Category: Hospitality

Getting Specific With Quarterly Planning

A client asked recently:

“I’ve been thinking about your recommendation to do quarterly planning. I’m consolidating my to-do lists and thinking about how to restructure my categories. And I like the concept of quarterly planning. If you haven’t written a blog yet about your process, I’d really like to learn the specifics of how YOU go about planning quarterly.”

I just love this. Thank you, dear client, for asking the question. You know who you are.

I wrote about quarterly planning back in January, check out the article here. I have other articles on planning, as well, if you’d like to know more, head over to PeaceofMindpo.com, click on the Blog tab and add Planning in the search bar.

I don’t always get too specific about me in my articles and podcast episodes, but this is one topic that probably should be specific! And a reminder, as in all things, I am sharing what I do as AN example, of one way of doing something. It is not a requirement or demand – EVER. Just an example, and perhaps a suggestion!

I like setting quarterly goals because, for me, setting a yearly goal sometimes seems too big or too long, and anything less than a month seems too short. Let me rephrase – I do set annual goals, but I like to break those broad goals down into more manageable pieces, and an every three month planning cycle with 6 week to three month goals works for me.

Conveniently, this client asked this question as I plan my fourth quarter of 2024, my Q4. For me personally, at least, planning in Q4 is a great illustration of the importance of quarterly planning.

Q4 starts with October and ends in December. I am in shorts and a t-shirt as I write this. My window is open, the breeze is blowing in. My birthday is at the beginning of Q4, and the next holiday on my horizon is Halloween. (note to self, put up Autumn decorations)

But, as a certified professional organizer, board of education member, planner of family functions and Catholic liturgical musician and human being, I know that the calendar for the next three months is going to fill up FAST, and the to-do list will as well! Soon and very soon (a song reference!), the focus will shift to Autumn, to Thanksgiving, to Advent and to Christmas. Just this morning at Mass, my music director mentioned that she would like to put together an Advent Concert the first week of December. And I, of course, said “Sure!”

All things seem possible when you start planning them months in advance!

Back to the original question: How do I actually quarterly plan? Let’s do this.

Grab your calendar, digital or paper.

  • Me personally, I am sitting here at my laptop as I use Google calendar, and I have my bullet journal, my phone, my to-do list and a cold beverage.

Check out what is already on your calendar for the next three months, personally and professionally.

  • For Q4, I already have many recurring events on my calendar in my many Focus areas, and I bet you do, too.
  • I have regular client appointments, meetings and coaching calls.
  • My choir has our rehearsal and Mass schedule set.
  • The Board of Education has monthly meetings and committee work on the calendar.
  • I also have non-recurring events in my calendar already like presentations, concerts, doctor appointments, etc.

Reflect on your Focus Areas:

I talked recently about Focus Areas, and we need to have them in mind as we do our quarterly planning, or any planning, for that matter. As reported, mine are my business and my different income streams, my family, my home and wellness, Board of Education work and church ministry.

What are yours? Make sure you keep them in mind as you plan!

The next step is to weave in the set plans.

And this step is why I said Q4 is a great illustration of quarterly planning.

Because, as an example, every year in Q4, we have many set plans around our holidays with our families.

I have a planning list that I pull out and activate on October 1 regarding the holidays. According to the list, in the next week, I will check in with my side of the family regarding when we want to celebrate our Christmas together. I will check in, too, with my sister-in-law for dates for my young niece and nephew’s Christmas concert for school. (Typically a Thursday evening in early December). I will check in with my college student around when he wants to come home for Thanksgiving and what day in December he will likely be done with finals and need a ride home from college. All of those tasks are already on my to-do list as I fill in those big flexible events and make sure they are on the calendar.

You may not personally be thinking December thoughts right now, but a whole lot of people are! For example, here in Chicago, in late September I received the email from a local news agency that reservations are now open for The Walnut Room, a holiday tradition for many! Yes, it is time to plan!

Work in some flexibility and grace.

I am getting better at weaving in prep time ahead of and re-entry after the big events. For example, my husband’s company throws quite the holiday event every year. And, every year, I seem to scramble to get ready and downtown in a timely manner. This year, I blocked the afternoon before the event from client appointments so I don’t have to rush. Similarly, I have my annual Illinois Association of School Boards conference mid November. It is already on my calendar for November 21-24. AND, there are a lot of other things that go into that conference, before and after. So I just blocked time the day before and the day after for some flexibility and rest.

Now, let’s talk Goal Setting. Any incomplete goals to roll forward from last quarter? Now is the time!

Check in around your Goals from the last quarter, how did they work out? If you need to roll something forward, now is the time! A reminder, way back in January when I talked about quarterly planning, I recommended that you dole out your achievements over the whole year. So you may have goals for 2024 that you haven’t completed yet, and that is ok. We can still get a lot done while also respecting the fun and festivities of the holidays – we just need to plan ahead and that is why we set quarterly goals!

Planning and Goal Setting go no further if we don’t attach the necessary actions.

As you work on your plan for your fourth quarter, plan the actions and steps associated to your quarterly goals.

I will use Thanksgiving as an example. We know Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 28. (action) My family and I will figure out the menu and who is bringing what dishes via text over the next few weeks. And then, as other examples of actions, I will start adding shelf-stable grocery items to my weekly shopping list for the foods I am assigned to bring, I will start a bag of things to take with me and I will block some time on the calendar that week for shopping / packing / prep.

What if, in addition to work and life, you are also a crafty person and want to make holiday gifts this year by hand? Commendable, and I love it. AND you have to put all of those tasks and time and actions on the calendar and to-do list NOW so you aren’t caught unprepared in a few months.

Make sure to leave time and energy for the actions attached to your Q4 plan! And put them on the calendar and to-do list now!

Honor your own season and cycles.

Be reasonable, and adjust your expectations.

Yes, Q4 is here. Fall, holidays, travel, school events, yes – I get it. AND, that means different things to different people. In transparency, my birthday is in early October. So this time of year, in addition to Q4 planning, I am always thinking big strategic planning ideas for MY next year, MY next 12 months towards my next birthday. I think in cycles like that and I find it helpful.

I love Fall. Perhaps you don’t. Perhaps you struggle with less and less daylight this time of year, and you need to factor in more rest or adjust your to-do list expectations down a bit. Honor your own season.

A final note – you may be listening to this in October of 2024, or maybe you’re listening some other time in the future. You are not late to the party. ANY day is a good day to plan. And then ACT, of course, but first plan. Let this day be whatever you need it to be, but be intentional and do your day on your terms!

We Never Really Have to Start From Scratch!

We Never Really Have to Start From Scratch! We don’t have to start over.

Do future you a favor. Take notes. And refer back to them.

I was inspired to write about today’s topic by a recent experience. Of course, because that is usually what inspires me!

Let me set it up for you:

One Saturday morning every other month, a group of parishioners from my Parish assemble 150 bag lunches for a local charitable organization to distribute to their community. That Saturday in November was a few weeks ago.

My friend Kristen organizes the service project every time.  This was our 4th morning so far, we started back in May.  We have added people from month to month, and occasionally one of the regulars can’t attend, but there is typically a team of 10 or so adults and some students seeking service hours. 

We are learning, and we get better at the process every month, every time we do it, which is great. And one of the reasons we get better at it is we don’t start from scratch every time, because, honestly, why should we?

Why shouldn’t we learn from every experience? And yes, we can learn from every experience, but also importantly, we need to remember what we learn.

In addition to learning from the experience, we also need to retain or review or make a note of that.

And here’s the deal – if we do something… occasionally… it’s not yet a habit or a routine.

How often we do something and in what time interval are two factors that impact how much we remember from time to time.  If we don’t necessarily remember all the details every time, that’s okay, because sometimes we don’t, and that’s all right. But we can learn from our experiences and get better at doing things!

In my productivity presentations, I mention recipes, and I’m not talking my corn casserole recipe, even though its Thanksgiving time, even though I have no problem sharing that. I mean, recipes as in a path for future you to take. 

In my presentations, I mention those complex tasks we occasionally complete. Often enough to want to get good at it, but not often enough that it’s become natural or a habit.  The example I use in my class is balancing my company’s monthly banking statements.

When I switched my banking years ago, I connected a credit card to my account for purchases.  My banking and bookkeeping are very simple processes now that they are well established, but when I first made the switch, I would stumble from month to month – log into the banking website from my browser or connect Quicken from the quicken platform?  Make a note in quicken regarding paying my credit card bill from my spending account, or pay the bill first and then update the transactions from quicken?

Every month, when the process was new, I would stumble.

So I leave myself a note.  A short list: open quicken, log into banking website, pay credit card bill on banking website, go to quicken, go to credit card tab, click reconcile, click accept all, make note in Quicken.

To use the service example, after we make lunches, we take a few minutes to talk about what worked and what to tweak next time. For example,

  • We write down who volunteered today.
  • We make note of who showed up in answer to the bulletin article, and collect their email so we can alert them next time.
  • Maybe it’s logistics: “We always start with wiping down tables and putting on gloves” or we “need three plastic table cloths instead of 2”
  • Or, about the process: “We need to start with the longest step first and get that rolling, focus on getting the sandwich assembly line started first.“
  • And “Let’s make sure to confirm the time with the school students who need service hours“.

This is a pretty low pressure situation, to be honest – we have a solid team and the work isn’t difficult.  But we are on the clock, as the lunches need to be delivered by a certain time to the mission who is distributing them. And we still want to do things efficiently and effectively. My friend writes down notes and learning, and the ideas and a plan for next time.

Here’s another example of wanting to do things well and leaving notes from next time.

This time of year, I think of my client who has an orange binder in the cabinet above her kitchen desk. It’s the Thanksgiving binder and it really does contain all things Thanksgiving. She always hosts Thanksgiving.  It’s a big family affair, lots of people bring lots of things, and it’s lovely.

And so from year to year, they make notes in the Thanksgiving binder. For example,

  • How many people were there, and who?
  • What recipes did we use? Who brought what and how much?
  • How about “So and So made made the gravy and it was delicious!”
  • Or “We picked up a pie from such and such bakery, and it was a big hit“.
  • We can write about what worked well and what didn’t, or what did we do well and what could be better.

We can keep notes of those things because we would absolutely forget if we didn’t keep track!  When the service morning rolls around again, Kristen will check her notes that she made and start from there as we set up who is scheduled to help and who needs to bring what.  She already has a plan for next time.  That’s the third or fourth time I have said that today.  Let’s relish in that for a minute.  A plan for next time. Based on what we know and what we continue to learn. 

That sounds pretty great to me.

Stress-less Gifting: Create a GIFT HOME

In last week’s newsletter, I promised to tackle common clutter Hot Spots, so let’s look at creating ONE PLACE for your gifts and cards to give.

Don’t you love it when you find the perfect gift for a loved one, even if it’s the wrong time of year? So we hold on to the gift, anticipating the joy of giving and receiving.

And, doesn’t it drive you CRAZY when you can’t find that great gift when the time comes to give it!?!?!

Establish A HOME for your gifts-to-give.  As you establish a GIFT HOME,

  • Plan ahead if the GIFT HOME needs to be hidden from curious eyes, with lidded opaque containers or a door that locks!
  • The GIFT HOME should expand to hold more when major holidays are coming.
    • For example, my GIFT HOME is a cabinet in my laundry room. The cabinet is near the door to the crawl space, so Christmas gifts can overflow to a few bins in there as necessary until I wrap them and give them out.
  • Make the GIFT HOME convenient so you will actually stick with putting items there and then retrieving them again. A client had a GIFT HOME in their attic, which was hidden but was so inconvenient that the client didn’t use it consistently.
  • Bonus points if the GIFT HOME is near wrapping paper, shipping boxes and the necessary accessories!



The next level on this project is to use the GIFT HOME for a stash of more general gifts to give.

  • Helping with fundraiser raffle baskets in December, each basket needed just a few things to complete it – fuzzy socks and lotion for one, a Christmas mug or candle for another, etc.  One of my fellow volunteers asked “Do you just have a cabinet with all of these gift things just waiting?” and I answered “Yes!”.
  • Use the dedicated GIFT HOME to hold gifts that you might need to have / give with little notice. If I happen across a fun item, I will purchase a few extras to spontaneously give out. This idea was really helpful when my sons were younger, for that weekend birthday party the 8 year old forgot to tell you about until an hour before! I had a stash of Lego sets that came and went!
  • To be honest, I am absolutely a re-gifter. I use the GIFT HOME to hold onto NEW ONLY lovely items I receive but may never use until I can give them to someone who will love the item more than me. I attach a post-it to remind me where it came from, so I don’t end up giving it back to someone accidentally.



And Now, Gift Cards!

  • Establish a GIFT HOME for your unused gift cards, to use and to give as gifts as needed. Gift cards are $$ already spent!  Let’s make the most of those!
  • We keep a lot of gift cards because we use the gift card fundraiser program at my son’s school. We buy gift cards, and a portion of the sale goes towards tuition.
  • We have a different holder for the slightly used ones, and we note the remaining balance on the card with a sharpie.
  • Working with clients, I can’t even count how many gift cards we’ve found floating around in junk drawers, piles of papers, discarded gift wrap and bags, etc., and then we don’t know if the card is new or used. We can check the balance on the card by calling the phone # on the back, or visiting the website listed.

Do future-you a favor and create a consistent and accessible home for your gifts and gift cards for less-stressful gift giving!

Do What You Can and Forgive Yourself For What You Can’t.

I am really good at a lot of things. Not bragging, it’s true. We all have that list, the list of ways we excel.

Just this week for example:

  • You want a delicious dinner for 14? “Sign me up, I’m your girl!”
  • You need music for a first grade Christmas pageant? “Fun, let’s do it!”
  • You need someone to manage teams of teenagers at 2 different pancake breakfasts next week? “No problem, let’s do this!”

However, the other side of that piece of paper has a similar list of things I am not good at.

  • You need someone to shop for Christmas presents? (… crickets…)
  • You need me to lay floor tile for you? “Um, nope.”
  • You want hand-sewn Christmas gifts? “Not it!”

My point? My friend summed it up. I received a great text the other night:

“I loved your message for the holiday season. ‘Do what you can and forgive yourself for what you can’t’. You inspired me to put a dent in the holiday list tonight.”

I think my friend who texted was more profound with my words than I was, so I’m quoting her. We had been discussing sticking with our strengths and giving ourselves Grace during this super busy (especially for Moms) time of the year.

If you need to hear or read it one more time, friend:

Stick with your strengths and give yourself grace.

“Do what you can and forgive yourself for what you can’t.”

P.S. I wrote this as a weekly newsletter, and I liked the content so much I wanted to eternalize it as a blog article. Hope you liked it. Have a great day!

Change the Toilet Paper Roll

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I had a much more interesting (I think) article topic planned for today. It was going to be visually stunning, thought-provoking, grammatically correct, entertaining and less than 500 words (because a friend told me long ago he would stop reading my articles at the 500 word mark).

However, a much better topic popped into my head as I swapped out the empty toilet paper roll at a client’s house this morning, and now I am going to talk about toilet paper. As a metaphor for life, of course.

Luckily, I have a habit of checking things such as toilet paper levels, hand towels, etc., before I use a washroom. I immediately determined the roll would be done after I was done. And another quick check told me there was no back-up roll in the usual spot.

I could have just left it – I didn’t use 99.5% of the roll, and hey, it’s not my house, after all. But:

1. I am not a jerk;
2. I firmly believe in leaving things better than I found them whenever I can;
3. I know the solution to this problem and it’s an easy fix; and
4. I may be the next person to use that washroom, and then I would be in trouble.

So, I spent the extra 2 minutes and ran downstairs to the pantry, grabbed a 6 pack and restocked the back-up rolls and the fresh roll. I had a few extras left over and left them out for the client to probably stock other places in her home. And here, reader, is the point.

Take the few extra minute to complete the tasks, especially THE EASY ONES because there is not reason not to. And to NOT complete these easy, everyday tasks can REALLY MESS UP YOUR DAY if they are neglected.

What other tasks fall into this category? The super easily fixed problem that could have wreaked havoc on your day later?

  • Put the scissors back where you found them instead of leaving them out.
  • Recycle the empty milk jug and make a note on the grocery list.
  • Empty the trash when it is full.
  • Charge your phone, and if you see your loved one’s phone near the charger but not on the charger, plug it in.
  • Change the batteries in the remote instead of leaving the task for the next poor sap who just wants to watch TV.
  • Change the toilet paper roll, or restock the empty tissue box, etc., and re-stock the back-up once a week.
  • Refill the hand soap dispenser once a week while you’re at it, because running out of soap is a pain.
  • Get gas on your way home when you realize you need it because you absolutely will not remember to leave time for it in the morning. (Don’t argue, you know I am right.)

Do these things. Because they take no time at all and can really keep your week humming along, and NOT doing them can really trip you up.

Do them because you’re not a jerk. Because it takes very little time to leave something better than you found it. Because most problems we encounter are actually pretty easy fixes if we don’t delay. And if you can’t be all these positive things, do the easy task because you may be the one who is majorly inconvenienced later!

Pots And Pans: Enough, But Not Too Many?

The topic for this week’s article occurred to me back in September while organizing a client kitchen. And I thought the week before Thanksgiving would be a great time to take a good look at our pots and pans!

Pots and Pans. Wow. I have organized dozens of kitchens over the years, and organizing Pots and Pans comes up A LOT! Every kitchen has them, most people use them, some people are very attached to them. They are also big and cumbersome and sometimes awkward to store.

Here are some things to think about, in no particular order:

Invest in Good Pots and Pans.

If you cook, invest in a good set of pots of pans. Not requiring great or expensive! I mean, if you’re looking for a new set, do a little research and find out which brands and styles are worth the money and the time. We’ve had the same set of Revere Ware copper bottom pots and pans since we received them as a wedding gift in 1994. (And yes, I cook almost every day!)

How many Pots and Pans do you really need?

Here at home, we have 3 sauce pans with lids, 2 non-stick skillets with lids (my preferred), 1 cast-iron skillet (my husband’s favorite), 1 large stock pot and a lidded Dutch oven. I also have a roasting pan that I’ve used twice ever, but will be used again next week! These are enough, I’ve never need more.

Everything but the stock pot fits in one kitchen drawer, including lids.

I went to camp for a week with one pan. Expectations were low, but one pan was enough. My college-aged son who really does cook has a skillet and a sauce pan. He has found that is all he needs.

If space is at a premium in your kitchen (and it usually is), look critically at home many pots and pans you HAVE versus how many you NEED and USE.

Treat Your Pots and Pans Well.

It turns out, some folks own more than one set of pots and pans because they don’t wash everything after use. Let me advocate for “Cleaning as You Go”, and not letting things pile up!

Please, wash pots and pans as they’re used and don’t let them sit as they get harder to clean the longer they are left dirty! (This is something I regularly remind my son of, when he makes macaroni and cheese!)

In addition, regular maintenance keeps a cleaner kitchen and clean pans can be used again quickly, which means we can own fewer pans.

The jury is still out on using the dishwasher to clean your pots and pans. We wash them by hand, which cleans up the kitchen mess and gets the pans into usable form quicker, but takes longer.

When we re-did the kitchen 3 years ago, I dedicated a wide and deep drawer to pot and pan storage, instead of a cabinet. This has eliminated the accessibility and lid-stacking challenges, so if you can try this, go for it!

We use liner like these (see picture, from Amazon.com) when storing my skillets, they really seem to have helped save the surfaces.

Let Your Pots and Pans Work For You.

As mentioned, today’s topic occurred to me a few months ago. It motivated me to:

  • find a replacement lid for one of our saucepans (thank you, Ebay, when your pans are 26 years old and apparently considered vintage!);
  • google the brand of Dutch oven I was gifted, to make sure it was stove top and oven safe (it is); and
  • gift a high quality but never used skillet from my drawer to my college -aged son to use at school.

Don’t expect the pans to make you a good or willing cook:

I have encountered many folks over the years who have bought snazzy new sets of pots and pans expecting that THESE new pans are going to be the ones that magically make them want to cook. That is a pretty impressive expectation for a box full of inanimate objects. The desire and skill to cook is not going to come from a box (sorry), so please stop buying more THINGS.

Spend a little time this week making sure your pots and pans are all together, pared down and ready to do their job! Happy cooking!

Organize Your Kitchen in Little Nibbles and Big Bites

Our kitchens are truly the hearts of our homes, which means any time spent organizing this very important space is time well spent.  However… organizing our kitchens can seem really overwhelming, since there are things, both useful and scary, behind every door and in every drawer!

So let’s break down this big and useful project into several little projects, instead:

  • Food and Pantry Items
    Tackle your food storage areas first.  To minimize the overwhelm, review your kitchen a cabinet at a time.  Start with grouping your food categories (canned goods, boxed pastas, baking supplies), and review all your items for their expiration dates.  It’s likely at least a few items will be expired, and those will go in the trash.
    Decide, too – even if a food item isn’t expired, will you and your family ever eat it?  (For example, when my sons were young, I bought a 10 pack of boxed mac and cheese and then they announced they didn’t like it).  If an item is still within code but of no use to you, share or donate it to a local food pantry so it doesn’t go to waste.
    Plan your next week of meals around the food you have on hand, to continue the clutter clearing!  And always check your cabinets before you grocery shop, to avoid having to throw out expired foods again.
  • Reusable Water bottles and Coffee Mugs
    To get started, pull them out of ALL THE PLACES THEY ARE STASHED, and pair up the bottoms and tops.  And Yes, if you’re asking, you probably have too many of these.  Decide just how many you feasibly need.  I’m the only one that uses go-mugs, and I use the same 2, rotating them daily.  We have a few more than 2 water bottles, but not too many.  And next time you’re at an event where they are giving away free water bottles or can wraps or coffee mugs, just say “No, thank you”.
  • Cleaning supplies
    Good golly.  I’m always amazed at the full inventory of cleaning supplies most houses hold, and most is stashed under the kitchen sink.
    Which makes no sense, because you can’t really see it under there.
    Take everything out, line up the items by category.
    See anything you can just toss? (why are there always a few empty windex bottles?  Go fig.)
    Are there any items that are clearly past their prime?  Off color, bad odor, rock hard, etc.?
    Any partial bottles you can combine?  (The dribs and drabs of dish soap or hand soap?)
    Look around your kitchen or pantry, and see if there is a better place to store your cleaning supplies.  If there is not, corral the different categories into plastic baskets and store them under the sink so you more easily access your supplies when you need them!
  • Spices
    Here is the link to my recent article on organizing your
    spices!  
  • Junk drawer
    Here is the link to one of my most popular articles ever,  “If You Call It A Junk Drawer, Guess What Ends Up Inside?”
  • Plastic storage containers
    Yes, it is time to organize these, too!  Click here to read my recent article “What to Do With All These Storage Containers”!
  • Top of the fridge?
    Ohhhh, yeah.  This space can be great storage or it can be a crazy no-man’s land of scary stuff.  Click here to read “Reclaim The Top of Your Refrigerator”.  (And there are even some words about Cookbooks in this one!!)

Fight the overwhelm, and tackle these projects one at a time to get your kitchen on track!

Organize Your De-Decorating! (Is that even a word? It is now!)

I wrestled three Christmas trees from their stands and into storage or out the door last week.  Only one was mine.  This time of year, I spend a lot of time helping my clients put holiday stuff away.  We de-decorate, de-forest, call it what you would like.  Let me share tips I have learned!

  1. Create a First Out, Last In box.  Our FO/LI box holds the decor items that come out around December 1:  Advent Wreath, Christmas card display ribbon and basket, countdown calendars, table runners and our Creche and lights.  These are the first items we put out in December, and also the items that stick around through the holiday season and are last to put away (hence the name).  It is easily distinguishable in the crawl space, and always on top of the pile of containers.
  2. This is one of the few times I will say this – Cardboard is not your friend.  Plastic is your friend. My husband and I were reminiscing about our childhood holiday decor.  He has clear memories of putting away the cardboard boxes in the garage rafters every year.  Sometimes that works, but sometimes it doesn’t!  Plastic is better for long-term storage.  It’s sturdier, water and bug resistant, stack-able and reusable.  Bonus – lots of home improvement stores have plastic containers on sale right now!
  3. Choose your themes, and pack accordingly.  Choose to store your decor by room (meaning, all the items you display on the mantle or in the dining room go in the same box) or by type (meaning, all the snow globes go in the same box, regardless of where they are displayed).  This is your choice to make, but please make it.  Putting away this year and unpacking next winter will go much more smoothly!
  4. Purge now, not later.  Any decor items you didn’t use this year – Why didn’t you?  Is it broken? Outdated? Not looking too great? These characteristics will not change, so you may need to purge these items.  If you rotate your decor annually, and your stuff looks fine but just didn’t make the cut this year, go ahead and keep it.
  5. If your decor is already neatly stored away, there are still a few things you can do to make the process go more smoothly next time!
    • Label  EVERYTHING.  Make your life easier next December, and label everything clearly this year.  Maybe, just maybe, people will even be able to help you since stuff is easy to find and access… (maybe).  And if your labels never stick, try this:
      Post-IT Note + Sharpie + Clear Packing Tape = a label that will actually stay on.
    • Leave yourself some notes fir next year!  What worked? What did not? What was a hit with the family? I’ve made lots of notes of “favorite cookies” that I make, so I can spread the cookie love as a surprise come next December.

Happy DeDecorating!

About Spices (So many bad puns I could make, but won’t)

Do you have an area of your house that you’re really proud of?  That you like so much that occasionally you think it should have it’s own spotlight or theme song?  

Ok, maybe that’s just me.  But today that area of my home is my spice drawer.  A small project with a big impact, one that makes me happy when I see it and makes my life and cooking easier.

Need to get a handle on your spices, just in time for holiday baking and feasts?  Here’s how!

Sort what you have:

  • Clean off a counter.
  • Collect your spices from all the places you have them stashed in the kitchen and pantry.
  • Line them up on the counter and put them in alphabetical order.  Trust me on this one.  Many kitchens have at least a few duplicates, 2 or 3 jars of the same spices.

Get rid of spices past their prime: 

  • Once you know what spices you have on hand and how many, review what you have to determine if some of the spices are no longer spicy.
  • Ever wonder how long spices last?  A quick google search yielded a lot of information!  The cooking and spice websites seemed to agree:
    • whole spices can last 4 years;
    • ground spices last 3-4 years;
    • dried leafy herbs can last from 1-3 years (color is an indicator, too – herbs usually are green, even when dried, but can turn brown with age!); and
    • extracts are good for 3-4 years, except for vanilla which can last longer.
  • One website suggested that you can just use more of an older spice or herb to make up for lost flavor from age but that could get confusing!  If you open the jar and don’t strongly smell the spice, it’s time for it to go.
  • Make a list of spices you purge, so you know what you may need to replace.  Keep in mind, some items are seldom used, so you don’t have to replace those until you need them again.  However, if you tossed the black pepper or basil, replace them soon!

Decide where and how to keep your spices:

  • Store your herbs and spices in a spot convenient for cooking but not next to or above a heat source.  Prolonged heat will ruin the flavor and aroma of spices and herbs.
  • My spices are in a drawer near (but not too close) to my stove.  I have this great insert for my drawer, seen here from a side view.  Unfortunately, I’ve had it so long that I can’t find an exact replacement.  I found something similar to this on a quick Amazon search, for “spice drawer organizer insert”
  • A client who bakes –  a lot! – had a basket of savory herbs and spices (curry, basil, oregano) and a basket of sweet spices (cinnamon, nutmeg,
    baking extracts) in her cabinet so she could grab what she needed depending on her task at hand.
  • Of course, there is the lazy susan option, a great idea for all those little bottles.  Sometimes the spices fall over like bowling pins, but this is option improves visibility.  

Maintain the system:

  • Buy big spice containers (often cheaper per ounce) and share with friends or family!  I love shopping at Costco, but their containers are huge!  Vanilla extract lasts forever, and we use a lot of cinnamon, so those are two items I buy in large sizes.
  • Consider growing your own herbs. Even just a pot on the windowsill can keep you in basil for a long time!  (I love my basil, oregano and lavender plants!)

This little project can reap big benefits!  Give it a whirl this week!

What To Do With All These Storage Containers?!

I’ve gotten some questions about food storage containers, for example…

  • What to do with them?
  • How to store them?
  • Where in the world did all of these come from?
  • Where are all the lids (or bases!)?
  • Sound familiar?

I hope you all had a chance to take advantage of National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day last week!  If you browsed through your fridge last week, perhaps you now have clean and empty containers to put away (or perhaps the contents were so very nasty, the container went out as well!).

However… perhaps you are one of many people who cannot put more storage containers away because the cabinet space or drawer you have dedicated to storage containers is full to overflowing…

Or…. maybe you don’t have a space dedicated to storage containers, and that creates a different problem!

Let’s figure this out, friends!  And for the sake of brevity, I will just call them “storage containers”, regardless of plastic, glass, ceramic, etc.

First Things First, clear off a counter for this little project.

Open all the cabinet doors, drawers and pantry and collect all the storage containers (bottoms and lids) scattered through out your space.

Sort bottoms and tops by shape and then size.  You should end up with a pile of round bottoms and lids, a pile of square bottoms and lids, rectangle bottoms and lids, etc.

Once your sizes and shapes are sorted, match up bottoms and tops.  This step can be very entertaining and / or frustrating, when you realize you have 20 bottoms and no tops, or 17 tops and 2 bottoms, etc.

And once you have started sorting and matching up items, it will start to become apparent which items need to go and which can stay.  Stained, cracked, warped or mis-matched items can go.   Re-used butter tubs or yogurt bowls?  Yes.  Go.

Seriously?  Those items are not manufactured to be re-used.  Yes, go.

Now, if you have to part with a lot of your containers because of wear and age, DO NOT run right out and buy the same amount to replace them.

If you want to purchase new items, or make the switch to glass containers, slowly transition out your old containers.

 

Ask your self:

  • Do you really need as many containers as you had?  Have you ever had every container in use?  Has the cabinet every been empty?  IF not, you have too many!
  • Slowly determine what you really need, and only purchase new storage when you really need it.
  • To really streamline the process, consider using only one or two sizes or styles of containers. These to the right are our favorite.  Stackable with a good seal for freezing, storing and transporting liquids.  Perfect for meal planning.  (2 cup size, Ziploc brand).  We use them for everything!  We have a few other sizes and types, but these are definitely my go-to!


Decide on a home for your storage containers, and let the folks who live in your house know where you put them!  Make sure the home is convenient and easy to reach.  As you put your containers away, consider how to store them to make life simpler!

Perhaps you could try a container for your containers, so you don’t have to worry about stacking them! (see picture to the right!)

I use an empty storage container to corral the lids to all the other containers!

Or how about storing them matched up, to make it easier to find them?

Whatever you choose,  tuck them away and close the door on this quick but satisfying project.  And if you’re hosting Thanksgiving this week, you will be the best hostess on the block if you have your storage containers ready to send home left overs with your guests!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!