My Frugal Life: The Great Room Swap of 2011

When I moved in, I had a storage unit I could manage and it made life a little less crowded, if not less convenient. Then outflow increased and income did not, and I gave up the unit. My mom used to (more colorfully) say that someone was trying to put 3 lbs. of "poop" in a 2 lb. bag. That was me. When the unit was 10x10 feet, your apartment is not big enough for that much extra stuff. Plus, now the bedroom was not only the bedroom and office, but a craft room. Yeah, it was shades of madness in pretty purples and greens!

Something had to change. So, since I have plans to do a lot more on my computer in 2012, I decided to make the living and dining area into the craft room and office. I don't entertain that much and can't put more than 2 other people in here without bumping elbows, so why not? The cat still gets to look out the window everyday and I actually have a little room. Wonder how I did it? Well, sit back and enjoy - or be warned, I am not sure which!

Since I didn't have a way to set things out of the way when I needed to move things out, it took almost two months. I can only do so much per day with my disabilities. I promised myself that I would work for 40 minutes and rest for 20, and each day not work more than 8 hours. I offset that rule by working my tail off for a day or two then taking one off. This was not the promise, but what drove me was the need to stop walking over boxes and the fact that I couldn't make anything until it was done.

So, the first thing I had to do was move the furniture that was in the living room to the bedroom. I had shelving in there that I had to move out first, so you can see where this is going. Swapping stuff when you would literally have to set things outside to get anything done is never fun. I sold one chair, left the bed in the bedroom, but had to swap the TV/DVR and the computer, printer, entertainment center and desks literally piece by piece.

The white wicker cabinet came out here, the rocker went in there. I gutted the closet, hung the clothes back up and literally put everything that wasn't going to fit on my walls or shelves in boxes and stacked them on one side of the closet. I have a small three drawer unit in there that has a few clothes and the rest is yarn. All the yarn (more susceptible to cat hair) that I can't fit in the new craft room is in that closet, as you can see. There are boxes of yarn under the clothes you can't even see.

With the white plastic shelving assembled, they went up really fast. Then, finding the right tubs and crafts to fit in them was easy. I shop at the local "As Is" store, so getting things by the pound is a great way to shop.

The white folding tables are perfect, as they fold down when you don't need them. I had one fold up table for stereo, stationary, and a desk top calendar to keep my life organized. That is where I now start the day with drink of choice and make sure I am still on point. The other, which I use for a work table for gluing, painting, and all smaller projects, I got in an abandoned apartment, along with my sewing machine, two lamps, a boom box with cassette and CD player, an office chair and two smaller shelf units.

Sometimes you can find clear shoe boxes for $.25 each and they stack with a groove in the bottom that fits the groove in the tops so they "interlock". I use the zippered bedding bags as much as I can, as it's "Cornelius" proof, I can see into it and it's light weight.

My shoe rack that is now for yardage was just $1.00. The two filing cabinets were $5.00 each, and the sewing table is the hot water heater door (submitted earlier). I use every single available space. Even the cat's "perch" is a tub of yarn with a glass door from a junked out entertainment center. If he slides off his blanket, he can see the yarn but can't get to it. So my room often has free entertainment as well!

I left most of the pretty scenery puzzles and posters so I could be inspired by beautiful things. It's also to remind me that if I am lucky, I will make enough to get my RV and travel to some of those places again and some for the first time.

As you will see by the before and after photos, this project was a challenge. Every night when I had to walk a path to the bedroom, I kept saying "this is only temporary". Now I have my Etsy store and am making things every day, so it was all worth it.

Some of you might wonder why it's a frugal essay. Well, the entire process took me just $15.00 to do and considering that was two file cabinets, a shoe rack, shoe boxes, and extension cords - that's not too shabby!

By Sandi from Salem, OR

Related: Organizing Craft Supplies