Life Hacks

Save Your Butter Wrappers to Grease Pans

December 15, 2018 by Cassie

My grandmother taught me a little kitchen hack that speeds baking, saves money and reuses an item we usually just toss out. After I unwrap a stick of butter, I fold the wrapper up and put it in a plastic bag in my fridge to save to grease a pan later.

Grandma was on to something! Here are a few reasons why you should save your butter wrappers to grease pans:

Cost-effective: Instead of buying expensive non-stick cooking sprays or oils, you can use the leftover butter on the wrapper to grease your pans.

Eco-friendly: Saving and reusing butter wrappers reduces waste and helps to reduce your environmental impact.

Convenient: Keeping a stash of butter wrappers in your kitchen means you always have a quick and easy way to grease pans, without having to buy and stock additional products.

Better for your pans: Butter wrappers are a great alternative to chemicals found in some non-stick sprays or oils, which can damage your pans over time. (This is also better for you, and might even add a little buttery flavor.)

Overall, saving butter wrappers to grease pans is a simple and effective way to save money, reduce waste, and add flavor. So next time you finish a stick of butter, don’t throw away the wrapper; save it to grease your pans the next time you cook. Try it out!

Start Carpooling

April 7, 2018 by Cassie

Carpooling has preserved my sanity, reduced stress, helped strengthen relationships, and decreased my carbon footprint. I have always been someone who enjoyed carpooling with friends to work but this last year I became a hardcore carpool proponent.

I came to it by necessity. I couldn’t figure out how I was going to make it work without massive stress and changes to our schedule to get our daughter to Kindergarten. But finding a nearby family that lived in walking distance of us, and was on our route, changed my life. Each Sunday we’d text and divide up the days. Sum total for the school year, that meant 50 less mornings my husband and I had to divide up to drive. For me, more than a month’s worth of work mornings back was a massive gift of time! In addition, we had fun getting to know another family, saved us money and made the drop-off line a little less hectic.

For many, I know it isn’t something you’d consider because it sounds like a hassle and/or you don’t need to save the time or money. But I would highly suggest you try it, even for one time to see what you think. And then if you like it, make it work for you in whatever way or cadence that might make sense.

When you do, you’ll be doing the world a favor and enjoying lots of benefits including:

Protecting the environment. Carpooling cuts down on the number of cars on the road which means there is less carbon and other gasses and pollution getting into the air. This protects the environment by keeping the air, water, and land cleaner.
Connection with others. I have a better relationship with anyone I/we carpool with. It gives you more time to get to connect and have someone else in your life that makes it all work.
Joy. Carpooling is more fun. For my daughter, she loves laughing all the way to school with a friend her age and I get a kick out of listening to them. For me, it’s more fun to share even an obnoxious commute with someone else you can talk and laugh with.
Better health. There are numerous benefits of less air pollution caused by car emissions to reduce health issues such as asthma, allergies, lung cancer, etc. Research data has also suggested that carpooling can be far less stressful.
Saved time and money.

Happy carpooling!

Photo by Tim Foster on Unsplash

Choose to Take the Happy Way

March 11, 2018 by Cassie

When I was nine, my aunt, uncle and three cousins were moving from 10 minutes away from us in California to Australia. Our whole family was so sad to see them go.

On the way home from saying our final goodbyes, everyone was still in tears. Halfway to our house, my mom announced that we’d take “the happy way home.” My brother and I were intrigued, we had never taken the happy way.

My mom made a turn on a street we never drove on and went a windy route, up and over the hill, to connect back to the street we usually drove up. It was a detour that only took an extra few minutes, but it was a change of perspective, and made us all feel better.

What’s amazing, is that it stuck. That route forever became the happy way. When I’m in my home town and feeling blue, I take the happy way home. We never talk about it explicitly, but I have been in the car numerous times with my mom or my brother and we have taken the happy way when we needed it. Once my brother and I drove back from our Great Aunt’s memorial service in silent reflection, and when he put his blinker on to make the random turn, I felt a little better.

The happy way reminds me of the power we have to choose the path we’ll take. That sometimes one simple turn is all it takes to change how you’re feeling, viewing things, allow you to begin to heal.

There are so many times we need to take the happy way home, for losses or setbacks big and small, for others, or ourselves. I’m not sure what form yours will take, but be open to choosing to take it.

Photo by Martine Jacobsen on Unsplash

Edit (Don’t Recreate) Your Grocery List

January 21, 2018 by Cassie

I am a huge fan of organizing and time management expert Julie Morgenstern. I have read at least three of her books and find her blog to be a great resource. Julie has taught me a number of great time saving strategies and tips, one of them is to make your life easier when it comes to grocery shopping.

Try this: instead of starting from scratch each week to write out what you need at the store, try editing a ready-made list instead. The idea being that quickly editing your own master list is much faster than reinventing the wheel every time. I have found this is a great way to remember what we need, be better organized about meal-planning, and save a little time and mental energy.

The first time I applied this life hack, I typed up a grocery list in a word document and printed it out (two lists to a page). Currently, I’m using this pre-done list that sticks to my fridge and I can edit as the week goes on. There are also tons of grocery list templates on Pinterest to check out.

Give it a try!