tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959918163454225829.post4024722503300746259..comments2024-03-29T00:10:51.155-04:00Comments on Blue House Journal: February Declutter Challengeterricheneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06865436021565986224noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959918163454225829.post-1925702210464986712017-02-04T02:30:49.822-05:002017-02-04T02:30:49.822-05:00Thanks for the hint to date the saved recipes Teri...Thanks for the hint to date the saved recipes Teri !! I tend to save specific food recipes. Like what to do with too many Pomegranates..since we get them and such. It helps but I find I still usually only use say 4 of the recipes no matter how many others I find. :) For a long time I had trouble finding recipes to use fresh plums other than for jelly or a cobbler type dish. Still don't find many. You can only eat so many fresh no matter how good they taste!! I was surprised with I started to look for recipes using them in all my cookbooks and found none! Although I want to keep all my cook books and other books I can't say I have ever regretted giving away any later. Now if I can just keep that in mind when I sort through them again!!! :-)))<br /><br />I have taken to drying more leftovers lately. Like I had too much fresh broccoli. Open a huge onion and knew I would not finish it all before it got soft. I put it and any other bits..like some fresh green beans....in the dehydrator and dried them. The onions took longer than the broccoli. I turned off the dehydrator and put the onions and the few beans that still needed to dry a bit into my oven that still has a pilot light. They dried in another day that way by themselves. What do you do with dried broccoli? Well to be truthful it tasted so sweet I ate some by itself! I dried it till crispy. The rest I will powder and add to anything I want to. Like any powdered vegetable. I can mix any vegetable powder to use in soups or anything. I know I could have frozen the broccoli but I was given way too much to keep frozen. So this time I dried it. When celery or mushrooms are marked down or goes on a wild sale I get some of it or anything else and dry it along with whatever leftovers or smidgins of stuff I have left. Those I use in soups or stews..anything water is added to. Just a thought. SarahAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959918163454225829.post-71135750513989125622017-02-03T17:19:12.327-05:002017-02-03T17:19:12.327-05:00Debby in KS (I think I've been misspelling Deb...Debby in KS (I think I've been misspelling Debby for a long time now. I apologize!) I have been dating recipes with the date one year out, then I file them in my notebook. I go through it monthly and toss every single one I haven't tried. I reprieve the occasional one and give it a date six months out and if I haven't given it a trial after a year and a half I acknowledge that I'm probably not going to try it at all.terricheneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06865436021565986224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959918163454225829.post-69522334554371001092017-02-03T16:06:18.686-05:002017-02-03T16:06:18.686-05:00I did a big declutter in Fall. Apparently not big...I did a big declutter in Fall. Apparently not big enough, because I'm finding more every day. I now keep a box in my guest room and anything I'm not wanting goes in there. When it's full, it goes to one of the charity shops. <br /><br />This month I'm concentrating on cleaning every corner of my desk. It's a big roll-top that holds a huge amount. I've done great so far, but I've yet to tackle the dreaded cut-out recipes files. I have so many and haven't tried most of them. It's crazy. I need to make a rule to try 2 per month or something. And if I don't, they hit the trash. I snooze, I lose!<br /><br />Decluttering is a challenge for me. My mom used to joke that I must've lived a previous life during the depression.Debby in KShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10678580135625880717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959918163454225829.post-19763093343901315902017-02-02T18:35:30.931-05:002017-02-02T18:35:30.931-05:00Looking forward to following your decluttering pro...Looking forward to following your decluttering process. I have finished my decluttering process except for the closet in the garage. I have decided to wait until warmer weather to do it. I know pretty much what is in it-- not a lot to get rid of-- other than a few things I hope I can get hubby to part with. It is the most wonderful, freeing feeling to not have a lot of stuff-- I wish I had known this when I was in my 20's-- I would have saved a lot of money and time cleaning and moving unnecessary junk around. I put the electric can opener on a top shelf in the kitchen-- the less clutter sitting around- the times that I need a can opener I use a manual one. I would donate the electric one but figure I may get really old and not be able to use a manual one. I have all my clothes in one small walk in closet now. I had a set of gorgeous china that we inherited when my mom in law passed away (used 1 time) that was taking space and I gave that to my step mom in law-- on the condition that she could "not" ever return it to me. So good luck on your decluttering process--don't think twice- if you haven't used it or worn it in the past year--- it is unnecessary. (Now if I could just get my hubby to clean out his workshop-- oh well it is his space and he has to clean it- not me. )Delorisenoreply@blogger.com