I think my New Year's resolution this year will be to declutter and weed crap out of this house! The less things you have the less likely your house will look messy!
I feel as though I fight a losing battle around here with keeping things clean, organized and picked up. We opted for a smaller house with smaller utility bills so there is no room to have any extras of things that don't get used. It will be a lot of work for one person I will tell you that. Hubby works all day and if I get kids to help weed out toys then nothing will ever leave. So it's solely up to me.
To make things go faster and better for me I find that taking things to a drop box is a plus. Trying to sell things, waiting for Kidney Foundation to pick them up once a month or putting them on Freecycle just puts me behind when I could be going full speed. Plus by taking them to the drop box helps me to declutter knowing the good items won't get thrown away and will be put to good use by someone else.
You could take your unwanted items to Salvation Army or other thrift stores and get a receipt for them. Keep track of every donated item and the market value in a notebook possibly with pictures. You can use these items as a tax deduction.
Here is a guide to donating items and what you need to do...
http://taxes.about.com/od/deductionscredits/a/CharityDonation.htm
Salvation Army has a donation value guide to help you figure out what your items are worth.
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf/vw-dynamic-
index/D477340FFA28755C8525743D0049D1EF?Opendocument
Here is one for Goodwill in PDF format...
http://docs.goodwill.org/alfresco/d/d/workspace/SpacesStore/36cf5260-0bd6-4eea-acfb-8a80e3e014b0/Donation_Valuation_Guide.pdf
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It's 2:46pm and the living room/dining room is almost done other than vacuuming.
I can breath easier now, at least with this part of the house anyway.
Now sitting here deciding what to have for supper.
I have leftovers that need used up in the fridge:
ham
black olives
shredded cheese
mushrooms
spinach dip
cream cheese
peaches
eggs
tomatoes
sweet orange marmalade preserves
crushed pineapple
This is where you have to get creative, lol!
What would you make with all this.
(no peeking below before you answer)
Whip together omlettes with leftover spinach dip instead of milk.
Add in cheese, ham, olives, mushrooms, tomatoes and
maybe a little bit of my bell peppers and onions that I have in the freezer.
I have the milk, veggies and meat covered in this main dish.
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If you have a big family that wants different things in their omelettes
here is an easy way to make them.
Set all toppings out on the counter.
Give everyone a zip loc sandwich bag and crack open 2 eggs in each one.
Have them go around and pick and choose about a Tablespoon of each of their favorite toppings and insert them in the baggie.
Zip up baggies and then have them squish it altogether.
Bring a medium-sized pan of water to a heavy boil.
Drop Ziploc baggie into the boiling water. Boil for 5 minunte.
Carefully, remove baggie from the water. Open the bag and roll the omelette onto a plate.
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Back to my supper for tonight,
Now for the bread, fruit and more milk to get all the food groups in...
I found a banana quick bread made with bisquick BUT I will change it
to use what I have on hand. I could make this and serve on the side of
the omelette and wallah, leftovers used up! Oh yeah my big
box of Bisquick cost me .60 cents. So I needed to find something
to put that to use also instead of it sitting in the pantry.
So here is my version of a PINEAPPLE PEACHES AND CREAM QUICK BREAD.
See how easy it is to change recipes into something different!
Ingredients:
* 1 cup granulated sugar (I used 3/4 cup)
* 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
* 2 ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup mashed)
(I used 1 cup peaches and 1/2 cup pineapple. I beat the peaches up with the blender so it was half pureed and half chunky)
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups biscuit mix
(I also added 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg)
Preparation:
In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in mashed bananas, the eggs, and vanilla. Stir in biscuit mix just until ingredients are moistened. Pour into a greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. (I also floured my loaf pans on top of greasing them) Bake banana bread at 350° for 1 hour, or until wooden pick comes out clean when inserted in center. Cover with foil the last 15 minutes of baking if too brown. (didn't cover with foil) Cool banana bread before slicing.
MY ADDITION:
Make a streusel using
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup marmalade preserves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
crumble on top of bread mix before baking.
Don't know if this will work but will see :0)
It's in the oven now.
And if it's as good as licking the beaters, I can't wait. Yummy!
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I am also considering making some beef (sausage) jerky.
Found sausage on sale so opted to use that instead.
Might make and put in fridge overnight.
Still need to dig my dehydrator out of the basement and clean it up.
Got that free off freecycle years ago.
GROUND BEEF JERKY
1 1/2 to 2 lbs. extra lean ground beef
1/3 c. soy sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar
Mix all ingredients together in a good sized mixing bowl. Use your hands to make sure the seasonings are evenly distributed throughout the meat. Refrigerate the mixture for at least a couple of hours or up to 24 hours for a stronger flavor. Roll the meat out in strips or patties and dry in 150 degree oven with the door ajar for 4 to 8 hours.
Drying time will vary depending on humidity and the fat content of the meat. Once removed from the oven jerky is cooled and stored in an open container to allow drying to continue. Seal the container to prevent further drying. Store in refrigerator or freezer.
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Here are some good coupons to print out:
Special K Buy 1 Get 1 Free cereal
http://www.specialk.com/
Coupons.com
be sure to print these now as it's almost the beginning of
a new month so coupons will get rotated or have a different
expiration date.
I myself could use the cereal coupons, bisquick coupons
and cookie (mixes or premade) coupons.
