31 January, 2017

Project 333: Six weeks of winter



Project 333 is "the minimalist fashion challenge that invites you to dress with 33 items or less for 3 months."

Before Christmas and at the start of this year I was recording just what I was wearing each day. I wanted to get an idea of what I was wearing and if there were gaps in my wardrobe. Unlike many people who declutter their wardrobes, I don't have a huge number of clothes, but more than I need.  

The project is for 3 months. The seasons in my little part of the world are: mid-March to mid-June (spring), mid-June to mid-September (summer), mid September to mid-December (autumn) and then mid-December to mid-March (winter).

My plan is to start a half-project for winter, starting tomorrow. Then on the 15th of March start a proper 3 month project for spring. Excluded from the 33 items are underwear, sleepwear and sportswear. Included are clothing, jewellery, accessories, shoes/boots, coats and jackets.

It was decidedly weird packing my surplus clothing into various drawers. All of my clothes for the 'six weeks of winter' are either hanging in the wardrobe, in the small chest of drawers (underwear, pjs and sports clothes) or being laundered.  

15 Minutes Declutter: Bedroom sofa


The sofa in my bedroom is the unofficial repository of 'stuff'.  In today's declutter, clothes were put away, scarves were tidily hung, and crafting materials were corralled.

30 January, 2017

15 Minute Declutter: Bedside Table and Top of Blanket Box



Here's where I totally go off-piste.  I've run out of January Challenges, and there's only one February Challenge for me, decluttering the last couple of drawers in the kitchen. The listed challenges are things I have already done, systems already in place (recycling, menus and shopping list), or couponing - something that just isn't a part of my culture. 

So, I'm casting my eye around the house deciding on areas in need of urgent attention.  My bedroom falls into this category.  There's piles of stuff.  It really is a dumping ground.  January has been kitchen month, February is going to be bedroom month.

Today's tenative steps into the bedroom are decluttering the bedside table (actually a little chest of drawers), and the top of the blanket box. 

29 January, 2017

15 Minute Declutter: Cupboard under the stairs


The cupboard under the stairs used to be a place where everything was thrown in. Last year I had a massive decluttering campaign in there when we needed to gain access to the crawl space. We found a whole host of things the previous owners had left behind, including paint, tiles, cork tiles, wooden slats, and railway tracks for a model railway! That decluttering session was a marathon. This year, it was done within 15 minutes!

There were some items placed there by mistake - people had forgotten the new places it should be stored. There was a woodwork upcycling project I had been thinking about for two years. If I really wanted it done, I'd have done it by now. The sleeping bags were placed on top of the rucksacks.

And, as if by magic, there was now enough space on the shelves to spread out the plastic cake boxes, the kitchen appliances that are used, but on less than a weekly basis, and the pretty glass cake stand and cup cake stand. The light weight items are stored above head height, and the heavier items lower down.

The space needs to be re-plastered and painted, but it's decluttered, and tidy.

Week 5: Recipes, Dishes, Mugs and Glasses


Monday: Read Organized Home Challenge #5: Recipes
Done.

Tuesday: Declutter recipes
Done.

Wednesday: Sort recipe into categories and organize them
Done.

Thursday: Declutter cookbooks and then organize the rest
As mentioned previously, I was anxious about this week and started early. And finished it all before the actual challenge came around!

Friday: Declutter small kitchen appliances
Done. I've never been one for having lots of kitchen appliances, and in this house there is not enough space to have many appliances on the work tops. Appliances used every day are allowed on the work tops: kettle, microwave, toaster and coffee maker. My new stand mixer (Kenwood Prospero) has an honoured place in a kitchen cupboard. In the cupboard immediately outside the kitchen, we keep the appliances we want, but don't use on a weekly basis. There's a blender, George Foreman grill, small fryer and sandwich toaster.

The blender is starting to show signs of wear and will need to be replaced. Sadly the Kenwood accessory blender does not fit with my Prospero. It would have been good to have an accessory rather than a whole new appliance.

Saturday: Declutter plastic grocery bags and switch to reusable ones
We try not to use plastic bags. We keep a couple of folding crates in the boot of the car and use them for larger shops. My shoulder bag is good for holding a number of smaller items. But of course, there are times when we do use plastic. We have a carrier bag store in the kitchen, and the bags are reused.

The store was almost full in December. I took the plastic bags along to Douglas street market and asked the first stall I shopped at whether they would like some. They were delighted.



Sunday: Declutter plastic silverware and other take out supplies
We have a little stash of plastic cutlery and paper plates. These are get for picnics and travelling. They are on the topmost shelf in the pantry, out of reach for me, but I know where they are.

The takeout plastic boxes are fantastic and I use them many times for my homemade ready meals. We have been very efficient in creating the ready meals, and I'm running out of plastic boxes!

28 January, 2017

15 Minute Declutter: Plates and Bowls

A February mission I was too impatient to wait for! The plates and bowls have been decluttered. There's a white everyday set, and also the Christmas Tree by Spode.

The remains of a four person set given as a wedding present is on it's way out the door. There's four dinner plates and two side plates. The bowls 'died' a number of years ago. Also the sparse remains of a blue and yellow set I bought about 15 years ago is leaving. One of the large bowls is remaining as it used as a serving dish.

This exercise has helped me understand white is the colour of choice (my choice) for serving dishes, plates and bowls. I like the Christmas Tree ones as well as they are only used for part of the year, and when the food is on the plate you see a white dish with a green border.

I am starting to gradually replace the white set. I'd like to add to the Christmas set, bringing it up to 8 settings, but that is a low priority. As for the large blue and yellow bowl - it's useful. However, I would prefer a white bowl or perhaps a Moroccan blue and white one. But for now, it stays.

27 January, 2017

15 Minute Declutter: Shower Room


This is a mission borrowed from June, but I'm sure the shower room will be ready for another declutter by the time that month comes around.

Everything was taken out of the room.  People were invited to select the items they liked and used, These items were washed and were neatly put back into the shower room. The rest was ditched. 

This is getting to be liberating. I want to do more, but at the same time I want to proceed at a good pace.  It is a marathon, or perhaps double marathon as it's 52 weeks, and not a sprint.  Part of the process is getting rid of 'stuff', but it's also about learning to maintain the decluttered, organised areas, not re-cluttering, and learning new patterns of behaviour.  

I want a warm, inviting house that's calm and free from clutter. At this rate, I'm going to get it.  It might not happen within 52 weeks.  If it doesn't, then I'll pick up from where I left off and keep going.

26 January, 2017

15 Minute Declutter: Glasses


I thought I was borrowing a task from February, but now I look for it, I can't see any instructions about decluttering drinking glasses. Well, anyhow, it was needing to be done, and it's done. We have gone from 'oodles' of wine glasses to half a dozen. They don't match, but they are the ones we use. I've tasked The Beloved to buy a set of six matching wine glasses as soon as he finds a set he likes. We have three other sets of glasses, pint glasses, hi-balls and tumblers.

With this large clear out of wine glasses, there's now enough space on the shelf for the cookery books too.  They will be stored away from dust.

In addition, folded newspaper has been added to the tops of the kitchen cupboards.  When it's time to clean up there again it will be so very simple, as easy as replacing a few bits of newspaper!

25 January, 2017

Recipe to Try: Goat's Cheese, Onion and Potato Bread

Ingredients
110g firm goat's cheese, cut into small cubes
4-5 spring onions, finely slices,
1 medium potato (approx 175g)
175 Sr flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp chopped thyme
1 egg
2 Tsp milk
2 tsp whole grain mustard
a little flour for dusting.

Method
Pre-heat oven to 190C.

Peel and coarsely grate the potato into a large bowl.  Sift in the flour (use Dove Farm gluten-free SR flour for a gf bread) and salt. Add the spring onions, thyme and two thirds of the cheese. With a palette knife, blend together. Mix the egg, milk and mustard in a small bowl. Add it to the potato and flour mixture and form a lose, rough dough.  

Transfer to a well-greased baking sheet and form it into a round of about 15cm. Press the rest of the cheese over the surface and dust lightly with a little flour.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until it is golden brown. Serve whilst still warm.

15 Minute Declutter: Recipes (final batch)


The recipe challenge was designed to be completed over 3 days. It has taken me twice as long, but it has not proved to be as painful as I had feared! The last few days I have been chiding myself for not doing any doing any decluttering. The Beloved laughed and asked about the recipe challenge. It was then I realised I'd been enjoying this so much it didn't feel like work. It has been liberating, exhilarating, and has given me a taste for trying new recipes again!

The recipe book above is written by Si and Dave, The Hairy Bikers, and is called 'Mums still knows best'.  It's one of the few recipe books to have survived the cull. One of the reasons is it's a collection of family favourites, recipes that have stood the test of time.

24 January, 2017

15 Minute Declutter: Recipes

My 15 Minute Declutter today, and for quite a few days is to go through the recipes that have been hand written, photocopies or torn out of magazines. The decluttered ones end up in the recycling bin, and the rest are slowly being added to this blog. Currently the blog is nothing but recipes and decluttering!

Over the course of the weekend I tried three new recipes. The Warm Salmon and Potato Salad has proved to be wonderful. It was good when it had just been made. It looked really appetising when it was cold, and it was good when it was re-heated! This is definitely going to be a recipe we use again and again. And to think until this weekend it was languishing in a heap of recipes torn from a magazine. 

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That's all the loose recipes decluttered!  There's three to add to the blog.

Malteser Tray Bake


Ingredients
100g butter
200g milk chocolate
3 tbsp golden syrup
250g digestive biscuits, crushed
225g Maltesers
200g milk or white chocolate for topping.

Method
Melt the butter, chocolate and syrup. Add the crushed biscuits and Maltesers. Mix together then pour into a greased baking tin and chill until set.

Melt the additional chocolate and pour over the top. Decorate by placing a Malteser on top of each square before the chocolate sets.

Variation
Mini marshmallows can also be added.

Lemon and Coconut Slice


Ingredients
Base
80g butter
250g condensed milk
250g digestive biscuits, crushed
250g desiccated coconut
1 lemon

Topping
240g icing sugar
30g butter, melted
3 Tsp lemon juice
extra desiccated coconut for decoration

Method
Base: Melt the butter, add the condensed milk, crushed biscuits, coconut, the juice of the lemon (reserve 3Tsp for the topping), and the zest of the lemon. Press into a Swiss roll tin lined with baking parchment.

Topping: Mix together the icing sugar, lemon juice and melted butter. Spread over the base.  Sprinkle a little coconut over the topping before it sets.

Variations
Use gluten-free digestives for a gluten-free lemon slice.

Pineapple Delight


Ingredients
Base
250g digestive biscuits
2 dessert sp golden syrup
50g butter

Middle
80g butter
140g icing sugar
1 egg

Topping
1 can crushed pineapple (450g)
290ml double cream
chocolate curls

Method
Base: Put the butter and syrup in a saucepan. Crush the digestive biscuits. When the butter had melted add the crushed biscuits to the butter and syrup. Spread the mixture over a greased Swiss roll tin.

Middle: Cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well. Spread over the biscuit base.

Topping: Drain the pineapple and spread over the tray. Whip the cream and add to the top of the pineapple. Decorate with chocolate curls.

If you are unable to find crushed pineapple, use pineapple chunks cut into smaller pieces.

Variations
For a gluten-free version, use gluten-free digestive biscuits.

A tasty alternative is to use ginger biscuits instead of digestives.

23 January, 2017

Paradise Slice


Ingredients
Base
100g butter
60g sugar
90g plain flour
1 egg, beaten

Topping
100g butter
100g sugar
2 eggs, beaten
25g ground almonds
25g glace cherries
25g sultanas
25g raisins
40g plain flour

Method
To make the base, rub together the flour and butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Add the egg and mix into a dough. Roll out the pastry to line the base of a Swiss roll tin.

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

For the topping, cream the butter and sugar, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spoon on top of the pastry base.;

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until golden, and the centre of the cake is springy. Remove from the oven and dust with caster sugar.

Fruit Loaf


Ingredients
3 cups dried fruit
1.5 cups water
1.5 cups sugar
170g butter
3 tsp mixed spice
3 cups SR flour 
3 eggs

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 170C. Line 3 loaf tins.

Into a saucepan put the dried fruit, water, sugar, butter and mixed spice. Bring to the boil and then hold at a rolling simmer fo 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Mix well the flour (I use Dove Farm Gluten-free SR Flour), eggs and fruit mixture. Divide between the 3 loaf tins and bake for about an hour.

Luscious Lemon Cake


Ingredients
170g butter
225g sugar
3 eggs
300g SR flour
100ml milk
zest of 2 lemons

Syrup
juice of 2 lemons
4.5 Tsp icing sugar

Method
Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Grease two loaf tins and line with baking parchment.

Combine all ingredients of the cake and mix until light and fluffy. Divide between the loaf tines. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Make the syrup by combing the icing sugar and the juice of the lemon. Whilst the cakes are very hot, spoon the syrup over the cake and allow them to soak up the syrup.

Variations
To make the lemon cake gluten-free use Dove Farm Self-Raising Flour.

Mars Bar Crunch



Ingredients
75g butter
3 Mars Bars (~180g)
2 Tsp golden syrup
3 cups Rice Krispies
200g chocolate

Method
Cut the Mars Bars into small pieces. Melt butter, golden syrup and Mars Bars together. Add Rice Krispies and mix well.

Press the mixture into buttered tray. Cover with melted chocolate. Leave to set. Cut into squares.

Variations
Neither Mars Bars nor Rice Krispies are gluten-free. Snicker Crunch can be made by substituting Snickers for the Mars Bars, and Nature's Path Crispy Rice for Rice Crispies.  These are both gluten-free.

Kate's Cheesecake



Ingredients
Base
350g gluten-free digestive biscuits
75g butter

Cheesecake filling
150g Philadelphia cheese
1 large egg
50g castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp lemon juice

Topping
275ml soured cream
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
2 Tsp castor sugar

Method
Crush the biscuits and mix with melted butter. Press into a lined sandwich tin., on the base and up the sides. Chill for 10 minutes in the freezer.

Pre-heat oven at 180C.

Mix all of the ingredients for the cheesecake filling. Smooth on top of the biscuit base and bake for 20 minutes.

Mix the ingredients and smooth on top of the cheesecake layer. Bake for 5 minutes.

Chill.

Notes
The amount of cheesecake to base seemed rather imbalanced. I have adapted the recipe and the new recipe is here.

Week 4:Fridge and Freezer


Monday: Read Organized Home Challenge #4: Fridge & Freezer. Done.

Tuesday: Declutter old food from refrigerator. Done - there was a bottle of salad dressing that had been in the fridge just a little bit too long, and half a glass of fruit juice.

Wednesday: Thorough cleaning of refrigerator. Done.

Thursday: Declutter front and top of refrigerator. Done.

Friday: Declutter freezer. This was done before Christmas, and is still looking mighty fine.

Saturday: Fill out freezer inventory. Not needed.

Sunday: Declutter top of kitchen cabinets. Can't be done until The Beloved is home. Even standing on the kitchen step ladders I can't reach the top of cabinets. However, I know there's two wine glasses and a load of dust to be decluttered. (The Beloved cleaned the top of the cabinets after dinner and disposed of the wine glasses.)

As this was such a simple set of tasks, I threw in 'deep clean the microwave'. It seemed to fit in with the theme.

22 January, 2017

Lemon and Garlic Vegetables


Ingredients
1 courgette
2 Tsp oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 red onion
1 thin leek
50g mangetout
1/2 lemon

Method
Slice the onion. Finely dice the onion. Slice the leek diagonally, and cut the courgette into ribbons.

Stir fry the onion and garlic in the oil for 2 minutes. Add the leek and continue for a further 2 minutes. Add the mangetout and cook for 1 more minute and then the courgette. Squeeze lemon juice over the vegetables.

Serve immediately.

Variations
Change the vegetables, but consider how long they need to cook. Suitable vegetables are ribbons of carrot, bean sprouts, sliced mushrooms, slices peppers, spring onions cut on the diagonal, etc.

Auntie June's Kitchen

My Mam is a prolific baker. She is known where ever she goes for the bakes goods and sweets she takes along. All of the family, and friends, have their favourites.

A little while back I had the notion of collecting Mam's best beloved recipes together in one place. This will be the collection point, and the tag for her recipes will be Auntie June's Kitchen. Whilst she is 'Mam' to two people, 'Grandma' to four, she is 'Auntie June' to at least 50 people.

At the top of the right hand column of the blog there's two links. The first the index for the recipes on this blog, and the second gives a list of all my Mam's recipes.

The recipe below is my brother's favourite, Bombs! Apparently other people call them Chocolate Truffles, but in my family, they are Bombs.


Ingredients
100g digestive biscuits (Graham Crackers in the US)
2 tablespoons (rounded) drinking chocolate
3 tablespoons (rounded) desiccated coconut
200g sweetened condensed milk
50g of melted butter

chocolate vermicelli or coconut

Method
Place the butter and condensed milk in a saucepan and heat until the butter melts into the condensed milk. Crush the digestive biscuits. Add the biscuit crumbs, drinking chocolate, and desiccated coconut. Mix well, and then leave to solidify.

Roll into balls, and then coat in chocolate vermicelli or coconut.

Variations
I make a gluten-free version by using gluten-free digestive biscuits.

A more sophisticated version of can be made by adding 30g of finely chopped candied peel to the mixture. Then dipping the balls in melted dark chocolate, and decorating with a tiny bit of candied peel.

21 January, 2017

15 Minute Declutter: Recipes


Another round of decluttering recipe books and recipes torn from magazines happened this morning. None of the books have made the cut, but I came across several recipes from my Mam. She is a great baker, and one of my goals is collect the recipes for the family's favourite bakes. I'll add them bit by bit to this blog.

It was great coming across recipes I haven't used in years, like Banana 'Ice Cream'. They will start to reappear on my menus.

During the declutter I came across two other books I believed to belong to L. But when we met for a cuppa she had no knowledge of the books. However, two of the Manx Yarnies were happy to take the books. It feels good when unneeded items leave the house, especially when you know that the items are going to people who want them.

Banana 'Ice Cream'



Ingredients
3 large very ripe bananas
3 Tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup soya milk
5 tsp sunflower oil
2 tsp vanilla

Method
Cover a baking sheet in cling film. Slice bananas and place on the baking sheet. Freeze for at least 3 hours.

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

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This fake ice cream actually tastes and feels like real ice cream. Other fruits can be substituted. Although care should be taken with fresh pineapple, kiwi and mango.  There's a chemical in them that causes problems when making 'ice cream'.

20 January, 2017

Warm Salmon and Potato Salad



Ingredients
750g new potatoes, quartered
1 red onion, cut into wedges
1Tsp oil
200g cherry tomatoes
4 salmon fillets

Dressing
juice of 1 lemon
1 Tsp wholegrain mustard
1/2 Tsp sugar
50ml oil

Method
Preheat oven to 220°C. Put potatoes and onion wedges into a medium roasting tin, add oil and stir to coat. Spread vegetables out and roast for 35min, or until just tender.

Remove the tin from the oven, stir in the cherry tomatoes and lay the salmon fillets on top of the vegetables. Season well and return to the oven for a further 12min, or until the fish is opaque and cooked through.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, mustard, honey, olive oil, a splash of water and plenty of seasoning until combined.

Serve on a bed of salad leaves. Pour the dressing over the salmon and vegetables.

Review
This is good! Very good. It shall become one of the regulars.

The original recipe had honey in the dressing. I really did try to use honey in the dressing, but as I was squeezing the container all I could smell were bee farts. Turning away in disgust at the smell, I decided on using a bit of sugar instead of honey (and put the substitution in the ingredients). Next time I might try maple syrup instead, but just a little bit.

Parsnip and Maple Soup



Ingredients
1 Tsp oil 
2 onions, finely chopped 
2 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped 
1 'thumb' of root ginger
2 tsp whole grain mustard
750g parsnips, chopped 
2 large potatoes, chopped 
2 litres vegetable stock 

Garnish
pecans, chopped 
maple syrup 

Method
Heat the oil in a large pan and gently cook the onions until soft, but not coloured. Add the garlic, ginger and mustard. Cook for 1 further minute. Then add the potatoes, parsnips and stock. 

Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Blend the soup until smooth. Check the seasoning.

Garnish with pecans, black pepper, and a little drizzle of maple syrup.

If you forget to add pecans to the shopping list, but have pumpkin seeds, add those instead.  

15 Minute Declutter: Recipes

At the end of the month, the challenge is to declutter recipes and recipe books. This challenge is hanging over my head, and I must admit, I'm panicking a little.

I've decided as I have finished this week's declutter challenges I am going to work on the recipes and recipe books. It is going to take a great deal more than the 4 sessions allotted!

A small pile was picked up, dusted off and examined. One of the books I believe belongs to a friend and will be returned tomorrow. One has been saved, and four will go. The manual for the tumble dryer was mixed in with the pile. This will be added to the recycling box. Paper manuals are not needed as they are available on-line.

This leaves me with a Good Housekeeping 2014 magazine which has had loose recipes stuffed into it. I'm going to be have a quick sort through the recipes. I shall go through them again at the end of the month.

19 January, 2017

15 Minute Declutter: Mugs

This challenge is on the cards for next month, but last night the mood for mug-decluttering came over me. That was fine when it was just me, but when The Beloved got involved it turned into a bit more of a challenge. 

By the sink there is a shelf and hanging space for mugs. 18 can fit in that space. Surely 18 mugs is sufficient for three people! Apparently not!
There’s a set of  white mugs just like the one below. 
image title

There’s 5 Doctor Who ones, and a couple of Sheepy ones, and a Crystal Gems one too. The Beloved added one patterned mug. I can understand that one as it’s bigger than the rest, and sometimes he needs more coffee. But he also added in five plain white mugs (heavy, clunky, thick). I was going to take them into the office for use there. His reasoning was that the rest of the mugs were mine, and he didn’t want to coffee-inate my mugs! At this point I reminded him of two very important things. The first being ‘all my worldly goods I thee endow’. The second was mugs washed in hot, soapy water come clean, and are uncontaminated by the the evils of coffee!
I have a migraine hangover, and thinking isn’t my things just now. I tried to reason with him, and gave up and said I would bribe him instead. A Snicker bar (chocolate, nougat and nuts) was handed over. He declared himself two thirds bribed as I hadn’t given him a full sized Snicker. It was only a 2/3 sized one from a multipack.
(sigh)
Who’du think it would be so difficult to get rid of mugs?!

Today, the mugs were washed, along with two cups!.  Ten mugs and two cups have made their way into the pile of items to be donated.  And I'm now looking forward to decluttering plates and bowls.

18 January, 2017

15 Minute Mission: Sinking (part 2) and Laundry

The sinking feeling has gone!  I was putting it off time and time again.  But, it's done.  The cupboard is clean, tidy, and some items have been decluttered.  It's looking so much better.

The other thing done today was keeping the laundry up to date. It's something I've been working on a while, and over the Christmas holidays I was able to totally empty the laundry basket.  There were no dirty clothes, and no clothes is the process of being cleaned/dried/put away.  Since then, I've been trying to wash and dry a load of laundry each day.  

As it's winter, the tumble dryer is in use as it's almost impossible to line-dry clothes at this time of year.  When the dryer has finished, and the clothes are still warm, they are folded and sorted.  This prevents creasing.  They are then put away. 

This is so very much better than the previous 'system'.  There was an overflowing laundry basket, clothes on the floor, and cries of "Eeek! I've run out of knickers/socks/t-shirts."

17 January, 2017

15 Minute Missions: Sinking!




The challenges for last Saturday and Sunday were to "declutter and organize under kitchen sink." and "declutter and organize pots and pans". That so didn't happen! To put it simply, it was neither was a 15 minute task.

The only things under the sink are pots, pans and roasting trays. The cupboards needed to be emptied, cleaned, the contents cleaned, decluttered and put away.

The cupboard has now been emptied. Round one of cleaning has taken place, and it's looking a bit better. The section where the roasting dishes are kept is oily-gunky. This is going to take more than one attempt at cleaning to get it properly clean. A start has been made on washing the contents. This will be finished tomorrow.

16 January, 2017

15 Minute Mission: Address Book

As the only task I've had in 'Pantry and Spices' has been to clean the drawer we keep spices, stock pots and nuts in, I'm casting my net wide to find other missions for this week.  Today's is Update and organize address book information. In my case, it's 'Create and organise'!

At some point, years ago, I had a physical book with people's names, addresses, and phone numbers.  This has long gone.  Information is now spread out over various location, my phone, the Beloved's phone, Amazon, etc.  It's not a problem for me, but if others wanted to access the information they might have problems. 

I'm going to have to come back to this one and add information in chunks.  It will take time to create.  It might be a good idea to print it out and keep it beside important documents.


Week 3: Pantry and Spices


Monday: Read Week #3: Pantry. Done.

Tuesday: Declutter and organize bake-ware. This was done last week when the task was to declutter plastic containers. They had already been decluttered, but I took the chance to give the cupboard a clean out and a re-organisation. There's the same amount of stuff in the cupboard, but it looks a great deal more organised.

Wednesday: Declutter and organize canned food. This was done in mid-December.

Thursday: Declutter and organize spices. Done.

Friday: Declutter pantry or cupboard shelves. Again, this was done in mid-December. Everything was taken out, cleaned, re-organised.

Saturday: Fill out pantry inventory. I really don't feel the need for this. The pantry is shallow, and I can see everything at a glance. We go through it on a very regular basis, and we know what is there. We check the pantry, fridge and freezer, make a menu, and then shop to fill in the gaps.

Sunday: Declutter kitchen cabinet shelves. The only cabinets left are the ones containing dishes and glasses, and they will be tackled in February. These is an area we didn't do last year, and it definitely needs to be done. We have too many dishes and glasses.