Prime Day Deals I Love!
A few of my favorites are on sale for Amazon Prime Day. Check them out!
It’s Amazon Prime Day, and I spotted a few bargains that I wanted to share with you. These are all products I love personally and can recommend highly or that are on my wish list right now. If you aren’t a member, there’s a link above for a free 30-day trial which will allow you to take advantage of all of the Prime Day bargains.
Happy Shopping!
Working
Having a good printer is a must, and I really love my Epson EcoTank printer. I have an older version of this one. Here’s what I love: the ink lasts forever. It is more expensive to buy it, but Epson has changed the printer/ink model. They charge more for the printer, and you don’t have to buy ink nearly as often. The ink also doesn’t come in cartridges. It comes in bottles which you use to fill the tanks — less plastic waste! If you are in the market for a new printer, this is a good one!
When I was traveling more than I do now, I always carried my LaCie Rugged Mini External Hard Drive. It is a great device for offloading photographs while on a long trip — or even for hauling around lots of photos or documents when going to client meetings. Now that it comes in a 4TB size, too, it is even more valuable.
Tired of your office or home never being the right temperature? We recommend a Nest. We have one, and we love it! We easily manage the temperature settings for our house, and save money and energy when we aren’t home without even thinking about it.
Making
I have the Cricut Maker, but this is a great price on the Explore Air 2! And it includes lots of goodies to get you started!
I snagged a set of these. I find I need multiple mats to be more efficient when I am doing complicated projects.
Watercolors just work best on watercolor paper. It’s hard to find it on sale, too!
Reading
As an author, I always try to buy the book instead of checking it out of the library. We have to stick together, you know! But I don’t have room in my house for all of those books! My Kindle makes me so very happy for that very reason. It helps keep our home tidy! Though I do still read A LOT on paper, too!
I can’t stop raving about Madeline Miller’s two novels, The Song of Achilles and Circe. I loved them both, and they are amongst a very few books available for Prime Day. I highly recommend them!
Mothering
There aren’t many books on the Prime Day sale list, but these caught my eye. We love all of them! I Want My Hat Back is especially funny when read almost as a play at bedtime. And the Elephant and Piggie books are fabulous for early readers. The Tale of Despereaux is a sweet chapter book that is wonderful read aloud!
Building
My sister won Aunt-of-the-Year when she gave Bambino the Star Wars Darth Vader’s Castle for his birthday. I am not sure who enjoyed putting it together more — Bambino or my husband.
Bambino also loves this tree house set, and has had hours of imaginative play with all kinds of animals and characters hanging out in the tree house.
This is a great, basic Lego set with some simple instructions for making a frog, a helicopter, and anything else you can imagine. A really good starter or add-on set!
Organizing
I know Marie Kondo says not to buy anything for drawer organizing, but I did buy a set like this which keeps ties, underwear, and tights well-organized in our drawers. You could absolutely do it with a shoe box as she recommends, but I think the dividers in these boxes are just a bit tidier.
I always have a stack of plain paper bags on hand for quick gift wrapping or dropping something off at someone’s house.
My office would be a mess without boxes like these. I keep the clothes that I am selling, unfinished projects, supplies, and those awkward things that don’t seem to fit anywhere else — all in boxes like these. Mine came from Ikea, but I know these are essentially the same. Neat and tidy!
Drinking
Ditch the plastic straws! I like paper straws and try to keep a bunch in my purse, so I can refuse plastic straws when needed. I also like these other reusable options, and just might be ordering some to try them out, too.
Homemaking
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my Roomba? Nope? Well, it was one of the best Christmas gifts EVER! I absolutely love it, and this is a newer, fancier version which I am eyeing when mine needs to be replaced — but I’ve had it for more than 4 years, and it is still going strong. Dogs? Cats? Kids? Get a Roomba!
My last vacuum cleaner lasted for more than 20 years. I know. It was a workhorse, but when it came time to replace it, I chose one like this Dyson which I truly love. We have had it for more than 3 years, and I am happy with it every time I pull it out to vacuum.
We don’t have one yet, but we just got back from Hawaii where our hotel had Toto Washlets in the bathrooms. It was Bambino’s first bidet experience, and he is on a mission to convert the world now. So this will be on the wish list for our new bathrooms when we renovate them for sure!
Journaling
I am also stocking up on both of these. We go through a lot of glue in our house. I use Super77 when I am art journaling, and both Bambino and I use glue sticks almost daily!
Ok. I don’t have this one yet, but it is on my journaling wish list!
Traveling
Bambino has the best suitcase in the family: a hardside suitcase with spinner wheels. As we replace our luggage, we will all get hardside suitcases like this one.
I’ve written about how Marie Kondo has changed my life, but I’ve never told you about how the KonMari Method has changed my packing practices. Well, it has. And I’ll tell you more about that soon, but these packing cubes are an important part of that practice. They make packing and unpacking a suitcase so much better!
I have a box almost identical to this with which I travel, and it is one of the best little things I’ve ever purchased. I just love it!
If you found any Prime Day deals that I need to know about, leave them in the comments! Ciao!
New DIY Tutorials!
I have several new DIY tutorials up. Check them out!
I have a few new tutorials and a summary page for all of the One Room Challenge tutorials, too. I hope you will check them all out! Seriously — this cute little container for my dryer balls took about 15 minutes, and was super easy! And making duvet covers from sheets: a breeze!
And on this page you will find links to all 14 DIY project tutorials from our Guest Room Refresh — everything from the Ikea bed frame hack to lining a cupboard with wrapping paper and so much more. Enjoy!
New Things are Coming! And Instagram!
I have a love-hate relationship with Instagram. It is fun to meet new people and to learn new things, but I open it up, and immediately an hour of my life slips away! Yikes! However, I have been working hard on several projects which are coming, and I’d love to connect with you on Instagram!
What is coming up?
#oneroomchallenge
I’m working on the #oneroomchallenge on Instagram! I love this idea — focus on ONE ROOM in your house and get it DONE. We are hard at work on our guest room. Honestly, this was low-hanging fruit. Making it beautiful doesn’t require construction or craziness. It just means some paint, some organizing, and making the room pretty — with a little flair. I’m excited to show you the final product! I’ll be unveiling the room bit-by-bit beginning April 4 as part of #oneroomchallenge. And I will have some great budget-friendly ideas that you can use in your own homes!
So, I hope you’ll follow me on Instagram. I have two handles: @midmodernmama is all things lifestyle especially home decor — and that’s the account where I’ll be doing the #oneroomchallenge. And then I have the other part of my split personality: @piningforrome which is all travel all the time. If you need beauty and travel inspiration, look no further.
Follow me!
Follow me!
Which brings me to my second project…
Pining for Rome Relaunch
So, I actually started my very first website 11 YEARS AGO this month! Yikes! And it is still there with lots of good content. But it is looking rather tired, so I have been working for weeks and weeks and weeks to update every page, refresh every photo, and organize all of the information. And I am rebranding everything. So soon Pining for Rome will be a fabulous place for all things travel! I’m super-excited, and I can’t wait to bring you the new-and-improved Pining for Rome!
Not on Instagram?
Follow me on Facebook!
I post everything in both places, so you won’t miss a thing!
Soon there will be gardening to be done, more renovation projects, and dinners out on the patio again. For now: snow in the forecast for next week. But the yard is greening every day!
Happy Spring!
XOXO
A
Easy Linen Closet Organizers
Make your linen closet a thing of beauty and joy! Create these easy DIY linen closet storage dividers which will corral your linens, and make your closet spark joy!
We are working our way through the KonMari process. Are you on this journey, too? Maybe you have done it before. It is exhausting! But it is great, too. And there is joy! This weekend my joy came in the form of my linen closets.
Yes, I know. Linen closets.
We KonMari’d the sheets and towels, but we have little, slightly awkward linen closets. Don’t get me wrong: we have more storage space than EVER before. We just needed to tweak it. So Romano and I designed this nifty DIY linen closet storage system that is cheap, easy, and doesn’t require screws or nails — so it is perfect for renters, too.
So, today my linen closets look like this…
Seriously! Did you hear the angels sing when you looked? They do — every time I open the door!
This video shows how easy these dividers are to install:
And I have all of the details about how to make them at the link below. You could use the same idea to organize clothes, towels… anything you need to corral.
Hope you are having a great day!
XOXO
Angela
KonMari and Gratitude
Thinking about joining the KonMari Craze that’s sweeping the nation? We have done it. We are doing it again. It is awesome, and we have some tips to make it all a little easier. Read on!
Hello! I hope you all are well in this new year! It is cold here which is such a pleasant change, and we had snow last weekend. So lovely!
As I have written before, my word for the year is gratitude, and I am working to practice gratitude every day. I am journaling. I am praying. I am giving thanks. I am writing thank you notes. And I am KonMari-ing my house again.
Perhaps you have heard of Marie Kondo, the Japanese guru of tidying. I first read her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying a few years ago, and I did a first effort at decluttering our home. But then we moved… so now that we are settled into our new home and lives here in Colorado, it is time to do it again.
This week I have written all about our efforts to “KonMari the shit out of our house” — as my husband so eloquently put it. I also have a few tips for tidying in case you decide to join the rest of America that has gone #konmaricrazy !
If you do decide to KonMari your life, I also have reduced the price of my ebook about selling children’s clothing. The principles in this book apply to selling any kind of collection — sneakers, purses, jewelry. And the book is only $5 right now!
In gratitude,
Angela
New eBook Launches today!
Learn the secrets to one of my favorite side-hustles: selling my child’s clothes on Facebook. My new ebook helps you get started or get organized — all inspired by Marie Kondo’s KonMari Method. Check it out!
I am delighted to announce the launch of a new ebook today in my shop…
A Closet Full of Memories: Using a Facebook Closet Page to Organize & Sell Your Child’s Clothes
This book comes as part of my journey with the KonMari Method, Marie Kondo’s system for sorting, organizing, and tidying your home. My KonMari journey started two and a half years ago. We had moved, and I broke my foot. I needed a project and stumbled upon Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
I had been buying and selling furniture on Facebook and Craigslist for awhile, but I didn’t realize that I could do the same with children’s clothing. But you can! And clothing children is expensive — buying and selling online makes it all so much cheaper.
So, I invite you to order A Closet Full of Memories today!
This ebook is for everyone! If you are already selling, I share my personal secret weapon: the Facebook Closet Page. Not only does my closet page help me stay organized, it also allows my followers to shop my items before anyone else.
And if you haven’t started selling yet, I walk you through choosing what to sell, taking great photos, and using your closet page to keep it all together.
Selling your child’s outgrown clothing can be a fantastic side-hustle for any parent, and this book will teach you how to do it well! From photographing to shipping it out, A Closet Full of Memories walks you through the process and helps you set yourself up for success.
A Closet Full of Memories is available as a digital download today! And if you want to read more about it, check out this page.
