Storing and Preserving Onions

Well, last week I blogged about storing fruit and vegetables in general but how about storing just the simple onion? The message last week was to keep them in the fridge, but this seems to be a way to preserve them for even longer.

Apparently, if you store onions in tights (or pantyhose for our American cousins), they will keep for months - I heard up to eight! Just place the onions in the tights and tie a knot in between each one, and hang in a larder or similar dry, darkish place. And weird wall art or what?

Organising your Fridge

There are so many clever people on the web who've designed fantastic, handy graphics to say how to store and organise all sorts of things. I have always been a bit confused about how best to organise and store food in the fridge, especially to ensure everything is hygienic but also so nothing gets lost and goes to waste. I know raw meat is supposed to go at the bottom, but that's about it really. That's why I was pleased to find this graphic from Squawkfox that sets it all out, simply and clearly. It's a total cut out and keep on the fridge graphic - brilliant!

I thought you should store milk in the side door, but I guess this isn't right! The things you learn...

Storing Fruit and Vegetables

I've found a handy graphic from the V Spot that tells me where is best to store fruit and vegetables, so here it is! It's interesting, as we always have apples, grapes and cherries (etc) out for the kids to snack on, but I guess this isn't the best way to preserve them. I suppose it depends on how fast everything gets eaten too.

Another top tip is to keep onions and potatoes apart, as they will spoil if stored together. And on the flip side, storing potatoes with apples will help to stop sprouting.

Folding a Fitted Sheet

Fitted sheets are nigh on impossible to fold - or are they? Have a look at this clever lady from livingonadime.com and you will know how to do it with a little practice. It will save time, space and look ever so neat and tidy in your cupboard, especially if you are using my top tip to store matching sheet sets!

Additionally, if you can master this technique, I imagine it will save massive amounts of frustration time...!

Jewellery Organiser

I've done a post about organising, storing and displaying earrings, but what about the rest of one's jewellery? A great idea is to find some old cutlery trays and paint them; I think wooden would be best but you could try it with a plastic one too. Then stand it on one end and fix hooks to the end of the inside of each compartment.* Then fix the tray wherever you would like it - inside a cupboard door, on a wall for display, on a shelf etc.

* Thinking about it, it doesn't have to be just at the end - you could have several hooks in a compartment for eg. dangly earrings.

Recycling Cereal Boxes to organise your Leaflets

Take away menus, appointment letters, school notes, business flyers, vouchers - they're a pain but so often, we need to keep them. Mine go on the fridge and stress the magnets I own to the max. In fact, I invested in some super strong ones as the paperwork has increased so much!

However, a much better trick to use is to recycle those cereal boxes once again - who'd have thought they could be so useful? Drawer organisers, box files - and now they could be used for paperwork storage!  Simply cut the cereal box (make sure it's the right size you need) so that the back is higher than the front and cover with scrapbook paper or other pretty paper of your choice.

Just inside each corner on the back, attach something nice that will compliment the paper and style you're after. These could be ribbons, bulldog clips, clothes pegs, string etc - and then stick magnets to these. Or you can get magnetic bulldog clips. Or you could just stick magnets to the back of each corner of the cereal box and not worry about extra embellishments! Your way is the right way. And there you go, a gorgeous way of organising that paperwork without the risk of it all falling down each time you open the fridge, all in one place and designed exactly to your taste. Simple!

If you want to take it even further organisation-wise, you could design and make file dividers for the inside of the box.

Label your Cables

Okay, this one, if you think about it, seems obvious.  But I haven't yet done it and I should, and I will.

How many chargers and USB cords and cables do you have around the house? I have many. And I don't know what they all do until I test them.  So I am going to label them!  You can get special ones from Amazon and everything!

Storing Kitchen Food Bags & Foil

Boxes of food bags, cling film, foil, wax paper etc tend to get thrown under the sink in this house.  They then get pushed to the back of the cupboard and I can't find them, or they get squashed or everything starts falling out of them and there is a big mess of plastic and paper.

So a top tip is to use a magazine rack to store the boxes in - either in the cupboard or attached to the door.  And, even better, you could use a few of them to store other 'under the sink' items tidily and efficiently.  Brilliant!

Cleaning out the closet

I imagine a lot of us have loads of clothing that we simply don't wear any more. I am loathe to get rid of anything but, with space being minimal, it's time to get a but more ruthless.

A simple trick is to hang up clothes with the hanger backwards.  If something gets worn, it can then be hung back up with the hanger the right way round.  After a period of time - six months, a year - you can then easily see which clothes have not been worn and therefore, are in scope to give or throw away.

Keeping the car clean & tidy

Travelling by car means there is always rubbish by the end of it, whether it be car park tickets, food packets, tissues etc etc and it's really annoying to not have anywhere to store it during the journey.  A nice idea is to use a spare cereal container, line with a plastic bag, and place in one of the footrests.  It can then be easily used but also sealed to stop spills and smells, and then items dispensed of quickly and effortlessly at the end of the trip.

Storing shoes

I have quite a few pairs of shoes* and I know I need to think of neater ways to store them than thrown to the bottom of the cupboard, plonked in the hall or just dropped wherever I decide to remove them. So I've found two ways that may work, but they both will take a little time and investment.

The first is to store them in cardboard shoe boxes, with a photo of the shoes on the front of the box.

The second is to invest in some clear plastic boxes, so you can see which shoes are in which box.

With both methods, the boxes can then be stacked neatly in a cupboard or a shelf for easy access!

* Slight understatement.....

Storing and transporting gadget cords

I've found that, more and more often, I am having to bring with me cords and chargers and headphones (oh my!) for my various electrical gadgets. It's really annoying to have them all bundled at the bottom of my bag, getting tangled and confused and ultimately, the plastic coating getting torn and broken.

So I have a lot of cords.  But I also have quite a lot of spare glasses cases.  So a top tip is to use a glasses case to store the cords in! I can wrap the cords round tidily, place in the case and they are protected and easy to access.

Hanging clothes without slippage

It's really annoying when I am hanging clothes and they keep slipping off the hangers. No matter what I do or how I wrap them round, nothing seemed to work - until I found this simple top tip! Wrap a rubber band around each end of the hanger and this provides a simple ridge to stop the slippage.  Problem solved!

Alternative use for a Lazy Susan

A few days ago, I posted about an alternative use for cake stands.  Another item I own, but hardly use, is a Lazy Susan.  It just doesn't work on my largish, rectangular kitchen table so takes up space in the cupboard and never sees the light of day.

An idea I have spotted for the kitchen is to use one as a holder for bottles and jars such as vinegars, oils, sauces - or even alcohol!

You could use this either on the kitchen counter if you have pretty bottles to display or in a cupboard for storage, both providing easy access to all your culinary essentials.

Keeping track of matching sheet sets

Sick of searching through the airing cupboard, looking for matching sheet sets?  Why not store all the different sheets - the fitted sheet, flat sheet, duvet cover and pillowcases all in one pillowcase?  Then all you need to do is grab the 'bag' of sheets and you're ready to go!

Alternative use for a cake stand

I've got a couple of cake stands now which are brilliant when I am having friends over for cake and cupcakes.  They look lovely and make me seem like a real domestic goddess!  However, the frequency of such an event is... hmmm... rarely.  In reality, my cake stands are packed away in the cupboard and if I make cake, it gets eaten off the plate!

So why not find an alternative use for the humble cake stand?  A nice idea is to use it to hold bits and bobs on the dressing table.  So it could be used for perfume bottles, jewellery, make-up - anything really - but it will keep it all together and look pretty.

Recycling Cereal Boxes to make Box Files

I've been finding that, despite this whole idea of a paperless home and office, I'm getting more and more paperwork.  Letters from the kids' school, appointments, party invitations, vouchers, reminders - the list goes on!  Inevitably, I lose some of it - or it clutters up the house - so I have been looking at ways of keeping track of it in an efficient but pretty way.

One great tip I have found is to recycle old cereal boxes.  It's so simple!  Take an old cereal box and cut it into a box file shape.  I cut about two-thirds of the way down the side and the same again across the top.  If you want to be really precise, you can measure it and mark it up with a pencil, but I didn't find it necessary.

Next - decorate!  Choose any paper you like, be it specialist crafting paper or just simple wrapping paper, and glue it on.  What's also great about this is that you can use any size box you like, depending on what you're storing.  And there you have it - quick, easy, cheap, efficient and easy organisation!

Recycling Cardboard Boxes to make Drawer Organisers

My underwear drawer was a mess.  But then I discovered a way to utilise all of those old shoe boxes I had hanging around, waiting for me to do something with them - use them as drawer dividers to create a cheap and easy way to organise my stuff!

Literally, all I did was to cut the boxes in half, either along the length or width to fit the space and fill each section with my socks, underwear and bras.  Quick, easy and cheap - and I can now find what I need without rummaging around every morning!  And if you want to make it pretty, it's easy to do with some lovely craft paper and glue.

You can do this with any drawer - it doesn't have to be underwear!  And I imagine any box will do - think cereal boxes as well....

Preserving Fresh Herbs II

So I've just said how you can preserve fresh herbs so that they aren't wasted once you've opened the packet, but there are other ways that they can be used and saved too, which I think are brilliant!  These involve creating herb oils or butters and freezing.

For herb oil, all you have to do is chop the fresh herbs very finely, put in an ice cube tray and add olive oil.  Mix a little. Pop in the freezer, then, once they're frozen, place in a sealable plastic bag, label and use when needed.

For the herb butter, chop the herbs and add garlic for a bit of a kick!  Mix with room-temperature butter to taste and then wrap, sausage-like, in some greaseproof paper.

Place in the freezer for up to an hour so it firms up and then chop into slices about 1cm thick.  Re-wrap in the paper, ready to use when needed.  I'm planning on making some garlic bread with this - chop a baguette, add some ready-made butter to each slice and bake.  Yum and quick!

I have to say, this and the previous post of drying herbs is something that I do already but thanks to Jamie Oliver's new series 'Save with Jamie' for reminding me!

Preserving Fresh Herbs

If you're anything like me with herbs, you've got the best intentions when you buy those little bags of fresh ones from the supermarket - lots of plans to cook gorgeously flavoured and seasoned recipes from scratch.  But what inevitably happens is that I use about 1/4 of the packet, throw the rest into the fridge and forget about it until it's gone off.  So what to do with the remainder, so you're not wasting it and wasting money?  It's simple!

All you have to do it bunch them up with a bit of string and hang them somewhere fairly warm, like an airing cupboard or larder.  I've got some sage and some bay leaves on the go at the moment, and have attached them to a cooling rack by the oven.  Leave to dry out for a while - at least 12 hours - until they are crisp and then store in a jar or Tupperware and use as you would dry herbs.  They will last for ages this way.

Click here for another way of preserving those fresh herbs!