It’s the Little Things | August 2019

The last few months, I’ve been slowly been upgrading the tools and organizational products we use almost every day.  Based on my own experience, I’ve noticed that if it’s something that annoys me a little bit every day, then it’s worth spending a little bit of money to fix the problem, whether that means better processes or better tools.  We put up with small annoyances in life, but when you add them all together, it really can impact your overall well-being and happiness.  So these little improvements make me just a little bit more joyful and happy every single day.  It’s the little things sometimes!

Today I’ll show you four things we’ve purchased in the last month to make our lives better.  I didn’t have the foresight to take any “before” photos, so I only have “after” photos.  I’ll try to remember to plan ahead next time, because I think I’d like to make these posts into a semi-regular thing on this blog.  Small upgrades that make life easier or better!

First up is this $6 stainless steel toothbrush and toothpaste holder for my bathroom counter.

We had been using just a plastic cup to put our toothpastes and toothbrushes into.  We each had one.  But we all know how often you have to actually wash the cups, because it can get gummy and gross in there.  I thought this stainless steel holder was much more attractive and hygienic!  So far so good and I like it.

The next three things are kitchen related.  Ever since I quit my job last year and became a stay-at-home-wife-and-business-owner, I’ve spent a lot more time in the kitchen.  I prep veggies and fruits, I chop and prep meals, and I cook a lot more.  Almost every week I notice something annoying about our kitchen tools or processes, LOL.  So I have upgraded/replaced some tools to make our kitchen life better.  To me, it’s totally worth it to remove obstacles for something you want to do MORE of.  I wanted to cook and clean more, so I wanted better tools.

First is a vegetable peeler.  This $7 food prep peeler is an upgrade to our Kuhn Rikon one that we got from Sur La Table many years ago. 

The OXO one has a way better and more ergonomic grip.  I peel a lot for food prep nowadays (sweet potatoes, beets, etc.), so a tool upgrade was necessary.  I’m really excited about this one!

Next, it’s an organization upgrade for inside the spice cabinet.  We used to have all our spices big and small just sprawled inside the spice cabinet.  We had a wire stand so we could fit more spices on top of each other, but you really couldn’t see the spices hidden in the back.  One day I just got tired of it and bought this $13 two-tier lazy susan that fits inside our kitchen cabinet. 

Now we can see all our spices!  Not only that, but Todd went and alphabetized each tier, so it’s even easier to find what we’re looking for, ha ha!  I love this upgrade!  It’s just one of those things where it’s so cheap and has made such a positive impact, that you wonder, “Why didn’t we do this years ago???”

The last kitchen related item is this $16 salad lunch container. 

Todd brings his lunch to work almost every day.  When I worked I brought my lunch too.  It’s rare for us to have to buy lunch, unless it is a pre-planned lunch with coworkers/friends.  We bring our lunches because it’s more nutritious and healthy, and because it saves SO MUCH money to not have to buy lunch out every single day.  Lately during the summer, we’ve been eating more salads for dinner and Todd’s been bringing salads to work for lunch.  We didn’t have a good system/container for bringing salads.  You want to keep the wetter ingredients separate from the lettuce.  And you want to have a good container for the dressing too.  While you could bring three separate containers for all these things, it got to be a pain.  So when I saw my friend Jen’s video on meal prep, I was smitten with this salad-to-go container.  It is perfect for bringing salads to work!  You put the lettuce in the big tub, then you put the wetter ingredients, cheese, and maybe meat on the top tray, along with the dressing in the little container.  I would have bought two of them, if I were still working! 

And by the way, if you love meal prep, cooking, and cleaning videos, you need to go subscribe to my friend Jen Chapin’s channel on YouTube!  She has taught me so much and has inspired me to keep my kitchen cleaner and meal prep.  She was a scrapbooking friend but now she’s expanded her channel into meal prep and I’m totally enjoying it!

These are a few of my recent little life upgrades.  I love that these things don’t cost much but make life so much easier and better.  I hope to make this type of post a regular thing (monthly?) going forward.  Do you have any little things that you’ve upgraded that makes your life way better?  Let me know in the comments, I would love to hear!

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