Taking Donations to a Thrift Store Without a Car

City life without a car means you have to haul it yourself. This is what I do to take donations to a thrift store. I load up one of my giant IKEA bags. Carry it half a mile to the train in the morning with me. Carry it another half a mile to my school and take it to the nearby thrift store on my lunch break. It's a work out! I'm lucky I work close to a thrift store because I don't have any donation drop off points close enough to my home to walk.

Yes, I've tried calling Salvation army for a pick up, but the first time was a Saturday and I stayed home and waited for a call to come open the back door. They never called, so I called and they said not all drivers have phones but I can leave it outside on the day of a pick up. So, next time I left stuff in the alley with a big sign that it was for Salvation Army. This time they did call and I told them where it was, but only one thing of the four I left was still there. So, now I schlep it on the train one load at a time.

Weekend Street Fair and 2nd Bedroom Sneak Peak

I went to one of Chicago's summer street fairs this past weekend. I just love summer in this city. Each neighborhood will host it's own festival one weekend of summer. This one was in Wicker Park. One of the most memorable things I saw was this beautiful booth. Not only was the handmade jewelry pretty, but the booth itself had a great set up. It has inspired me to make more jewelry!

 I just love the natural stone!

Aqua Jewelry's Etsy

Here's a sneak peak at what's been going on in the second bedroom! (by no means a finished and staged shot) It's still a work in progress. Whenever you reorganize all your clothes, things have to get messier before they get cleaner.

This work surface was created using our two file cabinets and the door to the laundry closet that we have removed. Like many second bedrooms, ours is filled with mismatched furniture. I'm going to be sewing in here this summer, so I need a big clean space. All I did was re-purpose furniture we already had and used some textbooks to even it out. (The grey cabinet is a bit shorter.) This project was free! It also makes the room feel bigger for some reason; I think it's the long white surface that unifies the pieces into one.

Notice the black frames above? That's one of my eco-friendly, DIY, cost saving projects. I had white frames from our wedding and one other, so I painted them black (artist paint and brush, I can't spray paint in Chicago). Then I scanned pictures I had used previously for my "family wall" and sent them to Walgreens to print out black and white. Plus, I ordered a few wedding pictures in black and white as well. Because they were all just 5x7, I went for symmetry, something I've avoided in the past. It took lots of measuring, a little math, and a level to get them up. But now the small frames seem to function as one larger piece. The total cost of this project was free for the frames and only about $8 for the 5x7 BW enlargements.

Space saving, back of the door, laundry system

I used to sort my laundry by darks and lights in 2 hampers. Since I started sharing living space with my husband, that just didn't work space-wise anymore. Moving to one big hamper for myself (we still don't mix our laundry together) resulted in me not doing laundry till I was out of clothes and then taking over an hour just to sort it.

After moving to our new loft, I realized it had gone on long enough. Before, I would haul all my clothes downstairs to the community laundry room and just do everything at once. Now, we have the luxury of an in unit washer and dryer. One big laundry day just wasn't possible anymore.

Hanging anything behind a door is a great space saver that most people know about. I toyed with the idea of making my own bags to hang, but then I saw these pretty colorful oversized shopping bags in the window of TJ Max. I bought simple hooks at Home Depot, and in total I spent under $15 for everything.

 Can you figure out which bag is for what?

The straps were too long, so I pinned them to the shortest length that could still work. I intend to sew them, eventually.

First, I figured placement. Hung the top hook as high as I could and still have the door close. Then, with the bag hanging from it, I placed the lowest hook as low as I could without the bag dragging on the floor. Last, I placed the center bag hook in the middle of the other two.

Just some simple marking, drilling, and screwing.

Now, it's so much easier doing laundry. When a bag is full I just take it to the washer and pop everything in. Done.

Linked Up:

DIY Show Off

Some Progress

Started work on closet. It's a slow process. I had a busy weekend with a 5K.

Before, clothes all over futon and terrible closet

Now I've got the clothes sorted into piles and already have 4 bags of giveaway.

Pick from my first 5K, it rained but I still had a good time.

The List

Inspired by many other bloggers who have posted on this recently, I would like to compile my own list of all I need to get done. I'm throwing a baby shower for my best friend next month, and in August I will have family coming to stay. It will be their first time for seeing our new place and I'd like it to be as put together as possible. Also with my summer vacation coming up, I'm starting to plan out my usual summer project list.

Before Baby Shower:

1. Cull and organize closet. This is a big one. My closet has overflowed to the futon in the second bedroom. I need to downsize and organize my beautiful closet (one of the big selling features for me
2. Finish my big organization of files and stuff in the second bedroom.
3. Make art for bathroom. I was thinking a painting using all the sample paints we decided against (we have 13, they need to be used for something.)
4. Hang light in second bedroom. I have it, just need to do it.
5. Hang hooks somewhere for my husband to hand his jackets. He is currently putting them on hanger hanging off my beautiful entry library shelves. He likes to let them air out.
6. Buy more curtains, figure out the hardware to use, and hang curtains in living area. We've picked out what we want, we just need to figure out how to hang them. When you live in the city (unless it's new construction) it's not always strait forward as to how to get things on the wall.
7. Replace bulbs in tack light. Not an easy task since they are 15 feet up and the only way to get up there is with the shaky wooden latter in the recycle room.
8. Continue mural behind the TV (or this can wait)
9. Plan menu! This is the fun part
10. Plan theme! It's a boy, but I don't want to be the traditional blue, I'm thinking black and white, White Sox theme (she's an avid fan)
11. Make a gift for her
12. Deep Clean

Before August family visit:

1. Buy more lighting
2. Pick out draping fabric for our canopy bed.
3. Paint bathroom
4. Get at least a new towel hanger for the hand towel if not all. (they are all these weird hooks and the hand towel won't stay on.
5. New bathmat
6. Plant an indoor herb garden (This is going to take some research to figure out. I've never had even indoor plants myself)
7.  Paint second bedroom?
8. Hopefully get shades restrung.
9. Maybe find awesome deal on perfect low china cabinet. (a girl can dream)
10. Do something awesome to my bedside table. I'm thinking mirrors!
11. Buy or make behind the couch console/desk table
12. Refinish dining room table and reupholster chairs. (hopefully, I might have to call in an expert for this one)
13. Have best 30th birthday ever!

I think that's everything.