Making a Home - The Neighbor Edition

After moving into a new house, there are so many things needed to be done in order to turn it into a home. Not just all of the cleaning, remodeling, and unpacking, but things like gardening, meeting the neighbors, finding the grocery store, etc. Let this be a guide to help you to make some new friends.

For starters, stop researching. No one ever met anyone else by researching. It takes an effort to get out and meet people. Check social media and other online groups for where the local hot spots are, and then get out and start talking! It's often helpful to talk to the neighbors before you move in. This is both helpful to feel out the neighborhood, size up welcome gifts (if any), and even enlist help with the moving and unpacking on that difficult day!

Some other things that can be useful before moving to a new area: Watch the local news either by TV or the internet (even YouTube!) to find out about the local community. Subscribe to the local newspaper. Most newspapers have a website, so you can use these also. While you're on the internet, use online groups and social media to connect virtually and find out what's popular in the area and about local events. Before you move, you'll definitely be in the area to scope out your new digs and the area, so drop into local shops and start up conversations with the people who live locally to introduce yourself and fact find.

After you move, keep reading the newspaper, keep checking the local news, but get out of the house! Take your pets for a walk, and greet everyone you meet. Talk to other pet owners while your pets get to know each other. Stop at a park and talk to friendly strangers while your pet learns the area and gets a rest. Visit the local library and coffee shops. People here usually have more free time, and are often open to conversations. Taking a class at the local community center is another good way to get to know people. It's much easier for people to talk while they're doing something, and invites to go do XX afterwards are common. Try turning off your GPS and go explore your area. If you get lost, you can always turn it back on to get home, or, even better, stop in and ask for directions! What better way to start a conversation?

Tired of packing? why not take a break and get some fresh air? Moving trucks attract a lot of attention. The locals are much more likely to move in to talk to the new residents when the truck is still in the driveway, and it's important to make yourself available. The more approachable you are, the more likely you are to make new friends fast!

Lastly, what move is complete without a house-warming party? Invite your new friends AND old friends. Invite your family! It's important to not forget the friends you have already when making a new home with a new social group. If everyone is too far away, the wonders of technology keep you connected! Just because you're moving doesn't mean you lose everything! Bring parts of your old home to your new home!

Kitchen Storage Tips

A cramped kitchen is incredibly hard to work in. Remodeling your kitchen can be a real pain. Sometimes, you've got no choice with the design, and so you just do your best until you can upgrade or build your dream kitchen. While it can be a large pain, and doing it yourself may cause some heartache, it's worth it! Even small adjustments can make your space more efficient and productive, yet reduce the clutter!

Use Your Space!

There are many places we don't think about which have wasted space; space we could be using to store things, but aren't yet. Don’t be one of those people. Learn to think outside the box! You can attach cork board to doors to hold knives or recipes. You can install racks or clip strips to keep spices, recipes, coupons and lists. This frees up extra drawer space for other things. It's even a great place to hang other cooking utensils, like measuring spoons or any other utensil which has a hook. I especially like to put my frying utensils in easy to access spots. It's even a good place to put racks or baskets to hold cleaning supplies like sponges, or pot lids. There's not much a good cabinet door can't hold for you.
 
And don't forget about the space under the cabinets too! They can be used to hold paper towel (or cloth towel) racks and even knife blocks like this one! Don't put a limit on your creativity! 

 

Serious Shelving

Shelves are another option you can utilize maximize your space. The secret to uncluttering your kitchen space is to keep everything off the counters that you can. A kitchen without proper shelving and cabinets isn't a kitchen, it's just a cook space! So make that kitchen more comfy by installing some shelves for yourself. Regular shelves are great for displaying decorative dishes and teapots, but lack a bit for other kinds of utility. I prefer to install more useful shelving. 

A pantry without shelves is just a closet, so, try different ways to make your pantry more useful.

 

Container Clutter

When we buy things at store, they always come in packages inside packages inside packaging. All this extra wrap, trap, and scrap can take a lot of extra room when you're trying to store something. I always unpackage everything as much as possible without spoilage or risk of loss of freshness. This can help reduce all the extra clutter in a kitchen. That's not to say, however, that I am against containers in the kitchen! 

Baskets make great kitchen aids! Put all your spices of a similar theme in one basket, or all the dry ingredients you use to make your favorite Mexican dish in a basket together. Store your flour, sugar, or other powdered items in a large, decorative glass jar with a vacuum seal lid. I recommend keeping some kind of desiccant in the jar with them to avoid clumping, however!

Organizing Your Kitchen

I don't know about you, but the kitchen is my favorite room in the house. It's hard to share it, it's hard to let anyone else use it, and it's impossible to let someone else organize it. The only good part of moving to a new house is reorganizing my kitchen. Every time, I get to put everything in the cabinets the way I want, in an easy to use fashion. If I could move kitchen every month, I would! If I had to move house every month, I might give up on living. Here's a few tips on how I keep my cabinets, dishes, and cooking utensils easy to use and well organized.

 

First up: where and when!

The first thing I do is to really take a look at my kitchen, and see what I have to work with as far as
storage. Cabinets with opaque doors, or doors we can see through? Can I reach the shelves without a step-stool or ladder? Do I need a rocket to reach the top shelf? Which shelves have a greater chance to leak or are near the stove/microwave and will get too hot to store foodstuffs? Check out all of these things, and then you're ready to start to organize.

Spices, baking goods, and other perishables.

For any ingredients I am keeping, I like to keep them somewhere easy to see. My preference is to keep them in a cabinet with a glass or plastic door that allows me to see what's inside. Then I can open it easily and get what I want right away. I often use small baskets or other such containers that can store spices in a theme; Italian, Mexican, Pizza, or any other theme that works well for you. I also want to make sure this storage space is fairly temperature controlled. If the temperature spikes, it's too humid, or it's too dry, it can have an adverse effect on your stored goods. A full plastic bottle of oil may not be full anymore after the oil heats up and overflows all over the cabinet.

If I can't use a storage space where I can see inside, or, I can't replace the doors such that I will be
able to, then I make sure to organize my spices by commonly used grouping, and store them in the closest place to my work space. I try to do my mixing and preparation away from the stove and oven (and dishwasher) so that the heat doesn't affect what I am preparing!

Cups, plates, bowls, serving dishes....

Nothing makes me more cranky than when my dish cabinets are in disarray. I try to put my dishes in order from largest to smallest, flattest to most curvy. I also make sure I sort all of my dishes by design, and put all the items with the same design in the same spot. I can't sleep at night if they're in disarray!

I store my serving and presentation plates in a separate cabinet from my every day use items. These also are organized by size, height, and design. I make sure to do it this way to maximize my storage space.