I think you know my husband Doug best from the pictures of the work he’s doing for the house renovation, but what you haven’t heard is that he is a Registered Investment Advisor. He listens to financial news for fun.

In our family, and in our marriage, we have different roles for how we deal with our money. I focus more on saving money and making intentional purchases. Doug’s role is that he works to invest and increase what we earn. We work together so that we will manage our money well.

For years he has pictured that being an independent advisor helping clients to better invest their money would be his dream job. We’re going to do it. This past year Doug turned down other job offers since he had a better idea in mind, and once that idea took hold, that was it.

We started an investment company called Pier.

Pier provides investment management with an emphasis on producing income streams. It’s for people who want to live off their investments during retirement (without withdrawing principal) and people who want passive income from investments.

If you have old 401(k) accounts from past employers or IRAs that are underperforming, Doug can help you with that.

He’s quite talented at managing investments, but you know I’m biased.

Check out the new site just so you can look at what we’ve been working on behind the scenes all this time. (If you think this might help you, you should definitely look into it.)

See the comments for this post: Our New Company: Pier

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You might be wondering why my spice jars have tiny pink chicks on the tops.

One day I was having a hard time, and when I arrived at home, Doug had glued pink chicks to everything in the pantry to cheer me up. Imagine them on the tops of cereal boxes, crackers, bottles of oil, spices, and tea. Everywhere. Pink chicks had completely taken over the pantry, so I let them stay. That was a couple of months ago, and they’ve been here ever since.

The last time I sorted through my spices, I had quite a few more than I do today. Twice as many, perhaps. I didn’t want to throw them away because spices are so expensive, you know? Some of them were ten years old, dried basil from 1998!

What we forget is that spices are food. They’re supposed to have a scent. We wouldn’t eat ten-year-old food in most cases, but yet we still hold on to those tiny old bottles of marjoram and anise and allspice as if they make our spice cabinet look more official, even when we never use them.

Let’s clean out the spice cabinet and keep the spices that we really use, not the ones we think we’re supposed to keep. Old spices taste like paper and smell like dust, and they are not going to help our recipes.

The good news is that you don’t have to worry about spending money to buy more spices. You weren’t using the old ones anyway, so you don’t have to replace them!

How long do spices last? According to McCormick,

• Seasoning blends: 1-2 years
• Herbs: 1-3 years
• Ground spices: 2-3 years
• Whole spices (such as cinnamon sticks and peppercorns): 3-4 years
• Extracts: 4 years (except for pure vanilla, which lasts indefinitely)

Some people have asked me about buying the big containers of spices to save money at wholesale clubs like Sam’s and Costco, but I don’t recommend that unless you own a restaurant.

I prefer to buy small amounts of spices from grocery stores that sell spices in the bulk bins. I bought a bag of bay leaves for only eleven cents! It’s a lot cheaper when you don’t have to buy the bottles. I either refill my own bottles or just keep a few of the little bags in a wooden bowl.

You can label a repurposed bottle or write the purchase date as a reminder with a Sharpie marker. You can write directly on glass jars, and the marker ink comes off with rubbing alcohol. (I learned this from a reader’s comment.)

To keep your spices fresh longer, store them away from heat, light, and moisture. You probably don’t want to keep them right next to the stove.

I keep my spices on a shelf in the pantry, so I have a tiered shelf to help me see and reach them all. I think I got it from the Container Store.

If you aren’t sure how old your spices are, just smell or taste it to see if it still has flavor.

See the comments for this post: Organize the Spice Shelf

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I have been writing here at Small Notebook for four years now. Four years!

If I was writing this blog twelve years ago, it would sound very different. I was single and living by myself at the time, and I worked a lot, so whenever I organized something at home it would stay that way. Organizing was my hobby that I did sometimes because it made me feel like I was doing a good job. My papers were always neatly filed, and my clothes were always put away. It was easy.

Fast forward a few years, and organizing was no longer something I did to pass my free time, but something I was doing to keep up with an apartment and a family. It was not easy anymore. I also tried to focus on simplifying and having less stuff.

I started writing this blog, and after two years of focusing on simplifying and organizing, I felt frustrated that I was still spending so much of my time taking care of stuff. There was always something we needed to buy or replace, and I was spending time cleaning and picking up. It took time to make donations and keep records for tax purposes and sort through closets. I didn’t feel like there was an end to it.

I started having doubts about this whole process of simplifying.

If the idea of simplifying is to make your life simpler and free up some time, then why does it take so much time? And you’re never done!

Would it be easier, I wondered, simpler even, to just ignore my stuff? Was the process of trying to break free from consumerism and all my stuff actually causing me to think about my stuff more? I was spending a lot of time trying to make careful decisions about what I bought, I was going through closets and photos. What if I just put everything in a closet and pretended it wasn’t there?

At first our simplifying was about clutter removal, but gradually it became about clutter prevention. For example:

• I didn’t want to buy more clothes after I had just cleaned out my closet and donated several.
• I opted-out of receiving catalogs, phone books, and junk mail so I would have fewer papers to sort, and I started getting all of my bills and statements via digital download.
• I bought fewer clothes for the kids because I noticed I was organizing so many outgrown clothes that were not worn enough.

I didn’t see it at the time, but the process of simplifying was helping me. It was like an investment for the future, and it let me do a lot of things last year that would have been more difficult otherwise, such as putting our stuff into a storage unit and going to Europe for three months, convincing my husband to take a year-long work sabbatical after working for twenty-five years, and making it through a home search and renovation. Plus day-to-day life with kids. (Also? We’re about to launch a business. I’ll have to tell you more about that later.)

Simplifying and organizing go together. When you simplify your stuff, you don’t need to spend so much time organizing it. I skipped filing papers for a year while I worked on other things, and nothing bad happened.

Becoming more organized is not the goal. In fact, simplifying is not the goal either. Both are tools to help you reach better goals that involve people, plans, and dreams.

I used to have a nice coworker, and we got along well because we both liked order. He lined up his french fries in a row before he ate them one by one. He loved his wife, and even though his wife didn’t place as much importance on order as he did, he didn’t say anything about that to her because he wanted a happy home more than he cared about  having the plastic wrap and the foil nicely lined up in the kitchen drawer. It just wasn’t that important.

I want my organizing efforts to be beneficial but stop short of crazy lady with color-coded menu plans and label maker. At Small Notebook I’ll try to put my advice on the left side of the organizational bell curve.

See the comments for this post: Getting More Organized is Not the Goal

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I don’t file my papers on a regular basis. I know I’m supposed to, but my life is busy. Most of my papers go into a special file labeled, “I’ll Deal With This Later.”

So every year in January I try to control the damage and file the papers that I have let pile up. I know it’s actually February now, but as Alicia said, February is sort of like extra January.

It’s been more than three years since I did my first Paper Pile Makeover, and that one was a doozy. I had been trying to organize it all, and I learned that I should have been purging it. I got rid of a massive pile of paper by asking the question, “Why do I still have this?”

Now most of my incoming paperwork is digital, so even though I haven’t filed papers all year, the good news is that the stack I currently have is only seven inches tall.

Most people will give you the advice that you should start at the top of your stack, pick up the first piece of paper and deal with that one. Either file it or recycle it, but only touch it once before you move on to the next. Personally, I find this method to be painfully tedious and dull. I am motivated by quick results and makeovers. And also easiness.

Since I don’t want to spend all day working on my papers, here is my approach:

Reduce them by half.

Some papers are easier to deal with than the rest. I can make a big impact on this stack just by going through and quickly recycling the papers I don’t need anymore. I can file a few of them, and before I know it, the stack is half its size.

The next time I sit down to sort the papers, I’ll reduce it by half again, either recycling or filing them. They won’t be as easy this time, but the stack will be smaller. Each organizing session will have fewer papers to deal with, and by the time I get to the papers that I’ve been avoiding, I’ll almost be done.

I keep my physical papers in an inexpensive plastic crate that I’ve used for more than a decade. Most of my papers are scanned and on the computer. I keep my computer next to me so that I can update my calendar, address book, and to do list with notes as I go through the papers.

What you’ll need: a recycle bin, a scanner, your computer or notebook, and files.

Start your timer, and see what kind of impact you can make in an hour. I spent an hour working on my paper stack, and I managed to get the stack down to half its size. It was originally seven inches, and I worked it down to three and a half by recycling and filing.

Bonus! I found $155 in cash and checks that I had forgotten I had.

This is not the end. There is still more work to do, but it’s enough for today.

If you want to read more about how I deal with papers, you’ll find all the ideas in the Real Solutions: Paper section of this blog. We’ll also be talking about it more in the coming weeks.

See the comments for this post: When You Haven’t Filed Papers All Year, Reduce Them by Half

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I just came across this valentine I made a few years ago, so I thought I would share it in case you’re looking for a valentine gift idea. The things you love about someone, handwritten.

See the comments for this post: What I Love About You Valentine

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My family places importance on having good mornings. This does not mean we are good at mornings. Click to read about how my family has good mornings at Alpha Mom.

(I write at Alpha Mom about parenting and family. Here are some articles I’ve written recently.)

I wanted to make Valentine cards for the students in Lane’s class without using candy, so we decided to make these matchbook-style cards with stickers. Get the free printable template: Make Matchbook Valentine Cards (Free Printable)

Encourage Kids with Positive Labels Because I’m tired of seeing girls wearing shirts that say “Diva” and little boys wearing shirts that say “Trouble.”

Making Family Friends to Build a Support Network Are you new in town, too?

Oh, and That Time I Gave Really Bad Parenting Advice

A wintery craft idea: Snowman Bookmark

Except we haven’t seen any snow here. It’s been quite mild, and I keep waiting for winter to happen.

See the comments for this post: How My Family Has Good Mornings

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I have a lot of drop-in surprise visitors at my house, and I mean a lot. One time last month we had people unexpectedly stop by our house four different times in one day. It was like a sit-com.

And honestly, I love it when people stop by.

The most important rule when someone comes to your house, whether their visit is a surprise or not, is that you never apologize for your mess.

Apologizing sends the message, “I’m embarrassed, and I wish you hadn’t come.” A little bit of a mess will help people feel more comfortable when you don’t let it bother you. Besides, you don’t know how their house looks, and you wouldn’t want to make them feel bad.

My kitchen table can look messy when people stop by. We use it, so it should. I always give myself a mental high-five if the breakfast dishes are washed and the counters are clear. I cringe a little if part of my home is really trashed, but I use it as motivation to clean things up more before the next guest comes.

All this brings me to the point that most guests will not see your whole house. If anything, they will notice the front entry, so it helps me to feel more confident when the front of our house looks orderly.

My favorite way to add order and style to a front entry is to place hooks on the wall. This little detail works no matter where I live. I prefer the hooks to be about 3.5 feet up from the floor, about kid-height. You want to leave a few hooks open for guests. (Don’t hang all of your coats and bags, most should go in the closet.) Hooks always give a feeling of organization.

My recent find at a consignment antique store is this old handmade cabinet. I was excited to have a place to put the pottery I made, and the lower cabinet contains media, puzzles, and games. I put my collection of pottery mostly on the upper shelves because I want to keep the first shelf open for guests to put their stuff and handbags on it. I can count on this space staying organized so it looks nice when people drop by.

See the comments for this post: Create a Good First Impression: Organize Your Front Entry

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First, I just want to tell you that the way my plates are lined up in rainbow order is purely a coincidence. I am not that weird.

A few months ago we replaced a really old dishwasher with a new modern one, and while I was mostly satisfied with it (It’s so quiet!), it sometimes seemed to be lacking in its ability to fully clean the dishes. I’d have to rewash or rinse them by hand, defeating the whole purpose in having a dishwasher.

I was almost to the point of having to accept that they don’t make things like they used to, and I was going to be spending even more time at the kitchen sink. I don’t mind washing dishes by hand actually, but there are a lot of them.

Fortunately I found the solution to my dishwasher dilemma, and it was an easy one to fix.

 Make your dishwasher more effective with these quick tips:

1. Check the sprayer arm. When I opened the dishwasher door during a wash cycle, I learned that some of my utensils are too tall, and they blocked the sprayer arm from rotating. Problem solved! Also look at the holes on the sprayer arm to make sure they are not clogged. Use a toothpick if you need to dislodge anything.

2. Check the drain. Look inside the bottom of the dishwasher and remove any food or objects from the filter. Run the garbage disposal to clear it out before turning on the dishwasher since they share the same drain.

3. Don’t overuse detergent. It’s a mistake to assume you should always fill up the detergent cup. Check the manual and your detergent. On mine, filling it to the first line (about a third) is enough. Too much detergent can leave residue and etch your glasses.

4. Check your water temperature. If it takes a long time for the hot water to reach your kitchen sink, that means the dishwasher isn’t getting enough hot water at the beginning either, and that makes it harder to wash away the food particles and grease. If you need to, turn on the dishwasher after you’ve used hot water at the kitchen sink.

5. Clean the inside of your dishwasher. Grease, detergent residue, and calcium deposits build up inside your dishwasher. You can use vinegar to wash them away. On a regular basis (every few months or so), run a wash cycle while your dishwasher is empty. Don’t use detergent, but turn on the dishwasher and let it run for a few minutes until water starts to fill up the bottom. Then add one or two cups of white vinegar to the water and let it finish the cycle.

Sometimes using a dishwasher is an experiment in finding the right combination for hard or soft water, the detergent, and a rinse aid.

See the comments for this post: 5 Tips to Improve Your Dishwasher

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“I’m failing. Failing. Why can’t I do better?”

Those words persist, but I would never say those words to someone else.

That’s what I’m unloading this week, and I’m willing to share about it so that someone else won’t feel so alone.

See the comments for this post: Ditch the Negative Self Talk

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My kitchen is in progress right now, but a few months ago when we bought our house it looked like this:

Untouched from 1970. Very dark with lots of harvest gold.

During our first week of home ownership we pulled down the upper cabinets that divided the food prep area from the eat-in area. My heart raced as I anxiously watched those heavy oak cabinets be pried off the ceiling and come crashing down. It was for the best, as it opened up the space.

We considered removing the lower cabinets and counter that divide the room as well, but I’m glad we didn’t. We noticed during that first week how often we piled our tools on the counter, and it was so useful. It is the main landing spot in the house.

The kitchen counter is our dumping ground for everything that we bring into the house: groceries, bags, and school papers. It’s the place where we temporarily set glasses, tools, and toys as we come in from other rooms. It’s where I wrap gifts, pack lunches, and serve up meals for family and guests.

The kitchen is the center for work and activity in the house, and having a clear counter to serve as a work surface is essential.

We often treat the kitchen counter as a storage space, but it’s supposed to be a work space. Storage can get in the way. We can put our stuff on the counter, but that doesn’t mean it should stay there. It needs to move out of the way for the next activity to happen.

Let’s work on clearing off the kitchen counter today.

I always have a dish drying rack next to the sink, but otherwise I try to keep the counters as clear as I can. When I set something down temporarily, it’s obvious and out of place. This gives me incentive to put things where they should go.

See the comments for this post: Clear Your Kitchen Counter (It’s a Work Space, Not a Storage Space)

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