Thursday, February 2, 2017
2017....another year begins.
I suck at blogging..... well, not so much the blogging part as the actually doing something that is blog-worthy.
Here I am, two kids, a cat, and a husband. 30-something years old. And still an overflowing house that I am embarrassed to have people over. Haven't eaten a meal at our dining room table in years. Literally years.
THIS HAS TO STOP! This is ridiculous!!! Why is this so hard for me??
Random thoughts in Fran's head:
1. If I don't do something, I am going to end up on the show hoarders and my kids will be angry twenty-somethings talking about their ruined childhoods on national TV. But, half (probably over half) of this stuff is theirs!
2. I may be raising a hoarder. I pulled out a video gaming system (v-smile) that is designed for 3-4 year old kids. Literally no-one has touched this thing in over a year. My 7-year-old has a used PlayStation 2, so the v-smile truly is baby stuff. He cried that
3.Other blogs say to just get rid of it, they'll never notice.--DOESN'T WORK WITH THIS KID. Mind like a steel trap. Has asked about toys 3-4 months later and then told me he was sad he didn't have them to play with. Major guilt trip!
4. It is sinful to have this much stuff. No, really. We have way too much clothing, dishes, DVDs, etc. We don't need this stuff, most of it is sitting around in a drawer being unloved. Most of it doesn't spark joy. (can you tell I am about to try Kon-Mari-ing everything in sight)???
5. If I don't make the time to do this now, it is never going to get done.
6. How much longer do I want to live this way?
2017 really is the year it is going to stop. I have done something drastic, I am hiring professional help. I will post on here as I can.
Monday, April 4, 2016
and that one time that 2.5 years went by...
So, almost 30 months later.
I am still a cluttering semi-hoarder.
Working semi-full-time, with a house full of messy boys and a messy cat.
So, poor old Michael Finnegan begin again, shall we.
I do my best work in spurts separated by years, apparently.
I did manage to potty train my second son last year. And got rid of the training potty just yesterday.
Also, the crib and changing table are gone.
They left my house two weeks ago.
The toddler bed, glider, and small lingerie chest are going next. Hopefully within the next month, because I am turning the nursery into a play room because if I step on one more hot wheels in the middle of the night, I may go insane.
I am still a cluttering semi-hoarder.
Working semi-full-time, with a house full of messy boys and a messy cat.
So, poor old Michael Finnegan begin again, shall we.
I do my best work in spurts separated by years, apparently.
I did manage to potty train my second son last year. And got rid of the training potty just yesterday.
Also, the crib and changing table are gone.
They left my house two weeks ago.
The toddler bed, glider, and small lingerie chest are going next. Hopefully within the next month, because I am turning the nursery into a play room because if I step on one more hot wheels in the middle of the night, I may go insane.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Less work for hubby. Boo.
I have NOT dropped off the face of the earth, my husband lost his job. I am working nights in order to bring some household money in. Hence, less time for blogging. I will return hopefully soon and post lots of updates, as I have continued in my less-is-more efforts, with some great success!
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
The great clothing purge of 2013
My bedroom was out of control. It always seems to be the one room that gets out of control (well, besides the office/junk room, but I am not brave enough to go in there yet...it's all about the baby steps for me).
Here is the real, actual before of one wall.
Pretty bad. I don't think I could make it any worse unless I emptied the entire dresser on the floor. All of the (somewhat) closed drawers are stuffed full, by the way, as well as the hamper, which is covered by clothing in this photo. I am also ashamed to admit that I had also commandeered two big drawers in my son's dresser. I don't know how I got so many clothes! Those stinkin' elves keep bringing things into my house...
So, I decided to get started by placing three containers on my bed, one for donating and two for keeping. One of the keeps is for "I love this and it will fit 10 pounds from now" and one was for "worn but not worn often or sentimental". Anything that was more than 10 pounds away was going to be gotten rid of.
Please ignore the rest of the room and unmade bed. I am begging you.
I started going throught the clothes. And found these.
Yep. Clothing with tags. And a pack of underwear that had never been worn. I will spare you the photo of the underwear. With clothing, my new philosopy is "use it or lose it". I opened the underwear (got rid of a lot of old undies) and washed them along with the pink shirt. The black pants got donated. What good are clothes that you don't wear?
Two hours later, I had this donate pile (the bag on the left held a huge comforter at one point, so it is pretty big).
I also had these two somewhat smaller keep (but store) piles.
Above on the left is a small pile for the rag bag.
If I am not in the slightly-too-tight clothes by Labor Day, they are getting donated.
Here is the after. Not perfect, but better. Baby steps.
I love being able to fit (most) of my clothes into my dresser. But the best part happened about a week later. My four-year-old was playing in his room, and I heard. " Mommy! Mommy! Come here! Your clothes are gone!" He showed me where he had opened his dresser to reveal the newly empty drawers.
I told him that I had given some of my clothes away and I didn't need those drawers anymore. He asked me if he could put some of his stuff in there. It was cute and sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. My clutter habit had encroached onto his life and he was asking if it was okay to use his own dresser.
So, it felt great to be able to say "Sure, sweetie, put anything you want in there. It's yours."
Bye for now!
Here is the real, actual before of one wall.
Pretty bad. I don't think I could make it any worse unless I emptied the entire dresser on the floor. All of the (somewhat) closed drawers are stuffed full, by the way, as well as the hamper, which is covered by clothing in this photo. I am also ashamed to admit that I had also commandeered two big drawers in my son's dresser. I don't know how I got so many clothes! Those stinkin' elves keep bringing things into my house...
So, I decided to get started by placing three containers on my bed, one for donating and two for keeping. One of the keeps is for "I love this and it will fit 10 pounds from now" and one was for "worn but not worn often or sentimental". Anything that was more than 10 pounds away was going to be gotten rid of.
Please ignore the rest of the room and unmade bed. I am begging you.
I started going throught the clothes. And found these.
Yep. Clothing with tags. And a pack of underwear that had never been worn. I will spare you the photo of the underwear. With clothing, my new philosopy is "use it or lose it". I opened the underwear (got rid of a lot of old undies) and washed them along with the pink shirt. The black pants got donated. What good are clothes that you don't wear?
Two hours later, I had this donate pile (the bag on the left held a huge comforter at one point, so it is pretty big).
I also had these two somewhat smaller keep (but store) piles.
Above on the left is a small pile for the rag bag.
If I am not in the slightly-too-tight clothes by Labor Day, they are getting donated.
Here is the after. Not perfect, but better. Baby steps.
I love being able to fit (most) of my clothes into my dresser. But the best part happened about a week later. My four-year-old was playing in his room, and I heard. " Mommy! Mommy! Come here! Your clothes are gone!" He showed me where he had opened his dresser to reveal the newly empty drawers.
I told him that I had given some of my clothes away and I didn't need those drawers anymore. He asked me if he could put some of his stuff in there. It was cute and sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. My clutter habit had encroached onto his life and he was asking if it was okay to use his own dresser.
So, it felt great to be able to say "Sure, sweetie, put anything you want in there. It's yours."
Bye for now!
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
July 2nd check in
Just checking in. I have made some progress (and I have a couple of projects underway).
I have done a pretty good job not buying anything new. I have a couple of new shirts, BUT I got rid of 11 maternity clothing items, threw away 10 ratty underwear (didn't I just do that??), and have another 15 clothing items boxed up. I think a summary of the "great dresser throwaway" will be my next post!
So, we are gardening this year. Unfortunately, Peter Rabbit is using our garden as an all-you-can-eat buffet. We have harvested exactly 6 tomatoes, and I don't think that we are going to get any peppers at all this year (Peter Rabbit likes things spicy). Zero on the squash. This is technically our fault, as we have a wood pile 40 feet from the garden that we have been meaning to burn. I am sure that Peter is living there, so now I don't have the heart to just set fire to it. Less produce makes me sad.
I have done a pretty good job not buying anything new. I have a couple of new shirts, BUT I got rid of 11 maternity clothing items, threw away 10 ratty underwear (didn't I just do that??), and have another 15 clothing items boxed up. I think a summary of the "great dresser throwaway" will be my next post!
So, we are gardening this year. Unfortunately, Peter Rabbit is using our garden as an all-you-can-eat buffet. We have harvested exactly 6 tomatoes, and I don't think that we are going to get any peppers at all this year (Peter Rabbit likes things spicy). Zero on the squash. This is technically our fault, as we have a wood pile 40 feet from the garden that we have been meaning to burn. I am sure that Peter is living there, so now I don't have the heart to just set fire to it. Less produce makes me sad.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Update and an Aldi gripe
So, in the last two weeks I have managed to buy only two new items, a summer dress and a shirt, both of which are appropriate for church. I have lost most of the baby weight, so many of my old clothes are hanging off of me and I am worried my bra is going to show. Oh, and I also bought a cupcake holder from Aldi (BAD!!! I know!!!). There are no excuses, just that I took cupcakes to a picnic and didn't have a big enough holder so they all smooshed together and I wished that I had had a holder ...yadda...
yadda...
yadda...
yeah, I know I can make an excuse for anything.
While I was there, I noticed something. (photo from my definitely-not-a smartphone).
Do you see it? Aldi dropped the count on their baby wipes from 72 to 56. BUT they kept the same price. They hadn't even changed the sign yet, which still had the old count.
So, now I get 23% fewer wipes for my 99 cents.
Sneaky, Aldi. Not cool. Not the kind of "less" that this mama likes.
Anyway, as penance for my 3 new items, I got rid of 7 shirts that were too big and stained from the last 6 months of being spit-up on.
yadda...
yadda...
yeah, I know I can make an excuse for anything.
While I was there, I noticed something. (photo from my definitely-not-a smartphone).
Do you see it? Aldi dropped the count on their baby wipes from 72 to 56. BUT they kept the same price. They hadn't even changed the sign yet, which still had the old count.
So, now I get 23% fewer wipes for my 99 cents.
Sneaky, Aldi. Not cool. Not the kind of "less" that this mama likes.
Anyway, as penance for my 3 new items, I got rid of 7 shirts that were too big and stained from the last 6 months of being spit-up on.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Blog Fail
So, going back and reading old posts, I realize that I was supposed to be keeping track of what is coming in and going out. I stopped doing that when I took on the new job last year because it was just too much. I did buy less and throw some stuff out, but I failed to keep track of it, and I definitely didn't get rid of as much as I could have.
Don't worry. There is PLENTY left.
So, I am going to start over again. I can't promise that I won't have any more setbacks, but every object that I get rid of and every object that I DON'T bring into the house is a victory as far as I am concerned.
Don't worry. There is PLENTY left.
So, I am going to start over again. I can't promise that I won't have any more setbacks, but every object that I get rid of and every object that I DON'T bring into the house is a victory as far as I am concerned.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Less time in the kitchen.
I found a great deal on ground beef yesterday. It was marked down to $1.69/pound, which is a pretty good deal in my area. It was 4.59 pounds and it had a use-by date of May 2nd (today). Which means it needs to be used or frozen in a hurry because I am a stickler for that when it comes to ground beef.
In this situation, I practice a method that I first learned about on www.aslobcomesclean.com.
I pre-cook the ground beef. I do this for safety/quality reasons, and also to speed up meal prep.
I placed the entire 4.59 pounds of ground beef in my largest skillet. It looked like this.
That is a lot of ground beef. I cooked it and drained the grease. Then it looked like this:
I divided it into 4 equal portions (they are slightly less than a pound each due to loss from shrinkage, but in the spirit of eating less meat, they will work fine in any recipe calling for a pound of meat). I bagged three of them up into freezer bags, and will use the other portion for tonight's dinner.
Let them cool for 15-20 minutes before placing in the freezer.
This whole thing took less than 20 minutes and only dirtied up one pan and one spoon.
Meals that this method is appropriate for:
chili
tacos
sloppy joes
spaghetti
lasagna
goulash
shepard's pie
pretty much anything where you brown and crumble the ground beef before proceeding with the rest of the recipe
Precooking the ground beef will cut the time for these recipes by at least 15 minutes.
To me, that there is no noticeable difference in the finished recipe. Most of the recipes that I use that call for ground beef also call for the addition of spices, sauces and gravies. I really can't tell that the ground beef has been previously cooked then frozen. It also thaws much more quickly and can be broken up to defrost in the microwave in a minute or to. Or, if making chili or spaghetti, just add the frozen beef straight to the pot along with the other ingredients.
Meals that this method is not appropriate for:
meatballs
hamburgers
meatloaf
anything where you DON'T brown and crumble the ground beef first
In this situation, I practice a method that I first learned about on www.aslobcomesclean.com.
I pre-cook the ground beef. I do this for safety/quality reasons, and also to speed up meal prep.
I placed the entire 4.59 pounds of ground beef in my largest skillet. It looked like this.
That is a lot of ground beef. I cooked it and drained the grease. Then it looked like this:
I divided it into 4 equal portions (they are slightly less than a pound each due to loss from shrinkage, but in the spirit of eating less meat, they will work fine in any recipe calling for a pound of meat). I bagged three of them up into freezer bags, and will use the other portion for tonight's dinner.
Let them cool for 15-20 minutes before placing in the freezer.
This whole thing took less than 20 minutes and only dirtied up one pan and one spoon.
Meals that this method is appropriate for:
chili
tacos
sloppy joes
spaghetti
lasagna
goulash
shepard's pie
pretty much anything where you brown and crumble the ground beef before proceeding with the rest of the recipe
Precooking the ground beef will cut the time for these recipes by at least 15 minutes.
To me, that there is no noticeable difference in the finished recipe. Most of the recipes that I use that call for ground beef also call for the addition of spices, sauces and gravies. I really can't tell that the ground beef has been previously cooked then frozen. It also thaws much more quickly and can be broken up to defrost in the microwave in a minute or to. Or, if making chili or spaghetti, just add the frozen beef straight to the pot along with the other ingredients.
Meals that this method is not appropriate for:
meatballs
hamburgers
meatloaf
anything where you DON'T brown and crumble the ground beef first
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
A year gone.
Wow, there went a year.
It is now February 2013 and my year of less turned into a year of more.
Started the job. Things got crazy. Found out I was pregnant. Hated the job. Goodbye job. Had a baby. Staying at home.
So we find ourselves back here. A year gone. We just got that entertainment center out of our garage a month ago.
So, let's start over, shall we?
It is now February 2013 and my year of less turned into a year of more.
Started the job. Things got crazy. Found out I was pregnant. Hated the job. Goodbye job. Had a baby. Staying at home.
So we find ourselves back here. A year gone. We just got that entertainment center out of our garage a month ago.
So, let's start over, shall we?
Monday, February 20, 2012
The year of less time??
So somehow my year of less has turned into a year of more. After being unemployed for nearly a year, I have found and started a new job. All within a week. With it I need an work wardrobe, since the atmosphere is business professional.
I went shopping. It had to be done. I donated 2/3 of my old work wardrobe with the 100 pieces of clothing challenge. Additionally, I have lost about 20 pounds since November, so much of what I used to be able to wear is now way too big for me (we are talking dragging the floor too big). The good news is that I kept a few good work pieces from my skinnier days, so I have a base to start from, but I was sorely in need of some more things to tide me over for the short term.
I bought:
1 belt
1 pair of pumps
3 shirts
2 sweaters/cardigans
2 skirts
2 dresses
2 new pairs of hose which will probably get ripped the first time I wear them.
You know what that means, I have to get rid of some things. We are looking to get a new flat-screen TV so we decided to get rid of the old entertainment center, which is only big enough to hold a 27 inch old-school TV. In its place we moved a dresser from another room. We have moved the entertainment center to the garage until we can take it to Goodwill. So, one thing down.
We also decided to pare down our video collection.
Bye to 30 VHS tapes!
So, I think we came out ahead. Meaning with less stuff afterwards.
I went shopping. It had to be done. I donated 2/3 of my old work wardrobe with the 100 pieces of clothing challenge. Additionally, I have lost about 20 pounds since November, so much of what I used to be able to wear is now way too big for me (we are talking dragging the floor too big). The good news is that I kept a few good work pieces from my skinnier days, so I have a base to start from, but I was sorely in need of some more things to tide me over for the short term.
I bought:
1 belt
1 pair of pumps
3 shirts
2 sweaters/cardigans
2 skirts
2 dresses
2 new pairs of hose which will probably get ripped the first time I wear them.
You know what that means, I have to get rid of some things. We are looking to get a new flat-screen TV so we decided to get rid of the old entertainment center, which is only big enough to hold a 27 inch old-school TV. In its place we moved a dresser from another room. We have moved the entertainment center to the garage until we can take it to Goodwill. So, one thing down.
We also decided to pare down our video collection.
Bye to 30 VHS tapes!
So, I think we came out ahead. Meaning with less stuff afterwards.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
100 things...
So, reorganizing closets and painting is fine and good, but this is the Year of Less (YOL), so I need to step it up and actually get rid of some stuff. It can be a bit daunting to do.
I think the key for me is to break decluttering up into smaller, more manageable jobs. I decided that I had one hour to find 100 things to get rid of. I would have three categories, to throw away, to donate to charity, and to reuse in some way. I decided to start with clothing since I have lost some weight and a few things are too big for me now anyway.
I thought, there is no WAY that my husband and I have 100 pieces of clothing to get rid of, but maybe we could get 40 or so from clothing and I could find the other 60 somewhere else in the house. I am not a clotheshorse--I only own 4 pairs of jeans. My drawers are stuffed full or overflowing on any given day, but that is only because I don't have any storage for seasonal stuff, right?
Oh, and I cheated a little bit. Mr. YOL had come up with 18 clothing items the night before that he was ready to get rid of.
They included: 11 men's shirts and 7 pairs of men's pants.
So I was starting at +18 on my total.
Anyway, I started the timer at 60 minutes. I could do this. No problem. I took a deep breath, and started on mine...
I did try clothing on at times to see if I should keep it. If it was unflattering in the least, I got rid of it. I was surprised at how many things I had that either still had the tags or that I had never worn.
After one hour I had:
6 items for the trash, an incredible 65 items to donate to charity, and 15 items to reuse!
86 items total! All clothing! I couldn't believe it. I was so close to the 100 items...could I make it to 100 items on just clothing? I gave myself another 10 minutes. Trying so many of these on was taking quite a bit of time.
After nine minutes, I was so close. I had a minute left and I still needed 6 items....where could I look?.....
AH HA! The bra and sock drawer!! Why didn't I think of this before?
I got rid of two bras and 4 pairs of socks.
And I was at 100 items with 15 seconds to spare. Success! Whew!
I packaged the stuff to be donated in old diaper boxes. Here is a picture of it all:
Not pictured are the 16 items that I am going reuse by cutting them up for rags and the 5 shirts and a pair of underwear in the trash (silky fabrics so no good for rags).
Each box is about 2 cubic feet (1x2x1). So, 10 cubic feet of clutter gone, and now I have room in my drawers for everything.
I didn't think that I was even close to having 100 items of clothing to get rid of, but I sure did. It makes me wonder what else I have way too much of...
I think the key for me is to break decluttering up into smaller, more manageable jobs. I decided that I had one hour to find 100 things to get rid of. I would have three categories, to throw away, to donate to charity, and to reuse in some way. I decided to start with clothing since I have lost some weight and a few things are too big for me now anyway.
I thought, there is no WAY that my husband and I have 100 pieces of clothing to get rid of, but maybe we could get 40 or so from clothing and I could find the other 60 somewhere else in the house. I am not a clotheshorse--I only own 4 pairs of jeans. My drawers are stuffed full or overflowing on any given day, but that is only because I don't have any storage for seasonal stuff, right?
Oh, and I cheated a little bit. Mr. YOL had come up with 18 clothing items the night before that he was ready to get rid of.
They included: 11 men's shirts and 7 pairs of men's pants.
So I was starting at +18 on my total.
Anyway, I started the timer at 60 minutes. I could do this. No problem. I took a deep breath, and started on mine...
I did try clothing on at times to see if I should keep it. If it was unflattering in the least, I got rid of it. I was surprised at how many things I had that either still had the tags or that I had never worn.
After one hour I had:
6 items for the trash, an incredible 65 items to donate to charity, and 15 items to reuse!
86 items total! All clothing! I couldn't believe it. I was so close to the 100 items...could I make it to 100 items on just clothing? I gave myself another 10 minutes. Trying so many of these on was taking quite a bit of time.
After nine minutes, I was so close. I had a minute left and I still needed 6 items....where could I look?.....
AH HA! The bra and sock drawer!! Why didn't I think of this before?
I got rid of two bras and 4 pairs of socks.
And I was at 100 items with 15 seconds to spare. Success! Whew!
I packaged the stuff to be donated in old diaper boxes. Here is a picture of it all:
Not pictured are the 16 items that I am going reuse by cutting them up for rags and the 5 shirts and a pair of underwear in the trash (silky fabrics so no good for rags).
Each box is about 2 cubic feet (1x2x1). So, 10 cubic feet of clutter gone, and now I have room in my drawers for everything.
I didn't think that I was even close to having 100 items of clothing to get rid of, but I sure did. It makes me wonder what else I have way too much of...
Monday, January 30, 2012
MORE....closet space, that is.
So, I live in an old house. Not 100 years old, but around 50. It's a great house for the most part, in a safe area with a large yard and hardwood floors. It does have its drawbacks, though.
I'm sure that at the time it was built, it was considered to have pretty good closet space. Nowadays, not so much. All of the closets in my house are reach-in closets with a single bar and one or two wooden shelves above the bar. None of the closets have been updated since the early 1960s.
Until now!!!!
Yes, I got the "I am sick of staring at this thing" bug again. I was tired of struggling with my closet every time I opened it.
Here is what it looked like before (doors removed)
During:
And after:
Can you believe how much more space we have!!? The after picture has 85% of the same stuff as the before picture. I took the time to find other homes for the strange things that had accumulated there, like a sitz bath and a meat grinder (err...it's crazy how those elves move things around my house....darn elves!)
We were able to get this project done in a day.
As a part of this project, I added the following things to my house:
Closetmaid shelf set
Set of drill bits
24-inch level
3 Fabric cubes
All of them were needed, but they still count, so I will have to go through and get rid of some stuff. I also bought a cookbook (eek....see this post but I have REALLY wanted this one cookbook FOREVER) and a movie for my son. That will be another post because this chica is tired.
I'm sure that at the time it was built, it was considered to have pretty good closet space. Nowadays, not so much. All of the closets in my house are reach-in closets with a single bar and one or two wooden shelves above the bar. None of the closets have been updated since the early 1960s.
Until now!!!!
Yes, I got the "I am sick of staring at this thing" bug again. I was tired of struggling with my closet every time I opened it.
Here is what it looked like before (doors removed)
During:
And after:
Can you believe how much more space we have!!? The after picture has 85% of the same stuff as the before picture. I took the time to find other homes for the strange things that had accumulated there, like a sitz bath and a meat grinder (err...it's crazy how those elves move things around my house....darn elves!)
We were able to get this project done in a day.
As a part of this project, I added the following things to my house:
Closetmaid shelf set
Set of drill bits
24-inch level
3 Fabric cubes
All of them were needed, but they still count, so I will have to go through and get rid of some stuff. I also bought a cookbook (eek....see this post but I have REALLY wanted this one cookbook FOREVER) and a movie for my son. That will be another post because this chica is tired.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Why I hate Target...
Note: I don't really hate Target.
I hate my behavior when I'm IN Target. You know the joke about the kid in the candy store? Well, I'm that way at Target.
I went in today to get a new dustpan and broom set. That's all. They sell them at the dollar spot for $1.
I walked out of the demon store $22.78 lighter. Yep, I fell for their clever floor plan and nifty aisle end-caps.
Most of my purchases were food, cleaning supplies, or toiletries (not included in the Year of Less tally), but I did manage to bring 5 new things into the house.
Here are the offending 5 items:
All cleaning oriented (this year, I am including Less Filth as one of my things to strive for), but they are still items that count towards my total.
So, as penance I had to find six things around the house to get rid of.
Here they are:
Sayonara suckers!
In addition, I am sending four (of my 28 rocks glasses) and a dinosaur sandwich cutter to my sister.
She needs the glasses and her kids love sandwiches and dinosaurs and my son is ambivalent about both. Of course, I need to find some packing tape as the open but packed box has been sitting on my kitchen table for the last week...
someday I will get it together I swear.
I hate my behavior when I'm IN Target. You know the joke about the kid in the candy store? Well, I'm that way at Target.
I went in today to get a new dustpan and broom set. That's all. They sell them at the dollar spot for $1.
I walked out of the demon store $22.78 lighter. Yep, I fell for their clever floor plan and nifty aisle end-caps.
Most of my purchases were food, cleaning supplies, or toiletries (not included in the Year of Less tally), but I did manage to bring 5 new things into the house.
Here are the offending 5 items:
All cleaning oriented (this year, I am including Less Filth as one of my things to strive for), but they are still items that count towards my total.
So, as penance I had to find six things around the house to get rid of.
Here they are:
Sayonara suckers!
In addition, I am sending four (of my 28 rocks glasses) and a dinosaur sandwich cutter to my sister.
She needs the glasses and her kids love sandwiches and dinosaurs and my son is ambivalent about both. Of course, I need to find some packing tape as the open but packed box has been sitting on my kitchen table for the last week...
someday I will get it together I swear.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Less pink. AKA the great kitchen redo.
Have you ever just had it with something? I hit my breaking point last Thursday with my kitchen walls.
They were pink. Pepto-Bismol pink. Part of the pink was covered in maroon sponge painting. It was hideous.
Here is what it looked like before:
Painting the kitchen is one of those things that we have always been meaning to do but could never get up the energy. Well guess what, I found the energy!
Did I mention that the valances on the windows were green gingham with vines and berries? Totally not matching the Pepto, BTW.
Here's a close up of the sponge painting if you were still on the fence about it:
Very 1989.
So I went to town painting over the Pepto pink. Here is the same view with the new color:
It's amazing what a little paint can do. I used to hate the counter tops, but now I realize that the pink was unfairly coloring my opinion of them (pun intended). I kind of like them now.
I got rid of the three valances as well. I mentioned to my son's teacher that I was going to repaint the kitchen and she said she was also painting her kitchen this weekend. She was painting it green to match a wallpaper border that was green gingham and vines with berries on it and she just needed to find some valances. If that wasn't a sign from God, I don't know what is. I brought the valances to her when I picked up my son and she was thrilled that they would match what she was already planning to do. Win-win!
The best part is how cheap it was. I went to Home Depot and was surprised to find the perfect color in their clearance/mixed wrong paint section for $12, regularly $25. Add $8 worth of painting supplies and masking tape and this was a $20 redo.
AND, it was such a small job (two backsplashes and one small wall) that we have enough to paint our master bath the same color as well. It is currently a turd brown color. I will post again when that project is done.
Dont get me started on the vomit orange that the hall bath was painted. We fixed that three years ago thank goodness. The people before us must have had a lot of stomach issues, that's all I'm saying...
On a side note, the countertops looked so good without all of the stuff on it that we also decluttered most of the kitchen.
We got rid of 34 pieces of rubbermaid storage containers with and without lids, 3 ice cube trays, a pitcher and 6 glasses, empty jars that we were saving for no reason, dull knife sets, old tongs, old baskets, old spatulas, gadgets and gizmos that we never use, and bunches of expired food and spices.
It looks awesome and it feels great!
They were pink. Pepto-Bismol pink. Part of the pink was covered in maroon sponge painting. It was hideous.
Here is what it looked like before:
Painting the kitchen is one of those things that we have always been meaning to do but could never get up the energy. Well guess what, I found the energy!
Did I mention that the valances on the windows were green gingham with vines and berries? Totally not matching the Pepto, BTW.
Here's a close up of the sponge painting if you were still on the fence about it:
Very 1989.
So I went to town painting over the Pepto pink. Here is the same view with the new color:
It's amazing what a little paint can do. I used to hate the counter tops, but now I realize that the pink was unfairly coloring my opinion of them (pun intended). I kind of like them now.
I got rid of the three valances as well. I mentioned to my son's teacher that I was going to repaint the kitchen and she said she was also painting her kitchen this weekend. She was painting it green to match a wallpaper border that was green gingham and vines with berries on it and she just needed to find some valances. If that wasn't a sign from God, I don't know what is. I brought the valances to her when I picked up my son and she was thrilled that they would match what she was already planning to do. Win-win!
The best part is how cheap it was. I went to Home Depot and was surprised to find the perfect color in their clearance/mixed wrong paint section for $12, regularly $25. Add $8 worth of painting supplies and masking tape and this was a $20 redo.
AND, it was such a small job (two backsplashes and one small wall) that we have enough to paint our master bath the same color as well. It is currently a turd brown color. I will post again when that project is done.
Dont get me started on the vomit orange that the hall bath was painted. We fixed that three years ago thank goodness. The people before us must have had a lot of stomach issues, that's all I'm saying...
On a side note, the countertops looked so good without all of the stuff on it that we also decluttered most of the kitchen.
We got rid of 34 pieces of rubbermaid storage containers with and without lids, 3 ice cube trays, a pitcher and 6 glasses, empty jars that we were saving for no reason, dull knife sets, old tongs, old baskets, old spatulas, gadgets and gizmos that we never use, and bunches of expired food and spices.
It looks awesome and it feels great!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Eating healthy while eating out.
Mr. YOL and I just spent a lovely weekend together at a hotel. We did not come home with any souvenirs unless you count one of the mini-soap bars that we didn't use. But, of course being on a mini-vacation necessitated us eating out every meal. Not wanting to eat myself into oblivion, I tried to make good choices. After all, I had my newly purchased "Eat This, Not That" book to look at while at the restaurants. We were gone a little over two days, so that meant six meals eaten out.
Which of the following menus do you think is better?
Breakfast Day #1(McDonald's):
Diner A:
Egg McMuffin with hashbrowns, coffee with 2 creams and 2 sugars
Diner B:
Pancakes with no butter and one syrup, yogurt and fruit parfait and small orange juice
Lunch Day #1 (Chick-fil-a):
Diner A:
Original Chicken Sandwich, Waffle fry and sweet tea
Diner B:
Chargrilled chicken cool wrap, cole slaw, and lemonade
Afternoon treat (it is vacation after all people!) Day #1 (Chick-fil-a):
Diner A:
Fudge Brownie and Ice Dream Cone
Diner B:
Small chocolate milkshake
Dinner Day #1 (Applebee's):
Diner A:
Caesar salad, large house sirloin and loaded baked potato, water
Diner B:
Oriental Chicken Salad and Diet coke
That was it for day #1. So, which of the two diners ate better? (Hint: one of them ate almost 600 more calories than the other one)
Now, on to Day Two!
Breakfast Day #2(Dunkin Donuts):
Diner A:
2 chocolate frosted donuts and a small cappucino
Diner B:
A reduced fat blueberry muffin and a small cinnamon swirl coffee
Lunch Day #2 (Chipotle Mexican Grill):
Diner A:
Burrito bowl with beans, rice, tomatillo salsa, cheese, sour cream and guacamole--1/2 order of chips and salsa
Diner B:
Chicken burrito with beans, corn salsa, and cheese --1/2 order of chips and salsa
Dinner Day #2 (Olive Garden):
Diner A:
Salad and one breadstick, stuffed chicken marsala and a bottle of Michelob ultra
Diner B:
Salad and one breadstick, chicken and shrimp carbonara, and a strawberry bellini
Ok, so who did better on day #2? Diner A or Diner B?
Now. I have to make a little confession. These menus are not what we ate this past weekend, although it very well could have been. We tend to eat at non-chains if we can to support small businesses, and our hotel had a free breakfast so we didn't have to eat out. I think when all was said and done, we did better than these two.
I made these menus to show you how you can go in radically different directions eating, and how sometimes things seem healthy (or seem unhealthy) but really aren't when you are eating out. In the spirit of Eat This, Not That, here are the calorie counts for the two diners for the two menus I created in red. I got nutritional information from the restaurants themselves. I didn't include anything but calorie counts, but if anyone wants me to, I can post the sodium, fat, proteins, and carbs later.
Breakfast Day #1(McDonald's):
Diner A:
Egg McMuffin with hashbrowns, coffee with 2 creams and 2 sugars (520)
Diner B:
Hotcakes with one syrup (no butter) , yogurt and fruit parfait and small orange juice (840)
Lunch Day #1 (Chick-fil-a):
Diner A:
Original Chicken Sandwich, waffle fry and sweet tea (820)
Diner B:
Chargrilled chicken cool wrap, cole slaw, and lemonade (940)
Afternoon treat Day #1 (Chick-fil-a):
Diner A:
Fudge Brownie and Ice Dream Cone (540)
Diner B:
Small chocolate milkshake (600)
Dinner Day #1 (Applebee's):
Diner A:
Caesar salad, large house sirloin and loaded baked potato, water (1190)
Diner B:
Oriental Chicken Salad and Diet Coke (1310)
Breakfast Day #2 (Dunkin Donuts):
Diner A:
2 chocolate frosted donuts and a small cappucino (540)
Diner B:
Reduced fat blueberry muffin and a small cinnamon swirl coffee (560)
Lunch Day #2 (Chipotle Mexican Grill):
Diner A:
Burrito bowl with beans, rice, tomatillo salsa, cheese, sour cream and guacamole--1/2 order of chips and salsa (945)
Diner B:
Chicken burrito with beans, corn salsa, and cheese --1/2 order of chips and salsa (1085)
Dinner Day #2 (Olive Garden):
Diner A:
Salad and one breadstick, stuffed chicken marsala and a bottle of Michelob ultra (1375)
Diner B:
Salad and one breadstick, chicken and shrimp carbonara, and a strawberry bellini (2160)
Grand total Diner A: 5930 calories in two days, (3070 day #1, 2860 day #2)
Grand total Diner B: 7495 calories in two days, (3690 day #1, 3805 day #2)
Although a lot of what Diner B ate seems healthier, at the end of the two days Diner B actually ate 1565 more calories than Diner A. That's nearly half a pound! And both people ate more daily than the 2,000 calories recommended.
Pretty unbelievable, huh?
Which of the following menus do you think is better?
Breakfast Day #1(McDonald's):
Diner A:
Egg McMuffin with hashbrowns, coffee with 2 creams and 2 sugars
Diner B:
Pancakes with no butter and one syrup, yogurt and fruit parfait and small orange juice
Lunch Day #1 (Chick-fil-a):
Diner A:
Original Chicken Sandwich, Waffle fry and sweet tea
Diner B:
Chargrilled chicken cool wrap, cole slaw, and lemonade
Afternoon treat (it is vacation after all people!) Day #1 (Chick-fil-a):
Diner A:
Fudge Brownie and Ice Dream Cone
Diner B:
Small chocolate milkshake
Dinner Day #1 (Applebee's):
Diner A:
Caesar salad, large house sirloin and loaded baked potato, water
Diner B:
Oriental Chicken Salad and Diet coke
That was it for day #1. So, which of the two diners ate better? (Hint: one of them ate almost 600 more calories than the other one)
Now, on to Day Two!
Breakfast Day #2(Dunkin Donuts):
Diner A:
2 chocolate frosted donuts and a small cappucino
Diner B:
A reduced fat blueberry muffin and a small cinnamon swirl coffee
Lunch Day #2 (Chipotle Mexican Grill):
Diner A:
Burrito bowl with beans, rice, tomatillo salsa, cheese, sour cream and guacamole--1/2 order of chips and salsa
Diner B:
Chicken burrito with beans, corn salsa, and cheese --1/2 order of chips and salsa
Dinner Day #2 (Olive Garden):
Diner A:
Salad and one breadstick, stuffed chicken marsala and a bottle of Michelob ultra
Diner B:
Salad and one breadstick, chicken and shrimp carbonara, and a strawberry bellini
Ok, so who did better on day #2? Diner A or Diner B?
Now. I have to make a little confession. These menus are not what we ate this past weekend, although it very well could have been. We tend to eat at non-chains if we can to support small businesses, and our hotel had a free breakfast so we didn't have to eat out. I think when all was said and done, we did better than these two.
I made these menus to show you how you can go in radically different directions eating, and how sometimes things seem healthy (or seem unhealthy) but really aren't when you are eating out. In the spirit of Eat This, Not That, here are the calorie counts for the two diners for the two menus I created in red. I got nutritional information from the restaurants themselves. I didn't include anything but calorie counts, but if anyone wants me to, I can post the sodium, fat, proteins, and carbs later.
Breakfast Day #1(McDonald's):
Diner A:
Egg McMuffin with hashbrowns, coffee with 2 creams and 2 sugars (520)
Diner B:
Hotcakes with one syrup (no butter) , yogurt and fruit parfait and small orange juice (840)
Lunch Day #1 (Chick-fil-a):
Diner A:
Original Chicken Sandwich, waffle fry and sweet tea (820)
Diner B:
Chargrilled chicken cool wrap, cole slaw, and lemonade (940)
Afternoon treat Day #1 (Chick-fil-a):
Diner A:
Fudge Brownie and Ice Dream Cone (540)
Diner B:
Small chocolate milkshake (600)
Dinner Day #1 (Applebee's):
Diner A:
Caesar salad, large house sirloin and loaded baked potato, water (1190)
Diner B:
Oriental Chicken Salad and Diet Coke (1310)
Breakfast Day #2 (Dunkin Donuts):
Diner A:
2 chocolate frosted donuts and a small cappucino (540)
Diner B:
Reduced fat blueberry muffin and a small cinnamon swirl coffee (560)
Lunch Day #2 (Chipotle Mexican Grill):
Diner A:
Burrito bowl with beans, rice, tomatillo salsa, cheese, sour cream and guacamole--1/2 order of chips and salsa (945)
Diner B:
Chicken burrito with beans, corn salsa, and cheese --1/2 order of chips and salsa (1085)
Dinner Day #2 (Olive Garden):
Diner A:
Salad and one breadstick, stuffed chicken marsala and a bottle of Michelob ultra (1375)
Diner B:
Salad and one breadstick, chicken and shrimp carbonara, and a strawberry bellini (2160)
Grand total Diner A: 5930 calories in two days, (3070 day #1, 2860 day #2)
Grand total Diner B: 7495 calories in two days, (3690 day #1, 3805 day #2)
Although a lot of what Diner B ate seems healthier, at the end of the two days Diner B actually ate 1565 more calories than Diner A. That's nearly half a pound! And both people ate more daily than the 2,000 calories recommended.
Pretty unbelievable, huh?
Friday, January 13, 2012
Mesozoic era medicine cabinet...
I just went through my medicine cabinets and all of these medications and supplements were expired. The worst offender expired over 5 years ago.
Do yourself a favor and dispose of your expired vitamins and medications. Even if they won't kill you (which some of them can), do you really want to be chewing on 4-year-old Rolaids?
Do yourself a favor and dispose of your expired vitamins and medications. Even if they won't kill you (which some of them can), do you really want to be chewing on 4-year-old Rolaids?
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Five things.
I needed a quick way to breathe a little easier today. I was in the mother of all cluttered rooms (computer room/exercise room/music room/craft room/AKA junk catch-all room ) feeling a little claustrophobic
Here were my rules:
1. They had to be within my sight-I could not go through drawers looking for things.
2. Paper items (other than books) didn't count.
3. Once identified, I could give them away, donate them to charity, throw them away, recycle them, whatever. They just need to be out of my house by the end of the day.
Here are the five things that I chose:
Clockwise from top left:
A brand new scrapbook. I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am just not the scrapbooking type.
A puzzle that I got for Christmas 5 years ago in a gift swap. Never been opened.
A metal bucket with floral design. Given to me by a coworker at my old office.
A collapsible dog bowl. Got for free with something. I don't have a dog.
Never-been opened set of four martini glasses. Again, a gift. Tried unsuccessfully to sell them on Craigslist, which is why they are in the office in the first place.
Five things gone and donated to charity! I can breathe a little easier.
Are you feeling claustrophobic in any of your rooms? Find your five items.
Now do that again every day for a week. You'll feel a difference, I promise!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Why I need two Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbooks
What is wrong with this picture?
Your eagle eyes may notice that the photo above shows two different editions of the same Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. One is from 1976 and one is from 2005.
Why do I have two?
Well, at first glance, it seems redundant. They have pretty much the same categories of recipes (breads, vegetables, cakes and pies, main dishes, etc.). Within the categories, the recipes listed are pretty similar, although the 2005 edition mentions aspic a lot less, and the 1976 one does not have a healthy eating section. The 2005 has more pretty pictures and consequently fewer recipes, although I doubt anyone misses the recipes for Swedish pickled shrimp or chopstick tuna in the 1976 edition.
The basics are both there. Fried chicken, denver omelet, macaroni and cheese, banana bread...
But wait a minute. The recipes aren't the same at all!
When you hold them up side by side, the banana bread recipe from the 1976 edition has less calories, literally half the sugar, less flour, and less fat than the recipe from 2005. Same size pan and everything.
The 1976 banana bread recipe doesn't make as tall of a loaf as the 2005 recipe, but I think that is probably a good thing. Banana bread is a treat, I don't need a slab the size of my fist every time I walk by it. I don't need the extra calories, fat, sugar, and carbs of the 2005 recipe. I have cooked them both to see if the 2005 was worth the extra calories, and frankly I like the old banana bread recipe better. It is subtler.
Back to the cookbook.
Between 1976 and 2005, the macaroni and cheese recipe difference is even worse than the banana bread one. The 2005 recipe has slightly less butter than the 1976 recipe (but double the overall cheese, cancelling out any fat advantage), and worse yet, the recipe now says it serves four people instead of six. So fat, carbs, and serving size have all increased, a triple whammy.
What is the deal?
I thought that we were supposed to be getting healthier as a society!? Wasn't the 1970's when everybody smoked like fiends and drank like fish, all the while stuffing pate and fondue and any number of gout-inducing dishes into their mouths?
The sad truth is, overall we eat less healthy now than we did at any time in the 1970s.
My guess is that recipes have been tweaked over 30 years as our society has changed. As we have developed tastes for higher levels of fat, sugar, and seasonings, the recipes have been changed to reflect that.
This is not to say that the 2005 version of the cookbook is bad. I keep it because there are some recipes that don't appear in the 1976 edition, good recipes. Some of the 1976 recipes are too rich for my tastes, with more eggs and butter, and I may use the 2005 version in that case. But for the most part, if I have to go back to basics, I check the old book first. It seems counterintuitive, but many of the recipes really are healthier. And simpler. And cheaper. Less fat and sugar, less time-consuming, less expensive.
It makes you wonder what else has been tweaked over the years. I wonder how the Oreos and Wonderbread of today would stack up against the Oreos and Wonderbread of 30 years ago? I am betting that the ones from the 1970s would win...
Friday, January 6, 2012
Cookbook Overload
I am in a sort of cookbook overload. I have a lot.
When I started writing this post, I assumed that most people suffer from the same malady as me, but after talking to my sister (who doesn't own a single cookbook apparently), I realized that the problem may not be as widespread as I first thought, and may simply be me.
If you suffer from the same problem that I do, here's how to get rid of them, or at least whittle the pile down a bit.
Gather all of your cookbooks in one place.
Here is what my before pile looks like. There are 33 cookbooks in it (some are very thin so it is hard to see them--ignore the craft project gone terribly wrong that they are sitting on).
OK, Here is the magical guide. You will be thinking "Fran is a genius" once you read this one (<sarcasm>) Take your pile of cookbooks. For each one, ask yourself, have I ever, even ONCE, cooked a recipe out of this cookbook? I am talking about actually putting ingredients together and eating the resulting dish (or giving the food away if you used it for Christmas candy or whatever, but if you are trying to tell me that you made a batch of Christmas candy and didn't try it, you are such a liar!!)
Wanting to cook a recipe from the cookbook, tabbing a recipe in the cookbook, buying it for a recipe that it contains, none of these things count. The food in your mouth (or someone else's) is all that counts.
Now, I'm telling you to do that with every cookbook that you own. Make two piles. Cookbooks that you have actually ever cooked from and cookbooks that you have not.
Here are the cookbooks that I have actually cooked something from:
There are twelve of them.
You have my permission to keep any cookbooks that you have actually cooked from, but if the one dish you tried wasn't too tasty, you might want to consider getting rid of it anyway, you know? If you have cooked out of it more than five times, it is a definite keeper (Such as my Joy of Cooking and both of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks pictured--yes I need both of them and I'll explain why in another post)
We are going to focus on the "never cooked from this cookbook" pile
Take a deep breath. Focus and hear what I am saying. They need to go or you need to cook from them. Tonight.
But Fran, you say, you are being too harsh. I will get around to cooking out of those cookbooks. There is a lovely recipe for fillet of sole with white wine and quince reduction and asparagus two ways, with a lemon curd and bearnaise sauce that am going to cook, I swear. I will cook them for my next dinner party (or book club or state dinner or whatever type of festive gathering you are planning on having).
I totally understand where you are coming from, I really do.
You are talking to the queen of wishful thinking here For example, in my "never cooked from" pile, I have this fabulous book on essentials of classic Italian cooking. Actually, that is the name of it, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. It was given to us as a wedding gift. The price listed on it is $30, and I am certain it cost every penny of that. It is 688 pages long. I have only opened it twice in the six years that we have been married. Once when we got it-it was so dense (no pictures, only drawings) that I was immediately intimidated and closed it back again. And I am a girl who knows her way around the kitchen.
I opened it again about four months ago to see if it had gotten any better, but alas, it is still chock full of amazing recipes with a lot of prep time for each one. Did I mention that the food from it is gorgeous? I mean, I haven't actually tasted anything from it and there aren't any pictures, but the fact that it has so many recipes with so many ingredients means that the dishes must be to die for, right? Lists and lists of ingredients that must be washed, chopped, braised, sauteed, whipped and separated before you even put them into the dish.
This cookbook is amazing. The woman who cooks from this book will live in an Italian villa, eating fava beans and liver while sipping a nice Chianti. She is thin and wears large brimmed hats and scarves and sunglasses while having her morning espresso on the terrace of her palazzo overlooking the Mediterranean. If I cooked these recipes, I could be that woman. There would be opera music playing in the background, and I could watch my hunch-backed serfs harvesting the fields of grapes and picking olives in the orchard while the golden fields of grain flutter in the summer breeze. I could be that woman. I could serve three course meals with a flip of my wrist, and have my friends ooh and ahh over my cooking prowess.
Oh right, my house is too cluttered to have anyone over right now and the meal would cost me $150 if I bought all the ingredients not to mention take me five hours to prepare since I am noticeably serf-less. Hmm....so maybe I'll just keep this cookbook on my shelf instead and the fantasy can live on in my mind.
DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!!!
Because, when you keep a cookbook that you don't cook from, you are holding onto a fantasy of some kind. Or you just feel bad getting rid of a gift.
Here is my "never cooked from this book" pile.
I have to take a moment to apologize to anyone who has ever given me a cookbook that they now see in the "never cooked from" pile. Especially a cookbook with words in the titles like "Healthy" and "Fresh" and "Whole Foods". Being given a cookbook like that seems like an indictment of me and my cooking, although I am sure it isn't intended that way. "Fran, you obviously eat like crap. If you would only cook from this book your problems would be solved!" I know I should cook from scratch more, but it has to be on my terms and fit into my lifestyle.
Most nights I have a two-year old trying to plug headphones into electrical outlets when he is not chasing the cat around the house and locking himself into bathrooms and I don't have time to mince the ten capers, four cloves of garlic, two small onions and half a dozen fresh herbs that these cookbooks call for. And I have to make sure to serve the meal immediately, so we get to eat standing up because I still haven't found time to clear off the dining room table. Oh, and half of the ingredients in those cookbooks have to be purchased at specialty stores at least 20 miles away (dragonfruit? baby octopus? za'atar spice? really?).
Anyway, back to the point:
I like the idea of cooking out of the Italian essentials book, I really do. And I have no doubt that the recipes are healthy and delicious, but they don't fit into my lifestyle right now. So this cookbook has to go.
For those of you in similar quandaries, you have two options here. You can either copy the one or two recipes from a book that appeal to you onto an index card OR you have two weeks to cook a recipe from that book if most of the recipes appeal to you. Those are your options. At the end of two weeks you get rid of the cookbooks you haven't cooked from. Donate them or sell them.
Can I just keep the book rather than copying the recipe from it? Nice try. Do you really think that you you will find time to cook that recipe if you can't find the five minutes to copy the recipe onto an index card?
Keep dreaming! And use those cookbooks or lose them!
Hubby and I spent a good portion of last night looking through the unused cook books and picking out recipes to try or eliminating cookbooks entirely from contention. I will post an update two weeks from now with my "kept" pile.
Year Of Less tally:
I bought two things today. Ack! The book "Eat this, not that!" and a new pair of workout pants. I will definitely use both of these. The book is going to live with me in my purse so I will be good when out and about.
Since two things came in, at least 3 must go out. Otherwise it wouldn't be a year of less.
I threw away a pair of ratty workout pants that are too long and drag the floor when I wear them. Also old, ugly, and too big.
I put a collapsible dog bowl that we got free somewhere on the donate pile. It isn't quite out of the house, but will be tomorrow when I take a trip to the charity thrift store.
Also, my son shattered a Christmas ornament this morning when he jostled the tree (that I later took down- after the ornament broke I felt guilty because I yelled at him but really I should already have had the tree down). I am counting the ornament as my third item since it did go in the trash.
When I started writing this post, I assumed that most people suffer from the same malady as me, but after talking to my sister (who doesn't own a single cookbook apparently), I realized that the problem may not be as widespread as I first thought, and may simply be me.
If you suffer from the same problem that I do, here's how to get rid of them, or at least whittle the pile down a bit.
Gather all of your cookbooks in one place.
Here is what my before pile looks like. There are 33 cookbooks in it (some are very thin so it is hard to see them--ignore the craft project gone terribly wrong that they are sitting on).
OK, Here is the magical guide. You will be thinking "Fran is a genius" once you read this one (<sarcasm>) Take your pile of cookbooks. For each one, ask yourself, have I ever, even ONCE, cooked a recipe out of this cookbook? I am talking about actually putting ingredients together and eating the resulting dish (or giving the food away if you used it for Christmas candy or whatever, but if you are trying to tell me that you made a batch of Christmas candy and didn't try it, you are such a liar!!)
Wanting to cook a recipe from the cookbook, tabbing a recipe in the cookbook, buying it for a recipe that it contains, none of these things count. The food in your mouth (or someone else's) is all that counts.
Now, I'm telling you to do that with every cookbook that you own. Make two piles. Cookbooks that you have actually ever cooked from and cookbooks that you have not.
Here are the cookbooks that I have actually cooked something from:
There are twelve of them.
You have my permission to keep any cookbooks that you have actually cooked from, but if the one dish you tried wasn't too tasty, you might want to consider getting rid of it anyway, you know? If you have cooked out of it more than five times, it is a definite keeper (Such as my Joy of Cooking and both of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks pictured--yes I need both of them and I'll explain why in another post)
We are going to focus on the "never cooked from this cookbook" pile
Take a deep breath. Focus and hear what I am saying. They need to go or you need to cook from them. Tonight.
But Fran, you say, you are being too harsh. I will get around to cooking out of those cookbooks. There is a lovely recipe for fillet of sole with white wine and quince reduction and asparagus two ways, with a lemon curd and bearnaise sauce that am going to cook, I swear. I will cook them for my next dinner party (or book club or state dinner or whatever type of festive gathering you are planning on having).
I totally understand where you are coming from, I really do.
You are talking to the queen of wishful thinking here For example, in my "never cooked from" pile, I have this fabulous book on essentials of classic Italian cooking. Actually, that is the name of it, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. It was given to us as a wedding gift. The price listed on it is $30, and I am certain it cost every penny of that. It is 688 pages long. I have only opened it twice in the six years that we have been married. Once when we got it-it was so dense (no pictures, only drawings) that I was immediately intimidated and closed it back again. And I am a girl who knows her way around the kitchen.
I opened it again about four months ago to see if it had gotten any better, but alas, it is still chock full of amazing recipes with a lot of prep time for each one. Did I mention that the food from it is gorgeous? I mean, I haven't actually tasted anything from it and there aren't any pictures, but the fact that it has so many recipes with so many ingredients means that the dishes must be to die for, right? Lists and lists of ingredients that must be washed, chopped, braised, sauteed, whipped and separated before you even put them into the dish.
This cookbook is amazing. The woman who cooks from this book will live in an Italian villa, eating fava beans and liver while sipping a nice Chianti. She is thin and wears large brimmed hats and scarves and sunglasses while having her morning espresso on the terrace of her palazzo overlooking the Mediterranean. If I cooked these recipes, I could be that woman. There would be opera music playing in the background, and I could watch my hunch-backed serfs harvesting the fields of grapes and picking olives in the orchard while the golden fields of grain flutter in the summer breeze. I could be that woman. I could serve three course meals with a flip of my wrist, and have my friends ooh and ahh over my cooking prowess.
Oh right, my house is too cluttered to have anyone over right now and the meal would cost me $150 if I bought all the ingredients not to mention take me five hours to prepare since I am noticeably serf-less. Hmm....so maybe I'll just keep this cookbook on my shelf instead and the fantasy can live on in my mind.
DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!!!
Because, when you keep a cookbook that you don't cook from, you are holding onto a fantasy of some kind. Or you just feel bad getting rid of a gift.
Here is my "never cooked from this book" pile.
I have to take a moment to apologize to anyone who has ever given me a cookbook that they now see in the "never cooked from" pile. Especially a cookbook with words in the titles like "Healthy" and "Fresh" and "Whole Foods". Being given a cookbook like that seems like an indictment of me and my cooking, although I am sure it isn't intended that way. "Fran, you obviously eat like crap. If you would only cook from this book your problems would be solved!" I know I should cook from scratch more, but it has to be on my terms and fit into my lifestyle.
Most nights I have a two-year old trying to plug headphones into electrical outlets when he is not chasing the cat around the house and locking himself into bathrooms and I don't have time to mince the ten capers, four cloves of garlic, two small onions and half a dozen fresh herbs that these cookbooks call for. And I have to make sure to serve the meal immediately, so we get to eat standing up because I still haven't found time to clear off the dining room table. Oh, and half of the ingredients in those cookbooks have to be purchased at specialty stores at least 20 miles away (dragonfruit? baby octopus? za'atar spice? really?).
Anyway, back to the point:
I like the idea of cooking out of the Italian essentials book, I really do. And I have no doubt that the recipes are healthy and delicious, but they don't fit into my lifestyle right now. So this cookbook has to go.
For those of you in similar quandaries, you have two options here. You can either copy the one or two recipes from a book that appeal to you onto an index card OR you have two weeks to cook a recipe from that book if most of the recipes appeal to you. Those are your options. At the end of two weeks you get rid of the cookbooks you haven't cooked from. Donate them or sell them.
Can I just keep the book rather than copying the recipe from it? Nice try. Do you really think that you you will find time to cook that recipe if you can't find the five minutes to copy the recipe onto an index card?
Keep dreaming! And use those cookbooks or lose them!
Hubby and I spent a good portion of last night looking through the unused cook books and picking out recipes to try or eliminating cookbooks entirely from contention. I will post an update two weeks from now with my "kept" pile.
Year Of Less tally:
I bought two things today. Ack! The book "Eat this, not that!" and a new pair of workout pants. I will definitely use both of these. The book is going to live with me in my purse so I will be good when out and about.
Since two things came in, at least 3 must go out. Otherwise it wouldn't be a year of less.
I threw away a pair of ratty workout pants that are too long and drag the floor when I wear them. Also old, ugly, and too big.
I put a collapsible dog bowl that we got free somewhere on the donate pile. It isn't quite out of the house, but will be tomorrow when I take a trip to the charity thrift store.
Also, my son shattered a Christmas ornament this morning when he jostled the tree (that I later took down- after the ornament broke I felt guilty because I yelled at him but really I should already have had the tree down). I am counting the ornament as my third item since it did go in the trash.
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