How many of us could eat an entire bag of Oreos at one sitting? Me, me! How many of us would probably feel sick (and even guilty) about eating that entire bag of Oreos at one sitting? Me, me! And probably everyone else, unless you're Michael Phelps. But how many of us would do it again a couple of months later? Me, me!
Chuck and I learned very early in our marriage that if we wanted to make the bags of Oreos, Goldfish, Cheez-its (or whatever snacky yumminess) last longer than one day, we needed to portion them. As each bag is labeled with a serving size, we take the treats and bag them into little Ziploc snack-sized baggies as soon as we get home from the grocery store. These bags are then put into the pantry, ready for lunches or a quick afternoon snack.
So if we want Oreos, we just grab a little bag of three. If we want pretzels, we just grab a little bag of 30 grams. If we want six snickerdoodles, well, we grab two little bags. (But we know that if the snickerdoodles were not bagged, we'd easily pack away a dozen. Easily. And remember, one erin-sized cookie is approximately two normal-sized cookies, so it's all good.)
This helped us realize exactly how much snacks we were consuming, but also helped make them last. It's amazing how satisfied we can be with 52 Goldfish crackers.
Showing posts with label Household Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Household Tips. Show all posts
07 October 2008
15 September 2008
Helpful Household Tip # 3
I hate deciding what to have for dinner. But even more than that, I hate when Chuck gets home from work and asks, "What's for dinner?" because if it gets to that point, well, it'll be cereal for dinner. Cold, sugary cereal. Not good. (Or is it...?!?) Of course, if there are Skinny Cows in the house, they always make a good substitute for a real meal. There's this dinner as well. Gee, now I'm starting to doubt this desire to have real meals. Focus, erin, focus...
Some time ago, I started planning our meals two weeks in advance. But having to do this every every two weeks got to be too frequent for me, so now I plan for four weeks. I do this in Excel, for reasons to be explained later.
Still, filling the 28 nights was a chore. I could never really remember the things that we both really liked and often similar things ended up next to each other. My first AHA! moment came to me in the form of "theme nights." Every Monday was Mexican night; every Friday night was breakfast-for-dinner night, etc. This helped tremendously in filling the nights, and made it so that spaghetti was never eaten the night before stovetop lasagne.
The next AHA! moment was inspired by my sister-in-law, Linda. How we work it is as follows: pick dinners that we would like to have (or at least don't mind having) every four weeks. (This turned out to be 22 for us.) These 22 dinners are marked with asterisks in my meal calendar (why Excel works so well--I don't have to retype them every month); they are permanent and not to be changed, altered, or adapted in any way (ooooh, scary!). The other six nights are therefore alternates. Maybe the alternate is a new recipe I've been dying to try from that fabulous site, The Foodees. Or maybe it's a recipe from a cookbook I've won from the Washington Post food chats. Or maybe it's just an old recipe that we like, but don't want to have every four weeks. Having the same 22 dinners allows me to better stock the pantry and freezer as I know the basic supplies we need for these meals, but having alternates inspires me to try new things.
One little tweak to this are the alternating permanent nights. (Permanent alternates??? My head hurts.) If you look at the picture below (clicking on it will make it larger), the Wednesday at the bottom of the picture shows us having alfredo pasta or spaghetti with meatballs. These are dinners that we alternate. So these meals will be eaten once every two months. Confusing? Sorry.
Of course, we're still flexible. If I really really want cereal for dinner, well, we're having cereal...with Skinny Cows and Starburst jelly beans for dessert.
Some time ago, I started planning our meals two weeks in advance. But having to do this every every two weeks got to be too frequent for me, so now I plan for four weeks. I do this in Excel, for reasons to be explained later.
Still, filling the 28 nights was a chore. I could never really remember the things that we both really liked and often similar things ended up next to each other. My first AHA! moment came to me in the form of "theme nights." Every Monday was Mexican night; every Friday night was breakfast-for-dinner night, etc. This helped tremendously in filling the nights, and made it so that spaghetti was never eaten the night before stovetop lasagne.
The next AHA! moment was inspired by my sister-in-law, Linda. How we work it is as follows: pick dinners that we would like to have (or at least don't mind having) every four weeks. (This turned out to be 22 for us.) These 22 dinners are marked with asterisks in my meal calendar (why Excel works so well--I don't have to retype them every month); they are permanent and not to be changed, altered, or adapted in any way (ooooh, scary!). The other six nights are therefore alternates. Maybe the alternate is a new recipe I've been dying to try from that fabulous site, The Foodees. Or maybe it's a recipe from a cookbook I've won from the Washington Post food chats. Or maybe it's just an old recipe that we like, but don't want to have every four weeks. Having the same 22 dinners allows me to better stock the pantry and freezer as I know the basic supplies we need for these meals, but having alternates inspires me to try new things.
One little tweak to this are the alternating permanent nights. (Permanent alternates??? My head hurts.) If you look at the picture below (clicking on it will make it larger), the Wednesday at the bottom of the picture shows us having alfredo pasta or spaghetti with meatballs. These are dinners that we alternate. So these meals will be eaten once every two months. Confusing? Sorry.
Of course, we're still flexible. If I really really want cereal for dinner, well, we're having cereal...with Skinny Cows and Starburst jelly beans for dessert.
05 September 2008
Helpful Household Tip # 2
One fear I have is my house burning down/flooding/being destroyed by falling airplane parts...you get the picture. I know we're not supposed to be materialistic. But I'll admit it: I really like my stuff.
This is where the insurance companies say, "Well that's why you have us!" Thankfully, yes, we have homeowners' insurance, but that would do me no good after the trauma of one of the above events. There's no way that I would be able to accurately document my entire household contents during the upheaval that a disaster would cause. Nor do I have time to go around and create a list of everything in the house now. So what to do?
Take a picture! Take lots of pictures! Instead of listing on paper every DVD you own, just snap a picture of the DVD shelf and voila! You'll be able to tell the insurance company that they must replace that prized copy of "Cabin Boy." (Thanks, Angie, for that treasure.) In this age of digital cameras, cataloging your house is now totally possible and, even better, undaunting.
The final, but really really important part, is then to email these pictures to yourself. Or put them on a CD and mail them to family or friends. But do not just keep them on your computer in case of fires/floods/falling toilets. (Uhh..what?! I wrote this a couple of days ago and have no idea why I wrote "falling toilets." But thought I'd leave it in anyways.)
Given the forecast for the East Coast this weekend (Hurricane Hanna), I'll have plenty of inside time to do this. And good reason.
This is where the insurance companies say, "Well that's why you have us!" Thankfully, yes, we have homeowners' insurance, but that would do me no good after the trauma of one of the above events. There's no way that I would be able to accurately document my entire household contents during the upheaval that a disaster would cause. Nor do I have time to go around and create a list of everything in the house now. So what to do?
Take a picture! Take lots of pictures! Instead of listing on paper every DVD you own, just snap a picture of the DVD shelf and voila! You'll be able to tell the insurance company that they must replace that prized copy of "Cabin Boy." (Thanks, Angie, for that treasure.) In this age of digital cameras, cataloging your house is now totally possible and, even better, undaunting.
The final, but really really important part, is then to email these pictures to yourself. Or put them on a CD and mail them to family or friends. But do not just keep them on your computer in case of fires/floods/falling toilets. (Uhh..what?! I wrote this a couple of days ago and have no idea why I wrote "falling toilets." But thought I'd leave it in anyways.)
Given the forecast for the East Coast this weekend (Hurricane Hanna), I'll have plenty of inside time to do this. And good reason.
19 August 2008
Helpful Household Tip # 1
Apparently a birthday isn't all I have in common with Martha Stewart. According to a couple of my friends, I am one organized woman. And it's true. You know those "get to know you emails" that you see every so often? I received one the other day. One of the questions was, "What do you usually eat for breakfast?" My answer was, "Mondays: toast; Tuesdays: instant oatmeal; Wednesdays: english muffin; Thursday: yogurt; Friday: banana bread; Saturday and Sundays: sugary cereal!" You think I'm kidding. That's right; I even plan my breakfasts. Why? Because it's easier than having to think about at 5:45 in the morning.
While I don't advocate this level of organization for every person, I thought I'd share some of the things that I do to help keep my house organized.
Today's tip: The Chore Calendar.
I use a free one sent to us from a realtor, but any yearly calendar will work. I like using the yearly calendar rather than just a weekly calendar because I can use it for the everyday things as well as the not-everyday things. For example: the batteries in the smoke detectors. I know we changed them when we moved into the house in June, so I wrote on the calendar, at a date six months later, that they'll need to be changed again. Also, the air filters. They need to be changed every three months, so I mark down those dates as well. And what about turning those mattresses? If I only had a weekly calendar, special projects like these would never be accomplished simply because I'd forget them. The monthly calendar also lets me keep up with chores that are done monthly. These monthly jobs include: laundering the towels, vacuuming the couches and books on shelves (they get really dusty if I don't), cleaning the cars, and washing the inside of the washing machine (my machine has a cycle specifically for this).
The extra mile: I used to color code who did what by varying the color of the pen I used to write on the calendar. Chuck's jobs (trash, bathrooms, and some special tasks) were written in blue while mine were in pink. However, it only works if your husband actually looks at the chart, so I stopped doing this. Instead I just tell him that he has a chore to do and usually he'll do it.
Helpful or no?
While I don't advocate this level of organization for every person, I thought I'd share some of the things that I do to help keep my house organized.
Today's tip: The Chore Calendar.
I use a free one sent to us from a realtor, but any yearly calendar will work. I like using the yearly calendar rather than just a weekly calendar because I can use it for the everyday things as well as the not-everyday things. For example: the batteries in the smoke detectors. I know we changed them when we moved into the house in June, so I wrote on the calendar, at a date six months later, that they'll need to be changed again. Also, the air filters. They need to be changed every three months, so I mark down those dates as well. And what about turning those mattresses? If I only had a weekly calendar, special projects like these would never be accomplished simply because I'd forget them. The monthly calendar also lets me keep up with chores that are done monthly. These monthly jobs include: laundering the towels, vacuuming the couches and books on shelves (they get really dusty if I don't), cleaning the cars, and washing the inside of the washing machine (my machine has a cycle specifically for this).
The extra mile: I used to color code who did what by varying the color of the pen I used to write on the calendar. Chuck's jobs (trash, bathrooms, and some special tasks) were written in blue while mine were in pink. However, it only works if your husband actually looks at the chart, so I stopped doing this. Instead I just tell him that he has a chore to do and usually he'll do it.
Helpful or no?
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