One of the key ways to reduce food waste (see HERE) is to eat leftovers, and part of making those leftovers desirable to eat is storing them in a way that keeps them fresh. In many houses, storing leftovers is synonymous with plastic containers or large amounts of trash (for example, disposable plastic wrap or aluminum foil). This isn’t good for your health (see HERE) or for the environment.… Continue reading
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Simplify Saturday: Organize your Pantry
My toddler has recently decided that pulling everything out of our pantry is really fun. While he typically puts everything back on the shelves, he puts arranges them in his own fashion. This means that over time, our lower shelves are in greater and greater disarray. This disorder is starting to really bother me, as I can no longer be sure of exactly what is on those lower shelves; and every time I open the pantry it reminds me that I need to do something about it.… Continue reading
34 Ways to Reduce Food Waste
The other week, I posted about the huge amount of food that is wasted on a daily basis in the United States (see HERE): almost 40% of our food supply is wasted. While you may not have direct control over what happens on a large farm or within food processing facilities, you can control what happens in your kitchen. Since US consumers throw away roughly 25% of the food they buy, that can add up to huge savings.… Continue reading
Simplify Saturday: Decluttering Kids Clothes
This week I sorted through a ton of kids’ clothes. I sorted through closets. I sorted through drawers. I sorted through boxes and bags of clothes that we have stored. I sorted through a lot of stuff. And, I am now ready to give away a lot of stuff.
What did I pull out to give away? I pulled out all clothes with big holes in them.… Continue reading
Simplify Saturday: Do it Now
Is there a particular task that you’ve been putting off over and over? I have a task like that. We went out to brunch with friends about a month ago. While we were out, my toddler covered my wool coat in sticky, greasy handprints. My coat was basically un-wearable as it was. Because my coat is made of wool, I couldn’t just toss it in the washing machine.… Continue reading
Simplify Saturday: Coat Closet
Springtime in the mountains of Colorado means that we’re as likely to encounter snow as we are to experience shorts-wearing weather. This means that our coat closet is currently stuffed to the gills with all sorts of light and heavy jackets. However, there are also items in our closet that shouldn’t really be there, such as some costumes and outgrown items.… Continue reading
The Problem of Food Waste
Food waste is a problem. A huge problem. It may not seem like much when we toss out some leftovers, whether at home or from a restaurant, or when we throw out produce that we didn’t eat before it started to go bad, but it all adds up. Researchers have calculated that the average person produces nearly 475 pounds of food waste each year (GRACE, 2015).… Continue reading
Simplify Saturday: Collections
Yesterday I was talking with a friend who felt frustrated about her partner’s vintage toy collection that is growing too large for their space. He has so many items in his collection that they are present in every part of their home. One of the issues with this is that they have a small space, and this space is filling up with things that are meant only for looking and not for using.… Continue reading
Skin Deep: Toxins in Everyday Products
The other day I mentioned reading about the toxic chemicals contained in many “green” cleaners, and how it led me to decide to make my own (see my recipes HERE and HERE). I realized that in evaluating many products that we use around the house, I utilize a resource that you may not know about. This resource is called Skin Deep.… Continue reading
Simplify Saturday: Kid’s Art Decluttering
Whether you’re an adult or a kid, paper seems to accumulate. This week I’ve been going through [mostly paper] items in my 6-year-olds room. He makes prolific amounts of art (I wrote about it HERE), and it tends to accumulate on every available surface: the floor, the table, the dresser, on his shelves, and in his closet. So we’ve been sorting through big piles of art, deciding what he wants to keep, what he wants to gift to other people, and what he’s ready to recycle.… Continue reading