One of my sinful pleasures is sweet potato fries. I haven’t found where I can buy these at a fast food “joint” so I have to make them at home. I cut the potatoes and put them in a bag with a little olive oil and shake them so they will be coated with the oil. Then I spread them on a cookie sheet, salt them and bake for 20 minutes at a 450 degree oven. YUM!!!

The part I don’t like is cutting them up—I’m just lazy I guess but that is how it is. I was in a kitchen store and they had this great fry cutter. I bought it on the spot and when it didn’t work—I needed the Incredible Hulk to push down on the lever it was so hard–I returned it.

For Christmas I was given the gift of the commercial one thinking that would be stronger. Nope, it didn’t work either. Sadness reigned in my kitchen. This one was also returned. Can you see my pattern here? When something didn’t work rather than let it become clutter I immediately was in the clutter control “zone” and I returned them.

I think this is probably a great product for white or yellow potatoes—not for sweet potatoes. They must be harder. I did try a white potato and it cut just fine.

For this product review I can’t say it worked for sweet potatoes but it did work for the white potatoes.

Our Kitty Menina’s second Super Power is her GPS system. She will come up to us and lay down just barely out of our reach so we have to stretch far or move closer to her to pet her. Such a silly kitty.

Let’s turn on our GPS when we want to reduce clutter. A GPS system guides us where we want to go. Some things we can do to reduce clutter by using our internal GPS:

•Pay attention to what we buy. While at the store consider if we have a place for it if we buy it, do we need it, will it just be clutter or will it light up our home?
•Just as a GPS guides us, evaluate what you want your home to look like and feel like and then organize each room to reflect what you want.
•Don’t let others persuade you to keep things you don’t want. These could be gifts you have been given but want to regift or donate; but someone tries to talk you into keeping the item. Or do you have a kitchen appliance you want to sell but someone is trying to convince you to keep it even though you never use it?
•Listen to your GPS—you are the best person to know what is best for you as you reduce clutter in your home.

Have you had an experience where you have wanted to get rid of something and someone has talked you into keeping it and you have regretted it?

We have been talking these past few days about fire extinguishers and other tips on avoiding fires and being prepared just in case of a fire. Thank you to all my blog readers who left such great tips and ideas on what you have done to prevent fires.

This is what I did to make getting to our extinguisher easier in case of a fire in the kitchen or other rooms in our home.

Before: Under Sink

The extinguisher was clear in the back under the sink where it was very hard to reach and couldn’t be seen. (I moved it forward so you could see it here). I removed it and placed it in the hall closet where it is now easily assessable to several rooms.

After: In Closet

This is what I did to get rid of clutter for Show ‘N Tell today. Actually when I pulled it out I found a few things that needed to be organized better and I consolidated a few things to clear clutter.

What are you doing to clear clutter in your home?

My review today is of the Kitchen Aid mixer. Every Kitchen Aid product I have ever had has been very durable and attractive. But just because something is top of the line it doesn’t mean it is the best for you.

I find this mixer cumbersome and unless I am making big batches of things I use my little hand held mixer. I have to store it outside my kitchen because I have no space for it in my kitchen. When I was getting rid of clutter on my counter it had to be removed.

As a professional organizer I see top of the line products all the time that aren’t being used because it wasn’t right for that person. And yet it is hard for them to clear clutter because it is supposed to be the best. (Even though it is never used).

So the bottom line is:

•Durable appliance
•Comes in beautiful colors
•It does what it is supposed to do and does it well
•Takes up a lot of space on a counter
•Heavy to move

For me it is not practical to use all the time as it is too big (it was given to me by someone who felt the same way) but for others it might be the love of their life. Why do I keep it it? Because I do use it on occasion. That it why it was moved to a short term storage area.

Do you have an opinion? Have you some appliance that doesn’t work for you yet you keep it? If so why and is it just more clutter in your kitchen?

Aren’t these egg poachers cute? My daughter bought them at the state fair last week. She has used them almost every day as the eggs taste good, they are so easy to use and clean up is easy. A bonus to these is they don’t take up much room so they don’t clutter up the kitchen!

I like them because:

•They are easy to use
•They take up very little space
•They are attractive
•They cook the eggs fast and just right
•They get rid of clutter by not cluttering up the kitchen after they are used. (With my old metal ones no one wants to clean them after using them so they sit around in the sink, they also take up very little storage space).

I give these my organizing seal of approval. I am going to buy some for us and donate my old poacher. (Donating the old when getting new will get rid of clutter without even trying).

These are sold at kitchen stores.

Each Friday I am going to review a product, shall I call it Fun Finds Friday or Finally Friday Reviews? Which do you like best? Cast your vote by leaving a comment.

This week we are streamlining and simplifying to get rid of clutter. Here is a great tip if you pack lunches for yourself or your family:

Rather than doing the same thing over every morning prepare items in advance. For instance, if you pack crackers or cookies buy a large package and transfer serving sizes all at one time to small baggies. This will save a lot of time. Put these in a plastic bin or basket that can be simply pulled out in the morning and items selected. The same thing can be done for items that need to be refrigerated such as grapes, baby carrots, and fruit.

What do you do to get rid of clutter and simplify making lunches?

As you can tell Kitchens are on my mind this week. Here are 4 tips to get rid of clutter in the kitchen:

1. To protect your wrists and arms from burns use full-sized oven mitts instead of hot pads. Toss worn out hot pads or mitts—those that have been burned and are ugly or those worn thin and don’t really work anymore. You deserve nice ones!
2. Place heavy food items like flour and sugar on lower shelves. This saves your back and prevents dropping heavy items as you are getting them out of the cupboard.
3. Check expiration dates often to prevent spoilage. When you get rid of clutter don’t you feel good to throw out that icky spoiled food? Check the fridge often to avoid food spoiling—same for canned foods.
4. Mark expiration dates with a bold marker so they are easily readable. This is a good practice to do with prescription medications also.

We would love to hear what you do to get rid of clutter in your kitchen.

Clutter control in the kitchen is the theme of my blogs this week. Here are 4 more ideas on how to get a handle on clutter control in your kitchen. When we don’t have clutter around we feel so much better about ourselves and our homes.

4 timely tips on clutter control for your kitchen:

1. Have a landing place for mail, like a basket or some other container. It is easy to move to the office or other places where you like to sort mail.
2. In a cabinet below the counter place small appliances you don’t use every day. This will make more counter space and reduce clutter.
3. Add inexpensive, under-cabinet lighting to make it easier to work, to see and to clean the countertops. Battery-powered, stick-on varieties are available at most home improvement stores. I also use this as a “night light” that the last one home at night can turn off, but it makes it cheery for them when they come home after dark.
4. Clearly post emergency numbers for poison control, neighbor’s phone numbers and relative’s numbers. In an emergency it is easy to forget even often called numbers. Write these numbers in large print so they can be seen easily. Also program them into your phone and have a list of the programmed numbers.

What clutter control have you done in your kitchen?

We are almost through with my Show and Share Organizing. I hope you have picked up some organizing tips you can use. I have been surprised by things I have kept. But now I have also reduced clutter in my cupboards.

In this cupboard I again have added an extra shelf to double my space. Under the dinner plates are restaurant menus. I recommend putting them in a file in your file drawer if you have a lot of them. And you know my favorite filing system is Freedom Files. Since I only have a few they fit nicely in this space.

The corner removable shelf I have added also doubles my space and reduces clutter. I only keep the things I use and they are spaced so they are easy to reach.

The vitamins are contained in a little container and this is their home. A cup hook holds a set of keys. All of this helps reduce clutter as everything has a home and they live in their home when not being used.

Just thinking of cookie sheets makes me think of baking and cookies and I want some homemade chocolate chip cookies as I sit here. My mouth is watering too.

As I was clutter clearing and trying to figure out a better way to store my cookie sheets I came across this neat gadget. If I had known what it was intended for I wouldn’t have bought it. I am glad I didn’t know. It is to hold pan lids but you can see how I am using it.

In the back of this cupboard are my summer bowls which I will trade out with my snowflake bowls as soon as it gets warmer. And I too am guilty of keeping things “just in case”. In case of what I don’t know—how silly of me. See that blender in the back? I don’t even know why I kept it. Okay, I’m clearing clutter and getting rid of it now.—–There I did it, it is in the donate box. That sure feels good. I didn’t even know it was back there so what good would it have been to me “just in case”?

Do you have something you are hanging on to that creates clutter in your cupboards? Take a look and let us know what it is and what you did with it.