10% Tuesday: Game On

Pin It Last Tuesday, I shared with you my goal to reduce the things that clutter my life by ten percent.  Now, ten percent may not be measured strictly per se, but rather in the abstract sense.  I simply want to end 2013 with less stuff than I started with.  After much thought, I put together two strategies to help reach my goal.

Strategy #1 - Clear out ten items per day for the first 90 days, and then ten items per week through the end of 2013.  This comes out to 1300 items to either recycle to Goodwill or other favored recipient, use up (and not restock) or toss out.  Necessary food items and hygiene products don't count.  Electronic clutter (files, photos, links, pins) does count.

Strategy #2 - Reduce my Body Mass Index by ten percent.  As it turns out, I need to lose 13 pounds to lose 10% of my BMI. 

I've placed a scoreboard on the blog sideline so you can see how much progress I'm making.  You can see I've made some great progress to clearing out already!  Each month, I'll be focusing a pre-specified area of the house.  January is all about the bedroom and the clothes closets throughout the house.  It's hard to believe that my closet is bigger than my childhood bedroom, and yet there is not enough room to store all of my things!  I think there is a reality show looming.

Here are the game rules I'll play by as I whittle away at that ominous ten percent.  

Game Rules:

1.  Banking points is allowed (if I clear out more than the allotted count, then the extra is banked towards another day).
2.  Necessary food items and hygiene products don't count.  Electronic clutter does.
3.  Touch every single item in my house this year.
4.  One thing in - one thing out.  Purchasing items is permitted, but for every item brought into the home - one must leave.  Same goes for gifts received.
5.  Deal with it when it comes in the door or arrives in my inbox.
6.  Ruthlessly deal with piles and stash. 
7.  If I don't love it, have a use for it or if it doesn't inspire me, out it goes.
8.  If I haven't worn it within six months or it doesn't fit, bye-bye.
9.  Unsubscribe to catalogs and store emails.
10.  Shop only with a specific purpose in mind.  Stick to the shopping list.
11.  Use what is on-hand and in reserve first before buying new.
12.  Implement a trial period if I'm not sure about an item.
13.  Keep score.  Emply SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound).

I'm happy to say that my husband and my Maggie are in on the game too!  Maggie is having so much fun ripping the stuffing out of her toys thereby making it that much easier to send 'em to the trash. 

My helpful husband working on widdling down the library.

Wishing you well towards reaching your new year's resolution!

"I Gar-an-tee" you'll love this e-cookbook

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You may remember, back in April  I set a goal to widdle down my cookbook collection (See Post).  I'm making progress, but still have a ways to go.  One of the challenges I came across was the best means to keep the recipes I love while still leting go of the paper.

One of the solutions I found was MYRECIPES.COM (link here).  In addition, to the many cookbooks in my pantry were stacks of torn out pages from magazines, mostly Sunset or Coastal Living or Cooking Light.  At MYRECIPES.COM, you can find all recipes printed in these magazines and many more!  The coolest part of MYRECIPES.COM is that you can create your own recipe file - you simply type in your recipe and there it resides in digital cyberland, ready for you to access it at any time from any where in the world.  I've started several personalized recipe files on MYRECIPES.COM - one for all of my treasured family recipes, another for Christmas favorites, and others for various themes.  This will come in so handy when I'm on vacation or visiting family and want to cook one of my favorite specialties.  You can also create menus and shopping lists! But wait, there's more ... you can even access MYRECIPE.COM if you have a smartphone or an iPad / tablet (you lucky duck).  How handy is this when you're at the grocery store, see a sweet deal and wonder what you might make with the item and what other ingredients you need to go along with that sweet deal?!

The other great tool I'm using to keep those favorite recipes until I can populate my e-recipe file, is my Neatreceipts Scanner and the Neatworks data management tool.  This little device is the best organizing tool in my arsonal (see previous post here).  I simply scan that recipe and capture it in my computer on a pdf file.  Upload it to Google documents or Dropbox or whatever database on the Cloud that you like, and there it is - available to you 24/7 from any computer, smartphone or iPad/tablet (again, you lucky duck).  Imagine the possibilities ...  you are visiting with your grandkids and they plead for your special Monkey Bread.  Alas you don't have your recipe box with you - but you do have access to the internet :)  Sweet, tasty monkey bread is only a few keystrokes away and the kids think you are the best and coolest Grandma in the whole world!



I still am keeping a binder with all of the handwritten recipes given to me by my grandmothers, my mom and mother-in-law.  This keepsake binder is stored away with all of my other treasured memories so that the next generation will have them.

How do you store your favorite recipes?  Have you integrated the digital world into your kitchen?

Only A Fool Argues With The Cook

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How many cookbooks are too many

for one household to own?

Seven?

Twenty-two?



Fifty-three?



Oh and don't forget these ...



Ninety - four.

Yes, ninety-four cookbooks are too many

cookbooks for one household to own.

(Must remember to tell friends and family not

to buy us any more cookbooks - unless they

personally authored and signed it just for me.)

Peter Walsh, author of It's All Too Much

suggests using post-it notes to help sort through

which cookbooks to keep and which cookbooks to move on.

I got Post-it notes.

Over the next year, I will judiciously sort through

the cookbooks.  Post-it notes will flag any recipes

that I want to keep.  If less than ten recipes are flagged,

the recipes will be scanned using NeatReceipts

and the cookbook moved on for someone else to

love and treasure. 

My Goal:  To keep only twelve cookbooks.

Wish me luck!

Link Ups:  

Taming the Paper Dragon

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Once all of the beautiful Christmas decorations are put away and the house has been put back in order, it's time then to switch my attention to taming the paper dragon that enjoys my office.  A few years ago, I found a very helpful tool that replaced the tower of paper-filled shoe boxes with a neat little electronic file.  If you aren't already using this product, let me introduce you to NeatReceipts.

This is not a paid product endorsement.  It is just a product that I have used and loved for years.

With this easy to use scanning tool and its software, you can easily scan receipts and log it into a file. The software has built-in organizing capabilities and also lets you export the data to external programs, like Excel.  The scanner software has technology to decipher text (like date, store name, payment method, amount paid) and then inputs the text into a spreadsheet-like format.  The more receipts that are entered, the smarter it becomes with its self-teaching imaging recognition program.  At tax time, you can create detailed financial records for each receipt in the click of a few keystrokes.  Since the IRS allows for electronically imaging hard copies of documents (including receipts), there's no need to keep all of those shoe boxes filled with receipts, and there is no loss of data when the receipt ink fades. 

You can also scan and organize business cards, expense reports and various other documents, and import other electronic files (e.g., pdf images of canceled checks or credit card statements).  I have the mobile scanner and use it to scan insurance policies, medical records, important personal records (e.g., birth certificates, passports, etc), and childhood memories (e.g., artwork) - all neatly organized and readily accessible on my computer.  When traveling without my computer, I export a pdf of relevant data and images to a USB stick.  I even scan loose paper clippings of recipes, interesting articles and crafting inspiration from magazines.  Since all of our receipts are stored in the database, maintaining a household inventory list is easy (let's hope I never need it for insurance purposes), as is an accrual of home-improvement projects (which will be needed when the time comes to sell our lovely home). 

Just the other day, someone asked me where I purchased a pair of boots I was wearing.  I couldn't recall off hand, but with a simple search in the Neat Receipts database, I found the original receipt from five years ago with the retailer's name, date purchased and amount paid.  Any financial expert will tell you, the first step in gaining control of your finances is to know where your money is going.  This tool has helped my husband & me know where every penny goes.  I love this product!

(Un)Deck the Halls

Pin It Seems like so many people are already taking down their Christmas tree and lights.  Not me.  I prefer to wait until Epiphany has passed.  I love Christmas lights and seeing the special holiday decorations.  Each year, my husband gives me an ornament at the start of the Christmas season.  What a special tradition - I now have eight in my collection.  I also covet my mother's and grandmother's vintage ornaments, so I don't rush to store them.  I soak it all in so that the memories of Christmas past linger just long enough to get me through to next year.

Waste Not Tips for Storing Holiday Decorations:
1.  Take pictures of any tablescapes or vignettes that you particularly liked.  Store a copy of the pictures with your decorations, then next year when you pull everything out you will have a visual reminder of where things go. Easy and stress free decorating.  Also printout any special family photos of Christmas past and store with your decorations.  Next year, you'll have photos handy to place into frames for display.
2.  Use leftover white/brown paper or tissue paper to individually wrap your ornaments.  Many shippers are using white/brown paper as filler in the boxes.  You can also use old, clean rags and such. Store small ornaments in egg cartons or clean take-out containers.  Don't forget to repair any broken ornaments before you store them; you won't fix them next year when you open the box.  Save broken ornament caps & hooks as well as extra light bulbs & fuses to replace parts in your collection.  Use leftover packing peanuts or bubble wrap to fill the empty space within the storage box and further protect your treasures.
3.  As you take off the Christmas tree lights, wrap them on large pieces of heavy corrugated cardboard from a cut-up box.  No more hairballs of lights next year!
4.  Label the storage boxes (all four sides is best) with its general content.  I like to use Red/Green markers which makes it very easy to find the boxes in the attic.  If you use plastic storage containers and live where the temperature fluctuates throughout the year, it is a good idea to place a pouch of desiccant in the container.  I save those little pouches of silica gel when I get them and then just toss them in.

Take time to properly store your holiday decorations so your special treasures are safe and sound until next year.  Remember your ornaments will be vintage treasures for your grandchildren one day.