The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present
3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every
Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET
4:30AM GM)

Today Setting up a functional kitchen.

There’s no doubt in my mind that the majority of kitchens in the average home were NOT designed with the needs of the average user in mind. I’m constantly astounded at the absurdity of some of the layouts I see that leave the king or queen of the kitchen struggling to deal with simple tasks and wasting vast amounts of time due solely to poor design.

Unfortunately kitchens are very expensive rooms to replace and so we’re stuck with trying to make the best of a bad situation, so here’s a few pointers that you can implement to help reduce the impact of poor kitchen design.

Look at your kitchen and work out your magic triangle - this is between the sink, stove and fridge. Somewhere in that triangle should be bench space to prepare your meals on. Sometimes it’s quite inadequate so the last thing you should have are any items stored in this area, it should be free clear space for preparing.

Next consider all of your kitchen contents & categorise them based on using the ‘FROG’ acronym.

• F=frequently used
• R=regularly used
• O=occasionally used and
• G= gotta keep but rarely use or don’t use.

Now cutting knives for example will likely be an F item and the Xmas dinnerware will be a G item.
Now look at your kitchen and decide what cupboards and shelving is convenient and what is a right royal pain in the butt to access. Generally those hideous corner cupboards with the fold out doors, with or without a lazy susan, are next to useless especially the bottom ones. These then are perfect for those G and probably some O items. Basically you’re looking to limit the number of times you have to get down on your hands and knees with your head shoved in a dark corner to fetch something. All items that you use on rare occasions should go in these inconvenient places.
At the other end of the scale are all those F items, cutlery, regular dinnerware, kettle, toaster, etc - items used daily, these should be in the easist most accessible and convenient locations.
All food items are best stored in a cupboard that allows you to see your full inventory easily, so avoid using several cupboards across the kitchen.
Lastly I’ll state the obvious; cleaning and washing items under the sink - (use a lock if you’ve got kids), pots and pans under, over or beside the stove area and cull that tupperware collection ladies before it mutates and consumes your home! ;D

That’s it for this time, next episode - Menu planning and grocery shopping.

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The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present 3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every Mon-Wed-Fri at around 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET 4:30AM GM)

 The different methods you can use to rid yourself of clutter.

That’s it for this time next episode - How to plan your new clutter free home.

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I just opened an email that a friend sent last week and followed the link she had attached. I am so excited about this site I just had to post about it immediately. You see I don’t cook! My partner really enjoys cooking and finds it relaxing! (can you believe it - but hey each to their own! I find organising relaxing! go figure!)

So he does all the cooking - I don’t mind baking sweets but otherwise if I have to cook for myself I’m lucky if I bother to cook some pasta and through some stir-through sauce over it! Buttered crackers is a common option for me! WHY? because I can never think of what I can make out of the ingrediants we have and searching through recipe books to find something that has those ingredients is a complete pain!

But this site is the solution and I offer it here for a number of reasons. 1. Realisitically it’s not possible to be totally organised all the time and even the best organised person will find those times when it’s necessary to create a meal out of what’s left in the fridge. 2. If you’re yet to get around to sorting out a meal planner system this could be a very handy tool. 3. If like me you aren’t the one who cooks but sometimes finds yourself ‘on you own’ and you, also like me, have no intention of ever planning for those occasions if when you’re aware of them beforehand then this is definitely a brilliant tool. 

Go checkout cooking by numbers if you don’t alredy know about i, I think it’s brilliant!