What’s Lurking in Your Fridge?

A meeting with a colleague ran overtime on a Friday afternoon a couple weeks ago. As I dashed out the door I said, “I hope dinner’s ready when I get home”. Unfortunately, that’s not how it played out. I arrived home to discover our fridge sitting in the middle of the kitchen. Our four-year-old fridge had died.
We learned that General Electric (GE) had identified a defect with the motherboard. The only course of action was to replace the part. Ironically, our nearly-fifty-year-old GE fridge at the cottage is just fine. (Please don’t tell the energy police we have a fifty-year-old fridge.)
So we spent an hour shuttling the contents of our fridge to the overflow fridge in the basement. I also spent about 20 minutes emptying jars and bottles. I probably threw out $50 worth of sauces. Some were the mainstream grocery store items that I got tired of and never noticed were way beyond their Best Before date. But there were lots of dips and marinades purchased at trade shows, markets, or from independent grocers. These gems don’t have a BB date displayed.
It’s really worthwhile to check for a Best Before date as you take an item from your grocer’s shelf. Worst case scenario, check when you’re unpacking your groceries. If the manufacturer hasn’t suggested an expiration date, grab your permanent marker and write the purchase date on the container. Not all foods get green and fuzzy if left in the fridge too long. If you can reference your purchase date, you’ve got a good jumping off point to determine if the food in your fridge is safe.

Car Crazies

It's that time of year again: holiday trips, cottage weekends, camping excursions.  They all involve loading the gear, the kids and sometimes the dog/cat/hamster/fish into the family car and heading off down the highway. Here are a couple of tips to keep all that stuff organized so you can relax, enjoy the view and arrive ready for your time away.

1. Take only what you need, clear out the rest - Before you pack the car, clear out all the debris that you don't need for the trip.  You'll have more space for yourself and your family, more room for your holiday/weekend gear and less clutter to manage.
2. Contain, contain, contain - Try and get everything into a container whether it is a bag or box.  Try a laundry hamper for last minute items.  It is also great for bathing suits and towels.  You can even bring them back wet in the hamper after your last dip in the lake.
3. Give the kids a container - Assign each  child a container for their car entertainment such as books, electronics, games and snack if you permit eating in your car.  It will help keep the bits together so you are less likely to hear 'Where are my earphones?" when you get to your destination.  A container that closes is even better - kids aren't so careful when tossing things around the car and again, bits are less likely to get lost or broken.
4. Mom's/Dad's bag - If you have small children who are not yet happy to sit plugged into their electronics for hours on end, consider sticking a couple of special activity treats into your own bag.  You will be the hero when you pull out the special glittery markers halfway into your trip.
5. Pack Snacks - Unless you and your children get car sick, you are likely going to need some food and/or drink before your trip is over.  Food can be expensive on the road.  While your vacation food may be packed into the cooler in the back of your vehicle, consider packing a smaller day cooler which can be easily accessed by your or your children.  Drinks in containers that won't spill, fruit, dried fruit and nuts all make great travel snack.

Buckle up, stay safe and have fun!

foodnetwork.ca? Not necessarily . . .

It seems that no matter what the publication, the first thing I look for is the recipes. I will admit that while leafing through the latest issue of Chatelaine I made the shocking discovery that I had flipped to the recipes, before even realizing they were launching their clutter-busting series. But I digress . . .

Magazines remain my number one source for new food ideas. Only when I’m really desperate will I go online to scout out a new dish. What can I say? I like paper. But what I don’t like is to have piles of magazines taking up what little living space I share with my family.

So, if I like the newly tested recipe, I will immediately tear it out of the magazine and file it away. I’m partial to the accordion folders, but am discovering that many people prefer to stash their recipes in a three-ringed binder. An added benefit of this storage method is that you can use sheet protectors to house the individual pages. Then splashes and sticky finger prints can easily be wiped away without compromising the integrity of your recipe.

Welcome Christine Janes

Please join me in welcoming our new blogger, Christine Janes, to our blog pages.  Tomorrow will be her first posting day.

Chris is a Trained Professional Organizer and member of POC. She brings 10 years of corporate experience managing people and processes to her organizing work. If your kitchen looks like a tornado passed through it, Chris will bring her appreciation for balance and harmony, a commitment to helping others and a healthy dose of good humour to show you how the busiest room in your home can be calm and functional.  Welcome aboard Chris!

Welcome our New Authors

Calm the Clutter is expanding.  Starting this week, the blog will have two additional authors.  Please join me in welcoming Chris Janes and Jennie Vlietstra both Associates with Wellrich Organizers.  Stay tuned for more scoop on both these authors and their initial posts later this week!

Welcome aboard Chris and Jennie.

It's About Time

My clients are equally split between the number that use electronic calendars and those that use paper calendars. The electronic device allows you to have instant access to your schedule 5 years out or five years back without the weight of 5 books. They also allow you to flip things around with the touch of a role ball, touch screen or mouse. No need for those messy erasers and rewriting the re/re/rescheduled appointment in question.

For many people, no matter how easy the electronic device may seem, managing time does not work for them on a small device, small screen and fiddly tool. A month at a glance is easier on an 8 in X 11 in paper than a 1.5 in screen. Those with kinetic learning preferences may find the act of writing in appointments helps to secure the appointments existence into their mind - more so than typing an appointment once then hitting the recurrence function for the balance of the year's appointments.

I seem to be one of these people and I am in the process of trying out a paper calendar again. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. Meanwhile - what has been your experience?

Love that Car

Its winter - cold, wet and sometimes just plain grey. You, like many of us, may have limited your trips to the drive-thru car wash and vacuum station while the snow flies and Canadian wind howls. I know I have. You may also find yourself increasingly frustrated or discouraged with the debris in the car that doesn't get cleaned out when those freshen up stops at the service station get curtailed. Try these quick tips to help stay in control of the clutter until the next sunny, warm day.
1. Grab a garbage bag - check through the car and load up that bag. Most of the clutter in cars is associated with garbage that just didn't make it to the bin.
2. Give the kids their own garbage bag for their part of the car. Next time you fill up with gas, get them to toss it in the bin.
3. Put a box in the back for wandering gear - this can be as fancy as a "car gear box" available at many retailers or as simple as a cardboard box. Toss all the bits and pieces that have to stay with the car in there - cables, hitches, wrenches (for the hitches), ski box accessories and the like.
4. Clear the glove box - take out all the old napkins and receipts. The first goes in the garbage, the second to your tax file. Try replacing the napkins with hand wipes from the drug store - they come in a resealable package and are great for dealing with coffee spills and ketchup!
5. Wipe the dust off the dashboard with a dry napkin.
6. Check your windshield fluid.
That should hold you until the sun shines.