Daily Preparedness

Clean clothes, dirty clothes, clothes waiting to be folded, clothes waiting to be matched, clothes waiting to be ironed, clothes waiting to be mended…..it makes us envy our furry friends who can forget the bothersome realities of acceptable society. A task that few really enjoy doing, getting your laundry organized, processed and back where it belongs in a timely fashion reaps great rewards. A few ideas to consider:

1. Remove clothes from your closet and drawers that you do not use. Reducing the clutter will make it easier to find and use what you have! Store out of season clothes under beds, in boxes, at the back of the closet, in an extra closet–anywhere that they are out of your way.
2. Teach EVERYONE in the house that dirty clothes belong in the hamper and clean clothes should be stored appropriately. The two categories of clothing should not be mixed.
3. If possible, have hampers that sort the clothes as you remove them. A divided hamper with areas for white, lights, darks, etc. cuts out the sorting step.
4. Do not place wet articles in hampers. Allow to dry to avoid mold, mildew and damp smells.
5. Keep stain sticks in each bathroom or near each hamper. Treat stains as soon as you see them.
6. If you live in a multi-story house where dirty clothes and the washer are not on the same level, consider bagging dirty laundry in laundry bags for transport. Bag according to the type of load. If you want to avoid accidents on the stairs or multiple trips up and down, simply toss the loaded bags down the stairs.
7. Do a sweep of bathrooms and bedrooms when you bag the laundry.
8. If you have family members that are constantly leaving dirty clothes where they don’t belong, develop a reward or penalty system. Don’t wash the clothes that aren’t in the hamper. Add extra chores for whatever you have to pick up. Be creative!
9. Have baskets or hampers for clean clothes. Don’t put clean laundry back into the dirty laundry bags that you used to bag up the dirty clothes. Inexpensive mesh folding hampers are great for clean clothes. You can have one for each category of laundry and each person’s clothing.
10. Have a place near the washer and dryer to keep the filled laundry bags before they are washed. NO LOOSE LAUNDRY. IKEA makes inexpensive folding hampers that are wonderful for storing dirty clothes.
11. Organize your washer and dryer area. Having a bin that holds laundry soap, bleach, etc will keep the area clean. Hanging shoe bags can be mounted to a wall and help keep the area well organized. Place dryer sheets, stain sticks, bleach pens, etc. near the washer and dryer. Have a bag for ‘orphan socks’. A bag designed for holding plastic garbage bags works well to hold lingerie bags. Post laundry instructions, including water temperature, cycle, etc. if others are doing their own laundry. Have empty hangers and a place to hang clothes as they come out of the dryer. Over-the-door hooks work if you don’t have a clothesline or clothing rack.
12. Remember to always clean out the dryer lint trap with each load. Every few months, place the lint trap under hot tap water and let it run until the water runs through the mess easily. If your washer has a lint trip, clean it as well.
13. Hang up clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer. This can reduce ironing time!
14. Fold easily wrinkled clothes as quickly as possible. If your dryer down folds down, fold the items onto the drawer as they come out.
15. If an item needs mending, mark it and hang it in a place reserved for mending.
16. Decide if there are items that you could skip folding. Could you organize under clothes, children’s play clothes, towels, washcloths, etc in such a way that folding is not necessary? Bins, baskets and drawers dedicated to one type of clothing or household linen can help you avoid folding.
17. Match socks as quickly as possible. You might want to consider buying a lot of socks exactly the same, thus making matching easier or unnecessary.
18. If  you have multiple sizes of sheets, label each sheet along the edge with a permanent marker.
19. Simplify linens by having all one color of towel, sheets, etc.
20. Items that do not need to be folded immediately, can be stored in a clean hamper and folded while watching TV or talking on the phone. Everyone can help, including young children. Their small hands are perfect for washcloth folding.
21. Always have extra laundry soap, bleach and dryer sheets on hand.
22. For big events or especially busy weeks, be certain that you have every item you need cleaned and stored properly well in advance.
23. Before buying clothing, consider the care instructions. Buy clothes that do not require more care than you wish to give them.
24. Use an inexpensive dry cleaner for shirts you don’t want to iron. Many are as cheap as $1 a shirt.
25. Have a set place to store items that need to be ironed. Before steam irons, our grandmothers ’sprinkled’ clothing with water and then stored in the freezer until it was time to iron them. This works really well for linen and cotton.
26. If you use spray starch, be sure to cover your ironing board and the floor underneath it.
27. Change sheets in the morning and put the clean sheets back on the same bed in the afternoon.
28. Laundry backlog can be avoided if you do a bit each day.
29. Don’t change all of the sheets on the same day unless you have time to process multiple loads.

Whatever systems you use, keeping clothing clean and well organized not only reduces stress, but increases the lifespan of all things textile!

Thanksgiving is nearly here–time to review safe turkey handling procedures. Serve up a feast, not a germ-fest by following these simple guidelines:

• Turkey is nutritious, low in fat and freezes well. Purchase an extra one at the season’s rock bottom prices and store in the deep freeze for nine months to one year. After that time, quality will begin to go downhill.
• Safe food handling is CRITICAL! Don’t fall into the ‘but my mother did it this way’ trap.
• If purchasing a fresh, never frozen turkey, purchase it only a day or two before Thanksgiving. Most stores allow you to reserve a fresh turkey. Purchase it last at the store and get it into the refrigerator at home quickly. Keep a tray under it to catch any drippings.
• Never purchase a pre-stuffed fresh (as in not frozen at the store) turkey.
• There are safe, FDA-approved frozen pre-stuffed turkeys. Follow instructions for these birds religiously.
• Allow plenty of time to defrost your turkey in THE REFRIGERATOR. Place turkey at bottom of frig with a drip tray under it.
• ALWAYS WASH HANDS BEFORE AND AFTER HANDLING THE TURKEY, EVEN IN THE PACKAGING.
• Never thaw a turkey on the counter. If you must rush the thawing process, keep the bird in water that is less than 70F. Change water every 30 minutes.
• Keep raw turkey away from other foods.
• Clean all surfaces that will come in contact with the raw bird–before and after contact!
• Remove packages of turkey ‘extras’ from both cavities of the bird.
• According to Julia Child and Jacques Peppin, your turkey will cook quicker, more evenly & the white meat will be moister if you cut down to the joint where the thigh meets the body & then disjoint the thigh at the body. You can do this by bending the leg/thigh joint and pushing it toward the neck, then back and finally out from the body. A sharp knife is sometimes necessary, so be careful! Also, cut off the tip of the wings and the end of the leg bone.
• Don’t rely on the ‘pop-up’ timer that comes with your turkey.
• Cover the breast portion of the turkey with cheesecloth or aluminum foil to hold in juices. Uncover for the last 30 minutes to allow that skin to brown.
• Consuming stuffing baked in the bird is a great way to contract a multitude of food-borne illnesses. Instead, stuff the turkey with ‘throw away’ items to keep the meat moist and bake your stuffing separately. The tops of celery, wilted lettuce, even apples are great things to stuff the turkey cavity with.
• If you absolutely insist on eating the stuffing from inside the bird, use a reliable meat thermometer to make certain that all inner parts of the stuffing have reached at least 165F. As an added precaution (but still NOT recommended) you can remove the stuffing, place in a baking dish and return to the oven until it reaches 180F.
• DO NOT cook your turkey in an oven below 325F. Some of the slow cook methods allow parts of the turkey to remain at too low a temperature to kill off harmful bacteria.
• Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the turkey in multiple deep locations, such as the thigh joint. Even if the bird has a pop-up indicator, double check for yourself. Reliable digital meat thermometers that can sit outside your oven and alarm when a desired temperature is reached can be purchased for well under $20.
• You can safely let the turkey sit after roasting for 20 minutes. The maximum amount of time, in a cool room, that the food should be left out is two hours. Timing begins as soon as foods are removed from the oven or stovetop.
• Keep foods warm during dinner utilizing hot plates, warming trays, etc.
• Quickly refrigerate leftovers in small packages, spread out within the refrigerator. If your refrigerator is fool or leftovers are extremely warm, pre-cool them by immersing the sealed container of leftovers in a large container of ice.
• If you want to get a head start, prepare turkey stock this week. Freeze after cooled and you have the beginnings of gravy. You can also thicken the stock before freezing. Add this to the ‘brown bits’ in the bottom of your turkey roaster on Thanksgiving Day.
• Eat up leftovers quickly. Stuffing, pies, meats and gravies should be eaten with three to four days. Reheat only the amount you will eat at that meal. Freeze what you will not eat within the prescribed amount of time.
• THIS WEEK, check the temperature of your refrigerator to be certain that it is within the safe range–lower than 40F. Your home freezer should be 0F or lower.

Have a safe, happy and healthy Thanksgiving!