Archives for October 2010

A year ago on Unclutterer

2009

  • Making exceptions to your uncluttered standards
    Making exceptions to uncluttered standards can become a slippery slope. If we don’t keep a watchful eye on our stuff, eventually our entire homes and offices are filled with clutter again. This is especially true in places where clutter can easily hide — closets, cupboards, and toy bins.
    As a result, I have created a new uncluttered standard for my exceptions. It states: “If getting rid of the object causes more distraction than having the object, I keep it.”
  • Unitasker Wednesday: The Egg Cuber
    I think that this week’s unitasker may actually be a non-tasker. Ever since reader Penni sent this Egg Cuber to me, I have tried to imagine why someone would want square eggs — and I have yet to come up with a reason.
  • Excerpt: Being a social butterfly
    Below is another excerpt from my book Unclutter Your Life in One Week — this time on how to have and manage a social life in this busy world.
  • Excerpt: How many bath linens do you need?
    Below is the final excerpt from my book Unclutter Your Life in One Week we plan to run on the site — this time on how to determine how many towels and washcloths you need in your linen closet.
  • Workspace of the Week: Organized and adjustable

    • Posted by PJ on Oct 31, 2010 | 1 Comment | Tweet This

    Assorted Links for October 30, 2010

    It’s been a fun Halloween week here at Unclutterer, and we hope you have a terrific time celebrating the holiday officially tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy these links related to uncluttering, simple living, and some randomly cool things:

    • Recent bride Naomi Selden wrote about how to create a clutter-free wedding registry on D. Allison Lee’s Organize to Revitalize blog. If you’re getting hitched, this is a wonderful resource.
    • E-book owners might be interested in Leatherbound — a website that compares prices for e-books from around the web to find you the best deal.
    • If you live in a small space, Matroshka may have some space-saving furniture options for you. Production appears to be limited at this time, but the company is growing.
    • I’m drooling over this Stackable Oven-To-Table Cookware that was featured on Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn. I don’t typically make eight casseroles at a time, so I have no need for it. But, I’m happy to know it exists.
    • The website She’s Next, a site “featuring 60-second inspirational videos for 21st century women,” launched this past Thursday. Erin is one of the presentations, talking about where to get started in your uncluttering efforts.
    • Website ZenHabits has a quick resource for unclutterers from Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project: “Nine Quick Tips To Identify Clutter. I especially like the question “Was I ‘saving’ it?”

    Posted by Erin on Oct 30, 2010 | 2 Comments | Tweet This

    Ask Unclutterer: In-home safe or safety deposit box?

    Reader Dawn submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

    Do you have any thoughts on whether it’s best to have a safety deposit box vs. an at-home fire/water-proof safe?

    We have a fire/water-proof safe mounted to the floor in our master bedroom closet that stores all of our super important documents, as well as some valuables. Maybe that’s not the best idea? Do you have any thoughts about which would be best for safety purposes? It is so convenient (and obviously cheaper) long-term to have these items stored at home, but maybe a financial institution safety deposit box is smarter storage.

    There are positive and negative aspects of both options. Ultimately, it comes down to what works best for your family.

    A safety deposit box at a bank is nice because it’s 1. fireproof, 2. waterproof, 3. not in your home (in case someone breaks in or a disaster destroys your home), 4. under tight security, and 5. its contents are legally protected in the case of death.

    On the other hand, a safety deposit box isn’t all that great because 1. the bank isn’t open 24 hrs a day or on Sundays, 2. it’s easy to lose the key to it, 3. your bank is probably in the same part of the country you are (a natural disaster that wipes out your home likely would destroy the bank, too), 4. there is an annual fee, and 5. since the contents are legally protected, in case of death, typically your estate has to close before the executor of your estate can access the box.

    An in-home safe is nice because it’s 1. locked, 2. easily accessible, 24 hours a day seven days a week, 3. when mounted to the floor a burglar can’t easily run off with it, and 4. it’s a one-time expense.

    An in-home safe isn’t all that great because 1. based on its fire rating, what is stored inside of it isn’t protected from heat damage for very long, especially digital items, 2. almost all at-home safes are only water resistant, not waterproof, so a fire hose putting out a house fire can still damage the contents, 3. it’s contents are not protected in case of death (which could be either a pro or con), 4. if a natural disaster destroys your home your stuff is gone.

    For more information on in-home safes, check out our article “Fireproof storage, part two” from 2007.

    We use both an in-home safe and a safety deposit box. Our home safe stores things we might need access to in an emergency (mostly documents, like our Wills), and our safety deposit box stores hard drives and a few small items we would never need on a moment’s notice (like negatives of our wedding photographs, since we were married in ye olden days). Our home safe is only water resistant and not certified to protect digital data, which is why the safety deposit box is something we need.

    I also recommend scanning all documents and photographing the valuable items you keep in either location, encrypting these files, and placing a copy securely online. Services like Carbonite and Backblaze are fine for this. Having a copy online is nice if your home or bank are ever destroyed in a disaster (assuming the online data storage facility is in a different part of the country), so you can at least report to an insurance company what was lost and be able to see what items you’ll need to replace.

    Thank you, Dawn, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope my response was able to help you. Check the comments for more suggestions.

    Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

    Posted by Erin on Oct 29, 2010 | 29 Comments | Tweet This

    Workspace of the Week: Color coordinated

    This week’s Workspace of the Week is Kimba714′s happy office:

    Kimba714 used a little spray paint on the shelf brackets, colorful organizing supplies, pastel wall paint, and a handful of decorative items to create a bright and cheerful small home office. In this photograph, there doesn’t appear to be a computer (unless what I think is a desk blotter is actually a closed, thin laptop), however one could easily be set up between the two candlesticks. Switching out the knobs on the desk drawers was also a nice design touch. With an office this inviting, it would be easy to be productive when taking care of the business of the home. Thank you, Kimba714, for submitting your joyful workspace to our Flickr pool.

    Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.

    Posted by Erin on Oct 29, 2010 | 10 Comments | Tweet This

    And the final winner in our Kindle Wireless Reading Device giveaway is…

    Thank you to EVERYONE (all 11,095 of you!) who are now following @Unclutterer on Twitter and who participated in our Kindle giveaway. Now, let’s get on to the good stuff …

    At 10:00 a.m. EDT, the random number generator picked the following number:

    3758

    Which means, the winner of today’s Kindle Wireless Reading Device is:

    @wickedphysics

    I have direct messaged the winner of the Kindle and she has 24 hours to respond.

    Again, thanks to everyone for participating in our giveaways and congratulations to @wickedphysics on winning the second Kindle. I hope the device helps to alleviate bookshelf clutter in your home.

    Posted by Erin on Oct 28, 2010 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

    Specialized saving accounts

    Last winter, when one of our cats was diagnosed with a rare cancer, my husband and I took the cat to a renowned pet oncologist. Some of our friends, the pet lovers in our group, said they would have done the same thing to help a member of their family. Other friends, mostly people who don’t have pets, called us fools for considering the thousands of dollars in cancer treatments the oncologist might have recommended.

    We ended up not having to make a treatment decision because the cancer was untreatable, and Basie cat passed away a few days later.

    A couple weeks after that, my husband and I sat down and talked about setting up a medical saving account for our cat Charlie and any future pets we might adopt. We put $500 into savings and have been depositing $20 per month ($10 each) into the account since that time. Commercial pet insurance can be more expensive than what we’re doing, and, like traditional health insurance for people, it doesn’t cover all medical procedures and treatments. And, if we never need the insurance, we wouldn’t get the money we paid the pet insurance company back or with interest or be able to apply the premiums to another pet.

    Simply, we created the specialized saving account for our pet because we never want to be in a position again where money has to be strongly considered along with treatment options.

    After making this decision to create a medical saving account for our pet, we started to realize how this way of budgeting could help alleviate stress associated with other areas of our finances. We immediately created a specialized saving account for our automobile — $20 a month now goes into an account to cover service needs for our aging car. We also made a window replacement fund since we have a house mostly made of glass and a toddler with an amazingly strong throwing arm.

    How to create a specialized saving account: When you acquire a new responsibility, you deposit an eighth or a quarter of your saving goal into a dedicated saving account as the account’s start-up fund (or a multi-use account that you keep records for what money in the account is for what purpose). Once the saving account is open and initially funded, you set up an automatic transfer through your bank to put $10 or $20 (or whatever amount you choose) into the new saving account from your checking account every month. This automatic deposit removes the temptation to spend the money on something else.

    These specialized saving accounts reduce your stress, allow you to cover large expenses when they arise, and help you to live with an uncluttered budget (a budget where you spend less than you earn). Do you have specialized saving accounts? Would setting one up help you to prepare for an emergency expense? What reasons do you have to create a specialized saving account?

    Posted by Erin on Oct 28, 2010 | 48 Comments | Tweet This

    Unitasker Wednesday: Boil Buoy

    All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!

    Quirky is a website that features products when they’re barely more than an idea in an inventor’s mind, puts the products up for pre-sale, and then only manufactures the products that more than a set number of people commit to purchasing. In my opinion, it’s a great way to weed out unitaskers, because if the masses don’t believe the idea is helpful, the product is never manufactured.

    Take for instance the Boil Buoy:

    This idea is not doing very well on Quirky right now. Only 464 of a needed 2,000 people have committed to buying a plastic device that notifies them when their water is boiling. My friend who is blind said that water makes distinct sounds when it boils, so even she doesn’t have a deep need for this doodad. Apparently, the masses know it’s cheaper to look into a pot of boiling water to tell if it is boiling than buy a Boil Buoy to do the same thing.

    If you’re looking for a fun diversion, check out more unitaskers, and some useful items, too, on Quirky.

    Posted by Erin on Oct 27, 2010 | 10 Comments | Tweet This

    A year ago on Unclutterer

    2009

    • Cooking and freezing: Ideas for getting past mealtime stress
      Since our son surprisingly joined our family two months ago, my husband and I have had weird eating routines. Gone were the days of sitting down and eating a well-balanced meal at the table, and in were sandwiches gobbled over the sink in a groggy, sleep-deprived daze. I don’t like hastily prepared meals that lack major nutritional food groups, so I called my mom and asked her to help me get things back on track.
    • Excerpt: Participating in Meetings
      You might not realize it, but meeting attendees have some control over how quickly a meeting runs and they certainly impact the quality of the discussion.

    2008

    2007

    Posted by PJ on Oct 27, 2010 | Comments Off | Tweet This

    BADA table is more than meets the eye

    We’ve always been a fan of coffee tables that convert into full-sized dining tables. They’re a good solution for people who live in small apartments, but still want to be able to have friends over for dinner parties. The BADA table from EcoSystems takes the idea of the transforming dining table even further. It works as a desk, dining table, and loveseat.

    If you’ve seen any great furniture that multitasks, please share it in the comments.

    Posted by PJ on Oct 27, 2010 | 10 Comments | Tweet This

    And the first winner in our Kindle Wireless Reading Device giveaway is…

    Thank you to EVERYONE (all 10,738 of you!) who are now following @Unclutterer on Twitter and who are participating in our Kindle giveaway. Now, let’s get on to the good stuff …

    At 10:00 a.m. EDT, the random number generator picked the following number:

    5320

    Which means, the winner of today’s Kindle Wireless Reading Device is:

    @austinmomof7

    I have direct messaged the winner of the Kindle and she has 24 hours to respond.

    Remember, there is one more giveaway this Thursday, October 28, so you can still sign up to follow @Unclutterer on Twitter. Congratulations, again, to @austinmomof7.

    Is this the first you’ve heard of the giveaway? Learn more.

    Posted by Erin on Oct 26, 2010 | 9 Comments | Tweet This

    A place for everything, and everything in its place

    Without getting up from your chair, do you know exactly where:

    • your keys are?
    • your 2009 tax documents are?
    • your car’s registration is? (If you own a car.)
    • your winter gloves are?
    • your social security card is?
    • your flashlight is?
    • your phone charger is?

    How did you do? Were you able to answer at least five of the questions exactly? All seven? One?

    Except for your keys and maybe your phone charger, you’re probably okay with not knowing exactly where the other items on this list are currently located. However, wouldn’t it be nice to not have to waste time hunting for these items the next time you need them?

    What do you need to do to find a place for all your possessions and have everything in its place? Do you need to file your important papers? Switch out your winter and summer clothes? Set up a reception station in your home with a place to store your keys each evening and charge your phone? Clean out your bedside table and make a storage place for a flashlight?

    If you know where all seven items on the list are located, is there anything in your home that doesn’t have a permanent home that should? What items are constantly out of place in your home and might need a new permanent place to live?

    Posted by Erin on Oct 26, 2010 | 42 Comments | Tweet This

    On the Forums: How much clothing, minimal kitchens, and Hoarders

    Some great discussions are currently underway on the Unclutterer Forums:

    Be sure to check it out and add your thoughts to the mix. Remember, you can start your own thread (which our system calls a “topic”) by clicking the “Add New” link under Latest Discussions on the Forum homepage.

    If you use an RSS reader to follow your favorite blogs, you can easily keep track of what’s going on in our new forums. Add the feed for latest topics or all the latest posts. You can even follow specific topics using the RSS link just below each topic’s title, or create an RSS feed of your own by adding topics as favorites.

    Posted by PJ on Oct 25, 2010 | 1 Comment | Tweet This

    Encouraging young children to clean up their toys

    A common topic of discussion among the parents in my son’s playgroup is:

    How do we teach our children to put away their toys?

    Our children are only one year old, which means we don’t yet have much of a problem, but we’re eager to ensure we don’t have problems later. We want our children to develop life-long skills that help them to be organized and respectful of their things in the future. We might fail miserably — kids have amazing will-power — but here is what we’re trying:

    • Model the behavior. It’s tempting, especially with small children around, to wait until after the kids go to bed to pick up the house. However, children should watch and “help” you clean up so they can start to mimic your actions. Otherwise, they’re under the impression that a magical fairy appears and cleans up the toys, coloring books, and wooden spoons.
    • Explain the process. As you put away toys and project materials, talk through what you’re doing. “I’m putting the lids on these markers so they won’t dry out and you can use them next time you want to color.” “I’m putting these books on the bookshelf because it’s where they belong when you’re not reading them. The bookshelf protects the books from being damaged so you’ll have them the next time you want to read them.” I should admit that this narration is extremely tedious, but I’ve noticed my son incorporating words into his vocabulary like shelf and cap, so I at least know he’s listening.
    • Be positive. Look for ways to make the clean up process as interesting as the play. Put on fun, fast-paced music your child enjoys every time you pick up toys and dance while you work. Make up a cleaning song to sing or play a counting game. Voices shouldn’t be raised and threats shouldn’t be wagered.
    • Give your child time. Clean up for young children shouldn’t be rushed. If the child has an hour to play, budget the last 10 minutes of that playtime to picking up the toys. Let your child know that playing with toys involves taking the time to put them away. This is similar to dinner not being finished until the dishes are cleaned, the table is wiped off, and all of the ingredients returned to the pantry or refrigerator. Playtime includes putting away the toys.
    • Be consistent. This is the hardest part of the teaching process for me — making sure I always leave time for picking up toys. If we’re in a rush to get out the door to run an errand, it’s difficult to pause and make sure the toy is returned to it’s storage place before we leave the house. The consistency and repetitive action, however, are what instill the positive behavior. If a child doesn’t know there is the option to leave his toys strewn about the room, he won’t make that decision. (Well, at least in theory.)

    Versions of this can be used with older children. When I was teaching high school, I’d let the students know when they had three minutes left in the period so they could gather up their materials and be ready to leave when the bell sounded. When the students were working in groups, I’d have them race to see which group could clean up their workstation the quickest. I’d award imaginary points to students when they found something of mine left in the classroom: “5,000 points to Gryffindor!” But, I never gave real rewards (no points, no gold stars, no treats), since I believe that cleaning up is a sign of respecting materials the school provided and an expected behavior of all the students.

    What techniques have you used with your children or students to encourage them to pick up their toys? Share your tips in the comments.

    Posted by Erin on Oct 25, 2010 | 26 Comments | Tweet This

    A year ago on Unclutterer

    2009

    • Unitasker Wednesday: Chef’n Garlic Zoom
      Most multi-tasking or high-utility kitchen products have simple names that begin with lowercase letters: skillet, oven, knife, plate. A good sign that something might be a unitasker is when its name is cutesy and trademarked: JerkyXpress, Plater Grater, Nostalgia Cotton Candy Maker. By all accounts, the Chef’n Garlic Zoom is destined for unitasker greatness based on the fact that it includes a random apostrophe and the word zoom.
    • What is your motivation to be organized?
      He who does not get fun and enjoyment out of every day … needs to reorganize his life. — George Matthew Adams
    • Space-saving cheese grater
      The Joseph Joseph brand cheese grater folds flat for storage and up for use. It’s sturdy and comes in a handful of colors. It’s great for small-space living.
    • Workspace of the Week: A shared space
      I chose this space because I believe it serves two functions very well. Not only is it an inviting place for TamaraNicole to work and be crafty, but it’s also a comfortable place for overnight guests.
    • Ask Unclutterer: Overflowing child’s closet
      How do I get a handle on children’s clothing (shorts, school clothes, skirts, pants, capris, short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, sweaters…etc. etc)? I am awash in laundry with little closet space!

    2008

    Posted by PJ on Oct 24, 2010 | Comments Off | Tweet This

    Storage masquerading as clutter

    Yi-Ting Cheng, a Taiwanese design student living in London, has created a line of products that secretly store your valuables in plain sight. As far as I can tell, the Secret Stash products are not currently available for purchase. However, as ingenious as they are, I doubt it will be long before they start appearing on the market.

    My favorite item from the video is the stack of papers — assuming, of course, you can find it on your desk. The map is amazing, too.

    Thanks to our Twitter follower who shared this video with us.

    Posted by Erin on Oct 23, 2010 | 25 Comments | Tweet This

    Ask Unclutterer: Organizing an office supply closet

    Reader Debbie submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

    We have a large storage cabinet and some shelves at my work office that have now become mine to organize. The cabinet is full of small cardboard boxes full of all types of supplies – tape, staples, computer pieces, pens, markers, hanging folders, envelopes, you name it. Lots of small items. I’m looking for some type of storage dividers/ container that will make this stuff more visible and reachable.

    Is it weird that I am incredibly excited for you? I’m even a little envious. I love organizing supply closets. You’ve been given a really great project, in my opinion.

    Are you familiar with the company ShelvingDirect.com? (Beware: There is a talking guy who appears when you follow that link. He only talks for 30 seconds, though, and you can easily pause him.) Despite the talking ad, this company has a lot of reasonably priced office storage products you might want to consider. There are numerous office supply companies out there that carry similar items, so you can check with your purchasing agent at work to see if the company you use most often has the same items.

    Since you already have a cabinet and shelving, I recommend checking out the bin kits or their individual bins if none of the kits exactly meet your needs. The bins come in all different sizes and are formed in a way so you can easily see and access the product stored inside:

    The plastic bins are nice because you can insert dividers and bin cups into them (neither the dividers or cups appear on their website, but they’re available through their catalog). The bins are also stackable, so you don’t waste any vertical space. You can easily label them, too.

    Stores like The Container Store are really terrific, and carry similar bins, but they price even their smallest ones at a few dollars a piece. Ordering multiple bins from an office supplier is the less expensive way to go, where the smallest ones come out to being less than a dollar a piece. Which, at least in my opinion, makes the office supply companies the better option in this situation.

    As you’re organizing the items in the closet, try to put the supplies accessed most often on the shelves that fall between you knees and your chin. Otherwise, you’ll constantly be bending over or reaching above your head to straighten and replenish these materials.

    Thank you, Debbie, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope these bins and tips can work for you.

    Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

    Posted by Erin on Oct 22, 2010 | 16 Comments | Tweet This

    Workspace of the Week: Ikea hacked

    This week’s Workspace of the Week is Thomas’ office in Germany Austria:

    After learning in the comments to our Unitasker Wednesday post that Germans grow asparagus with skins so hearty they need to be peeled (who knew?!!), I thought it only appropriate that today’s Workspace of the Week continue on this theme.

    Thomas’ desk is a simple Ikea product with Ikea attachments (he repurposed two large Blecka hooks to make an amazing laptop stand and a set of Ekby Bjarnum shelf brackets to support the hanging folders). Instead of giving up valuable desktop space for his monitor, he mounted it straight to the wall behind the desk. In the full photo set you can see that he has hidden his printer and office supplies in a hacked cupboard made out of Ikea supplies for less than $35. Thank you, Thomas, for submitting your ingenious, inexpensive, uncluttered office to our Flickr pool.

    Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.

    Posted by Erin on Oct 22, 2010 | 12 Comments | Tweet This

    Unclutterer giving away two Wi-Fi Amazon Kindles

    Unclutterer readers are the most amazing readers on the internet — at least in our (unabashedly biased) opinions. As a result, those of us on the Unclutterer staff will be purchasing two of the latest generation Wi-Fi Amazon Kindles to give away to two of our lucky readers.

    Books can take up a lot of storage space in our homes and offices, and having a digital e-book reader certainly helps keep bookshelves from lining every inch of our spaces. The two units we’re giving away are the latest generation Kindle Wireless Reading Device, which are Wi-Fi only, with a 6″ display, in Graphite. It’s the same device I have and love with a passion. (I especially appreciate that I can read silly mystery novels and no one else is the wiser.)

    How to enter to win: Entering to win is simple. All you need to do is follow us on Twitter. If you aren’t already on Twitter, create an account and then follow us @Unclutterer.

    Next Tuesday and Thursday (October 26 and 28, 2010) at 10:00 a.m. EDT, I will use twitRand() the Random Integer Generator at random.org and select that day’s one winner. You only need to follow us once (and please, only once), to participate in the giveaway. If you already follow us on Twitter, then you are already participating and need not do anything more. Winners of the giveaway will have 24 hours to respond to a direct message from @Unclutterer to claim their new Kindle. Failure to respond within 24 hours will disqualify you from the giveaway.

    I know that some of you aren’t interested in social media and will want to complain about having to sign up for Twitter to participate in the giveaway — however, this is the easiest way for us to manage the giveaway and it ensures that many of our readers are already entered to win with no additional effort on their part. Also, if you’re an avid Wired magazine reader, you know that social networking sites can help increase worker productivity if used efficiently.

    I am so exited about this reader appreciation event and cannot wait to give away two Kindle Wireless Reading Devices. Remember, you have until 10:00 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, October 26, 2010, to follow us on Twitter for the first Kindle giveaway.

    NOTE: twitRand() appears to be offline, so we’ve had to change the manner by which the winners will be randomly selected.

    Posted by Erin on Oct 21, 2010 | 48 Comments | Tweet This

    Unclutter your wallet by keeping a second wallet in your glove box

    Almost every retail store or restaurant I frequent has some kind of loyalty program. The benefits are usually compelling enough to convince me to join, even if it means I’ll be stuck with yet another club card. In the past, I’ve tried consolidating bar codes on a single card. Unfortunately, I’ve found that over the last few years an increasing number of these loyalty program cards have magnetic stripes on them. As a result, I’m forced to carry the actual card with me in order to use it.

    Instead of keeping all of these loyalty cards in the wallet I carry with me everywhere, I keep them in a second wallet that stays in the glove box of my car. I live in the suburbs, so it would be unusual for me to be at a store or restaurant where I might need one and not also be in close proximity to my car.

    This approach keeps my primary wallet slim, as the only cards I keep in it are my drivers license, my credit card, and my health insurance card.

    Posted by PJ on Oct 21, 2010 | 54 Comments | Tweet This

    Unitasker Wednesday: Asparagus Peeler

    My friends Craig and Brittany have rascally senses of humor, which I greatly enjoy. This past weekend, they surprised me with a very special gift — a unitasker they found lurking unused at the back of their kitchen utensil drawer:

    The Orka Asparagus Peeler is for all those times you peel your asparagus, which, at least for the three of us, is never. I’ve never peeled my asparagus. Craig and Brittany have never peeled their asparagus. In fact, after looking through a handful of cookbooks, we couldn’t find any recipes that required asparagus stalks to be peeled. The three of us never even knew asparagus has skin that could need peeling.

    Surprisingly, there are numerous styles of asparagus peelers available to meet a person’s asparagus peeling needs (we found five, there are likely more). We’re not really sure why, though, a standards vegetable peeler couldn’t peel your asparagus if you actually wanted to peel your asparagus?

    Who are the asparagus peelers of the world? Why are they peeling asparagus? And why are they purchasing special peelers to take on this (seemingly) unnecessary task? And how in the world did my friends Craig and Brittany come to possess this odd unitasker in the first place?

    The world may never know …

    Posted by Erin on Oct 20, 2010 | 43 Comments | Tweet This