Checking In: Small Kitchen Appliances - 6 Months In

We've been tracking our small appliance use for over six months now. Back in January, I set a resolution for the year to track our small appliance use and see what we use and see what we don't use. The last time I did an update was in February after one month. Since then, we've been quietly tracking our usage and living life as normal. 

After another couple of months and a change in seasons, the usage has varied slightly and appliances which were falling behind in the early winter months have now caught up again. Here are the update numbers as of July 3rd, 2022. I've put the numbers from January in parentheses so you can see how much it increased in five months.

1. Instant Pot: 27 (7)

2. Instant Pot Air Fryer: 38 (3)

3. Stand Mixer: 1 (0)

4. Griddle: 9 (1)

5. Juicer: 3 (2)

6. Waffle Maker: 10 (1)

7. Popcorn Maker: 0 (0)

8. Crockpot/Slow Cooker: 0 (0)

9. Mini Food Warmer: 1 (0)

10. Food Processor: 16 (2)

11. Blender: 15 (2)

12. Vacuum Sealer: 8 (3)

13. Hand Mixer: 0 (0)

14. Immersion Blender: 2 (1)

15. Toaster Oven

16. Kettle

17. Rice Cooker

18. Steamer : 3 (0)

19. Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven: 3 (2)

The Instant Pot is a clear favorite at our house, having a combined use of 65 times in the last 6 months. That averages out to more than twice a week. I have separated the two because you can purchase the air fryer lid as a separate accessory. We just happened to purchase ours altogether as a bundle.

Anyone else still use tally marks? For anything?

The griddle, waffle maker, blender, and food processor have showed significant increases in use as well over the last five months. There are still three small appliances sitting at zero uses. And this doesn't really surprise me. We don't really make popcorn anymore, and sadly, I'm not sure why. There's a chance once the kids get older, we would use it more to make popcorn, but for now, it is quietly stored away. Our slow cooker doesn't get any use because the Instant Pot takes precedence. If we ever host a big party and end up cooking, it's possible I will need it to cook a larger batch. For now, it'll be quietly stored as well.

Out hand mixer is the last small appliance that doesn't get any use. It was a registry item when we got married and wet ave used it a number of times. But I was gifted a stand mixer some years ago for Christmas, and naturally, I would use that one instead of the hand mixer. Ironically, the stand mixer isn't getting a lot of love either...but I probably won't be getting rid of that one even if it does come in last. Let's be honest. Baking with little kids is hard right now. You've seen the videos of the grandma and her grandson. I'd like my children not to eat raw batter if possible. Or spill flour and sugar onto the floor. Or drop an egg on the ground. 

The three bolded items have no tallies beside them because they are staples in our house. I have probably used the rice cooker every day this year except maybe what totals one week. 

The next update will be at the end of the year with the final numbers after one year. 

Click here for part 4 

Two Zero Two Zero Resolved

At the beginning of 2020, I set out with three goals for the year. You can read my original post here. It also explains why I don't do resolutions anymore, but I intentionally think about some mental goals to ground myself for the year.

Here were my three goals for 2020:

1. Finish my cross stitch.

2. Find a new work life balance.

3. Keep my sanity.

Did I accomplish all three? I did, actually. It wasn't always easy, and this year certainly wasn't a straightforward one, but I did accomplish the goals I'd set for myself.

1. I finished my cross stitch.

I won't go into detail about it here as I already wrote a post on it back in June when I finished it for my mid-year check in. So that was a great accomplishment considering I'd finished it after having two kids to look after. Now my next goal is to get it framed and hang it up in my son's room as I had originally intended. That should be a goal for 2021.

2. I did find a new work life balance.

Covid really did me a huge favor on this one. After having my son, the world took a big pause and quarantined/locked-down for about 6 weeks, and even after that, life has taken on a different pace. I did cut my maternity leave very short and returned back to teaching when he was merely 6 weeks old, but it was teaching online without needing to clean the house to be presentable for students. For the first 5-6 weeks after returning to work, I was teaching 7 students a week. It was great. I felt like I had the mommy routine and teacher routine down. In June, I added a few more. It was still doable. Then in August when the new school year began, I added some more, and next year, I'll be adding a few more and considering my studio full once again.

At the beginning of the year I had huge fears about how I was going to breastfeed my baby (assuming my body cooperated) and have my work schedule as well as watching two children. Because of the way this year panned out, I was able to exclusively pump, have an ample supply to feed him and freeze a stash, and have surplus to share. 

3. I did (for the most part) keep my sanity.

To be honest, staying at home and refraining from social gatherings did not affect me too much because I'm an introvert to begin with. I don't really enjoy large groups or crowds so being at home was doing what I enjoyed, for the most part.

It wasn't until about August when I started to really feel the "blues" of being at home all the time. There were just days when I wasn't motivated, didn't want to do anything, and lacked drive. Part of it was not having places to go as a motivator to get my day started. 

One of the outlets I was able to use as a "pick me up" was organization. Like everyone else, I watched The Home Edit, and although not inclined to organize my bookshelves by color or rolling my scarves, it made me want to organize our house.

So we did. We bought all sorts of products and organized our pantry, a built-in cabinet, kitchen drawers, bathroom drawers, and our closet. No, we didn't pay anyone $250 an hour to come do it for us. Yes, I bought a lot of clear storage containers. Yes, it was still expensive. 

Was it worth it? Yup. 

I grew up with a super frugal (and potentially incorrect) mentality that spending money on something to put what you already bought with money into is useless. Well, now that I'm officially in the 30s age range, it's finally clicked that organization is worth it because it changes your perspective and mindset.

That's for another blog. 

Here's a sneak peek at one of my favorite
drawers, newly organized this year.

I hope you were able to reflect on your year and find some silver linings through all the "unprecendented-ness."

Bye 2020. ✌