I Tried Cozymaxxing for $0 - Here’s What Happened

Have you heard of cozy maxing? It's all about filling your home to the max with things that make it feel cozy. This trend can lead to clutter, but I actually still love it. So I'm doing a challenge and I really want you to do it with me. I'm going to cozy max my home for $0. In fact, I'm actually going to be decluttering as part of the cozy max. And I have 10 amazing tips you don't want to miss. One of the coolest part of cozy maxing is really embracing basically old junk. Bringing in old worn like things with history into your home. I went antiquing with my friend Jess recently and when talking to the owner of the antique shop they said in the last six months they've seen so many more new people coming in because they've been influenced by this trend. I was also influenced because I bought this antique fire extinguisher. Oh, cool. But the truth is I don't need more stuff. So I'm going to show you how you can shop your actual old stuff that you have. Bring in some cozy, warm memories into your home. So I was looking in the memory bin and the first thing I saw that I totally forgot about were all these love letters that Joe wrote me these are 25 years old some are on the back of invoices but it's like gosh why were these in a bin downstairs where I never saw them so I decided to get some little boxes here so I can keep them right on the coffee table the next time he's driving me crazy and I want to throat punch him I can be reminded of our love by having it right here but I also found in the memory bin Joe from his childhood nursery had all these little figurines these Winnie the Pooh figurines they're so cute like why are these in a bin they can be part of decor so I'm gonna find a special spot for these like a little free ball vignette I know for a fact that you have old things it's probably in your basement it's somewhere dig it out bring your memories and make them part of your home's ambiance. The internet has convinced us that if you love to read, you need a book nook. And that a book nook is something you have to buy or something. Like, you need a special chair and a special lamp or that you have to do construction and make a window seat. That is blowing. A book nook is basically any chair that you have and a lamp. So at night, you can sit and read a cozy book. You have chairs in your house, probably ones you hardly ever sit in. This is an example in my home. Maybe pull it into a corner and find yourself an end table. Again, the challenge is to spend zero dollars. I did not have an end table. So enter my favorite DIY I've ever, ever done. I wanted to make an end table and I thought it would be really cool to make it out of books. So I went around my house and I asked my family too if there's any books that they're never reading. They don't want to read that we can declutter. Except I'm not ruining the books. I made these book covers and it's a free printable for you. I'll put it down below and I literally wrapped these books in those papers, glued the paper so the books are still intact and in great shape, stacked them together, and then Joe cut these pieces of wood from an old stump outside so i had a base and a top i had to do a little reinforcing in the back with some old scraps of wood i had some old leaves and pumpkins from the dollar store that i already had so i didn't have to buy to kind of cover the sides but guys i love the way this turned out this is so whimsical it's a place for my tea and for my book and i just stole this lamp from joe's office and created a book nook for zero dollars i love it so much it's my new favorite spot in my home i think it not only looks great but it's so practical and i'm proud of myself i made this cool thing and it cost nothing i've kind of gotten away from these diys and i've been buying things at stores. And I forgot how absolutely satisfying it is to create something using old junk. To make something and spend zero dollars. So I encourage you to give this DIY a try. All you need is to declutter some books. You're not going to read again. Get that free printable and make yourself a book nook today. Vintage artwork is so popular right now. Seriously, people are spending so much money. But before you go to the home store and buy some overpriced vintage artwork, or before you buy that fall sign that says falling for fall, I'm going to show you how you can create fall art for literally zero dollars. I made some fall printables for you. They are gorgeous. And I know you have frames. You probably have family photo frames or old frames that are sitting in your garage. Literally, just add these gorgeous prints to them. I just taped them right on top of the family photos so after fall, I can just peel them off. They look so good. I am so impressed with this. I also found some old gold frames in the basement. And did you know that a lot of museums have free artwork that you can download. Beautiful pieces of art absolutely cost you nothing. Toss it in an old frame and you have free decor. Seriously, look how good this looks. It's just paper taped on frames I already had. Try this. Do you remember a few years ago where blanket scarves were like all the rage and I had so many? And why are we wearing a scarf that's as big as a queen sized duvet. And also it's very claustrophobic and I feel like I'm being strangled. I tried to do the trend. I bought them. They always got hot and took them off. Cute. But now we have them in our closet and we're not wearing them. It's okay because they make the coolest fall throws. Dust off those blanket scarves and lay it over a sofa or put it on your little blanket ladder if you have one like use these as part of your cozy decor they are the size of a blanket anyways nobody wants to wrap them around our throat we are perimenopausal we are hot we do not want to wear a queen-size comforter just out in public no fabulous they look seriously use blanket scarves as part of your decor you're freaking welcome you're basically decluttering decorating at the same time. Have you heard of comfort stations? I love this idea so much. It's basically creating little rituals, fall rituals throughout your home just by gathering all the supplies. This can be something like a little hot beverage or tea station and where you're just gathering all the things you use and putting it together like this. So my pumpkin spice syrup, my sprinkles so I can make a delicious chai, but it could also be something like putting together a knitting basket for yourself or gathering all the things you would use for a cozy movie night. Maybe you just want to grab a basket and put some board games and candles and create yourself a little date night bin. This is actually kind of organizing, isn't it? It's definitely decor, but it's also making things easier, giving you a special little ritual and having all those supplies together. So not only is it a visual cue to do the things like make a delicious drink or relax and craft or have a date night, but it also just signals to your brain it's time to get cozy. This is going to seem completely backwards. We think that adding coziness to our home means adding more stuff. But truthfully, sometimes making a space feel more cozy is about taking stuff away, about having less. Here in my living room, I loved the way it looked. I loved the mustard yellow and the blue, but I really wanted to make it feel cozier, so we neutralized. You can do this in your space too. Pick one room in your home and literally remove all the accessories. Those picture frames, take them out. The things off the coffee table, empty it, and then bring back in a little bit of coziness. Maybe it's the pumpkins that you made from old sweaters or the leaves you got from outside, your sweater vase, some pillows you made with an old shirt. As you bring stuff back in, layer with intention. Think textures and fabric. It doesn't have to be about bright colors. Neutral, cozy things can actually give you more bang for your buck. Cozy needs a bit of breathing room otherwise the space feels overwhelming it feels cluttered i actually did this in my bedroom last fall i loved my bright curtains and my pillows it made me so happy but i decided to hush it to neutralize it to go with more basic colors and add in texture and warmth and let me tell you the first night i slept better than i had in years i still have the bedroom like that because it feels so warm and cozy with less visual distractions with less stuff so you can give this a try this costs absolutely nothing you can hush your space cozy your space by neutralizing a space you're going to be amazed not only is it going to look great but you're going to feel so calm and relaxed when you're in there the whole point of this video is to encourage you when you're decorating for fall or if you want to decorate for fall to rotate don't add don't just add pumpkins to the decor you already have remove something first for every new one thing you bring in make sure one thing's leaving or two things doesn't have to leave forever you don't have to necessarily declutter but rotating your decor makes your space feel fresh and new it doesn't cost any money and yet it feels like you have a whole new home and it's actually really fun. It feels like playing. It feels like decorating. When we were kids and we were like rearranging furniture, we can still do that now in our home. Have fun, play. But here is my challenge to you. You cannot spend one dime this fall. When you're cozy maxing your home, challenge yourself to do it all for free. This has been such an eye-opening experience for me because lately I've been in the habit of buying decor for my home, making it or making a space look better by taking things out. This is what we really should be doing. Let's stop giving stores our money because you have four stores that you can shop from right now, like your garage for some old stuff that you can bring in. Outside, go outside and shop nature for sticks and twigs and leaves and pine cones. Your closet is a store that you can shop for things like sweaters that you never wear that are stained and ripped or old shirts that you can turn into pumpkins or vases or pillows. And the last store you can shop is the rest of your house. Just move around lamps, move around tables, move around furniture. Make your space feel new just by shopping the stuff you already have. My name is Cassandra and I'm obsessed with pumpkins. Seriously, every year I would go and buy more pumpkins for some reason, but not this year. I actually am decluttering to create some gorgeous pumpkins. You don't need to spend a dime. Go in your closet and look for old sweaters. Maybe steal your husband's old stained sweater. If you have something that's ripped or dull or you just never wear you can turn it into these beautiful pumpkins and it's so easy you don't have to sew or nothing just simply cut a piece from your sweater tie the bottom with twine and then stuff with things you already have like don't buy stuffing use old socks you can use pillow stuffing from old nasty pillows you need to declutter old ripped towels use things around your home. Then you tie the top and wrap with twine or wrap with some sort of string to give these adorable little indents that make it look like a pumpkin. To make the stem I just wrapped it with twine but you can get a stick from outside or some cinnamon sticks. I added a few little leaves. Cost me absolutely nothing and these are the most beautiful pumpkins in my entire house. these would easily go for 40 or 50 dollars at a home store and better than that i actually decluttered my closet has less stuff in it and i was able to turn that old junk into beautiful home decor you have to give this a try we are not going to waste one single thing in this video so after you've made your pumpkins you're going to have the sleeves from the sweater that you can actually use as sweater vases everyone has old vases in their home that we probably should declutter but take the sleeve and just literally slide it over the glass jar or the glass vase and you have something that looks so cozy fill it with some stuff from outside looks like you're Martha Stewart up in here except it didn't cost you a thing and making these so easy if you want can add a little dab of hot glue it'll just peel off the vase it won't ruin anything and all fall you can have something that looks like you've spent a lot of money but you know it was just recycling your old clothes how gorgeous doesn't this feel cozy you got to make these in your home too now that you have a sweater vase what if you fill it except you're going to make a fall arrangement and spend zero dollars. There are people out there buying branches from home decor stores when outside exists. Go for a nature walk. Pick up sticks off the ground and stick it in a vase. You can have branches. You can even pick up pine cones, leaves. You can make beautiful fall arrangements from junk that trees have decluttered outside. In fact, this gorgeous arrangement I got from a ditch. It looks like I know something about home decor. When in fact, cut some Phragmites from the ditch and all you have to do is spray it with hairspray so that the seed pods will never fall off and you have fall decor that costs you absolutely nothing. You don't even have to store this, throw it in the garbage, or throw it back outside to decompose and just cut new ones next year. I love this because it's not adding to any clutter to your home, but it's looking so beautiful, cozy, and high-end, and it's free. This is what I mean when I say cozy maxing in this video is going to be totally different because a big part of making your space feel cozy is having soft blankets and pillows and I'm a pillow addict. I can tell you every year I always go and buy more fall pillows except this year I'm going to make them. This is so much easier than I thought and I kind of am obsessed with the way that they turned out. I went through my closet and I found some old clothes that are kind of fall colors or old sweaters. I am not a sewer So what I did was I cut off the sleeves, turned it inside out, and hot glued the seams. Then flipped it, stuffed it, and added more hot glue. It looks like a real pillow. I especially love the button-up one. So if you have an old plaid shirt that is the colors that you love, but you never wear the shirt, turn it into a pillow. Maybe you've even had a loved one who passed away. What a sweet way to honor them by taking their old clothes and a little hot glue and making a pillow. You can just put this over a pillow you already have. And then at the end, just slice the seam, pull it out, and you have pillows for another season. Gotta give this a try. Check out this one. It looks like a knitted, gorgeous sweater. I loved this sweater, but it had a hole in it. So I was never going to wear it, and I couldn't even really donate it. but now i have the most beautiful pillow i would have totally bought this at the store and i made it and i also got to declutter my closet at the same time you definitely got to give this a try shop your closet find old clothes you never wear and turn them into cozy pillows right now thank you so much let me know in the comments below what your favorite tip was from this video like what would you like to do in your own home raise your hand if you're going to attempt to make a book side table because let me tell you super cool or if you have a comfort station idea you can help inspire other people by letting me know your ideas in the comments below thank you for being part of this community and if you haven't already what are you waiting for man hit that subscribe button and i'll see you in the next video thank you guys so much for those of you who have stayed to the end so if you missed it i did like a homesteading video a while back Let me tell you, I have regrets about my micro homesteading hobby because now stuff's getting real. Not only did we have to harvest the honey, which was amazing, but that was an entire Saturday. I had so many tomatoes. I had to blanch them, peel the peels. I can't just let them rot. I was making pasta sauce. We've made jam. We've been, poor Joe, so much just using the food processor. We've had zucchinis out of every single orifice. Cucumbers? Calm down, cucumbers. I said this before. I'm also trying to still keep my sourdough starter alive and cooking all the time. So I said this in the video, but it's like reinforcing. I like homesteading. It seems like a lot of work. It seems like I could go to the store and just buy a loaf of bread for $4 instead of slaving away for hours. I ain't got time for this, okay? It's rewarding a little bit, but when your garden harvest comes into fullness and you've got so many vegetables and there's fruit flies because how can you possibly deal with this many tomatoes? It's absurd. It makes you question all your choices. Let me know if you also were like spring you was super ambitious and fall you is like what was I thinking? I want to go back in time to spring cast and just the thing is you can't have a life in the fall when you have a big garden and you just you can't it's like saturday we want to go to the movies ha ha ha you're making pasta sauce for freaking the next six weekends you can't have a life you can't i know or you throw them out but then what was the point yeah i'm trying to give away everybody like you want cucumbers nobody wants them because everybody has so many okay we're done