What a find!

I've been staring with dread at my one book shelf. I don't like it, it's cluttered, it's overfull, we can't find anything on it.

As a result, the kids don't want to put things away, it's too difficult so the desk was becoming a catch all. It was driving dh and I C-R-A-Z-Y!

I was looking at buying a new shelf. Up for consideration was the Expedit shelves from Ikea. They recently lowered the price. But still, it was $80 I didn't really want to spend. Then Zellers advertised a similar style shelf for $40. Much better, but still, not really in the budget.  I was going to see if I could skim off the grocery budget for a few weeks and get the cash for it.

Yes, I run a $0 budget. Everything is accounted for, contributions to savings, emergency funds, house maintenance, etc. A new shelf didn't fall in those categories..lol.

I even stopped at the Good Will store to see if there was something there, sometimes there is. But alas nothing. And again, I didn't have it in the budget.

So I logged into our local freecycle yahoo group. A lady was offering up 2 shelves. I doubted the availability since it was a couple hours old. But I emailed anyway. She emailed me back! They were mine for the taking.

I figured if they were at least structurally sound, I could paint them, we had paint at home.

Much to my delight, while the shelves were an older discontinued style from Ikea, they were in immaculate condition! Bigger, and smaller than I thought. Shorter but deeper.  Which is all good.

I had to rearrange our space a smidge. The kitchen table moved over 12" as did the desk to make more room for these shelves as they are 6" deeper than my other shelf. But it was a pleasant surprise. They are only about 30" high. But being 20" deep, it provides an extra work surface.  So I have our cd player, hole punch, paper cutter all set out. It also took a few things off the desk. Magazine holders, storage bins for pencils and stationary items.  The desk is nearly clear of everything but computers and pencil box for each child. 

While the shelf is short and doesn't house everything perfectly, iti does work well. I have our bins of art supply, math manipulative and games. DD7 and dd12 each have a shelf for their LA workbooks and readers.  I have a space for what we are currently using for history.  This opened up space in the big shelf. There is empty space now. I'm going to get a few bookends(I've seen them at Goodwill), to help keep them upright.  I can budget for that :)

I'm so pleased. Total cost of the 2 shelves, whatever gas it took to drive 10 blocks away, yes, she was very close to me to boot!

When I'm done organizing and labeling, I'll share pictures. It's SO much better than it was, but still not quite done yet.

You can bet I'll be watching the freecycle more often!