Primary Storage, Secondary Storage, Long Term Storage

My dear friends just recently moved from a big country house into a rather small city house. They had to move rather quickly though so their things were packed in a hurry and just put down basically anywhere in the new house. So when I walked in there were boxes piled everywhere and with my friend's husband at work, she decided to just try to set up the living room. We did this pretty easily once we go started by just removing what didn't belong. After a rest and a chat, we were motivated to attack the kitchen. Here's where some real decisions had to be made. Since my friend's husband is a professional chef, he has tons of pots and pans, serving platters, and kitchen gadgets - and I mean all of them! Well this is a tiny kitchen.

So we started making decisions using the three storage categories that I am sure every professional organizer knows: primary storage, secondary storage and long term storage.

Primary storage is for the items you use every day and should be stored right where you use them: cutting board on the counter, glassware near the dishwasher, etc.

Secondary storage is for things you use once a week or so. They can be stored in higher cupboards like crock pots, serving platters, etc.

Long term storage is for things you use once or twice a year such as holiday decorations, certain tools. etc. these things can go into the garage or somewhere where it may take time to get them out.

Back to my friend's kitchen - the amount of secondary storage items in this situation would never fit into this kitchen. So I thought where would you store all of this stuff if you were in a big house? A butler's pantry!

So we took a big shelf and put it in the garage which is right off the kitchen and created a place for all of these over sized bean pots, steamers, mixers, etc. There's even an outlet if he wants to plug one in right there to do some slow cooking without taking up space in the pantry.

So he has his butler's pantry. With the two main rooms done, the others are quickly being organized and I know they'll be happy back in their little city house - especially because they're my neighbors!

An Easy Way to Free Up a Kitchen Drawer

Here's what my kitchen utensil drawer used to look like. Lots of junk and with so few drawers in my kitchen I knew I needed to put something up on the counter, even though I have zero tolerance for clutter.

I realized that most of the utensils are stainless steel. Some of them have black handles so I just hid the handles in the bottom of this canister that I already had on the counter. I think it looks great, I have everything I need right at hand and I freed up a crowded drawer!

Minimalist's Thanksgiving

So with Thanksgiving right around the corner, what is a minimalist to do? There are a lot of things I do to make a nice dinner with minimal work, expense, and stress. I have already started.

1. First of all I checked with my guests to see about how many I'll have. I always cook more food than everyone can eat anyway because leftovers are great to have the next day.

2. I don't like my guests to bring food because then I have to warm it up, find something to serve it with, and find a spot for it on the table. When people ask what they can bring I always say beer or wine because we can always drink it later if there's too much. We also always invite friends with no where else to go. This year a few of our adult son's friends are coming. So that will really be fun.

3. I have already decided exactly what I'm going to cook and have purchased everything but fresh herbs and veggies already. I started a few weeks ago by adding a few items to my list each week. This is one of the best tips I can offer because you won't be part of the last minute shopping rush and you spread the expense out over the month so it's barely noticed. 

4. Prepare and freeze some of the meal. I made a double batch of homemade butternut squash soup last week and froze 1/2 for Thanksgiving. I am experimenting with freezing a few other dishes this week. 

5. I no longer cook an entire bird. Instead I roast turkey breasts and legs. They cook faster and it's easier to tell when they're done and they are easy to carve. They are less messy too. I just cook the stuffing on the stovetop.

6. I am setting up a buffet but am making sure there are plenty of places for people to sit where they can set their plates down. Buffets are great and save the hostess a lot of time and trouble. No more getting up and down from the table for this or that.

7. The day before set up all of the serving dishes, napkins, plates, and silverware on the buffet. Thaw out whatever is frozen and make ahead whatever you can. Then make sure your dishwasher is empty so you can clean while you cook the next day.

8. I like to have everything ready and warm in my oven and my kitchen clean when my guests arrive. 

9. Set up a drink station with a bucket of ice, beer, wine etc. This lets your guests help themselves keeps them from getting into the way in the kitchen.

10. To make clean up easier make sure you have freezer bags ready to put food away easily. Fill up the sink with hot soapy water so guests can just drop their plates and silverware in there.

I hope you all have a happy, stress free Thanksgiving!

Minimal Daily Routine

I just found a great site by a Texan called The Fly Lady. She is really encouraging. She starts from the idea that if you're reading her site, you're probably feeling overwhelmed by all of your obligations, and your house my have become cluttered and dirty. That is not where I am, but I am always looking for new ways to give myself more time. She suggests baby steps that build into a routine over a month. If followed, by the end of the month one's house should have improved dramatically. I 'm not going to go into complete detail because you should really check this lady out, but here's my routine. (Bear in mind I keep house for a 79 lb boxer and fluffy cat as well as for my husband and myself.)
Morning Routine:
Make Bed, Wipe down upstairs sink and toilet
Shower, Get dressed
Take down glasses and one garbage pail
Put in a laundry load and empty either garbage, recycling, or compost bucket
water backyard and scoop poop
Clean Kitchen & Sweep floor

Afternoon Routine:
Wipe down guest bathroom, dust living room, wash hardwood floors
Fold and put away one laundry load
Hit a hot spot for 15 minutes

Possible hot spots: ( Anywhere clutter accumulates or places you rarely get to)
Shower
Downstairs
My closet and chair
Brian’s closet
Bathroom drawers
Bedroom end tables
Hall closets
Bookshelves
Spider webs, vacuuming
washing walls and windows

Reducing Plastic Bags: Why it's worth it!

Once again I feel I need to write about garbage. 

I am quite opposed to the use of plastic grocery bags. It looks like there will soon be  a charge for them here in Portland if our wonderful new mayor, Sam Adams has his way. I backed him on this before he was elected and perhaps now we will start living up to our green reputation!

Here's something that happened to me in a local supermarket just yesterday. I was in line and when the checker asked me if plastic was okay, I said, "Oh no, I have my own bag."

The woman in front of me turned as she was leaving and said, " Now I suppose the green police are going to get me."

Taken aback, I replied, " Oh, I just don't like them accumulating in my cupboards."

Ignoring me, she turned back to the checker and said, " No, I really mean it."

So here I am, trying to sell this woman on using her own bags, (which is in my nature,) instead of being insulted by her accusatory remark about me, a perfect stranger. Heaven forbid, she think I am the green police! 

So,  for any of my readers that are into minimalism, but not going green, here are some reasons why reducing your use of plastic bags is worth it.

1. They junk up our cupboards.

2. They can carry bacteria from whatever food, such as produce was in them.

3. They fill up your garbage can, costing you money.

4. They litter our highways (which is ugly), because they don't break down as fast as paper would.

5. They harm wild animals. You're in favor of animals right? Like the Animal Planet, right?

Here is one reason why the "Green Police" would like you to curtail your use of this vile product. It is a quote from Chrissie Hynde,

" It's ruining the Earth so knock it off, you're screwing it up for the rest of us!"

I hope you'll all check out two of my favorite anti-plastic sites by two great authors:

Life Less Plastic and Fake Plastic Fish

A Simple Cleaning Solution

Got a messy house? You can painlessly clean it over time by doing it during commercials. Here's how: When you're watching TV in the evening just get up during the commercials and do one thing or part of one thing at a time. Here are some examples: load the dishwasher, wash pots and pans, vacuum a room, dust a room, put in a load of laundry, etc. If you do this every night, you'll see your house start to turn around. While you watch TV you can fold laundry or clean out a drawer. Of course, If you get your family members to help your house will be cleaner sooner!

Minimalist House Cleaning: Company's Coming Triage

When company's coming, it's an emergency clean up you'll need. You may not have time to do the greatest job on the whole house but here are some tricks. First, contain your guests to the main floor of your house. This may not work if they've never been to your house because they may want a tour. If that is the case, they at least won't be looking into your closets. This is triage....ready?
Start at the top of the house with a laundry basket - no you're not going to do laundry because you don't have time. Shove the laundry into the closet and close the door along with any other clutter you find. Then dust, vacuum, put the garbage and snack dishes into the laundry basket and move to the next room. When you reach the kitchen load the dishwasher, wash the floor and take out the trash. Go to the store and get some flowers and easy food. You can get some ideas on my earlier post Minimalist Entertaining: Horsdeorves.

Of course, this sort of clean won't last long so hopefully your guests' visit won't either! My next post will be about painless ways to keep your house together on a daily basis.

Minimalist's Angst: Not Clutter Again!

I don't know how or why it happens but clutter just seems to happen. Somehow yesterday I looked at my kitchen and thought, wow, we're slipping. The thing is I have zero tolerance for clutter. I have never understood how some people can sit happily with a neighbor sipping tea in their kitchens with piles of paperwork that needs to be dealt with, dirty dishes in the sink, random items that should be put away in other rooms and perhaps even a basket of laundry that needs folding. It makes me feel like Monica from Friends! I just want to start cleaning!

So to my horror, I looked at my own kitchen realized it had lost it's sparkle and needed to be decluttered. So what was wrong with it? All of my systems were in place and functioning, no appliances on the counters, no dirty dishes in the sink but some odd items were creeping in where they don't belong. First of all, my table has six chairs which seems like a great place to drop my purse, jackets, and dog leash. No, this is not where the go and I have an easy place to hang these things in the entryway closet but alas they were there. A pile of checks and misc. papers had accumulated on the table as well as some keys. Under the sink my recycling system had exploded, there were two cutting boards on my counter, a fruit bowl with one apple and two tomatoes in it, and a watering can that belongs outside. This may not sound like a lot, but in my tiny row house kitchen it is.

So I took action. First I got my iRobot vacuum going and took out all of the recycling to the garage. ( Green note: I recycle and compost 90% of my garbage so we only have garbage pick up once a month.) Next I put all of the items away that didn't belong there. Then it was time to pare down. I put the watering can on the back deck, put the random fruit in the fridge, washed out the fruit bowl and put it away, and put one of the cutting boards away. I decided to lose the table runner and put a new candle in the center of the table and wash the throw rug by the door. I had a huge bamboo bowl filled with pine cones that spilled over in what can only be described as "Northwest Chique" that seemed to be screaming winter, so they had to go. I bagged them up, put them into storage in the garage, washed the bowl and put it away. Next all of the surfaces were sprayed with bleach and water which then sat for one minute and then I wiped them all down. That kills most of the germs and bad bacteria in your kitchen. I of course washed the floor then picked some flowers in the back yard and put them where the pine cones had been. This may not seem like a lot but the room now feels bigger and more comfortable and inviting.

I hope this post will inspire you to hit your own kitchen and if you want to check out how my kitchen systems work, read some of my past posts on reducing kitchen appliances, reducing the amount of junk mail you get, and composting.

Minimalist Kitchen - Fire Safety

More about fire safety in the minimalist kitchen :

Cleaning Products: A kitchen can be kept sparking with just a few cleaning products:
1. spray bottle of vinegar and water for floors
2. spray bottle with a cap full of bleach, dish washing liquid and the rest water
3. Dish washing liquid
4. Dishwasher powder
5. Baking soda to use as a cleanser

Try to store more flammable and harsh chemicals away from the kitchen. For example, if you need to clean an oven just buy one oven cleaning pad use it and then dispose of it.

Grease is no fun to deal with. Don’t leave it on the counter in a juice can for days as I’ve seen people do and don’t try to reuse it ( I know, are you kidding me?) Green Tip: It should not go down the sink drain as this is terrible for our rivers. It should be cooled, put into a disposable container and put into the trash can right away. If you have a greasy fry pan on the stove and a fire happens it’s going to make it much worse.

How do kitchen fires happen? You might ask. Are people just careless? Well I’ve set two so I’ll tell you how they happened. The first time I was about ten. We had a wall mounted oven that I couldn’t reach very well. I simply dropped a cloth pot holder onto the hot filament and it went up in flames. I grabbed two spoons and threw it into the sink where it landed in a greasy fry pan and set the grease on fire. Being home alone, and not knowing what to do, (and we didn’t have a fire extinguisher in our kitchen even if I did,) I ran across the street to get my adult neighbor who brought his extinguisher over and put it out.

What is learned from this story? Don’t let your kids cook when you’re not home, keep a fire extinguisher ready under your kitchen sink, and teach kids that are old enough how to use it. And what did I say about grease?

The second fire I set was when I was a 24 year old brand new mother. I wanted to make fried shrimp tempura. I knew how to cook, but had never really fried before. So I set the oil on the stove to high heat and it soon set on fire. Panicking, I moved it to the sink and turned on the water. Then it flamed up and set the curtains above the sink on fire! (What did I say about grease?) Luckily, my husband was home because I just screamed, grabbed the baby, and ran outside. He simply put the lid on the pot, and sprayed the curtains with a fire extinguisher. Oh well. Fried food isn’t good for you anyway.