Clutter Buster: Donate, take photos, discard

It's the end of summer break again. Soon the kids are busy once more with school works. What that means for moms besides busy early mornings and home works is the need for more space to accommodate new books and school supplies. How to create that space depends on your budget and organizing abilities. My tip is to free the study room of old stuff so you can use the space for the new ones that are coming in. Here's how.

Take photos, then discard. 
I have reviewed the school stuffs that my kids have accumulated through the years and perhaps the bulk of them are books but a large portion is made up of those nice and sentimental preschool artworks. Surely, you want to keep them so your kids can someday go back and tearfully remember those early years. If you cannot find a space to properly store them, why not just take photos of them and store them in the cloud? Capture them before the colors fade, the pages torn. Create a collage out of them and print out, put in frames to hang on your wall. You may keep the best and most precious if you want but the idea is to discard majority of them once they have been photographed.

Homemade Vanilla Syrup

A good thing about living in the suburb is that it forces you to be more resourceful and creative with what you have. Unlike in the city where the supermarket is just a stone throw away, we do not have the convenience of getting what we need in an instant. We either wait for the grocery day or improvise. One afternoon, I was craving for pancakes but we ran out of syrup so I improvised. I found this easy recipe of vanilla syrup from the Internet and found it very easy to replicate.

The Pinoy Pancit (Noodles)

It's been a while since that last post. A lot of things had happened already, a lot of stories awaits to be told. But we'll get to that as time goes on as I intend to be back for good. I'd like to start my coming back with my recipe of the Pinoy traditional snack "pancit" or noodles, a personal favorite. I'd like to share to you this Filipino tradition of cooking pancit.

Mussel soup from my kitchen

I told you I'd make my own mussel soup - like the unforgettable one I had in my trip in Lake Como, Italy. It's a local version with chili leaves and done the usual "Pinoy ginisa" way. So it's very easy. I had local mussels, tomatoes, chili leaves, garlic, oyster sauce, red sugar, some basil dried leaves, olive oil, onions, and I did put some balsamic vinegar coz I like it to be a bit sour. Add some salt or soy sauce to taste.

I merely sauteed the garlic, onions, and tomatoes in olive oil, put some oyster sauce to create a nice golden brown sauce. It should be just quick. Then I put the mussels and some soy sauce until the juice comes out and the shells opened up.

My unforgettable Italian meal

There was this unforgettable mussel recipe that I have tasted and which I am really dying to replicate. I don't even remember the name, I know I listed somewhere but the ageing me could no longer locate where it is now. Anyway, if you happen to go and visit Lake Como in Italy, the restaurant where I found this is called il Vecchio Borgo, I hope that's the name. It is located just to the right of the Como Lago train Station.

Anyway, it was portrayed in the menu as soup so I ordered it because I'd like to have soup and salad. We were famished after going around Lake Como station, the funicular ride, etc. But I became so excited to see a large plate of mussels in a reddish sauce. I loved it too much I went over the Net to see what I can do to put it back to life. So I found one, hopefully, it will be as exciting as the il Vecchio Borgo mussel soup.

Quick Pasta Tuna

Working moms have very limited time to cook. So quick and easy recipes are such life-savers for us. Here,
I'm sharing my 15-minute pasta tuna. I did it to liven up that rainy weekend afternoon when my sons are bored staying just inside the house.

Living in the suburbs, we don't get as much chance to eat out or buy those delectable eats available in malls and restaurants so I always make sure I can create something out of what we have at home. Here is one of our favorite snacks - the tuna spaghetti.

Ingredients:
   Spaghetti pasta, cooked aldente
   Tomato sauce or any spaghetti sauce (Tomato and cheese is recommended)
   Tomatoes, sliced
   Garlic, sliced
   Century Tuna light
   Basil
   Cheese (I used quick melt, any will do, should be same amount as that of the tuna)
   Butter
   Salt

A day's fix

I had the luxury of time to give our kids' study room a fix last Sunday. I badly wanted to because of the mess that is almost incomprehensible. The kids, and adults, just shoved things here and there allowing this unsightly thing to transpire. Tapes are everywhere, I do not know where to find this and that, my kids keep asking about their stuff. It's becoming time consuming and stressful to just locate a sharpener or paint brush.
So how did we do it? First, we took out everything, throw a lot of papers away, sort and sort, took some containers, and done quite a lot of labeling.

Throw away. I asked the kids to check which toys can be discarded. We can donate those that are still okay and throw the rest away. I also went into the piles of school works, old quizzes, and projects. I did threw most of them after consulting my kids. It's so nice that they cooperated and participated in the sorting. They actually did not realize how many small things they got.

Smart saving starts at home

In these times of uncertainty and economic difficulties, the need to save is most essential.  There are actually many ways to save here and there, but the home is the best starting point to learn the discipline. Here are smart tips that can be easily done at home to help you ease the effects of economic insecurities.  

Avoid unnecessary expenditure. 

Do not buy things you do not need.  Whenever you are confronted with the shopping question “Do I need it?” think 5 to 10 times before making a decision.  Also, buy only the amount of food you can consume. Did you know that in the US, 33 million tons of food waste was thrown away in landfills and incinerators in 2010? According to the Environmental Protection Agency website, food waste forms the single largest component, 34%, of municipal solid waste discarded. In Canada, the residents of Toronto throw away 17.5 million kilograms of food every month, according to the World Vision Canada.