Space where there wasn't

As I mentioned I've been on a little hiatus because we recently moved into a new place. I've been busily working to get it set up and feeling like home. I'm almost there, but one thing that's proven tricky is our lack of space. We moved from a small two bedroom house to a 2 bedroom loft. Where the house had lots of little nooks to hide things, and even a storage unit, the loft has very very little hidey space.

I've been struggling with what to do with my "out of season" clothes. Normally, I'd just pack them up in storage boxes and put them away but the precious storage space we have is now taken up.

After tiring of clothes and shoes piled up in the corner of the bedroom I decided to try out two products that had been wooing me from afar.

They're famous little beasts from the land of late night infomercials: Shoes Under and Space Bag.

I admit, I tried one of the "knock off" Shoes Under from The Container Store to begin with. The plastic was stinky, the zipper kept sticking and it was just a smidgen too tall for under my bed. Disheartened and sweaty from dealing with a sticky zipper and packing and unpacking 12 pairs of shoes I decided to try the real deal.

I picked up Shoes Under from my beloved and I have to say I wish I had done this ages ago. Where the other brand's plastic was stinky and stiff, this one was less stinky and more malleable. The zipper is a sturdy metal one, not a plastic one that catches every few teeth. Best of all, it FIT UNDER MY BED. That's right darlings, my bed now has SHOES UNDER. I bought two and they are perfect for the shoes that I don't wear on a regular basis. I don't have to go dig them out of some far off box if the Mr and I decide to out for a night on the town either! I can spend more time on my hair and less time finding my shoes.

Excited by my journey into "As seen on TV" land I rushed to meet Space Bag. I used to watch in awe the Infomercials that showed a massive pile of blankets and pillows being reduced to mere inches with just a little switch of the vacuum. I always thought it was too good to be true. But hey, Shoes Under hadn't let me down.... maybe Space Bag would be just what I needed.

I returned again to the giver of all things good; Target. There were quite a few Space Bag boxes to choose from and, giddy with thoughts of all the things I could reduce in size, I grabbed the 5 Bag Combo Set. The box contained 2 Medium, 1 Large, 1 XL, and 1 "travel" size bag.

Wait, travel? I hadn't even considered that. Imagine how much lighter I could travel! I could actually fit everything I need for a weekend in a carry-on bag! Space Bag was opening up a whole new world to me and I hadn't even TRIED it yet!

Image Source

Tonight when I came home from work I looked at that tiny box of Space Bags and prayed to the Infomercial gods. I had probably 25 dresses to store, some belts, and a couple of sweaters. A real mish-mash of clothes with no other homes. I have to admit darlings I didn't place the articles in the bag as carefully as I could have. Things were mostly folded but I by no means did a professional job of packing. Quite honestly you probably aren't supposed to pack belts in there but I did anyway. I wanted this stuff out of my way.

It's essentially a giant Ziploc bag. You unzip, stuff, zip and re-zip (to be sure it's airtight). Then you stick the hose end of your vacuum cleaner into the plastic opening, turn it on, and watch things disappear. I actually let out a little excited squeal as I watched the massive pile getting smaller and smaller. If any of you have one of those vacuum food sealers it's a pretty similar set up.

Ooh, and according to Amazon.com you can even get Space Bags in COLORS! Imagine the color coding possibilities there!

That was it. Easy-peasy. I'm happy to report that my giant corner of clothes is now nestled safely under my bed next to my good friend Mr Shoes Under.

Back?

Have you missed me? I have been an absentee Housewife haven't I? I've been so busy with "work" and we just moved to a new house so I haven't had much online time. We're finally all settled in and things are starting to get back to normal so I hope to have more time to post. *blush*

Car Show

Just dropping in to share a pic or two from the 11th Annual Bombshell's Booze, Broads & Hotrods car show. It was a great time. Lots of AMAZING pre 1965 hot rods and pretty gals. :)

Online Cooking?

I'm finally back up and running and trying to get back into the swing of things. I lost a lot of info in the great tech meltdown of 2009 so I'm still trying to get everything back into their right place. I'll resume regular posting soon but I did want to pop in and share this little beauty with you.

Have you checked out The Mixer? It's an online cooking school from Betty Crocker! I just found out about it today and am so excited. It's free and has great instructional videos, recipes, and some places to talk to other students. I'm definitely going to be taking a few classes. What do you think?

Have you embraced technology when it comes to cooking? I spend many hours digging through online cooking blogs and saving recipes that I want to try. I do love having a lovely "old fashioned" recipe book but there's something very easy about bookmarking a recipe, bringing the laptop into the kitchen, and cooking.

I have my staples (Better Homes & Gardens, Betty Crocker, Martha Stewart, All Recipes etc) but my absolute favorite thing about the internet is that it's like one giant cook book. Think about it. It's full of family recipes from so many different times, and from all over the world. It's full of new ideas, and old favorites! If you tried, you couldn't get through every one. Amazing.

I know you are all itching to know my favorite reads so here you go:

I love The Kitchn because it's a great mix of recipes, tips, and reviews.

Pink of Perfection is a total culinary crush for me. Sarah has an amazing way of writing about food and an uncanny knack for coming up with just the perfect recipe!

Smitten Kitchen grabs your right away with the amazing photos. If you can pull your eyes away from them then you'll find out that the recipes are delish!

If you're in a bit of a cooking rut then you should check out Eat Make Read. Kelly tries lots of different things and you'll never get bored!

I have a ton more, and if you like these and would like for me to share more, then just let me know!

Posting issues

I've had a little technical difficulty lately in that my computer has died!
I'll be out of commission for a little while but I wanted to pop in and remind you all to get ready for Spring Cleaning. Hopefully I can be back on here to post some tips soon. In the mean time, use these ladies as inspiration!

Download your Perfect Pantry List

I created this little "Perfect Pantry" list awhile ago and thought you all might enjoy it. It's a great tool for regular grocery planning. Click the picture below to download the pdf. Not sure how to start your own Perfect Pantry? Check out my earlier posting on how to do just that!

Sewing Back in Time

You may remember that I'd been toying with the ideas of truly learning to sew my own clothes. Well about a month ago I started taking classes at a local college and I love it!

Last week as I was heading into class I noticed that they'd changed the display walls and thought you might like to see the gorgeous vintage dresses and patterns they had on display.

Needless to say, it took every ounce of willpower I had not to rip those dresses off of the wall and run away with them! ;-)