Day 1 of the 30-Day Challenge: Procrastination Station
Task: Create an alphabetically ordered binder of loose-leaf paper recipes, indexed by food category.
Reason for Task: Recipes are currently loose in a binder and not in any particular order, which makes it harder to find them when needed. I’m constantly flipping through several pages of recipes before I get to the one needed, which is an inefficient way to manage the storage of regularly-utilized recipes. I am also finding that my recipe pages are becoming tattered and worn and covered with splotches from the ingredients used to bring their creations to life. Let’s just say that my former recipe filing system was a hot mess.
Duration of Task: 1 day
Outcome: I created a “Recipe Reserves” binder that houses all of the printed-out copies of recipes that I use. I did a lot of clean up with this project, consisting of identifying duplicate copies of recipes and throwing them away, throwing away copies that have not been used in the last six months or that will most likely not be used in the future, making new copies of recipes that were in bad shape, placing all recipe copies in sheet protectors to make sure they stay in good condition, alphabetizing recipes within their food categories by the name of the recipe, and inserting dividers for each food category.
Interesting Fact: The binder I used for the “Recipe Reserves” was given to me and Hubby as a wedding present to use as a photo album for our wedding pictures. The photos below highlight this beautifully handcrafted binder, displayed in my actual wedding colors. After 20+ years, the binder remains in pristine condition; and the only thing I changed is what was in the window on the front of the album. It used to have one of our wedding invitations in there, but I took it out and replaced it with the words “Recipe Reserves”. Oh, and I also took out the photo sheets and replaced them with the recipes enclosed within the sheet protectors. After all these years, I am so thrilled that I’ve finally found the perfect use for this wedding gift. If my wonderful family member who gave this repurposed photo album to us happens to read this blog piece, please know that Hubby and I failed to make good use out of it before, but I am seeking to redeem myself now. I will definitely be using this most special one-of-a-kind keepsake on a daily basis (albeit for my prized recipes instead of photos). I’m actually proud of myself for figuring out how to bring life back to something in the house that had been sitting idly by for so long.
Quote of the Day: The quote comes from my daughter, Toodlez. Since she and I are the main cooks in the house, I decided to get Toodlez’ opinion on the new home for our recipes. I don’t know that she necessarily appreciated my decision to repurpose the photo album, but she did say…”it’s all organized; that’s the main thing”. So, I’m going to give myself a thumbs up on this project. Mission completed! Now, on to the next assignment…
degreesofmaternity.com 