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6 Kitchen Must-Haves

6 Kitchen Must-Haves

Today I’m sharing some of my favorite kitchen gadgets. With an endless number of gadgets and appliances to choose from, these are the ones I turn to regularly and could not live without.  Here are my top 6 kitchen must-haves.

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1. Suction Knife Sharpener

This little gadget is so handy. A knife sharpener that has a suction bottom so it sticks to the countertop while you sharpen. It is small and stows away easily in a drawer.

2. Lazy Susan

how to organize your fridge

These turntable organizers are so convenient in the kitchen. I keep one in my fridge to organize bottled condiments and I have another one under the sink to organize cleaning supplies. It would also work in the pantry or bathroom.

3. Food Saver Vacuum Sealer

A vacuum sealer extends food storage life and helps reduce waste. We use it to seal meats and seafood we purchase in bulk. It’s also great for freezing prepared food.… Read more

6 House Hacks to Make Life Easier (and Prettier)

6 House Hacks to Make Life Easier (and Prettier)

I love a good hack. Anything to make life a little easier and streamline a process can save valuable time. Of course, it helps if the hack makes things look better too. 😉 There are a few things in our home that meet these criteria so today I’m breaking down 6 house hacks to make life easier.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my link, I may receive a small commission for the referral at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support! 

6 House Hacks to Make Life Easier

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1. A Pull-Out Trash Cabinet in the Kitchen

A pull-out trash in the kitchen is a must. It hides unsightly trash cans and frees up floor space. We have the 24″ IKEA SEKTION cabinet for trash and recycling and it houses two large bins. There is also a hidden drawer where we store things like aluminum foil and thrasher bags. If you don’t have a designated trash cabinet, it’s time to add one. You can purchase pull-out trash kits that include all the hardware to convert an existing cabinet into a trash can cabinet.… Read more

How to Organize Your Fridge

How to Organize Your Fridge

Our fridge stopped working and the appliance repair guy said it was $1200 to replace the compressor. Instead, we took advantage of the 4th of July sales and got ourselves a new one. We went with a Samsung counter-depth fridge with a 4th “flex zone” drawer.  As I was emptying the old fridge and living out of our mini-fridge while we waited on the new one to arrive, I took the opportunity to purge and integrate some fridge organization habits. It’s been a week or so since I’ve had the new fridge so I’m going to help you organize your fridge!

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using a link I provide, I may receive a small commission for the referral. Thank you for your support!

How to Organize Your Fridge

how to organize your fridge

Investing in some bins and containers is the best thing you can do to organize your fridge! Using bins in the fridge to group together like things is life-changing! It keeps the fridge tidy and makes cleanup easy too in the event of a spill. One of my favorite organizing tools I purchased is a lazy Susan.… Read more

Make the Most Out of Used Citrus with Candied Orange Peels

Make the Most Out of Used Citrus with Candied Orange Peels

One of my goals for the year was to make an effort to reduce household waste and get the most out of what we buy and eat. Like making homemade broth from the carcass of roasted chicken, for example. I make fresh squeezed orange juice just about every day (with the help of my cute juicer) so I often have an excess of orange peels. Orange peels are not great for compost so I use them to make homemade cleaning solution or feed them to the neighbor’s horse (she loves them!) but we go through a lot of oranges and I feel guilty throwing them in the trash. My friend gave me the idea to use the peels to make candied orange peels and I had to try it!

Candied Orange Peels

Because I use my oranges for juicing, I started with juiced halves of oranges. I saved up a batch of orange peels (and grapefruit) in the freezer until I had about a dozen. The first thing you want to do is remove any remnants of the fruit so that you’re left with the peel and pith.… Read more

Beginner Tips to Reduce Household Waste

Beginner Tips to Reduce Household Waste

We’ve been composting as part of our efforts to get our garden up and running and it has got me thinking about other ways to reduce waste. While I feel like a zero-waste lifestyle is quite a commitment, today I’m sharing a few beginner tips to reduce household waste. I’ve always been an avid recycler, so I’m excited to see if I can implement some of these habits in our household to do my small part to make an impact on waste.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of my links, I may receive a small commission for the referral. Thank you for your support! 

Beginner Tips to Reduce Household Waste

Recycle – Seems like an easy one but it’s important to make sure you’re recycling properly. In my area, recycling has to be clean and loose in the bin (not bagged) with boxes flattened. Plastic grocery store bags and wet paper are not allowed. Plastic bags, cords and other tanglers shut down our recycling equipment every day, reducing the amount of recycling that can be processed.… Read more

How to Use a Butter Bell and a Roundup of My Faves

How to Use a Butter Bell and a Roundup of My Faves

My butter bell Instagram post last week generated a lot of interest! Many of you had never heard of it or were using it incorrectly so I thought I’d share a little about how to use a butter bell and a roundup of my faves.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my link, I may receive a small commission for the referral. Thank you for your support! 

A butter bell, also known as a butter crock, butter server or butter keeper, is a French butter dish used to maintain the freshness and spreadable consistency of butter without refrigeration. This late 19th-century French-designed pottery crock has two parts: a base that holds water, and a cup to hold the packed butter which also serves as a lid. The cup containing butter is placed into the base, where water creates an airtight seal that keeps the air (and thus oxygen) away from the butter so that refrigeration is not needed, and the butter can be used in its soft form. This method will keep butter for around a month provided it is kept at temperatures below 80 °F (27 °C) and the water is changed regularly.… Read more

Stylish Cleaning Tools for Spring Cleaning

Stylish Cleaning Tools for Spring Cleaning

Spring is in the air and with Spring comes Spring cleaning. If we’re going to have to clean, we may as well use cute stuff to do it! Today I’m rounding up some of my favorite stylish cleaning tools for your Spring cleaning. I personally have many items on the list and want the rest of them!

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my link, I may receive a small commission for the referral. 

Stylish Cleaning Tools for Spring Cleaning

 

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Homemade Aloe Vera Gel

Homemade Aloe Vera Gel

Last weekend hubby and I worked outside and we got so sunburnt! This prompted me to make my own homemade aloe vera gel using the flesh from the aloe plants we have growing in the landscaping. If you don’t have your own aloe plant you can sometimes find aloe leaves in the grocery store. Making homemade aloe vera gel is a pretty easy process.

How to Make Homemade Aloe Vera Gel

Cut leaves from the outer bottom of the plant. These are the most mature leaves and will yield the most flesh. I cut 3 leaves and it yielded about a cup of gel. Let the leaves sit in water for 5-10 minutes to allow the resin to drain out.

Begin peeling the skin off the aloe leaves. Find a technique that works best for you but I like to use a paring knife to cut the aloe into manageable sizes, cut the pointy sides off first then cut the skin off one side revealing the flesh. 

Then use a spoon to scrape the flesh off of the other side of the skin and put flesh into a clean bowl. … Read more