Excavation: Freezer

By Winnie Yu for Completely You



The other day, I opened my freezer door. Out toppled a bag of frozen meat, dated two years ago. The package landed near my toes, which would have hurt had it hit my foot. It was a clear sign that I needed to explore the tundra regions of my home. In other words, it was time for a freezer excavation.

Once I began digging, I found all sorts of goodies. Plastic bags full of mystery meats. Small containers of ice cream from a long-ago birthday party. A stray Popsicle here and there. There was even an open box of ice-encrusted pierogies, and a small package of breakfast sausages coated in crystals. By the time I was done, I had a bag of garbage filled with frozen foods -- and a lot more space in my freezer.

The one thing I kept -- and actually used -- were the tiny bags of bread crusts. Somehow, it just seemed wasteful to toss them out without a second glance, especially since we invest in some pretty pricey bread for daily peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So I dug up a recipe and made cinnamon sugar bread crusts. They were delicious, especially when fresh out of the oven.

A freezer excavation is a rare event at my house. I simply don’t clean my freezer the way I clean other parts of my house. I assume that the chilly temperatures will kill any unhealthy microorganisms, and I figure the space is finite, so I’ll eventually find what I need.

But really, freezers need some attention too. They need a good purging now and again, just like every other place in my house -- be it my office, the basement or the garage (check out this helpful guide to doing it right). While the freezer may not get the same cleaning that my bathroom or kitchen gets, it certainly deserves some of my time and attention.

And now I know I can enjoy some more cinnamon sugar bread crusts when I’m done.


For more great health and lifestyle content, visit me here at Completely You

Photo: @iStockphoto.com/Shershel

Winnie Yu is Completely You’s mom blogger. She has two daughters (Samantha, 14, and Annie, 12) and is the author of seven books, including New Mother’s Guide to Breastfeeding and What to Eat for What Ails You. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Woman’s Day, AARP Bulletin, Prevention and WebMD.com.

Let Go of Control

By Winnie Yu for Completely You



My friend Sue can’t get her son to do his homework. My friend Barbara can’t make her daughter eat better. Me? I struggle with getting my daughters to exercise, clean up the messes they leave and practice their instruments.

In truth, I’m a bit of a control freak. I like life to unfold the way I want it to unfold. But reality doesn’t work that way, especially where other human beings are involved. That’s why I can’t get my husband to stop collecting Legos, my mother to join the senior center, and editors to give me the assignments I want.

When it came to my kids, I thought it would be a little easier. After all, I’m Mom. Shouldn’t they be doing as they’re told? Shouldn’t they be following my advice and learning from my hard-earned experience? Wouldn’t they want to do things the easier way -- which, in most cases, is my way?

Wrong. Turns out they’re little people with minds and habits of their own too. To make matters worse, they’re in the throes of slowly breaking away from us, which makes not doing what we want that much more exciting.

It took me a long time to figure out that no amount of cajoling and weaseling was going to get anyone to do exactly as I wanted. So I gave up. Perhaps it was the wisdom of age. Or maybe it was the yoga and meditation. But somewhere along the way, I learned that letting go of what I can’t control -- be it the weather or my daughters -- takes a lot less energy and makes life a lot less stressful.

So when my daughter Samantha was in second grade, I stopped begging her to try new foods. In fourth grade, I stopped helping her with homework. A couple of years ago, I stopped pleading with her to clean her room.

Just the other day, when she came down dressed in what I thought was not enough clothes for skiing, I asked her, “Do you think you have enough layers on?”

“I’m fine, Mom,” she said with an eye roll.

And that was good enough for me.

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For more great health and lifestyle content, visit the parent site of my blog, Completely You
Photo: @iStockphoto.com/snapphoto

Winnie Yu  is Completely You’s mom blogger. She has two daughters (Samantha, 14, and Annie, 12) and is the author of seven books, including New Mother’s Guide to Breastfeeding and What to Eat for What Ails You. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Woman’s Day, AARP Bulletin, Prevention and WebMD.com.

Taming the Mess

By Winnie Yu for Completely You




Quick, look around your house. What’s lying around? Here on my kitchen table, I see an open newspaper, a lunchbox, a pen, a pencil and a set of ear buds. On the kitchen counter, there are two credit card solicitations, a magazine, a box of cereal, a plate and four SpongeBob toys. Our dog’s food is sprinkled around its dish, and one of my daughters has left a coat hanging on the chair. And that’s just the kitchen.

Other rooms are no better. I find textbooks on the dining room floor, shoes strewn about in the foyer and sheet music on the living room couch. I don’t even dare look in my daughters’ bedrooms or the library. There simply isn’t enough space on this blog to write down all the stuff that’s out of place in those rooms.

I like to tell my family that we’d have an immaculate house if only we could adhere to these two simple sayings: “Give everything a home” and “Put everything away and you never have to clean up.”

Reality however, is another story. Most days, I’m flitting from one activity to another. I put down the mail so I can start dinner. I toss the bills on my desk so I can get to work. I throw clean laundry on my bed so I can get to the gym. Everyone else here does the same thing.

The result? I’ve become the resident picker-upper, scooping up everything from stray shoes to cookie crumbs.

I don’t like this aspect of motherhood, this picking up after the family business. On my lazy days, I let it all slide. So what if there’s stuff lying around? Isn’t it more important that I meet my deadlines, go to the gym and walk my dog?

But on my productive, I-should-have-a-cleaner-house days, I become a whirling dervish, tearing through the house and picking up everything that’s out of place and tossing it or putting it away. Sadly, it doesn’t happen often, and it eats up half my day.

A better solution has been to put things away the minute I’m done with them. As in now. Unwanted mail goes directly to recycling. Receipts are filed away as soon as I come home. Laundry is folded the moment I empty the dryer.

Being a do-it-now picker-upper spares me the trouble of picking everything up later, when it could take hours to put everything away. Now I just need my family to do the same.

How do you get your family to pitch in and keep the house neat? Share below or tweet me @Completely_You

For more great health and lifestyle content, visit the parent site of my blog, Completely You!

Winnie Yu is Completely You’s mom blogger. She has two daughters and is the author of seven books, including New Mother’s Guide to Breastfeeding and What to Eat for What Ails You. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Woman’s Day, AARP Bulletin, Prevention and WebMD.