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.

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...

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.

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. 

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!

One Less Purse...

Just got rid of a purse.

The cat peed on it.

That was a pretty easy decision.

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? 

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?

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!

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...