balls and see which ones produce the best results.)

Free 5 Piece Starter Kit & Tray — This is the free 5-piece starter kit and the Stoneware Tray (minus the walnut scrubber sponges which I forgot to include in the picture)

The deal:

For a free trial of the VIP Membership & a starter kit, click here.

Two Starbucks Frappucinos sitting on a ledge

Starbucks Summer Game 2019: Match Two!

By Gwenith J.

On May 29, 2019

In Deals

Starbucks has released its new summer game, and this time it’s called Starbucks Match Two! This time we have the opportunity to win (earn?) up to 300 stars. These can be redeemed for free drinks, food, or merchandise based on the new Starbucks Rewards structure. You’ll get 5 stars per challenge completed and bonus stars when you match two of the playing pieces. There are twelve pieces for a total of 6 matches. I checked out the challenges this morning when I got the email. I think I’ve figured out a strategy for filling up the whole board in only four visits! I’ll explain my strategy at the end of this post, I hope it’s helpful!

My Current Trader Joe’s Top 15

By Gwenith J.

On April 30, 2019

In Budgeting, Personal

Trader Joe’s is by far my favorite grocery store. Growing up, I had several friends whose parents shopped exclusively at Trader Joe’s and I LOVED going to their houses for all the fun snacks they had. I thought that because they shopped at Trader Joe’s that must mean they were rich–I always had the conception that it was a crazy expensive store. My family started shopping there a little when I was in high school, but I really didn’t start my love affair with it until college. In college, I realized it was the place where I could get the most easy meals the most affordably, and when I needed snacks, who was there for me? Trader Joe’s! Anyone who came to the Bible studies I led in college can attest to the tastiness of the Trader Joe’s snacks I would bring every week.

Anyways, I was thinking about all the great products I love the other night and listing off my “must-have” Trader Joe’s items and I thought I would share them with y’all!

Creating a Cleaning Routine that Works

By Gwenith J.

On April 29, 2019

In Home Organization, Organization

If you’ve been living on your own (or basically anywhere outside of your childhood home) for a while now, you might have figured out that cleaning without someone telling you to do it can be quite difficult sometimes. I did, at least. I feel like there are two sides to me–the side that wants everything clean all the time and the side that gets home from work and sits down with the idea of cleaning so far from my mind it might as well be nonexistent. There’s a disconnect in my desire to have a clean place and my exhaustion after working two jobs. Because of that, I’ve had to learn how to create a cleaning routine that actually WORKS, and doesn’t end me either in a pigsty of a home or a permanently exhausted pigeon (more than I already am, at least).