money Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Slipcovers by Shelley

Cream velvet dining chairs

January 8, 2016 by Shelley

Turned these bedroom chairs in to Cream Velvet dining chairs. Harker Design commissioned these chairs for one of their clients. They took a set of existing bedroom chairs of the clients and turned them into host/hostess chairs for the dining table. Since the client is located out of state, I didn’t get to see them finished in the dining room. I bet they looked stunning though.

BEFORE–Here were the drawings they sent me of what they wanted. Baseball stitch, ties, and waterfall skirt to change up the whole look.

BEFORE

AFTER–I prewashed the velvet since they would be in dining room–that way they can be washed.

Since the velvet was too thick to make ties–they decided to go for a deconstructed look. I serged two layers together face out–so the ties wouldn’t be too bulky.

No piping–just topstitch

I pieced the inside back to create the X back they wanted and opened up the seam and stitched on both sides.

SIDE NOTES–

I’ve been mulling over different goals for the year, and haven’t really nailed any down specifically. My overall thoughts were just trying to figure out what my dream is. Everyone has a different dream, half the battle is figuring out what your’s is. It’s kind of my new saying– you know when your house is trashed, and the kids are fighting…”Living the dream, baby…living the dream!”

Lots of times, it’s just making things happen and writing them down on your to do list. What gets you excited? Is there something new you want to learn? What things do you want to make happen this year??

My Ultimate dream–own 5 BYU housing condos that are paid for which create passive income ($42,000/yr after expenses), so I don’t have to work as hard, and can take more trips. We bought our first BYU condo last February and are on a 3 year plan to pay it off. Once it’s paid for it’ll be an income stream. Then I’d just have to do that 4 more times. Which sounds a bit exhausting to me right now–so maybe 3 BYU condos?? I guess just take it one condo at a time.

My biggest inspiration was finding the AFFORD ANYTHING BLOG, I was completely enthralled reading her posts. At this point we already had one condo, but after reading her site and doing some math–I decided I wanted 5. Dream big, right? I already look at local real estate monthly…so it’s what I get excited about. Plus I love projects and decorating.

What’s your dream?? I really want to know…post in comments. I love hearing what other peoples goals and dreams are.

One bucket list thing I put on my to do list for this year is to hit up the longest yardsale on Hwy 127 from Alabama to Michigan. Aug 4-7!

Christmas Isn’t an Excuse for a Free for All

November 23, 2015 by Shelley

Ok–I’ve been called a scrooge in the past, because I don’t enjoy the commercialization of Christmas. Here are my thoughts on the whole Christmas thing…Heber and I haven’t bought gifts for each other for years–In the early years of our marriage we just did stalkings for each other, now we forego all gifts and go on a couples trip every January together instead. I’d rather put $ into making memories than filling up our house with more stuff.

Christmas isn’t an excuse for a free for all! Just because it’s Christmas, doesn’t mean you should spend $ you DON’T have on gifts.

If you don’t have much $ and are feeling pressure to put gifts on credit cards, because you feel obligated. This is WRONG! It is not a NEED to give gifts! No one wants you to go into debt to give them a gift they didn’t know they needed or even wanted. To be honest in years past, we have bought the kids random trinkets and gifts and they always end up lost/broken by the end of January–we should’ve saved our $!

Just because it’s Christmas, doesn’t mean we are entitled to buying more stuff! Somehow the following answer is always accepted, “Oh, we are getting that for Christmas”–like that makes the $ magically appear that you didn’t have. We need to change this upcoming generation to be more grateful than entitled. Ask them, “What are you giving for Christmas?” instead of “What do you want for Christmas?”

How many times have people asked you what you want for Christmas or a birthday? And you answer “nothing” because you really don’t NEED anything. Why are we all scurrying around buying stuff that isn’t needed or wanted?

I am not saying to cancel Christmas, just be more creative/frugal in the gift giving. Our kids don’t need $500 worth of stuff each to feel the Christmas spirit. “If you can’t find the Christmas spirit in your heart, you aren’t going to find it under the tree” said one of my son’s friends. Here are some of my favorite ideas for Christmas.

–Free Christmas-Name of the game for the whole family, $0 gifts. It’s a fun game. Find stuff you have and “gift” it. Maybe it’s a jewelry box you’ve had kicking around that you don’t super love, but you know your niece would LOVE it. Maybe it’s an old soccer jersey that you wore a ton and have outgrown, but know it would be your younger brothers new prized possession if you gave it to him.

–Homemade Christmas–I love making/receiving homemade gifts, I always feel like they mean more. Baked goods, sew a purse, make a knife (my sons latest obsession), tie a quilt, repurpose stuff you have around the house, etc. There are always tons of ideas online.

wallet made out of grandpa’s old shirts

apron made out of grandma’s old table cloth

–Sentimental gifts–I love these the most! I’ve cut up my grandma and grandpas old clothes and have made the grandkids aprons, wallets, teddy bears, etc. I’ve put old letters in a photo box for my mom. I’ve made stuff out of Heber’s Grandma’s old linens (turned a table cloth into an apron for his sister). Memory jars were a HUGE hit with my parents–all the kids wrote down funny memories or stories from when we were growing up and put them in a jar. My parents relished these for the whole afternoon, reading them and laughing and crying, and learning about all the naughty things us kids did. Much more heart warming than a new set of knives!

–needs–stuff you’d buy anyways! Socks, underwear, a new coat, etc.

–Thrift Store christmas– My kids and I love shopping thrift stores. Look for the good, quality brands. I can always find something anytime I stop in. Eddie Bauer Sorel boots $6. REI outdoor shirt $5. Rubbish brand jacket $6. Spider brand ski pants $20. You’d be surprised with what you find and how little you spend!

Christmas at a beach house in California

–Trip–One of my favorite Christmas’s was when we decided to make memories instead of give gifts. It was MAGIC, we rented a beach house in California for the week with my sister’s family. We did stockings for the kids and that was it. We went for walks every morning and collected shells, watched the dolphins, went to the tide pools, made cinnamon rolls, hot tubbed 3 times/day, and had campfires. Yes, I understand this isn’t cheap–but I’d rather spend $ on a trip than buy extra clutter and stuff for the kids that they don’t need.

Sledding the driveway at the cabin

–Gift of time together–with extended family, plan a day to be together and eliminate the unnecessary gift giving. Sledding, movies, stories, dance party, crafts, card games, etc.

BYU Womens Condo Rental

March 26, 2015 by Shelley

Last week we purchased a BYU Womens Condo Rental! It was an idea that we talked about last month in Belize. It felt like the perfect investment for us. Many of you know we paid off our house in June 2009 and six months later purchased a fixer upper Cabin for $65,000 in Midway, Ut—which we paid off in March of 2012. This is our third property, which I have plans to pay off in 3-5 years. I know! I’m kind of CRAZY! I am 39 years old–my husband is a fireman and I sew slipcovers for a living and we have 3 boys. We live within our means and have always lived off my husbands income and have used my income to pay off debt, save for a house, invest for retirement etc. That was the only way we felt we could get ahead. Basically we are a two income household living off one income.

We’d been interested in the past on picking up a rental and had actually been under contract twice–but my fear and timing got the better of me and we backed out of both. I’ve had the last 9 months to save up since we became debt free again, so this time I wasn’t scared. It’s a better time for us, our kids are older (10,12,14 yrs old now) and I was feeling ready for my next goal/project. I wanted our money to be working for us instead of sitting in a savings account. I know most rentals are break even or maybe cash flow a few hundred dollars a month–so going into this, my plan is to cash flow once it’s paid off. In the mean time, I’ll apply all rents and my income to this property until it’s paid for. Once it’s paid for we will cash flow about $750-$800/month after expenses (HOA, Management, property taxes, insurance). I know it’s a different way of looking at it, but I don’t want to pay $60,000 in interest over a 30 year loan, and I don’t want to wait 30 years to get a decent cash flow. I’d rather dump everything I’ve got into it now and pay $5,000 in interest over a 3-4 year period–that sounds more like an investment to me! I like to look at it like a nest egg–I am dumping $ into this property which will start giving back in 3-4 years, but I’ll still own the nest egg. It’s guaranteed returns.

Here are the specifics–we did a cash out refi on our primary residence to purchase the condo. This entailed us to get a better rate and no PMI (since we were only borrowing 60% of our appraised value). We closed with 3.25% rate on a 10 year loan (cheaper closing costs on a 10 yr instead of 15 yr by $400—I can buy a lot of furnishings for $400!) Since I have plans to pay it off fast I went for it against my loan officers advice. We took a slightly higher rate to get rebate on closing costs. We received $2400 off our closing costs. We paid $100 in closing costs!

We closed last Thursday on the condo. Friday we furnished it, Saturday I showed it to renters. Monday and Tuesday we cleaned and did small handy man projects–replaced faucet, smoke detectors, patched holes, replaced screens, etc. Then we had renters move in on Wednesday! HOLY SMOKES!! 6 days and we are up and running! I’m still on a high!

We are going to let a management company manage it for us. They charge $75/month to collect rent, fill vacancies, advertise, deal with small maintenance issues. I’m assuming this will be fully worth it!

It’s a 3 bedroom condo and rents to 3 single girls. All private rooms. Here are some pics of the decorating I got to do! All on a budget of course!

Here is what the 2nd and 3rd bedroom look like! Picked up dark grey curtains, dressers, and office chairs from IKEA. White bedding with pop of color on the pillow.
This is the master with a full size bed. I got the antique headboard/ footboard for $55 off a local FB yardsale page. I got the desk from the thrift store for $17 (they had 5 identical desks!–I snatched up 3 of them). I purchased the turquoise corded light for $5 from the thrift store and attached it to an old plant stand I stole from my sisters dumpster pile. Topped it off with fresh white bedding, pillows, and foot warmer!

Family room has vaulted ceilings. Camille helped me hang curtains, I slipcovered a $30 Ethan Allen couch I got off local FB yardsale page and decided to bring my bronze antique chair into the mix. The coffee table was given to me last summer from a neighbor. Picked up lamp for $8 at thrift store, and mirror for $3! I made the pillows from a remnant at the fabric store.

It’s a new adventure, we will see how it goes!