September Acres

I spent too many years in retail to ever want to spend the Friday after Thanksgiving shopping.  All that traffic and pushing and waiting in line is great for retailers but not for me.  I actually went to W@lmart one Black Friday about 15 years ago.  I figured I'd zip in at 5 am, pick up the vacuum and TV and be back at home before my husband woke up.  This was before the days of being open on Thanksgiving day and even at 5 am, the store was packed.   Packed with mean, pushy, cart ramming shoppers.  I picked up the two things I came for as fast as I could (which wasn't all that fast) and vowed never to do that again.  Never.  Ever. These days my Black Fridays are more relaxing and fun.  If you're looking for something to do this year besides hitting the mall, consider one of these activities: Put up your Christmas Tree.   This can be a fun family event and if you have relatives in town you even get some extra help!  Tak...

As the year comes to an end, I always like to look back to see what I worked on over the year and what themes or ideas were popular here at September Acres.  I love reading year in review type posts and there are a ton of them out there right now.  I hope you will enjoy reading (or re-reading) my most popular posts from this past year. 31 Days of Organization-Day 1 - This is where the series starts.  It has links to all of the posts for the month (a few of them are also on the top 12 list). Home Management Notebook - Also part of the 31 Days series.  The notebook has been such a useful tool for me. DVD/CD Storage - Even with MP3 players and the like DVD & CD storage can be a bear.  This solution really helped keep our home looking a bit neater.  This was also part of the 31 Days Series. Organizing Basics - Yet another in the organizing series.   Key Lime Bar Recipe - We spent a week organizing our kitchens and I loved taking a break t...

I have a confession:  I loathe 'dollar stores'.  As luck would have it, I believe we live in the town with the most dollar stores per capita.  We have a Dollar Tree, Dollar General, TWO Family Dollar's and a 99 cents only (where everything is really $1) in a town of about 50,000.  That's 1 dollar store for every 10,000 residents if you're into statistics. Dollar stores are big business.  In 2011 Family Dollar stores reported net sales of $8.55 billion.  Dollar General's 2011 FY sales were $14.81 billion.  That's a lot of stuff! Dollar General positions itself in rural areas, some of which are too small for a Walmart, which makes it the go-to store for all things bargain-y. Dollar stores have even made it into the blogosphere.  Blogs like  Dollar Store Crafts , & Dollar Store Mom  feature really neat crafts using supplies from dollar stores.  Many are kid friendly which I know I like.  Many of the crafts are so ama...

I love kitchen gadgets.  I think most people do. I have been known to buy too many.  I bet a lot of you have, too.  Lots of have to have, trend of the moment type of things ( salad shooter, anyone?)  Things we really don't need . When space is at a premium in the kitchen I always check the gadget drawer and see if I've acquired anything that I'm not using regularly, then I toss it.  I remember seeing Peter Walsh on Oprah once and he said to take all your gadgets out of the drawers and put them in a box.  Keep everything in the box for a month and as you need something take it out of the box.  Once you're done with it and have washed it, put it back in the drawer.  Anything left in the box at the end of the month can be donated.  It means you really don't need it.  A month might be too small of a time frame so you can adjust that.  You won't want a box on your counter for much longer than that! I started thinking about ...

I try to be nice. I REALLY do! It seems that I have a short fuse for incompetent (for lack of a better word) sales clerks at stores that start with a K. Today LM had early release from school so we went shopping for a birthday gift for the party she is going to on Saturday. We found the gift, card and a few other can't live without things for home and headed to the register. I am notorious for getting in the wrong line. I picked a line with one lady in it. Thought that was safe. Well, not really. The clerk proceeded to chat away with the customer (I believe there is a fine line between being nice and chatting too much) in front of me then finally gave her a receipt. The paper was all curled up like ribbon on a gift and the clerk said 'oh, I hope I don't run out of tape.' I should have bolted then. Now, anyone who has worked with cash register tape (for that matter, anyone who has shopped) knows that the tape will turn a color (usually red) on the edges well bef...