Tuesday, January 29, 2013

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Create a monthly chore list. On the first day of every month, there is an appointment on my calendar that reminds me to do monthly chores. I usually don't do them until the first weekend of the month, but it helps me keep on track with chores that don't have to be done every single week, but should be done on a regular basis. Here is my chore list:

Oil countertops
Polish wood floors
Clean make-up brushes
Clean coffee maker
Clean washer
Update net worth spreadsheet

Since it is January 29th, I will be doing all of these chores this weekend!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

A new pantry

After our wedding last year, we had quite a few awesome presents that needed a home. Our kitchen doesn't have a lot of storage, particularly for large items like a slow cooker, Griddler, and Kevin's favorites: the wok and the smoker. We had a rather gross closet off the laundry area of our basement that we decided to turn into a pantry. I don't have any before photos to share.

We lined the walls with heavy duty plastic as a vapor barrier, then rigid foam insulation sheets and finally beadboard sheets for the walls. Kevin also hung a grid and we added some fancy ceiling tiles and a colorful rug to finish the space. The storage are white adjustable brackets and melamine shelves from Lowes. It has really added a lot of storage and function.

Here is what we have stored in our new space!

Straight back is extra storage containers, extra food and our booze, small appliances and paper products and baking supplies.


On the left side is our board game stash, some books that are listed on paperbackswap.com, and athletic equipment like golf shoes and camelbaks, some of Kevin's beer brewing stuff, and entertaining supplies like our nice placemets and napkins and fancy wine glasses.


On the right side, we have vases, craft supplies and instruction manuals for the entire house, our huge rag pile and cleaning stuff like our steam cleaner and a whole box of car cleaning supplies on the bottom. 


It's handy to have everything together. It's sometimes annoying to have to run down to the basement to get the rice cooker or a box of crackers, but our kitchen storage is limited.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Oiling soapstone

I have soapstone countertops in my kitchen. I love them, they are so pretty! They have a matte finish and some really cool veining. They don't require a lot of maintenance, but you can oil them periodically if you want. It really changes the look.

Here is one section, not oiled. You can see that there are some lines in the stone where my dish drying tray recently sat. If you don't oil the counters, you can see water marks, although they fade after a little while (a few hours or so).



I use an old washcloth to spread a thin coat of mineral oil around the countertop, making sure to get the front edge.



This is the countertop immediately after I oiled it. It's nice and shiny and the watermarks are gone. But it's a little too oily/shiny for me. So I take a clean washcloth and buff all of the countertops after I oil them. And this is how they end up.




A nice warm glow, but still a matte finish.  I do this about once a month, which minimizes any temporary water marks (unless my husband has been brewing beer, then there is water EVERYWHERE). It only takes about 10 minutes, not a lot of effort for something that I love so much!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Plan your menu out each week. I know this is not a revolutionary idea, but it makes life so much easier. I used to my favorite phone app To-Do (a post for another day) but I recently switched to a Google calendar. I created a separate one for my Menu Plan and I share it with Kevin (although I think he ignores it). I am really liking this method because it helps me track how recently we had tacos or chicken pot pie or grilled cheese, to make sure I keep mixing things up. Certain spouses get cranky when we eat the same thing too often. I usually plan 4-5 meals for a week and then leave a couple of nights open for leftovers, going out or throwing together something last minute. Which is usually pasta or grilled cheese! I take a fridge/freezer/pantry inventory on Saturday or Sunday to see if there is anything that needs to be used up and then I create my plan for the week.

Here is the plan for this week:

Monday: Pork Tingas (America's Test Kitchen)
Tuesday: Book Club (which means lots and lots of cheese!)
Wednesday: Spaghetti Carbonara
Thursday: meeting for charity event
Friday: Chickpea Stew
Saturday: French Onion Soup
Sunday: Devil's Chicken Thighs

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Help me understand why I'm not doing this right now?


The high temp tomorrow is -2. That is ridiculous.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Love this kitchen


I know I just finished my kitchen and I am certainly not changing it anytime soon, but how amazing is this white and dark wood (walnut?) kitchen. So pretty!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Use an empty tissue box to store your plastic bags. Keeps the madness contained and allows you to pull one out as needed. If the box gets full, it's time to recycle the bags! We mostly use reusable bags at Target, etc, but we always seem to have a few plastic bags around. This method works great!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

I managed to put holes in 2 trouser socks in the same day, so I thought I would try this idea: use old nylons to clean candles. We have flameless candles in our fireplace and they are pretty dusty and dirty.

Here is the evidence





I shoved each candle inside a trouser sock and rolled it around to get the dirt off the outside. Then I used the trouser sock to clean out the inside and the top edge. It worked great! I threw the trouser socks away, but I am guessing you could wash them if you weren't using ripped ones.

Looks so much better!




Tuesday, January 1, 2013

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Tip on Tuesday: It takes 21 days for a new habit to stick (I have no idea which book I got this from). And humans have limited willpower, so we can't develop multiple new habits at once. Pick one habit/resolution for January and stick to it for 21 days until it is a real part of your daily life and routine. Don't try to change too much at once!

What's your new habit?