How to Make an Office Chair Mat

The plastic mats under the rolling chairs in our home office have seen better days. No matter what kind of office chair mat I buy, it eventually cracks, breaks, and sheds plastic chunks all over the carpet in the office.

I need to use a chair mat under our rolling chairs to protect the carpeting we aren't ready to replace.  Replacing the mats every couple of years isn’t sustainable. More than that it is a pain!

I solved our problem by making durable office chair mats from laminate flooring I bought at the Habitat Restore. I went with laminate flooring instead of plain plywood because I was concerned the plain plywood office chair mats would crack and break. Laminate flooring isn’t my favorite look but it is built to do the job I need it to do – be a floor.

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Project Me: Pick a Personal Word of the Year

When I stopped making New Year’s resolutions for the sake of having one on New Year’s Eve, it became easier for me to keep them. I often make New Year’s resolutions but now I do it at a point in the year when I need it.

It is my way to keep New Year’s resolutions that works.

The same can be said for choosing a personal word for the New Year. I thought about doing it last year when I saw all of the other cool blogger kids were doing it as a way to keep or instead of making a New Year’s Resolution but couldn’t come up with a word with meaning. The only word I came up with at the time was vague and too general. I knew I’d forget about it soon after January so I didn’t do it.

This year, I picked a personal word of the year a few weeks after New Year’s by happy accident.



Learn how to make my New Year’s Memory Jar from a recycled salsa jar on Lazy Budget Chef here!

DIY Recycled Bottle Cap Zipper Pull. So Easy!

I keep my dance, color guard, and yoga gear organized and ready to go in separate string backpacks. I am extremely fortunate to get the little backpacks from marching band events. That  makes it a zero cost organization system. The downside is all of the bags are from the same sponsor. Is too easy to grab the wrong bag for the wrong class. Whoops!

I can fix this by making a unique handmade zipper pull for each backpack so I can tell them apart.

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This is a quick and easy recycled craft that is fun to do with kids. Sourcing the materials might be the best part of the project because we are reusing bottle caps. Enjoying a soda treat in the name of recycled organizers? Don’t mind if I do!

Our Favorite Condo Blues Craft Projects of 2015

We’re celebrating the New Year by looking back at some of our favorite Condo Blues craft projects and tutorials we published in  2015.

When it comes to crafts, upcycling and recycling materials are the things you crave. 8 out of our most popular craft post tutorials feature reclaimed materials. Woo hoo! Who says green living can’t be cute and creative living too?
 

Our Top 11 Condo Blues Craft Projects in 2015

Make Candle Wax Warmer Melts, Tarts, and Cubes: The Complete DIY Guide!  

 
 
 

How to Make Aluminum Can Coasters 

Our Favorite Condo Blues DIY Projects in 2015

We’re celebrating the New Year by looking back at some of our favorite Condo Blues DIY projects for 2015.

From the looks of it, we are all extremely organized people! Or at least we all want to be extremely organized people, myself included!
 

Our Top 10 DIY Projects on Condo Blues in 2015

 

Organize Your Garage in Three Easy Questions   

 

6 Smart Strategies to Organize a Garage and Workshop 

What it is Like to Spend New Year's Eve in Times Square

I remember as a kid, telling my parents on New Year's Eve that someday I want to be in Times Square with all of the people we saw on TV. I never thought about that childhood wish until many years later as an adult, Husband and I announced to our New Year's Eve party guests that we weren't throwing a party the following year to give other friends a chance to host.

One of our best couple friends were relieved. They said we made it easy for them to move forward with their plans to spend New Year's Eve in Times Square the following year.

"Lucky, I've always wanted to do that!" I said.

"Come with us!" They said.

So we did.

Ironically the day after we signed our lives away and closed on our condo Husband and I skipped town on a plane to New York City to meet our friends for New Year's Eve. We had the trip planned long before we decided to become homeowners!

Spending New Year's Eve in Time Square is a little different than what you see on TV. I wrote about our Times Square New Year's Eve tips, tricks, and what to expect on my food blog Lazy Budget Chef in  this post:

The Everything Guide for Spending New Years Eve in Times Square

 

What are you doing for New Year's Eve?


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