Traveling and blogging that is.
I have the utmost respect for those travel bloggers, lugging laptops and cameras around the world to bring you into their experience.
After five days in beautiful Astoria, Oregon, I’ve fallen behind a bit on my home keeping tips.
Fret not, I’ll be filling in the pieces over the next week, so you’ll get 30 days of home keeping.
(It’s just going to take a hot minute.)
Kisses and butterfly kisses,
HJ
It’s not so much that there’s a whole closet devoted to our guests, but two shelves in a closet.
One shelf holds guest sheets, blankets and towels.
One shelf holds gifts, air mattresses and niceties.
When we have guests, we go to the one place, the guest place and are able to retrieve everything we need for guests all in one shot.
You could keep guest items in a Rubbermaid bin.
You could keep them in an under the bed box.
You could keep them in your pantry.
Just put them in one spot!
They have pickups for giveaways.
Yes, some people like to sell their unwantables in rummage sales. However, one year, after spending nine hours tagging all my goods and four hours dragging it outside to set up, I’d made a measly $32 dollars. Divided by the 13 hours I spent, I received a hearty $2.46 an hour.
I can work in a lot of places for more than $2.46 an hour.
So instead of bothering with selling my old stuff, I resort to giving it away.
(Or as the imitable Flylady refers to it as, “Blessing Others”)
The Salvation Army comes for pickups, which I schedule four times a year. Surprisingly, four times a year, we have giveaways enough to fill up the front porch. They leave a receipt for tax purposes and they help keep things shiny.
We’re also fans of Craigslist’s free section. We’ve gotten rid of a giant George Foreman Rotisserie, two wine barrels and a futon whose time had come within hours, just by posting it online. For me, the relief is in the pick up.
Yes, I know that you can load up your car to bring to other worthy places,
yes I know that using a big truck for pickups probably leads to some environmental doom.
But the alternative is a giant stack of unwantables in my garage, blessing *no one* as mouse bait.
Bravo for pickups!
Bravo for blessing!
I remember when I was in college that a large piece of paper tacked to the wall covered with phone numbers was a key part of the decor.
Cell phones weren’t even marginally part of our communication so this number-filled paper were our only way of keeping in touch with that cute guy from the bar or my new study partner from Organic Chem.
Now that phone numbers are stored in Caller ID
Now that my cell phone address book has removed the need for number memorization
Now that my Bluetooth enabled phone can beam numbers and contact info anywhere
Why would I have need for that piece of paper?
Because, dear pretties, phones get lost and stolen.
Power goes out.
Caller ID can lose its history thirty calls from a psycho ex-girlfriend later.
So we keep our contact information for friends, family and business associates the old-fashioned way.
On paper.
With pencil.
Grouped by letter from last name.
When we get new address and phone number info?
We go to the binder, grab the pencil that we keep inside the binder, erase the old information and carefully print in the new.
The binder is regular sized, the paper is regular three-punched paper.
I know electronic means can be handier, but I don’t always want to fire up the computer to make these changes,
Plus, sometimes I get these changes on the phone and my scribbles can go directly in the address book.
Those extra ten minutes can mean the difference between my numbers and addresses shoved in a drawer and a neat allinoneplace solution.
I’ve been tagged by the talented Salty Miss Jill. Yes, you’ll get a home keeping post tomorrow, but I’ve got some keeping of the home to do first!
Seven facts you may not know about me.
Fact 1:
Taking classes, piano playing and illustrating are my three favorite tasks. I don’t spend nearly enough time on any of them. If I could be a full time student for the rest of my life I would be.
Fact 2:
Back growing up, I used to be very religious. I ceased being religious when at Jesuit college. I questioned my faith so much in all those theology classes, I didn’t come out the other side. This makes my mom sad.
Fact 3:
I didn’t start liking boys until I was well into 15– except for Jack Tripper. I’ve had a crush on him since I was six.
Fact 4:
From the age of five until we discovered boys, my sister and I watched no less than four hours of television a day, and sometimes ten on the weekend. Our brains work great and I still love tv. My favorite running television shows are The 4400, Smallville, Mission Organization and Design Rivals. Sigh.
Fact 5:
As the fourth of five children, I visit home the least. I have three older brothers, a little sister and five nephews and a whole lot of my hometown I try to avoid. Mostly, I like being someone else in California, someone other than who I was in Wisconsin.
Fact 6:
I have wanted to be an obstetrician, a secretary and an artist. However, a few months ago I was hit with a magic wand that allowed me to say what I wanted as my dream job.
I said “Food Network Personality.”
(It surprised me too.)
Fact 7:
I’ve subscribed to Martha Stewart Living since 1993.
Here are the rules for the meme:
1. Link to the person’s blog who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.
4. Tag seven random [?] people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog.
Aubrey, Daisy, JenB, Anne and Leah.
I know it’s not seven, but it’s time for bed.
Thankyouverymuch.
I have made no bones about the fact that I’m a slow cooker devotee.
We eat at least two slow cooker meals a month. Since there is often leftovers, this often turns into more meals.
We toss chili, black bean soup, lasagna casserole, chicken cacciatore, BBQ Pork, white bean soup, white turkey chili, meat sauce, dal, taco flank steak and pork roast in the cooker. I can prepare the ingredients ready the night before and lo, the next morning throw it all in the magic machine
Then, when we return from work, I have a delicious meal on the ready.
Since we usually make bigger portions, we usually have extra. These kinds of meals are marvelous, separated in plastic containers. Freeze it in individual portions for delicious lunches. Yum.
I often use the “It’s Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker” cookbook — as well, anything I want to cook with beans goes in the slow cooker.
Try it! Use it! It’ll make life easier.
It was a bit of a compromise when James and I moved in together.
See, he’s a paper towel junkie.
Paper towels for counter tops,
paper towels for wiping noses,
paper towels for coasters.
I abhorred paper towels.
Every time I saw him run to the roll, I cringed, “Another one for the landfill?”
Like my mom, I’d always used cloth rags in the kitchen.
I ripped up old towels, frayed t-shirts, lots of leftovers.
James got tired of my cloth rags festering and molding in the laundry pile.
I grew tired of carrying 10packs of paper towels home from the grocery store.
We realized we needed to recognize each other person’s material of choice.
A compromise was necessary.
So paper towels get used for windows and toilets.
Cloth gets used for dusting, countertop wipedown and floor spills.
I use floursack dish towels for the hand washable dishes.
When we’re done with the cloth rags, we throw them in a garbage pail-type container in the pantry. They get washed separately with the kitchen rugs once a week on laundry day.
You may have heard me refer to the man room in passing.
“James putters in the man room.”
This is an entry in praise of the man room.
Back in college, my mom bought me a copy of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Remember that book? Pre – The Rules.
Pre – He’s Just Not That Into You
Just John Grey, Phd and some new (at the time) advice.
In the book, he describes how when women have problems or issues, they tend to like to talk it out. Commiserating is the name of the game and ladies like to feel understood. When men have problems, they tend to want to go in their “man cave” and be alone. At the time, this was valuable advice to my clingy girlfriendy self, and has been even more valuable advice now.
Back to James’ man room.
In it, he keeps his Nintendo 64, he keeps his guitars and his computer. It’s his room. The pictures on the wall are his. They’re scenes from his favorite movies and video games. There’s a bar mirror. There’s a mini fridge, stocked with Mountain Dew and beer. There’s a closet filled with computer parts.
And hilariously enough, all this makes our relationship stronger.
He can go chill after work for a half hour, turn up his surround sound, get a beer without having to go downstairs.
And he’s more fun to hang with after his man time is through.
We only do laundry once a week.
We do it on one weekend day.
We separate, collaborate and make it happen.
We get clean sheets every weekend.
I’ve heard some folks wash a load every day, but I hate folding clothes, matching socks and putting laundry away.
Seriously, I’d rather scrub a toilet.
Since I can only stomach it once a week, I save it all up for the weekend.
I iron Tuesday nights, in front of the television.
I kinda look forward to ironing nights.
Before I did it in front of the television, I hated it.
But now, I’m a regular ironing Betty.
Another object that helped me enjoy ironing was a fancy iron.
I can iron clothes in half the time, and I feel sort of luxurious while I’m doing it.
I hear that scented ironing waters can do the same thing, but I haven’t tried them yet.
This site tells you how to make your own:
http://www.save-on-crafts.com/howtomakyour2.html
Actually, that looks mighty doable.
I know you know I do it, but it bears repeating.
Planning my meals once a week saves me so much time it’s just silly.
Once a week, I plan all of my meals on a separate piece of paper.
Then I write the meals on another piece of paper and post it on the fridge.
You can see all of them here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/helenjane/sets/72057594098854946/
On the back of the first piece of paper, I write my grocery list.
Once a week, I go to the grocery store and buy the things on the list.
It’s only once a week,
the meal planning takes an average of 15 minutes, and
there’s only ONE trip a week to the grocery store.
I’m able to better plan for leftovers, waste less and try new recipes.
Plan your meals for next week! Get to it!
Organizing Tupperware and assorted plastic containers has been a bane.
Lots of lids, or maybe no lids.
Lots of oddly sized or broken containers.
Lots of lots.
So I made a pledge, all plastic containers with lids would be lidded in the cupboard. I don’t care if I’m wasting space, I just don’t care. I won’t have plastic lidded containers without lids in my home.
I took the largest cardboard box that would fit in our cupboard and cut off the flaps.
I carved out a shape in the front of the box with an exacto knife.
All the filled Rubbermaid and Tupperware and Gladware and Reynoldsware and all of that goes in this box.
If the box gets full, then I have too many containers.
And due to plastic contamination paranoia, the only food use containers I reuse are glass spaghetti sauce jars and artichoke jars. This is unlike my parents and sister, who save every salsa container and Cool Whip container in case of container emergency.
I must claim my independence in the ways I know how…
Other parts of the evening routine:
Wash face
Moisturize
Remove contacts
Brush teeth
Put clothes out
Load dishwasher, turn it on.
Hand wash the hand washable dishes
Fill coffee maker, set timer
Set alarm clock
The evening routine part is easy. Much easier than the morning routine.
The dish washing part is key.
By taking care of the dishes immediately, you’ll save so much extra crusty time and soaking time and next day time.
Here’s a smooch on the forehead before you go to sleep.
That should be part of your evening routine too.
I mentioned before that I have a morning routine that serves me well.
I mentioned before that I have an evening routine too.
(Thanks to Flylady.net, that is.)
Part of my evening routine involves me putting my clothes out for the next day.
Now that I work from home, it’s really easy to wear the same clothes for days at a time. Without a plan, I could find myself sleeping in the clothes, waking in the clothes, wandering to my computer in the clothes, and sleeping in said clothes all over again. And when I worked from home back in 2000, I found myself doing exactly that.
Now that I’m married to a guy who relishes cleanliness, that habit won’t fly.
So I’ve had to trick myself out of my naturally slovenly ways.
As part of my evening routine, I put out my clothes for the next day.
Not only do I put out the work clothes, I put out my dog exercising clothes. Every night, after the face gets washed and the moisturizer gets applied, I pull out two separate outfits and put them in piles on the bathroom counter.
One pile has all my exercisey clothing, from socks to shoes to hair bands to sweatshirts.
One pile has all my daytime clothes. They’re clean, they’re ready to go and they’re already picked out.
When I worked in an office, I found that if I didn’t put my clothes out the night before, it took me an extra twenty minutes to get ready in the morning. Twenty minutes!
(I hope it saves you twice as much time.)
She’s an online phenomenon, that FlyLady.
(And she’s certainly changed my life.)
When I was first married and living with James, I drove him up the wall. See, like I said, I was a slob. He’s the neatest man alive. We constantly frustrated each other.
“Why can’t you leave the dishes until tomorrow?” I’d ask.
“Why can’t we just do them now?” he’d ask.
And lo, Flylady arrived. She has some excellent tips for getting tidy and staying that way that have stuck with me through the past five years. Her “morning routine” tip is one of the most helpful.
Every morning I:
Wake up, pulling my blankets back up as if I’m making my side of the bed.
Walk the dog (or as she calls it, “Blessing my Heart”)
Make coffee or tea
Stretch
Write my morning pages
Empty the dishwasher
Make James’ lunch
Wipe down the counters
Make breakfast, eat breakfast
Take my vitamins
Put breakfast dishes in the dishwasher
Shower, get dressed and put on makeup
Wipe down the bathroom (or as she calls it “Swish and Swipe”)
Poof! I’m ready for my day.
I’d read from the book “You on a Diet” that habitual meals make it easier for your body to feel full. When you eat a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries every morning for breakfast, your body recognizes that food and amount.
That when you’re constantly zipping all around in the types of meals you eat, your body doesn’t always recognize that it’s had enough. I think the morning routine follows the same principle.
I follow these steps every day. I feel weird if I leave one out.
It took a while, I had to write it down. I had to check it off.
But now, it’s my morning routine and it keeps thinks in line.
I have an evening routine too.
As part of my morning routine, I do morning pages.
See, they’re part of the Artist’s Way book by Julia Cameron.
(I’ll cover the rest of my morning routine tomorrow)
Every morning I write three long-hand pages of crap.
The first things that roll into my head, my fears, my worries, my convictions and my annoyances.
I have a clipboard that I keep these pages on and
a box in the garage that I store these pages in.
Roughly once every two months, I gather the pages together and read through every cringe-inducing page. What’s helpful about that exercise is that it allows me to pinpoint what nagging thoughts I’m procrastinating action on. Seeing that I’ve written about a petty annoyance every day for two months, helps galvanize me for action.
Mostly, I only keep one magazine from the current month and the magazine from the month before.
(girl from Aliens voice… Mostly…)
I subscribe to a lot of magazines.
Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Wine Spectator, Wine Business Monthly, Cooks Illustrated, Blueprint, Everyday Food, Martha Stewart Living, Communication Arts, How Magazine, Cooking Light, Domino, Lucky, InStyle, and Elle.
Whew!
I also get a bunch of online advertising trade magazines, but since that information changes daily, those get tossed as soon as they’re reviewed.
I save Communication Arts and How in the office. I used to save Cooks Illustrated, but now I just use their giant Cooks Illustrated cookbook. I do save Martha Stewart in the pantry.
(Heh. I keep Martha in the pantry.)
And the rest?
They have only two month before they’re ripped to pieces.
Every month, I sort, rip and toss.
I felt guilty about this for a while.
“Hey! I could donate these to some waiting room in need.”
But while I said that, they stacked up on all available surfaces.
Sort, rip and toss.
That’s how I keep my magazines in line.
I organize my pantry with the following categories:
Carb-like items
Beans, pasta, rice and grains. Mac and cheese goes here too.
Baking
Flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, chocolate chips, red hots, chocolate bars, shredded coconut, flavored oils, yeast.
I put all my baking items in a boot box that I covered with paper. When it’s a serious baking day, I just pull my boot box out of the pantry and rummage through until the baking’s through.
Cans and liquids
Canned whole tomatoes, canned beans, soups and aseptic boxes. Jars of artichoke hearts, cans of enchilada sauce, everything juicy goes on this shelf. Also on this shelf is a tray filled with bottled flavoring agents. This rimmed tray holds items like fish sauce, vinegars and hot pepper sauces.
Wine
Not surprisingly, there’s a shelf with our “drink now” wine.
(We keep our sodas in the garage.)
That’s hilarious to me because before I moved to Napa Valley, all of my wine was to drink now.
(Like I said, it’s an embarrassment of riches.)
Cookbooks
I keep my cookbooks in the pantry. I used to keep them on a stand-up bookshelf in the kitchen, but the sun faded the spines and the splattery oil made them sticky and gross. I keep my food magazines in there too. There’s a method to my magazine madness (I, ahem, currently subscribe to 18) so I don’t drown in magazine clutter.
Serving implements
One shelf holds the serving implements. This includes trays, coffee pourers, cake stands, wine carafes and pitchers. Easy to go to for parties and dinner.
Disposable
One shelf holds everything plastic baggies, garbage bags, paper plates, plastic utensils and paper napkins. I also have a fun box on this shelf that’s filled with fun potential cake toppers — this includes birthday candles, little toy cars and whatever else I find about. It’s helpful when kids come over too — a go-to funtime bag.
When we moved into this rental, it just felt so rentally.
From the plastic doors to the tacky brass knobs, this house is made for people who don’t care for craftsmanship, just for getting the cheapest construction available.
However, one of those hollow doors hides a closet where my heart truly lies.
One of those doors hides my pantry.
Besides the refrigerator, the pantry is the most opened door in the house.
More opened than the garage door, front door or bathroom door.
It’s where I keep pasta, rice and beans.
Canned tomatoes, paste and go-to wine.
Water, soda and extra beer.
It’s where I keep the oversized serving dishes.
The nice wine glasses.
The cookie cutters and 70’s recipe cards.
It keeps my cookbooks, the important magazines and the recipe cards I received for my bridal shower.
I don’t know what I did before it and I’m not sure what I’ll do if I don’t have one again.
I’ll have some tips in the next few days for organizing and stocking a wholesome pantry.
And even better, tips for folks who don’t have the luxury of food storage that I do.
It’s embarrassing, really.
Have you seen my calendar?
Every six months, at the beginning of spring (March) and fall (September) cleaning, I take three large pieces of watercolor paper to the cleared-off dining room table.
I use my big ruler to measure seven boxes across, five boxes high.
I do this on each side of the piece of paper.
Every six months, I sift through my collage box to pull out month-appropriate papers and headers. Each header takes into consideration the weather, the mood, the events that the month is known for.
Then I measure out equal distances. Four times I hole punch. Through the holes, I hang the calendar on magnetic hooks stuck to the side of the fridge.
Yes, it’s easier to buy one,
yes, it’s more convenient to just buy one with puppies or whatever on it.
But I like my time-intensive calendaring method. It’s a meditation on the next six months. As I number each box, as I label each column Sunday through Saturday, I am reminded not to take my time for granted, not to zoom through each day, to make days that matter.
Once a month, in between things like laundry or blog updating, I put the kettle on to boil.
While I’m waiting for it to boil, I pour 1 cup of baking soda down the kitchen drain. I follow it with 1 cup of white vinegar.
When the kettle boils, I remove it from the heat and dump it down the kitchen drain behind the soda/vinegar mixture.
I fill the kettle again and bring it to boil.
While I’m waiting for it to boil, I pour 1 cup baking soda and 1 cup white vinegar down the bathroom drain.
When the kettle boils, I remove it from the heat and dump it down the bathroom drain behind the soda/vinegar mixture.
I fill it again and bring it to a boil.
While I’m waiting for it to boil, I pour 1 cup baking soda and 1 cup white vinegar down the bathtub drain.
When the kettle boils, I remove it from the heat and dump it down the bathtub drain.
Keeps that nasty Drain-o stuff from making an appearance and keeps the drains clean and dandy.
My big tip is don’t have more dress shoes than one can fit on the back of a door.
I love shoes.
But I don’t love lots of them.
They smell, they’re awkward and putting them on a shelf just takes too much darn effort.
On the floor of my closet, I have a wood crate that holds my running shoes. On the back of the closet door I hang my dress shoes. There are twelve spaces. Some spaces hold two shoes, some only hold one.
One new pair comes in?
(One old pair moves out.)
Sounds brutal, I know.
But keeps me current and my shoes in good condition.
Every day I have to take some medicine to keep my blood pressure low — no biggie, I’ve been taking it since I was 22. But for the longest time I couldn’t really remember.
Seriously, a pill every day?
I could barely get coffee in myself.
When told I had the choice between having a stroke next week and taking a pill every day, well, I had to figure out a system. And this system has worked exceptionally well.
Once a week, I pull all my vitamins and pills out. I put them in these Ikea candle holders.
(Yes, they’re the same candle holders that have doubled as wine glasses.)
They stack.
They look nice.
And with one fell toss, my pills make their way into my belly.
On the daily.
This month of November I’ll be posting a homekeeping tip every day.
As a reformed slob*, these tips are top of mind. Because it was not too long ago when my rooms were filled with debris, my surfaces covered in a fine film and my tub caked with goo.
My favorite recommendation is, “Make your bed every day.”
New Year’s Resolution 200[?]
I’d realized I’d only made my bed when I washed my sheets, and that wasn’t nearly enough. When I started, I just started. Over the next few weeks, my room didn’t look right without having a made bed.
Once your bed is made daily, you’ll find that the floor looks funny with piles of clothes on them. Soon, your crowded dresser tops will seem tacky. Eventually you’ll get new curtains and woah, before you know it, you’ve redone your bedroom. All because you took the 2 minutes a day to make your bed.
And that’s the joy of it, it really only takes two minutes.
Time it!
Do it as soon as you get up
If your partner is still in bed, pull up your side and smooth it out. When they get up, they’ll want to make their side match.
Wash your sheets once a week.
Wash your mattress pad, duvet cover and other blankets that may spend long periods of time pressed against your skin once a month.
*Seriously, you have no idea how slobby I was. I can’t think of a roommate who wouldn’t cringe when they remembered my household contribution.