We make soup at least once or twice a week, especially in the winter. I make split pea soup, leek and potato soup, turkey vegetable soup, spicy tomato vegetable soup — the list goes on and on. A good soup has so much going for it:

• It’s hot, homemade and delicious.
• Packed with nutritious veggies, beans and/or grains.
• Only uses one pot and the stove top — easy to prepare and easy cleanup.
• Soup is peasant food, so the ingredients are typically economical and easy to find.
• Hearty enough to be the centerpiece of the meal, with or without a crusty loaf of bread.
• Yummy leftovers. (This is only a plus if you love leftovers, like our family does!)

Looking to start easy? Here is a list of yummy soup recipes that have no more than five ingredients:

• 5 Ingredient Soup
• Italian Sausage, Tomato and White Bean Soup
• Spinach and Meatballs Comfort Soup
• Economical Lentil Soup
• Restaurant-Style Tomato and Macaroni Soup
• Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Cabbage and Sausage Soup
• Tortellini Soup

If you’re an experienced cook or want to get a little more complex, try these delicious soups:

• Beef Noodle Soup
• Ham and Split Pea Soup
• Beef Minestrone
• Potato Barley Soup
• Broccoli Cheese Soup
• Spicy Chicken Rice Soup
• Cream of Potato and Ham Soup
• Tomato Florentine Rice Soup
• Italian Bean Soup
• Easy Chicken Noodle Soup
• Vegetable Beef Barley Soup

Soup night is my favorite way to get a healthy, economical meal on the table with almost no effort Enjoy!

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/roby72/

Related posts:

• 16 Nutritious, Easy Crockpot Recipes for Cluttered Kitchens
• Tweak: Cook at Home
• Tunisian Food — A Great Example of the Healthy Mediterranean Diet

Lately I started thinking that it would be really good to design a healthy, delicious breakfast to eat every morning before my workout instead of just grabbing whatever on the way to the gym.

My perfect breakfast would:

• Feature yogurt so that I can make probiotics a daily instead of “sometimes” habit (yogurt is also a great source of protein).
• Contain nuts and/or flax, both good sources of Omega 3 healthy fats and proteins.
• Be delicious enough to eat every day without getting boring.

So the perfect solution for me seems to be muesli or granola with plain yogurt. I can make the muesli/granola from scratch (cheaper, and I know what has gone into it) and keep it in the freezer so that I only have to make it once every couple of weeks.

Here are a couple of recipes I’m going to try:

• Muesli as created by Kathryn Elliott of Limes & Lycopene
• Epicurious’ Quick Omega-3 Granola Recipe

This power breakfast habit is going to be my tweak for March

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/christiansvaneskolding/

Related posts:

• Tweak: Protein for Breakfast
• More Yogurt Benefits!

First off, I have to be honest and say that I’m not a crafter. My mom is a talented and sought-after artisan quilter and I grew up watching her acquire and stash lots of crafting supplies. Now that she is retired and free to quilt a LOT, the stash has grown

Many crafters like to have a lot of supplies and tools on hand in order to be well prepared for current and upcoming projects. Many also have a number of unfinished or in progress projects to organize. The key is to balance your crafting inventory with the space available so that you can easily find what you need and spend your time enjoying crafting rather than searching for supplies and tools.

This is an incomplete list of ideas but I hope it will be a starting point. And if you are a crafter, I would love to see your comment here here about decluttering and organizing strategies that work for you.

• You could think about what space you have to devote to your supplies and tools. What is the volume? How much, in percentage terms, of your stash would you have to cull in order to fit it into your space with room to spare? Perhaps you can highgrade and keep the very best tools and materials?
• Do you have any duplicate tools? I have found that now that the clutter is gone, I only need one of each tool because every tool has a home. I always know where something is when I need to find it. Could you pass along all the duplicates and just keep the best of each item?
• Who could benefit from the decluttered extras? Are there any schools or clubs who could use the supplies? What about posting your extras on Craigslist or Freecycle? Maybe you have a friend who is interested in getting started in your craft?
• Perhaps you can take a look at your unfinished projects and upcoming planned projects. If you estimate, how much time total will these projects will take to complete. How much time do you have to devote to your craft? Are there any projects you can pass along to someone else who has the time to complete them?
• Cara at Repurposeful suggests storing unfinished projects in reused plastic bedsheet cases.
• For beaders, Geralin of Metropolitan Organizing suggests using florists “water picks” to organize those tiny beads.
• Beth from MySimplerLife.com suggests, “Give yourself a time limit on unfinished projects. Either finish them or let them go. Letting go means room for new projects.”

Please leave your favorite organization and decluttering tips in the comments below!

Read more posts about decluttering here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ambernussbaum/

Related posts:

• Are You Churning or Decluttering?

But this was a gradual change.  I didn’t turn into a health nut overnight, and I didn’t stop eating processed foods entirely (I still eat them occasionally — perfection is boring).  Doing the healthy thing most of the time — not 100% of the time — has paid off.

Fat has gotten a bad rap.  Once upon a time, I thought that the sure way to weight loss was to eliminate as much fat as possible from my diet (remember Susan Powter?).  But that just made me tired, have dull skin and hair, and I frequently got sick.  Good fats give you a lot of bang for your energy buck because they can actively improve your health, especially the Omega-3s, as you’ll see below.

Trans Fats:  What Are They and Why Are They Bad?

What’s the problem with trans fats?  Study after study has established that consumption of trans fats increases the risk of heart disease, increases total blood cholesterol and reduces the “good” cholesterol.

Trans fats (trans-fatty acids) are created when oils are processed in such a way that they become solid at room temperature (hydrogenation).

Trans fats are not found in significant quantity in nature — they are produced by commercial food processing.  Therefore, processed, factory-  or restaurant-produced foods such as some commercial baked goods (crackers, cookies, etc.), fried foods (doughnuts and french fries), shortening and margarine are the foods to look out for.  Check ingredients labels and look for the words “partially hydrogenated.”

Healthy Fats:  Why Are They Good?

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, on the other hand, lower the risk of heart disease by reducing the total cholesterol and also the “bad” cholesterol  in blood.

Omega-3 fatty acids (a particular type of polyunsaturated fat) are particularly healthy.  Omega-3s decrease the risk of heart disease,  protect against irregular heartbeats and lower blood pressure.

Examples of Foods Rich in Healthy Fats

As I turned away from foods with trans fats, I increased my intake of healthy fats.  For example, I snack on almonds instead of potato chips and I make carrot cake or banana bread at home occasionally, with sunflower or canola oil, in place of buying packaged cake.

Here are some good sources of healthy fats:

Monounsaturated fat: Olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, avocados, nuts and seeds.

Polyunsaturated fat: Vegetable oils (safflower, corn, sunflower, soy and cottonseed oils), nuts and seeds.

Omega-3 fatty acids: fatty, cold water fish (e.g. wild salmon, sardines, mackeral and herring), flaxseeds, flax oil, walnuts, Omega-3 eggs.

I’d love to hear ways that you’ve made the switch to reduce trans fats and increase healthy fats, so go ahead and leave a comment!

Read all the posts about replacing trans fats with healthy fats here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Related posts:

• Designing a Winning Breakfast

What do I mean by “seriously cluttered”?  If you have areas of your home that cannot be used for their intended purpose, then your life — and your family’s –  is being seriously impacted by the clutter.  For example, sometimes a family cannot eat at the dining room table because it is covered with stuff.  Or a sofa or chair is out of commission because it has a heap of clutter on top.  Sometimes people stop using beds, bedrooms or even bathrooms because the clutter has taken over.  Is this you?  Commit to turning the problem around for just 15 minutes a day — I promise you will be amazed at the results of a little consistent daily focus.

Here are the links:

• HoardHouse.com is an evolving media project by three Columbia University journalism grad students.  The project explores the issue of hoarding in New York City, drawing from interviews with psychologists, social workers and hoarders themselves.  Sometimes when you are in the middle of this problem it is comforting to know that you are not alone, and that others have similar or even more serious issues with clutter.
• Does Decluttering Make Sense in Hard Economic Times? This is the question posed by the writers at OnSimplicity.net.  When we feel poor or when we’re even worried about the financial future, the scarcity mindset kicks in and it’s harder to release clutter.  This article makes excellent points about why it’s just as important to declutter now as ever.
• “The Rules” About Paper. Does paper pile up as fast as you can eliminate it?  ClutterDietBlog.com breaks down paper clutter maintenance and prevention into 10 straightforward rules.  Great stuff!
• Decluttering a Loved One’s Possessions. Sometimes the sad tipping point from a little bit of clutter into complete chaos is when a loved one passes on or has to go into long-term care.  We are faced with their many possessions and no idea how to decide what to keep and what to part with.  This thoughtful article suggests ways to bring clarity and effectiveness to the decision-making process.

Here’s hope for an abundant, joyful and productive week! )

Read all the posts about decluttering here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Related posts:

• Monday Link Roundup
• Monday Link Roundup
• Anti-Hoarding Strategies from a Hoarding Therapist

Jimmy Moore

I have been a fan of Jimmy Moore for years now.  Jimmy and I have something in common.  Like me, he too was once super morbidly obese and he has lost an amazing 170 pounds.  His life’s work is to show others how to achieve the weight loss success he has had with low carb eating, and he shares his message at the popular Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Blog.

What I love most about Jimmy is that everything he does is an illustration of his enthusiastic, joyful approach to life.

This week, Jimmy interviewed Karly Pitman about Valentine’s Day and how to show love to others and, even more importantly, ourselves.  Jimmy calls this interview “a soothing, hot bubble bath” and I could not have said it better.  I hope you take some time today or this weekend to immerse yourself in this comforting and empowering message.  Click here to listen to Jimmy’s interview with Karly.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

No related posts.

This is another good reason to make yogurt a regular part of your meals.  Remember, yogurt in the morning is a great way to add protein to your breakfast!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikinisleepshirt/

Read more about probiotics (the “good” bacteria in yogurt) here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Related posts:

• Designing a Winning Breakfast
• Tweak: Daily Probiotics

Years ago during my dark times when I was depressed, I sometimes went days without even a shower.  You may be in this place right now.  When you’re not ready to face the world because you’ve let personal grooming go, it reinforces the isolated despair of depression.

You get to define what daily grooming means to you.  Perhaps your goal when you implement this tweak is just to make sure that you hop in the shower or enjoy a bath every day.  Maybe you want to take your personal presentation up a notch for personal and/or career reasons, and this means a more extensive grooming routine.  You can revisit this tweak every now and then as you add something new to your grooming rituals.

When you choose the Personal Grooming tweak, you can also use the month to focus on other self-care you may have been putting off:  a trip to the dentist, a new hairstyle or just a trim, for example.  What about a spa treatment or, if the budget is tight, making time for some spa time at home?  Treat yourself with love and care and enjoy it, because you are worth it!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/appaloosa/

Read all Daily Personal Grooming posts here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Related posts:

• Tweak: Daily Probiotics
• Tweak: Daily Fruits and Vegetables
• Tweak: Declutter Daily
• Tweak: Make the Bed

Tunisia has a long Mediterranean coastline and its cuisine is a fine example of the Mediterranean diet, rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and beans, fish and poultry, nuts and good oils.  These foods are high in antioxidants and fiber and nutrient-rich so they are naturally satisfying and healthy.

Tunisians love spicy food, and the national condiment and an ingredient in many dishes is a paste called harissa, made from garlic and smoked hot red peppers.

Some of the highlights of Tunisian food culture help illustrate why the traditional Mediterranean diet is so healthful:

• Couscous is one of the most popular meals in North Africa.  Couscous appears to be a finely-textured grain but the individual grains are actually made from semolina dough like pasta.  I buy wholewheat couscous to increase the fiber and nutrient content.  Couscous is frequently served with a stew of vegetables, sometimes with meat, chicken or poultry.  Couscous can also be served as a desert steamed with dried fruits, nuts, spices and drizzled with honey.
• An abundance of fruits and vegetables are grown in the northern coastal regions of Tunisia, where we live, and they are sold in the vast outdoor and indoor market nearby.  Depending on the season, we can buy fresh dates, citrus fruit, apples, pomegranates, nectarines, pears, peaches, plums, strawberries, melons, tomatoes, eggplant, artichokes, green onions, leeks, cabbage (red and green), peppers, fennel, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, fresh and cured olives and so much more.
• Dried beans, chickpeas, and lentils are sold in bulk.  Where we live, the most popular street food is a baguette filled with hot chickpeas, drizzled with olive oil and garnished with olives and tuna, egg or sardines.  I had this for breakfast the other day before the gym — my husband and I split one sandwich and I was full for hours.
• With such a long Mediterranean coastline, fish is a popular dish.  Fresh grilled fish, fresh and canned tuna, octopus and squid all figure prominently.
• Delicious Tunisian mint tea is made from green tea, black tea and mint.  Full of antioxidants and, when purchased at a cafe, unfortunately sugar.  I want to try substituting stevia for sugar.
• What do Tunisians eat when they want a snack?  Well, along with the deep fried sweets that are popular (we have these for a very occasional treat), a favorite snack option are the freshly roasted nuts and seeds that can be bought in little bags at ubiquitous little Fruits Secs stands.

Want to experiment with cooking Tunisian food?  You can check out some yummy Tunisian recipes here.

Read more posts about cooking at home here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Related posts:

• Tweak: Cook at Home
• Tweak: Daily Fruits and Vegetables
• Tweak: Replace Trans Fats with Healthy Fats
• 16 Nutritious, Easy Crockpot Recipes for Cluttered Kitchens

It’s counterintuitive, but the fact is that many (if not most) people who suffer from obesity are also malnourished.  I firmly believe that the first step on the road to a healthy weight is to add essential nutrients back into our bodies, rather than restricting or dieting.  We need to nurture our bodies, and we can do this by cooking easy, healthy foods at home.

So not only can you save a great deal of money cooking at home, but cooking at home is the path to eating healthier foods and feeling better in your body.  When you build a habit of cooking regularly at home, you learn to experience food with the joy and respect that it deserves.

Cooking at home does not have to be a lot of work.  Even though I am a trained chef (I apprenticed in fine restaurants for three years in my early adulthood), I usually cook from a very simple repertoire at home.  I cook using fresh vegetables, meats and grains — real food.  Most of the time I don’t bother with fussy recipes.  I just stick with the basics that my family enjoys — poultry, soups, pastas, roast vegetables, bean dishes, stews, salads and couscous.

Here are some pointers for building your new cook at home habit:

• Cook the food you like. This might sound obvious, but you should think about the types of food you like to eat and start cooking that sort of food at home.  You don’t have to cook what your mom cooked — if you like Mexican food, for example, take a look at some Mexican recipes.  If you love soups, find some good soup recipes to try.
• Buy real “convenience” foods. Real “convenience” food is food that usually comes without an ingredients label.  Always keep some real convenience foods on hand because they are easy to cook with and require minimal preparation.  Think of foods like: frozen veggies, frozen berries, chopped cabbage and bagged baby carrots, eggs, cheese, canned tuna and salmon, pasta and couscous.
• Stock your pantry. Some of us tend to hoard food, so be careful not to go overboard with food storage.  But it’s good to have a few basics on hand in the pantry — canned or dried beans, pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, nuts, olive or sunflower oil, powdered or canned chicken stock, spices.  Only buy what you know you will use.  Consider keeping your grains, flours and nuts in the freezer if you have room — they will keep much longer that way.
• Keep it simple. Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated.    What about a broiled chicken breast, salad, and microwaved sweet potato? Or scrambled eggs with green onions and red peppers served along with a slice or two of wholegrain toast?  Take a look at this list of five-ingredient recipes to see how easy it can be to get a meal on the table.
• Do you like leftovers? There are two kinds of people, those who like leftovers and those who hate them.  If — and only if — you like eating leftovers, try cooking enough for two or three meals at a time.  Then you can warm up extras fast to save on cooking time for subsequent meals.  For us, this works with soups and with couscous.  I always make enough for two meals, and the kids swear that it tastes better the second day.
• Think color. Try to cook meals that contain at least one or two vegetables, the more varied and deep in color the better.  I like to make vegetable soups with chicken stock, squash, carrots, chopped chard or kale, green peppers and white beans or chick peas.

Once you start cooking at home, before you know it you will have a short list of favorite meals that you can throw together quickly.  You’ll save money and nurture your body with real food!

Read all the posts about cooking at home here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Related posts:

• Easy Soup Recipes for Cluttered Kitchens
• Tunisian Food — A Great Example of the Healthy Mediterranean Diet
• 16 Nutritious, Easy Crockpot Recipes for Cluttered Kitchens
• Tweak: Eat Dinner at the Table
• Tweak: Daily Fruits and Vegetables

Most people have accumulated far more houseware items than they need or can use.  The more unnecessary stuff you can eliminate from your home, the easier the rest is to care for and the less work it is to keep your home tidy and orderly.  Be ruthless about getting rid of what you don’t need and you will be amazed at how peaceful your home will become.

A good rule of thumb is that every item in your kitchen (and the rest of your house too) needs to have a “home” — somewhere it belongs and the place to which you return it when you aren’t using it.  If you can’t find a home for something, then you don’t have room for it — choose between decluttering the item or decluttering some other item to make room for it.

Do you have two or three can openers, toasters, or whatever?  Keep the best one — just one — and give away the rest.  Trust that if you need a replacement at some point in the future, you will be able to get one then.  When you do have to occasionally replace items, make a point of buying or finding good quality.  I ask myself, “Will this last for the next 40 years?”  That’s an exaggeration, but it usually makes sense to spend a little more for something good (even if it’s used) than to just buy the cheapest version you can find.

Countertops:  Try keeping only the items you use every single day on the counters, and find homes in your cupboards for everything else that you decide to keep.  This will give you lots of counter space for food preparation and you’ll find it far more easy to keep your counters clean.

Food containers:  How many containers of leftovers can you keep in your fridge before things start to spoil without getting eaten?  This is the number of food containers you need.  For me, I couldn’t possibly imagine needing more than ten containers.  If you regularly cook and freeze several meals at once, perhaps you need more containers.  But if you keep more containers than you need, you’re setting yourself up to have spoiled “mystery” leftovers in your fridge and who needs that?  Decide how many of your containers you need (keep the nicest ones) and toss or give away the rest.

Do you have many “unitaskers”?  These are tools or appliances that only do one thing, e.g., ice cream makers, yogurt makers, juicers, waffle irons.  For each unitasker, ask yourself if you use it regularly enough to give it room in your clutterfree home.  “Regularly enough” may be once a week or once every six months, depending on how much space you have, but remember that everything you own needs to earn its space in your home by being useful or bringing you joy.

Think about getting rid of any purely decorative items that are taking up room in your kitchen unless you truly love them.  You can cut back to just your favorite decorative items and this will help streamline your kitchen and make it a place of calm and happiness.

What about the stuff that you can’t find space for or that you don’t use much but can’t bear to part with?  Or maybe you haven’t been using an item much but you think you might start using it more often.  Try putting these items in boxes, and put the date on the box.  If you need something from the box, go get it and then find it a home in your kitchen.  After six months, evaluate what is left in the boxes and see if you are ready to part with them then.

Are you looking for a worthy destination for your decluttered items? Many women’s shelters accept donations of good used housewares for women who are starting over after leaving abusive relationships. Imagine how much help all your extra stuff will be to someone who really needs it, and what a blessing it will be for you to clear these unneeded items from your home!

Read all the decluttering posts here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/merbabies/

Related posts:

• How to Declutter Your Kitchen – Part I
• 7 Steps to Declutter Your Home in 15 Minutes a Day

Imagine what it will be like when your kitchen is free of clutter. A decluttered kitchen is remarkably easy to keep clean and tidy. You will know what food you have on hand, and you will know that it is all fresh. You won’t worry whether the clutter is hiding any old or spilled food that could be attracting bugs or rodents. With your work spaces cleared and a kitchen stocked with only the fresh food that you need, it’s easy to prepare and cook meals, which is better for your budget and for your health.

The Basics

If you haven’t read the article 7 Steps to Declutter Your Home in 15 Minutes a Day take some time to read it now. This is the basic set of instructions for decluttering your home.  Sticking to 15 minutes a day will eliminate clutter surprisingly fast, but without the burnout that we experience when we crisis clean.

Make sure to tackle only what you can manage in 15 minutes: clearing out the fridge, clearing off the kitchen table or a counter or two, clearing out a couple of drawers or a cabinet. You don’t want to find yourself with a bunch of stuff to put back away when your 15 minutes of decluttering is through.

Don’t focus on cleaning until the kitchen is fully decluttered. It’s fine to sweep up the dust bunnies quickly or wipe down a shelf you have just cleared, but don’t get wrapped up in perfectionistic deep cleaning. You can do a thorough clean when the clutter is gone.

Decluttering the Food

The goal of decluttering the food is to get rid of any food that you are not confident is fresh and that you are not certain you will use.  This is the time to get rid of the “maybe” stuff. Please don’t hang on to any food you have any doubts about at this point — you deserve food that is fresh and good.

I know it’s hard for us to “waste” food, especially if we have ever experienced financial hardship in our lives. But trust that you are making room for health and abundance to enter your life by getting rid of the clutter; food that is no longer fresh is simply clutter that you need to clear out to make room for a better life.

Spices/condiments/grains etc.  Toss any dry goods that you have had for more than 9 months or a year at most. Make a shopping list to replace only what you truly use. If you can’t remember when you bought something, toss it. If you can’t remember when you last used an ingredient, don’t put it on your replacement list.

Freezer. Get rid of any food that has been in the freezer more than six months. Get rid of anything in your freezer that is a non-food item. (If you have room in the freezer after you declutter, consider keeping your dried flours, rice, grains and beans in the freezer.  They stay fresh for much longer and you don’t have to worry about pests.)

Fridge. If you have any jams, pickles, etc. that have been open for more than three months, toss them.

Canned goods. Get rid of anything that is more than a couple of years old. If you have canned goods that are less than two years old and you haven’t used them because you don’t like or don’t need the food, put these into a bag and put them by the front door to drop off at the food bank (or pass it along to a friend).

Coming up in Part II: Decluttering your kitchen tools, appliances, pots and pans etc.

Read all the decluttering posts here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Related posts:

• How to Declutter Your Kitchen – Part II
• 7 Steps to Declutter Your Home in 15 Minutes a Day
• Tweak: Declutter Daily
• Are You Churning or Decluttering?

Vietnam Veterans of America is “The only national Vietnam veterans organization congressionally chartered and exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans and their families.” In order to raise funds, the VVA accepts donations of good used items which they auction off in order to help fund their worthwhile work.

You can see if your area is served by the pickup service and arrange a pickup at the VVA’s site, www.ScheduleAPickup.com.

According to VVA, you do not need to be home when the driver picks up your goods. They will provide a tax receipt for your donation. The service is not available in all areas, but fill out a free registration to check to see if you are in an area served by pickup

Remember to only donate items that are truly in good condition and useful; sadly, charities that collect used item donations spend huge amounts of money every year sending unusable donations to landfills.

Thanks to Unclutter for the tip!

Read all posts about decluttering here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

No related posts.

The Tweaks System is all about one little step at a time.  You don’t have to start cooking three-course meals at home.   Here are some simple, good-for-you homecooked meals that you can just throw together in a crockpot — so much cheaper and healthier than pizza or fast food.  The majority of these recipes use no more than five ingredients:

• Pot Roast This is a flexible recipe; it uses potatoes and carrots, but you can add chunks of any root veggies you have in the fridge — turnip, rutabaga, parsnips, celeriac.
  
• Italian Pot Roast This is great with Italian bread and a green salad.
  
• Chicken Taco Meat Super easy way to prepare taco meat for now or for the freezer.
  
• Roasted Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic There’s no reason why you couldn’t substitute dried rosemary for the fresh rosemary in this recipe.
  
• Turkey Breast Get turkey breast on sale and use this easy method to cook it for sandwiches and salads.
  
• Green Chili Beef Great on burritos with a little cheese and some quacamole or sour cream.  This makes lots of leftovers that you can freeze or use for lunches.
  
• Refried Beans Simple, healthy and very economical.
  
• Mexican Pork Gives pork and beans a whole new spin — spicy black beans with lean pork loin cubes.
• Italian Sausage Try this with whole wheat spaghetti or multigrain rolls.  It’s safe to skip the boil-in-a-pot step at the beginning of the recipe.
  
• Swiss Steak A nice small recipe for two servings.
  
• Tomato Chicken A whole chicken and a jar of spaghetti sauce.  What could be easier?  Try throwing in some halved potatoes halfway through and some cubed zucchini in the final hour for a full meal.
  
• Chicken Fajitas So much cheaper than restaurant fajitas, and healthier than Taco Bell!
  
• Oatmeal Porridge Have kids?  This is a great way to wake them up with a hot breakfast on hectic mornings.  Just put oatmeal, water and a pinch of salt in the crockpot right before bed.
  
• Aztec Black Beans Vegetarian, cheap, healthy and delicious.  A real winner.
  
• Curried Chicken Legs I’d throw in some baby carrots or cubed carrots for the final couple of hours and then serve this over rice.
  
• Sloppy Joe Lentils Another non-meat recipe. This makes a big batch so you can freeze half for microwaving later.
  

This is a Friday Fun post.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Related posts:

• Easy Soup Recipes for Cluttered Kitchens
• Tweak: Cook at Home
• Tunisian Food — A Great Example of the Healthy Mediterranean Diet

Nowadays my family eats breakfast and dinner together at the table almost every day.  I think this gives us the chance to touch base as a family, creating a stable routine as our day ramps up and winds down.  We have a lot of fun, laughs and sometimes some serious conversations.  But this wasn’t always the case.

During the worst of my times with a chaotic and cluttered house, a year or two before I met my husband and began to help raise his two daughters, meals at the table were unheard of.  My son didn’t get too many homecooked meals between six and eight years of age.  We ate fast food just about every day.  Most of his meals were eaten in the car or at a picnic table or out of a paper fast food bag while he was watching TV or playing computer games.

We’d head out in the morning to get coffee and donuts or Egg McMuffins.  Then my son would snack on stuff like canned fruit and cereal all day.  At night we’d either go back out to get fast food or go to a restaurant, or I would order in.  When I think back on that time I feel true regret and sadness.  My son is fortunate not to have developed a weight problem, and he eats well now, but I’m sad that I didn’t nourish him better when he was a little guy.

Studies seem to suggest a correlation between family dinners at the dinner table and lower drug use and other troubles for teens.  I don’t know if family dinners somehow help prevent kids from getting into trouble, or if they are just a feature of many families in which the kids are actively parented.  But the link is there.

If you are single or partnered without children, the benefit of eating at the table is just as strong.  Eating at the table is a foundation for learning to eat consciously.  When your table is cleared and you sit down to eat regularly, you’re more likely to cook and enjoy healthy foods.

Here are some points to consider when preparing to add the Eat Dinner at the Table Tweak to your routine:

• If your table has clutter on it, take a day (or two or three) to declutter it using the 15-minute-a-day declutter method.
• Clear the table right after dinner and give it a quick wipe so that it’s ready for your next meal.  Do the dishes or don’t — your call — but making sure that you are ready to set the table without having to do any extra work next time will really help this habit stick.
• If you are buying fast food or take out most nights, bring it home and eat it at the table anyway.  Order a pizza or Chinese?  Enjoy it at the table.  You deserve to eat your food in a nice, calm environment instead of furtively feeding yourself in the car, at your desk or at the coffee table.
• You can gradually make the table nice.  Use tableware that makes you happy and consider a centerpiece or some fresh flowers.  How about candles?  A few years ago I realized that I really like cloth napkins, and now we frequently set the table with them.  Find out what you like and what makes your food seem like a “real” meal.
• Try to keep conversation light during family dinners so that the family looks forward to the time.  We use our table for family meetings when we need to discuss problems, but never during meal times.

Remember:

Choose no more than one tweak per month – don’t try to pile them on! Practicing a single tweak for at least a full month gives you the best chance of forming a real habit and life change. Do not try to add another tweak until the previous tweak has become a habitual part of your life (this can sometimes take longer than a month).

This is all about loving yourself and creating a joyful life! Therefore, when choosing a new tweak to practice, pick one that is appealing and gives you a sense of anticipation.

Read all the posts about the Eat Dinner at the Table Tweak here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Related posts:

• Tweak: Eat Consciously

Haven’t we all said things like this before?

• If I get rid of this wedding vase, I’ll feel guilty.
• But I might need seven sleeping bags one day.
• I think this brooch/chair/ugly knickknack might be valuable again.
• If I put the bills away, I’ll never pay them on time.
• I want this chartreuse muumuu to go to a good home.
• I want to declutter, but I can’t get motivated.

Go read the article now to get some great solutions for these dilemmas — and bookmark the article

What are your favorite non-reasons for holding on to clutter?

Read all the decluttering posts here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Related posts:

• Dealing with Clothing Clutter
• Anti-Hoarding Strategies from a Hoarding Therapist

However, if you were forced to make your bed as a child and you don’t do it now as an adult, you may feel resistance to starting. Maybe the idea of having to make your bed makes you feel a little bit rebellious. But perhaps you feel like you “should” make the bed. If this describes you: Back away from the Make the Bed Tweak now and go find a Tweak that sings to you! Come back to this Tweak when you feel in your heart that a bed-making habit would be an expression of the nurturing and care you’d like to show yourself. The Tweaks are not about “shoulds” and I want you to choose Tweaks that give you a sense of joyful anticipation.

Okay, that said, I have been making my bed in the morning for perhaps four years and it now feels like a natural part of my morning routine. My husband and I usually wake together and so we make the bed together most mornings, but sometimes one of us gets sidetracked and the other one just goes ahead and makes it alone. Either way, to me the chore always feels like a little ritual that reminds me of the gratitude I have for our happy marriage. If you are single, making the bed can be a way to show yourself how much you care about making yourself comfortable and happy.

Making the bed was not the easiest routine to establish. Sometimes I dropped the habit for a day or two or a week or two, but every time I recommitted to the bed-making it became a little more ingrained and easy to maintain the routine until it finally stuck.

These days, I love having the bed made. It really helps the bedroom to seem peaceful, neat and uncluttered. I don’t mind having the bedroom door open when there is company in our home when the bed is made. The surface of the tidy bed makes a great place to sort and fold clean laundry (and having the laundry on the bed prompts me to make sure it’s folded and put away before the end of the day). At night, it still makes me feel a little bit special to fold down the covers and get in between smooth, unwrinkled sheets It’s like a hotel or something!

Remember:

Choose no more than one tweak per month – don’t try to pile them on!  Practicing a single tweak for at least a full month gives you the best chance of forming a real habit and life change.  Do not try to add another tweak until the previous tweak has become a habitual part of your life (this can sometimes take longer than a month).

This is all about loving yourself and creating a joyful life! Therefore, when choosing a new tweak to practice, pick one that is appealing and gives you a sense of anticipation.

Read all the posts about the Make the Bed Tweak here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/morgui/

Related posts:

• Tweak: Daily Personal Grooming
• Tweak: Laundry Routine

The UCLA treatment program concentrates on helping hoarders with discarding clutter, organizing kept items, preventing incoming clutter and introducing alternative behaviors. Therefore, I’ve boiled down the article’s strategies into these four categories.

Discarding

The program’s patients choose a single room to start decluttering and stick with that room until it is cleared. (I too advise this approach in my post “7 Steps to Declutter Your Home in 15 Minutes a Day.” ) It helps to choose an arbitrary clutter-clearing path around the room and stick with it. They handle items once, and handle every item — no sifting.

When discarding items during the intensive treatment program, hoarders learn to rate their anxiety on a scale and then monitor the anxiety over time — the anxiety always decreases. The anxiety decreases faster if the discarded item is out of sight (the old out of sight, out of mind). When discarding, notice that nothing terrible happens after getting rid of a valuable-seeming item; this will help make it easier to make future clutter discarding decisions.

When discarding items, ask yourself:

• What’s the worst thing that would happen if I didn’t have this item?
• What do I think other people do with similar items?
• If I need this information later, how could I access it if I throw this away now? (Helpful with paper clutter.)

Organizing

People who hoard tend to like to keep things out in plain sight because they are afraid that they will forget about the item or what it represents if it is put away. (I am very much this way, especially with paper clutter. Now that the house is virtually clutter-free, I can use this “in plain sight” trick effectively to help me remember things — for example, I’ll put my shopping basket in front of the door in the morning so I don’t forget it.)

Hoarders also tend to categorize items differently from non-hoarders, which means that we may sort and store items in inefficient, complicated ways. Over-categorizing is a common problem.

Once clutter has been cleared from a room or an area, it’s best to start using that area for its intended purpose right away. For example, relax on your couch, sleep on your bed, or use your kitchen counters and table for preparing and eating food. Empty the trash every day.

Preventing Incoming Clutter

Discontinue as many subscriptions to magazines, newsletters and catalogs as possible.

If shopping is a problem, it can be helpful to practice going into stores and resisting the urge to buy. Hoarders with serious shopping problems could place credit cards with trusted family or friends. (I found the information on minimizing incoming clutter to be rather sparse in the article. This is a big issue for a lot of people.)

Introducing Alternative Behaviors

People who hoard tend to be resistant to the idea of schedules and routines, but structure really helps. A pattern of late nights and sleeping in is a common problem, and so it’s good to get back to a regular sleep/wake routine (see the Get Enough Sleep Tweak posts). The therapists believe that normalizing your sleep routine can also help with depression.

As hoarders, we tend to be all or nothing people. When our homes are overwhelmed with clutter, we tend to spend all our time either trying to cope with the mess or hiding from it in bed (this sounds familiar and I would add “or on the computer”). The program works on helping the hoarder create a balance of work, recreation and rest.

Hoarding patients develop a simple daily routine that includes emptying trash, doing dishes and sorting mail. They set a specific day of the week to do laundry and pay bills.

Conclusion

The effectiveness of UCLA’s treatment program comes down to the motivation of the participants, and I would bet that this is always true of any attempt to overcome or manage hoarding tendencies.

But if you are a hoarder, you are here reading this right now, which means that you are probably already highly motivated to change your life. Many hoarders, tragically, do not seem to believe that there is a problem at all and completely resist the idea of changing. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that there is hope even for those who are unable to get into intensive treatment — gradual, small improvements in routines and ways of doing things can be transformative!

Read all the decluttering posts here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spryngtree/

No related posts.

Well, I didn’t really want the kitties either, to be honest, but still my heart kind of ached at the idea of getting rid of things that once held meaning for my used-to-be-little boy. The kitties spent the last two weeks on my otherwise uncluttered desk.

Today I had a flash of brilliance. We live on a busy street with lots of pedestrian traffic, and lots of kids. I passed the kitties over to my husband and asked him to walk them a block or two away and find a wall to put them on next to the sidewalk. In my imaginings, a child would find the kitties and treasure them (for a while at least). Thinking this, I could part with the figurines. “But take a picture!” I begged my hubby. I knew I would want to tell this story on my blog.

Hilarity ensued. When Martin found a nice wall for the kitties and put them up there, the smaller one crashed to the ground and broke! A tragic loss But here is a picture of the lone surviving kitty, waiting for its new owner.

Sometimes it really is hard for us to part with our clutter. People like us who have clutter and hoarding issues tend to imbue objects with intense emotional significance, and we sometimes even feel guilt toward the objects themselves when we are ready to release them from our lives. When you run into a quandary like this, consider whether there is a creative way you can part with the item without anxiety You might be surprised at what you dream up!

This is a Friday Fun post. 

Read all the decluttering posts here.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Related posts:

• A New “Now” Picture

Leaving the house every day opens up all sorts of opportunities. For example, you could:

• drop off items you’ve planned to donate
• shop for fresh, nutritious food to fuel your body
• get some sunshine (and Vitamin D) to improve your mood and health
• go to a cafe for a hot or cool drink and some people watching
• rent a DVD (and return it on time because you’re going out tomorrow too)
• take a box of used books to a used bookstore to trade for some books you haven’t yet read
• go for a stroll
• go for a swim at a beach, lake, or pool
• take the kids to the park
• take your old magazines to a doctor’s or dentist’s office
• go on a date with your significant other
• meet a friend for a chat
• please leave a comment with your favorite idea!

When you choose this Tweak, find a fun and/or useful reason to leave the house every day — or no reason at all!

Remember:

Choose no more than one tweak per month – don’t try to pile them on!  Practicing a single tweak for at least a full month gives you the best chance of forming a real habit and life change.  Do not try to add another tweak until the previous tweak has become a habitual part of your life (this can sometimes take longer than a month).

This is all about loving yourself and creating a joyful life! Therefore, when choosing a new tweak to practice, pick one that is appealing and gives you a sense of anticipation.

Read all posts about the Get Out of the House Tweak.

Click here to get updates and information about the NurturingHope.com Tweaks System by email, FREE.

Click here to find out more about our private, supportive Member Forum.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gossamer_monster/

Related posts:

• Tweak: Eat Consciously