True confession: the other day, I gave into a massive craving for a Pop Tart. Ok. Maybe I ate two. (They really shouldn’t come in a 2-pack, should they? I mean, what are you going to do with the other one? Put it in a baggie? I ask you.)

As I went to extract said Tarts from the toaster, one collapsed back inside. And so, I had to come face to face with the fact that my toaster area was a blight on my otherwise pretty darn clean kitchen.

Before. Yuck and double yuck.

So, I had no choice but to let the little sucker cool down and give him a cleaning.

After. Isn't that better?

And now, because you’re so lucky to be a Penelope, it’s your turn. Yaaah!

Pretty easy job. Should take less than 2 minutes.

1) As my husband would tell us, please unplug the toaster before doing anything. He’s a FREAK on this topic, so let’s placate him.

2) Give the toaster a good shake. Upend the darn thing and shake it around. It may have a little door on it, you can unlatch it and really go for the gusto, or, you can be like me and just shake the stuff out.

3) Move the toaster aside and give the counter a good swipe.

4) Once the crumbs are gone, use some 409 to really get that whole area sparkly.

5) Replace the toaster.

6) Stand back and soak in that good “isn’t that better” feeling.

And yes, I’m coming to grips with the fact that I just wrote a post about toaster crumbs.

Related posts:

1. Assignment: quick desk clean-up
2. Assignment: clean your refrigerator and make your food happy
3. I’ve got a thing for Mr. Clean

I deal with a huge amount of email in my job. But one day, I realized that every morning, when I logged in, I was deleting upwards of 100 emails that I just didn’t want or need. These weren’t classic “spam” emails offering enlargement of various organs, my filter deals with those. These were emails that at some point I’d actually subscribed to legitimately, either in buying something or when I was interested in a specific topic.

An email from J. Crew that now will not land in my inbox

One by one, those subscriptions added up to a very full email inbox each day. But it was easier to delete them quickly than to take the time to unsubscribe to them.

At the urging of my husband, who kept hearing me grouse about this, I decided to start unsubscribing to 10 emails per day. By the end of 2 weeks, my daily inbox was cleaner, lighter and clutter free. And, as a side benefit, unsubscribing to my emails from J. Crew and The Gap meant that I was much less tempted by that new cardigan or those new Curvy Jeans. I was actually saving money and time. Color me a happy Penelope.

Your assignment:

So, not surprisingly, your assignment is to do just what I did: each morning, go through your inbox and take the time to scroll to the bottom of 10 of those emails and click on the “unsubscribe” link. Follow that and do what you need to do to make them stop sending you emails. It’ll take about 10 minutes per day. Do this every day until you’re not receiving these kinds of emails anymore. In no time, you’ll be feeling clearner, lighter and email-clutter free.

After you’ve done this, maintain it over time by paying attention as you make online purchases to the little check box most retailers append to the bottom of their purchase screens. Select the option that tells them you don’t want to be on their mailing lists. (Unless you do, of course!)

Just one more way to live a less cluttered digital life.

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Historically, I’ve been a fairly “hearty” type. I’ve gone years without taking a sick day. But, last year, I got sick twice and it was hell. Once with the H1N1 virus and once, much, much worse, with the seasonal flu. I’ve never been that sick, honestly. I had mistakenly thought I didn’t need a flu shot, but now I’ve learned my lesson. This year, I’ll be first in line to get that injection.

via Blooming Natural Health

So, because I love all of you, and because the CDC is recommending that EVERY person over 6 months old get a flu shot this year, here’s your assignment: get your flu shot if you haven’t already. Make plans for you and your family now, either by finding out if your medical provider gives them for free as part of your plan and when they do that, or finding the nearest pharmacy offering the shots for a small fee. Get this on your calendar or go do it now.

Let’s hope this will mean that you don’t have to deal with the flu, but, just in case, let’s prepare anyway.

• First, go through your current stock of medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, and toss out anything that’s expired. Note that you shouldn’t just flush or throw away any prescription medication, as it can enter the water supply or end up in the wrong hands. You should turn in expired medications to your pharmacy and let them dispose of it safely.
• Make sure you can find your thermometer and that it’s working properly. Buy a digital one if you don’t have one. I wouldn’t have known that my flu had turned into a bacterial sinus infection if I couldn’t accurately monitor my fever. (I mean, I knew I was sick, but in my haze, I just didn’t know my fever had gotten that high.)
• Stock up on ibuprofen, nasal decongestants and cough suppressants.
• Make sure you’ve got plenty of Kleenex. Don’t rely on toilet paper for blowing your nose. You need a nice, soft Kleenex or you’ll rip up your poor nose right quick. Not pretty.
• Check your supply of tea bags and make sure you’ve got some good old chicken noodle soup. Cliched, yes. Surprisingly effective, though.

I hope you’ll never need this stockpile. But, if you or your family does need it, you’ll be so glad you’re prepared and don’t have to run out in the middle of the night when you’re feeling miserable.

Here’s to a healthy fall and winter, Penelopes!

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Cleaning the refrigerator is a pain in the ass. Period. It is. It takes time. I move fast and I can’t get it done right in under 45 minutes.

Alas, it must be done because there are few things grosser than a dirty, cluttered fridge. I try to do it monthly, but, honestly, it probably gets done once a quarter. Having seen some other refrigerators, though, I think I’m doing ok.

So, this is your assignment: Let’s get that bugger clean. We’ll feel SO shiny and superior when we do. Let’s get started.

1. Choose a date and time to do this task and put it on your calendar. I do mine on Saturday mornings and reward myself with lunch at my favorite Greek place. (Are you seeing a pattern to my work/reward strategy? Without the gyro, I’d never get a thing done.)
2. On the appointed day, set your clock for one hour and get to work with no distractions.
3. Remove all items from the door’s shelves. Throw away anything that’s old and that you’re not going to use. Wipe down the bottoms of things you plan to keep with a damp paper towel.
4. Take out the shelves and wash them in soapy warm water. Dry and replace. Put the stuff back in.
5. Starting with the top shelf of the main compartment, remove all items. Discard anything old or that you’re not so fond of anymore. Wipe down the keepers.
6. If you can remove the shelves, do so. Muck collects everywhere in the fridge. Wash in soapy warm water. If you can’t remove the shelves, wipe them down well with damp cloth. Replace the keeper items.
7. Take out all drawers. Throw away anything old. Be brutal. If you wrinkle your nose at anything, don’t keep it, you’re not going to eat it. Wash the drawers in soapy warm water.
8. Wipe down the area under the drawers. You know, the place the random broccoli bit gets to and you can see it all week but can’t reach it and it irritates you? Get that sucker now.
9. Wipe down the inside walls of the fridge.
10. Finally, use some disinfectant to give the outside of the fridge a good wiping down, including both sides of the handle. You’d be amazed how dirty the handles of your fridge and freezer get with use. If you have a stainless steel refrigerator, finish by buffing it with a small amount of baby oil. Removes the fingerprints, I’ve heard. (My fridge is just boring black, so I’ll live vicariously through your stainless steel baby oil buffing, for now.)

Stand back, gaze admiringly at the freshly clean appliance that holds and protects most of your food. Speak to it in a low and loving tone. Tell it you love it and appreciate all it does for you.

Good job, Penelope. Go eat a gyro. You deserve it.

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1. Assignment: quick desk clean-up
2. Assignment: Clean Behind and Around Your Toaster
3. I’ve got a thing for Mr. Clean

This a re-post from an item originally published in January. Several people (like, a lot of people) emailed me at the time asking that I post this assignment a couple times a year as they found it useful. So, here goes…

Today’s assignment is super quick but makes a huge difference as you go through your week.

Take just 5 minutes right now and go through your purse or bag.

1. throw away trash and old receipts, etc. that have accumulated
2. make a pile of things that need to go elsewhere and put them in their places
3. make sure that every single item you carry around with you is something you really need. Ask yourself, have I needed this in the last year? If not, put it elsewhere.

See? Don’t you feel better? Lighter, more organized? Yes, you do.

Penelope Tip: get a brightly colored wallet. I know we’ve heard this before, but it really does help. Mine’s red and I can always find it in the dark center pocket of my purse.

I think the secret to this is really keeping your purse filled with just what you need, which really isn’t a lot. But, if you find you just can’t be minimal, consider using a Purseket, which can keep your purse’s contents more organized.

Now, for some fun. If you love purses and bags, and need some help keeping the ones you’re not using in check, Jeri over at Jeri’s Organizing & De-cluttering News has written a great post. She includes several products that will help keep your bags organized in your home.

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I know most people enter their home from the garage, but I don’t. (It’s a weird thing I have about being attacked in my garage or back yard. Don’t ask. Ok, you can ask, but don’t expect an answer that’s sane.) I enter my house through my front door. So, one of the best small tasks I can do over a weekend is a quick cleanup of the porch area. Makes an unexpectedly huge difference in such a short time.

Even if you don’t ever go through your front door, the rest of the world enters that way. Do it for them. Heck, do it for your mailman. He needs a pick-me-up.

So, 10 minutes to a nice, tidy front door/porch area:

1. Grab a broom and sweep the porch. Move fast, don’t take a bunch of time to make it overly perfect. Yes, I said it.
2. Use that same broom and sweep around the frame of your front door, clearing all cobwebs, etc. Do the same for the walls around the porch. Just a few quick motions is all you need here.
3. If you have a window in your front door, grab some window cleaner and a cloth and give that glass a swish. Same thing for the door handle and the lock.
4. Look around your porch area and make sure there’s nothing there that shouldn’t be. Is it July and you’ve still got the Easter Bunny hanging out? Ditch that.
5. Give a quick swish to any furniture you have on your porch.
6. Make sure your front porch light is in working order and not covered in bugs and dust.
7. Finally, swish your mailbox with a cloth if it lives in that general area. I’m forever surprised how many cobwebs are attracted to that thing. And how spiffy it looks when I’ve given it just a bit of attention.

Step back and admire your work. Looks better, doesn’t it? Good job, Penelope.

Related posts:

1. Assignment: quick desk clean-up
2. Assignment: clean your refrigerator and make your food happy
3. Assignment: Clean Behind and Around Your Toaster

Last week, we got our keyboards nice and clean. Now, we need to give a little love to our desks as a whole. This assignment applies to you whether you work at a formal office, a home office or at a nook in the kitchen.

Let’s take just 8-10 minutes and see what we can do. Move fast and don’t get distracted. This shouldn’t take a bunch of time or be a big struggle.

1. Take everything that’s not plugged in off your desk.
2. Get a damp cloth and wipe down the entire surface of the desk.
3. If you haven’t already cleaned your keyboard, take a minute to do that.
4. Gently use a dry cloth (or these handy anti-static monitor wipes) to dust your monitor.
5. Wipe down your phone and other items you’re constantly putting your hands on with a Glass Plus Wipes towelette. Look at the handset of your phone where your ear goes. Isn’t that gross?
6. Quickly glance through your pencil cup and make sure you’ve only got pens, etc. in there that you really use. Remove anything that shouldn’t be there. (For example, you probably don’t need that half of a red crayon in that cup, right?)
7. Now start to put things back on your desk, but use this opportunity to ditch anything that doesn’t have to be there. A less cluttered desk = a less cluttered mind.

I realize that there are many more things you could do to fully clean every item on your desk, but, for our purposes here, we’re just looking for a good, simple level of clean. I think if we feel that we have to get into the nittiest of the gritty in tasks like these, we’re less likely to actually tackle them. So, for now, this is good enough.

Now, step back and admire your handiwork. Feels good, doesn’t it?

Good job, Penelope. Now back to work.

ANNOUNCEMENT: If you’ve always wanted a Penelope button to put on your blog, well, today’s your lucky day! Now’s the time to tell everyone you’re a Penelope and you’re proud of it. You can grab the new buttony goodness here.

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Image courtesy Real Simple

As a Penelope, I like to clean, most of the time. Sure, when I’m tired I don’t feel like it, but mostly, cleaning is fun. I like a tidy, fresh living environment and my husband and kids do, too. We pitch in and generally, we’re pretty proud of our little abode.

There are a few chores, though, that I really dislike. I’m not quite sure why, I just hate doing them. They annoy me. These are what I’ve come to think of as my “Spencer Pratt” chores.

I decided to spend a week timing how long it actually takes me to do them, just to get a sense of how truly onerous these tasks are:

• Wet mop my hardwood floors (12 minutes)
• Cleaning the shower (10 minutes)
• De-crumbing the toaster and cleaning around it. (5 minutes)
• Paying bills (9 minutes)

WAIT! So, I spend more time dreading these tasks than it takes to actually do them? How dumb is that?

I challenge you to choose 3 tasks you really dislike either at work or at home and time how long they really take. Once you  know what your time investment actually is, you might find, as I did, that you can re-frame the task.

Rather than thinking “Geez, I really hate doing this, but, here goes…grumble grumble”, I now say “I’m going to take 12 minutes and then I’ll have floors that are nice and clean”. OK, that sentence is obnoxious and I want to smack myself, but you know what I mean.

It’s amazing what a little perspective will do for you. (I still loathe Spencer Pratt, though. That ain’t changin’.)

For more tips on doing some “dirty jobs” around the house, see this feature from Real Simple.

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Penelopes often don’t like change. We like to stick to doing things we’re good at and stay with predictable routines. Makes us effective, and in control. And, after a time, royally bored.

Have you become too comfortable with your life? Are your routines old, your hobbies stale, your relationships zingless? Time to get out of our rut. We’re going to learn something new.

Today’s assignment:

Watch: Julie & Julia with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams or Read: Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

Or Think: What project can you take on that’s like the one Julie Powell did? What can you do that would get you out of your comfort zone and/or enable you to learn new things?

Some ideas:

• Get the list of the 100 best movies of all time and work through them. Maybe do this as a part of a film club, instead of a book club. Oh, that’d be fun! Once a month, you get together with some good friends, and eat, drink wine and watch an iconic movie. You could even do food themed to the movie. Am I going too far?
• Read the most popular novels of all time. You can also choose from this list of reader favorites.
• Read every book by a particular author that has always fascinated or eluded you. (Charles Dickens? Agatha Christie? Alice Hoffman? Gabriel Garcia Marquez? Alexandre Dumas?)
• Eat at the best 25 restaurants in your area.
• Learn to cook like Thomas Keller from The French Laundry.
• Listen to every Mozart concerto or Beethoven symphony. For extra credit, read a biography of that composer and put some context to the music.
• Take a class at your nearest college or junior college about something that both interests and stretches you. Shakespeare? Art History? Come on, you know you love homework.
• Take a dance class. You loved ballet or jazz dance when you were little, right? Why not now? Have you seen the cute ballet/dance clothes there are out there now? It’s not just tutus, girls.
• Learn a new hobby. Knitting would be my suggestion, but there may be other hobbies.
• Take an online class to increase your skills at work or you ability to make small talk at parties.
• Visit the top 10 wineries nearest you, or, if you’re not near a wine region, go to your nearest wine shop or BevMo and have them help you work through one of the Top 100 Wines of the Year lists. Don’t love wine? Do the same thing with beer. Or tea. Or honey. The internet makes the possibilities nearly endless.

Do: Choose a subject that appeals to you on an intrinsic level and get deeply into it. No more skimming here and there. Pick something and expand yourself. Become an expert. You’ll be changed and broadened (hopefully, just mentally) and you’ll surely be less bored.

For my part, I’ve decided to work my way through all the books written by the Bronte sisters. Some I’ve read and will be re-reading, some will be new. I love me some Victorian angst.

What do you think? Any of this sound interesting to you? Are you up for the challenge? Please weigh in with other ideas that can be added to the list.

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Today, a not-so-easy challenge, but a short one:

Look at your overall To Do List and scan down to the bottom. I’ll just bet that those items are the ones you really don’t want to do. Could be for a good reason, could be you’re blocked for some small, stupid reason.

But those items are the ones that niggle at your sub-conscience. They’re the ones that weigh you down and wake you up in the middle of the night feeling vaguely uneasy.

Today, choose one and either do it completely OR take one single step toward getting it done. If you take that single step, put on your calendar that one week from today you’ll take another single step.

When you’re done, you’re gonna feel loads better. Promise.

Here’s mine: I have to rent a small, ancillary space for my day job. This is annoying and, more importantly, feels like something that’s taking time from things that are more important. Nevertheless, it must be done for a couple different reasons that aren’t going away. It’s been bugging me for days. Today, I called the rental agent and set up a meeting. It’s on my calendar and I feel better.

If you’re up to sharing in the Comments, I’d love to hear what that one thing was and how you kicked it’s ass.

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