Recently the leaders have gotten a vision to pay off our debts so that we are 100% debt-free. We are calling it Synergy 16, which stands for 2016 is our goal to be debt free, and Synergy symbolizes the fact that 1+1= more than 2. In other words, I could work by myself to push a cart, and you could do the same, but together...oh, TOGETHER!! We can do so much more!! So everyone in our church is going full steam ahead to do whatever they can do earn money and collectively pay off our debt.
Everyone in our church has been split into teams, and my husband is the leader of one such team. Each person has a goal to earn certain $$ or points with the system they have come up with -- mine is 15 points, or 15 hours worth of work. Each team that gets their points in a month, turns "green" and it has created a bit of a healthy competition! With a new baby I have been totally out of it and that's fine, I am doing a worthy job here. =)
But now that he's 4 months I am wanting to be along! And want to help make my team green -- when I see our team's name come up on the chart along with each person and how many points they have gotten and mine is a big fat ZERO it makes me want to do my part.
Most people are helping with church fundraisers which are things that require me to be away from baby for more than an hour -- and that's not happening right now. He just loves his mama and more specifically, mama's milk too much! =)
I was thinking about it and got such a lightbulb moment the other day! I absolutely LOVE thrift store shopping, garage sailing...and that is currently my way of having quiet alone time. I love finding good deals for an hour or so -- and coming home with lovely things for my house and at the same time not spending money.
After transforming my room, I aquired some skills by sheer determination and hours of trial & error -- one of them is learning that I can actually do pretty much whatever I put my mind too! That is an awesome skill. hee hee
I discovered a love for transforming furniture while doing my room. I bought an old, dusty, rather beat up dresser w/a matching mirror and restored it to beauty for my room to be a changing table/dresser for me & baby. It is absolutely drop dead GORGEOUS now! It's got to be at least 50 years old, maybe even 70 years, dark wood. I did lots of work on it slowly but surely with my big belly, and now it graces my room in white with a little bit of roughing up to look it's age, and I took off the old antique crusty pulls and switched them up for crystal knobs. It truly is stunning and I enjoy it each and every day.
I often see these types of things while I am out & about, thinking oh that would be so pretty in this color! Or those knobs....my passion currently is a french shabby chic look mixed with a bit of Pottery Barn style.
So I talked with the team leader of craigslist/online sales and she said go for it --- I am so excited! My new job is going to be finding old things like that to restore and make beautiful, and sell them and donate the money (after taking out the amount needed to repay myself for the initial investment + supplies) to Synergy16! Best of all, I get to count my hours spent towards our green team! I am so happy to be doing my part and also something that I love, all the while learning even more skills.
The rocking chair I am going to be changing the upholstery. It is also very very old, yikes, even DH was surprised at the interesting way the springs were held together once I took it apart. I've never re-upholstered anything before so this will be interesting! I should have taken a before picture, gah! But I do plan to take before/after pictures of all my S16 things including hopefully a rundown of what I did so that I can have the information saved. I'd like to include how much I paid, how much time it took me to do what I did (and detail what exactly I did), and what it sold for. Looking forward to it!
I think the best part is there is no time limit. If I have a super busy day, no problem - it'll keep for another day. But the tricky part is going to be not buying everything in sight that I find, that is a good deal! Like I found this beautiful cherry side table for a couch with curvy legs, just gorgeous - a drawer, a pretty pull. But the top was scratched up by the lady's dog...she was asking just THREE DOLLARS for it! I could easily sand down the top with my electric sander and paint it all white and add a crystal knob, and sell it probably for $30-$40. The french shabby chic look is really popular.
So that's my idea! Here's a picture of what I am going to be doing, to give you an idea:
So pretty and so inspiring! I just love the "new life" aspect of it - and I love the white. I am so obsessed with white, it just makes everything beautiful again in my opinion.=) Stay tuned!
