What's for dinner?

I think this is one of the most common questions in every household: What's for dinner?!

Our house is no different.  Since we both have fairly unpredictable schedules, we never have a "set" menu for the week, as at our current stage in life this wouldn't be a practical solution.  Instead, last fall we started having a "What are the options for dinner" list on the refrigerator.  I write down different options for dinner that we have all of the ingredients for, and Luke knows what options are available if he's hungry or motivated to make dinner!

Typically we have options that are quick, as well as some options that may take a little longer to make/bake, but are generally pretty straightforward. We've also found that having this list makes it easier to say, "Hey, this and this sound good, which one of the two would you like tonight?"  By having a more limited option list, we don't spend half hour looking in the fridge, freezer, or pantry, then ultimately deciding on cereal because we are too famished to actually make something at this point.

Once we make something on the list, we cross it off.  Once we are down to a few options, I generally go back through the fridge, freezer, and pantry and see if there are any other options.  If we have no other options left - it's back to the store!

Sometimes I see that we have majority of the ingredients for a few meals and make a quick grocery store run for just those items that we need.  We end up saving money using what we already have and not going to the grocery store aimlessly.

Another perk?  We often have leftovers, which means a night off of cooking or an easy lunch option for the next day.  Living with Luke, leftovers typically don't last much past the next day ;)

Need some ideas for some easy meals? 
I love Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour's Easy Crockpot Potato Soup and her Hot Chicken Salad (to DIE for!).  I make minor modifications to both (i.e. fat free soups and light mayo, silvered almonds instead of potato chips, etc) but these two recipes routinely make their way into our dinner rotations!

Other websites I love for recipes? 
Skinnytaste 
Has HUNDREDS of recipes that are all made more healthy and nutritious without sacrificing flavor!

Iowa Girl Eats
Down to earth Iowa girl with a wide variety of recipes that are easy to follow and offers variety without being difficult or too far out for the ingredient list!

All Recipes
The mecca of recipes.  Thousands of recipes with reviews and the option to save recipes to your digital recipe box.  Also has the option to search for recipes with certain ingredients.  A little overwhelming with the number of recipes, but I have found some FANTASTIC options on this site!

Planner Schmanner.

I've been working on getting a post together about how I fill out my planner.  I even took lovely pictures of the color coding and how I keep myself organized.  #unofficiallydiagnosedOCDtrait

BUT, I think I'm going to be giving up on filling out a planner this year, as I'm pretty sure the planners are plotting against me.

Why do I think a conspiracy is happening?  I bought Planner #1 at Target in November last year so I could use it to schedule interviews into January.  After I had finished majority of my interviews, I sat down to put other important information into my planner: Due dates for bills and projects, Work Commitments, Birthdays, etc.  I was ecstatic I was actually getting myself organized when I hit the month of May.  Generally May is a busy month for my family, but when I couldn't find May 25 (my mom's Birthday) I knew something just wasn't right. #naturallyblonde

As evidenced by my cell phone picture:

Do you see what I see? I see a blend of May and March.  When I turned the page, the month of May was non-existent and in it's place was the month of March Part Dos.

So off to Target I went.  I picked up the same exact planner (here should have been my first warning) and went to exchange my faulty planner with the identical appearing new one.  When the Customer Service woman asked me what one planner had that the other didn't, I politely replied, "The month of May."  No seriously.

Now this morning, I decide to take another hour to fill out EVERYTHING I can in my planner.  I'm still laughing about the last planner mishap, but buzzing along with the months of January and February as filled out as possible, and Birthdays/Anniversaries out through October!

I don't mess around when it comes to filling out planners. Then I come to November:

You have got to be *#$&!(%@ me.  The other half of November is missing, as is the first week. So I could go the route of "I'm sorry your Birthday/Anniversary does not exist to me since that part is missing from my planner" but I think I may get strange looks from that quote.

I hope the same lady is working at Target Customer Service because I really can't make this stuff up. Am I now high maintenance for wanting the month of May and November?  Oh boy.

I give up.  I think this is no longer the year of the hands-on planner and it's time to make a minor change in my OCD habits.  "Digital is [apparently] where it's at!" (to quote my sister's response to my text about *@*#(&*@ planners).  Planner schmanner.

THAT drawer

Not to be confused with THAT boy ;)

Everyone has one.  THAT drawer that you are scared to open.  Scared to put your hand into for fear it might get cut or find something that REALLY doesn't belong.  Am I being a little dramatic?  Maybe.  But it was thanks to my "THAT drawer" that I decided to make a little purchase at Home Goods during my recent visit to St. Louis.

Here's the situation that necessitated an intervention:

A too small utensil holder on the counter which held about five utensils comfortably.

The utensil holder was an IKEA purchase (~$7) for my FIRST apartment, which if you read between the lines means this bad boy has been gracing my counters for about 8 years, so about 75 cents/year. He had put his time in and I believe I had gotten my money's worth out of him.

Enter my new shiny utensil holder from Home Goods!  I purchased it for $11.99 and once I was back in town, it found its new home on my counter.

You know you are getting old when you seriously get excited about making purchases like this one.

I also liked the scale of the new one much more than the old one, but thought it looked a little cramped with the knives on the counter too, so those got moved to another area of the kitchen.  #unclutteredhappiness

So now that the new holder was ready to be filled, I decided to tackle THAT drawer.  Embarrassed to put this online, but hey, I'm sharing this one like it is.

This drawer houses our can openers, measuring cups, baking items, and other "overflow" utensils. Yes that is a knife also just hanging out in the drawer - SCARY. 

On a positive note, this is probably the most prominent area for primary colors in our home.  I don't fall far from the tree when it comes to beiges and related neutrals. 

I emptied out the entire drawer, putting utensils in their new home and everything else across the counter.  I wiped out the drawer and washed anything that looked like it needed it.

I was a little shocked by some of the items in the drawer.  Do we really need FOUR of one utensil?  I agree that there are some things that are nice to have multiples of, but we really don't need four pastry brushes, scratch that, five.  So I downsized unnecessary items and started reorganizing.  Can/bottle/wine openers grouped on the left, random items in the middle and I filled in that last section with the remaining pastry brushes and wooden spoons.

Lovely organization.

I think my helpers were just as excited as I was!  Or not.  Because it was 9:30pm and they wanted to go to bed.  #happeningFridaynight

In the end, I had a small pile of about 10 things that we no longer needed from ONE drawer.  #stillwaitingforLuke'sapprovaltogetridof #Idon'tactuallydomuchcooking #nobodyisshockedbythat

I'm also happy to report that we no longer have stray knives hanging out in the drawer. Nobody was cut in the making of this post either.  Small celebration!

Time for the side-by-side comparisons!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I LOVE the new utensil holder and how much more it can hold while still looking stylish. However, I don't LOVE where the knives found a new home, so it looks like they are leasing the space for now until they can find a new place.

Another thing I didn't LOVE?  The hardwater spots on my utensils.  My mom suggested a vinegar water soak to get rid of the white grossness.  I'm trying it now and will let you know how it goes!

Another "clutter" area tackled.  

Anybody else tackled THAT drawer lately? Or does anybody get just as giddy as I do with new purchases for the home?!  #TJMaxxandHomeGoodsAddictionAnonymous  

Linking up to New Years Organizing Revolution! 

Save the Dates: Birthdays and anniversaries that is!

At this point many of you will think I've lost it - you are probably correct.  This is what happens when I have had too many cups of coffee and "Today's Hits Radio" blaring from Pandora.  The motivation is slowly starting to wear off, but the Dance Party will be ongoing until my caffeine wears off! #eventhedogsaredancing

So a few days ago I wrote this post on Paying It Forward throughout the year and prior to that this post about how I'm approaching the New Year.  With those posts in mind, I have taken time today to catch up on a few things I've been wanting to do for weeks to years (yes, I said years) that will hopefully help me accomplish a few of those things.   One my ideas was a one-stop-shop for important dates!

I had mentioned that I think sending cards or messages is a fantastic, yet simple way to show someone you care.  However, and it may just be me, if Facebook doesn't tell me, I often don't know.  Update: Facebook is not always right either! Enter somebody who is not on Facebook and I have NO clue.  So I decided to put all of the important dates in an easy to use document.  I've seen similar approaches online, but wanted to create my own so it was stream-lined, straightforward, and editable for future additions to the family!  I started with my family on my mom's side so I could give you all an example:

I made a document in simple document in word with the months of the year, then filled in the columns with the date of the month and the person(s) name(s).  If just one person is listed, it's his or her Birthday!  With two names, it's an Anniversary and I included the date of the year the couple was married if I knew it so I knew if it was going to be a "milestone" year! Pretty simple huh? You are welcome for not including birthday years :)

I like that I can use this document as a one-stop shop for what cards I want/need to buy so I won't be running out last minute. I also used this document this morning to add the dates to my Google calendar, which has the option to have the event repeat every year so I only have to enter them once - yes please! So for less than 30 minutes of transferring the dates, these are on my calendar for years to come.  I consider that a time-saving situation!

Now I need to set time aside to do this for the rest of my family and friends, and would like to include add in general dates as well (i.e. Mother's Day in May), but I think that will have to be a gradual process!

Another something new?  Here's the link to download your own! #Ihavenoideaifthisisgoingtowork 

Download Non-Personalized "Important Dates" Google Doc Here 

Operation Declutter: Receipts, Junk Mail, Magazines, and Books (+ Fabric!)

So it's 2013. Whoops!  Looks like "Operation Declutter 2012" is now "Operation Declutter 2013." Creative new name, huh? It takes time to come up with these things!

Today's focus is once again on the paper clutter.

RECEIPTS:

I tackled the receipt side of things yesterday.  After the holidays the number of receipts in my purse/wallet/basket in the entry way/etc seem to have taken over any spare space available.  Not to mention, I found even more receipts in my filing cabinet, in a spare storage box, in some old purses I was getting rid of... #Ihavereceiptproblem #morelikeashoppingproblem

http://www.quickenblog.com/paper-trail-why-you-should-hold-onto-receipts-2012-08-09/

My receipt situation was no where near this picture, but I wanted to get on top of it so it NEVER gets this bad! Some quick receipt management tips:

• Buy a paper shredder. These usually go on sale during tax season!
• Major purchases that may require the receipt for warranty should be kept (think appliances and electronics).
• Receipts for tax purposes should have a set location to be filed right away. 
• Compare receipts vs credit card bills.  If you are one of these people, pick a date every week/month to compare, then shred the receipt.  If you aren't one of these people ::me:: set a date to go through receipts (i.e. every Sunday, or every Sunday of the month depending your receipt volume).  
• Setup consistent locations for receipts.  This was one of my problems leading to receipts in odd locations and impossible to find if I needed them. Now I have a basket on my console table for the sole purpose of holding coupons and receipts.

My system? Sort through receipts when I have time and categorize: to shred,  to return, and long-term storage.  Long-term get scanned for a digital copy, then usually filed away or shredded if not needed for warranty/taxes/etc. #haveImentionedIlovemyscanner?

MAGAZINES:

I looked ALL over the house for any magazines - end tables, nightstands, coffee tables, desktops - and found all of these:

Dramatic much Reader's Digest? Wasn't exactly an impressive article, but not important.  #Notgoingthere #Noventingfromme

The pile of magazines looked like this from another angle:

 And in complete honesty, ranged in dates up to two years ago. #dogfoundoneofthemagazinesinthecar #Haven'tgottenflatabsorslimdownedfast

If the magazine was more than two years old, it went to my mom or sister so they could read it if they wanted and then recycle.  The magazines less than two years old made me feel a little like I was cheating on the "decluttering" standpoint since I downloaded the magazines I had yet to read to my IPad.  Most magazines offer a free electronic copy with a paid subscription.  This resulted in me having electronic access to my magazines while traveling recently, which as an added bonus resulted in a lighter carry-on bag!  The rest of the magazines went to my mom or sister again for their enjoyment!  I can still enjoy the magazines, my mom and sister can enjoy the magazines, and I don't have the paper clutter all over my house!  #winwinwin

BOOKS:

When my mom and sister were here helping me clear my closet, they also helped me decide what to do with some of my old textbooks.  Since we refer to my Aunt Alisa as "Doc" she inherited all of my old textbooks in a little impromptu white elephant gift at Christmas!  We also brought fiction books for my family members to take and enjoy at their leisure.  

Sidenote: We gave my Aunt Amy a white elephant gift of all of our old fabric scraps that we had so she  could use them in her quilting business.  Another win-win situation where something we no longer needed could be put to good use!  And when I say she can utilize any size of fabric scraps, I'm not kidding!  Here's her set-up when she stayed at our place: 

And inside that box of treasures? THOUSANDS of fabric squares and rectangles perfectly measured and cut by hand!

So to say she appreciated the fabric scraps was an understatement I believe!  But I digress...

JUNK MAIL:

This is something I should have been doing all along: not setting the junk mail down inside the house.  We rarely use anything out of the coupon mailers we get, simply because they are coupons to places we never go!  Therefore, junk mail now goes STRAIGHT to the recycle bin or trash!  

After going through these categories, I can honestly say we have one filing cabinet and Luke's drawer left that I haven't touched, but otherwise, all of the paper products in our home have an assigned space!  It is so nice not moving piles of paper, or seeing mounds of receipts.  It's been quite the way to start the New Year!  

Next on the list?  Kitchen clutter!  I bought a new utensil caddy when I was at my sister's that I plan on putting to good use!  

What have you decluttered at your house?  Feel free to leave a comment - no really - you can leave a comment!  #notsurethecommentingfunctionisworking  #provemewrong!

Disclaimer: I am no financial expert nor do I claim to be one.  Shred important documents at your own risk!  It's pretty permanent!

New year, New approach

Happy New Year!  I can't believe we are already in 2013.  I don't know about you, but I am ready for a new year and have been thinking recently about this whole "resolutions" thing.  I think I'm over resolutions.  There are some crazy statistics about resolutions, with 45% of people making them, but only 8% of people are successful at attaining their resolutions.  Thus, instead of making resolutions, I'm going to make a conscious effort to be more aware of what's truly important to me in 2013.  

Talking with my Aunt Alisa over Christmas, she mentioned her mantra for 2013: "Enough is Enough" and I couldn't help but agree with her.

Case in point: At the end of 2012, I spent some extra time clearing out my closet of clothing, purses and shoes that didn't fit, showed wear, or were outdated.  When I got back from the holidays, I sorted all of the clothing into Donate, Sell, and Toss piles.

A fraction of my piles of things to get rid of. 

I took the Sell pile into a couple of local consignment stores and opted for the immediate cash back option, which resulted in some decent amount of cash in my pocket (my version of decent may differ from others, but at this point, if it puts gas in my gas tank, I consider it decent!).

However, when I was at one particular store, I found myself feeling suddenly attached to some of my former belongings.  I had that "but what if I need another black bag and none that I have now will work?!" or "but what if I NEED that button up shirt I've had in my closet for 2 years and never wore?" The truth of the matter is I don't NEED any of the items. If I haven't used it in over a year and somebody else could get use or enjoyment out of my things, isn't that more rewarding?  There is no point in me having a full, overstuffed closet when somebody else could use the items I no longer need/want/use.  In addition, the time and worry I had given to something as insignificant as a shirt was simply not worth it.  It was definitely time to say Enough is Enough; I have a feeling this mantra is going to frequently find it's way into my 2013 vocabulary.

What was left in my Sell pile went straight into my Donate pile and will be going to my local American Cancer Society Discovery Shops, a great organization that functions as a upscale resale shop in order to raise money for the fight against cancer, which many of you know is near and dear to my family's heart.

Little do they know a clown car's worth of stuff will be coming to them in the near future.  When I purged my closet I DID NOT mess around.  Unfortunately I also didn't take pictures since I seized the moment with my mom and sister in town - sometimes you just have to go with the flow!  It feels AWESOME to walk into an organized, clean, simplified space that I have been keeping even more organized and clean now that everything has a home in my closet.

What's your mantra for 2013?  Are you making New Year's Resolutions? Have you ever stuck to a resolution in the past?


I'm excited for what 2013 has to offer! I have already been busy getting a few blog posts ready that I hope will be helpful to you all in 2013 and beyond as well.  Some of the topics are definitely going to be more difficult to talk about than others ::cough cough budgeting cough cough:: but many are more lighthearted and are things that can be done in a short amount of time.   I also have intel that my guest bloggers have post ideas up their sleeves, so stay tuned!  

Have a suggestion?  I'd love to hear it!  Email me at makinghousecalls12@gmail.com

Operation Declutter 2012: Class Notes

After 4 years of undergraduate and 4 years of graduate school, plus a year as an Extern, the amount of "class notes" I've accumulated is RIDICULOUS.  This picture was taken a couple of years ago, so imagine all those binders, plus several more that I accumulated over the next few years, all brimming with class notes.

Since I rarely ever go back to the class notes (because I have no idea where anything is in the binders), they have sat on the bookshelves since the class ended. 

However, I knew there were things inside those binders that could one day be useful, so I decided to take the time over this "break" to finally do something about the situation (and no not the Jersey Shore "Situation").  Enter my new best friend:  

Its a Fujitsu Scan Snap 1300i.  My sister and I actually did a little research to find a scanner that would work well to decrease our "paper clutter situation" but didn't cost an arm and a leg (we decided to split the cost of the scanner).  It scans about 12 pages per minute (12 ppm), and scans both sides at the same time (duplexes), is Mac AND PC compatible (a must for Heather and I to share) and has an option to make the document you just scanned searchable (OCR).  This was all foreign language to me a few weeks ago. #notreallyasnerdyasIthoughtIwas #I'manerdwhoamIkidding

Update: The scanner does do color scans, and you can alter the quality of the scan to save on file size.  I saved all of the files on my computer and barely noticed a dent in my available space.  The scanner can hold 10-20 sheets of paper at a time, but there is an option to "continue scanning" after the current scan is done, so each PDF can be up to 1000 pages long.  There is a more expensive version of this scanner that has the capability to feed up to 50 pages, but the scanner costs ~$190 more, so we decided price overweighed convenience for our purposes.  Additionally, the 12 ppm is NOT with duplex considerations, so it actually can scan 24 ppm.   The only issues I had with the scanner were usually because I missed a staple so it misfed.  It shows the last page saved so you can be sure you aren't missing any pages being scanned and restart the scanning process at the appropriate location.  This scanner also has the capability to scan pictures at high resolution, but I haven't utilized that option yet.  

So we bought the scanner from Amazon and I used my Discover card to get free one-day shipping!  I took it out of the box, and after a few hours I had already scanned what I needed and was ready to get rid of this: 

It was a few binders worth, but I was addicted. #rehabforscanneraddiction

So I set up shop at our kitchen table and scanned/sorted away!

I brought every single binder I owned upstairs.

I had to remove staples and post-its from the notes to get them to be "scannable" so I created a little pile in a dish to keep all the staples and post-its corralled.

And before long, my pile had turned to this:

Holy paper. My pile of filled binders was slowly starting to get smaller...

...with Bentley keeping guard.  The good news was I already had a bag of binders to get rid of!

 A few days later with some free time dedicated to sorting and I accomplished this:

I did NOT scan all of these papers, but maybe a 1/4 or less.  There were definitely things that I did not need and couldn't believe I kept this long.  It was time.

Plus I now had a few (dozen) binders to get rid of.  This isn't even all of them!

And I'm not the only one who is happy about getting rid of some clutter! #furkidaddiction

We bundled up the paper into paper bags for recycling and dropped them off at the recycling center.  One part of clutter off of the list and now the scanner goes to Heather for a bit!  It was a great idea to split the cost since we don't both need the scanner sitting at our houses.  #Scannersharedcustody

With one type of clutter gone, it's time to tackle the next!  I'm thinking some of the "clothing clutter" is up next.

What kind of clutter are you tackling?  I've even found a few more types of clutter to add to my list!