Category Archive

Life

We launched as Offbeat Home in 2011, but it has become clear that the site is about much more. In 2013, we relaunched as Offbeat Home & Life, with an expanded focus on Relationships, Budget & Career, Travel, and Style. This is the category for the non-home/rest of life stuff!

Cosplay storage solutions… from IKEA?

This past year I’ve started to dabble in cosplay. Even though I just have four costumes, I’m ALREADY feeling the storage pinch. That’s why this “IKEA bedroom stories” video, featuring a super-awesome cosplayer, made my day. Watch this and then let’s talk…

How to get out of bed

I get it. What others might see as a chronic case of laziness, is actually paralyzing depression. The thought of getting out of bed is like running a marathon, something you want no part of. Today, we’re going to take it easy. Forget about all those thoughts that are slowly crushing you. Today, we’re just going to get out of bed.

Plus size workout clothes that are plus cool

I’d love some help finding plus size exercise clothes that aren’t the same old Boring Black Basics.

I go to the gym and I’m in a roller derby league, and I’d prefer to have something a bit more fun to wear! My shoes and skates are colourful, my headband has a funky pattern, and my yoga mat is adorable… but the only clothing options I’ve found in my size seem to be really bland. Thanks!

Earning extra income at home by doing laundry

There are a lot of articles and blogs out there about making money from home, most of these are targeted at stay at home moms and include things like, “Get a job as a virtual assistant” or, “Sell your handmade goods through an Etsy shop.” These are great ideas, and I am sure they work for a lot of people, but in my experience with this a lot more time is spent scouring the interwebs for opportunities than actually generating any income. What I have found works best for me is low tech and old fashioned. I wash clothes and I bake bread.

Dress to impress yourself: the 10 style rules I live by

This is mildly embarrassing because I like to think I have better things to think/write about, but whatever. I like playing dress-up. I like street-wear costumes. It’s fun. I come from deeply humble fashion roots. My parents are hippies for godsake, and I grew up in a mix of dirty hand-me-downs my parents dug up, cheap stuff from Sears, and frilly dresses gifted from my grandma. I preferred the frilly dresses, and my mom had to bribe me to wear pants by telling me that they made me look tall.

How writing erotic fan fiction changed my sex life

Since the beginning of my sexual awakening (or when my high school boyfriend put his hands down my pants), I loved sex. Along with sex, my other interests are TV shows, movies, and books. There is a particular workplace sitcom that I adore and almost exclusively write for. The bridge between these interests is not a long one, and soon I was writing erotic fan fiction. And yes, after (a little) personal deliberation, I told my husband that I was a fan fiction writer. But I don’t think the switch in our sex life really happened until he read My Really Long Fic.

Why we decided to move out-of-state without employment

“Everyone hates their jobs! No one has money! Get over it!” Why? We started asking in return. And the resounding answer was “that’s what it took to make it in our area,” — an area which we didn’t care for anyway. The timing was right. Our lease was ending, and so we had to commit: another six to twelve months stuck in place, or a scary leap which could wind us up skulking home to our parents, richer only in life experience.

Play Oscars Bingo this Sunday

Remember going on long road trips, and being super bored, until Mom whipped out those auto-bingo cards to shut you up? Well, now there’s something kinda like that for adults to play, in case you’re getting bored, during the Oscars!