Every Friday is 11 Things day at Living Behind the Curve.

People who write infomercials are convinced that women are morons. They have to be. How else could they build marketing campaigns built on a foundation concept that, for example, millions of people are wasting untold hours bewildered by a complicated, malfunctioning pair of scissors? Most of this junk is either for the kitchen or for cleaning, and therefore marketed directly to women, and I frankly find it infuriating that an entire industry is built on the asinine assumption that women are too incompetent to do “women’s work“.

Rampaging sexism aside, there are ways to actually make your cooking and cleaning simpler. I’ve collected my favorite tips together for today’s whiter, brighter and cleanly-scented 11 Simple Kitchen Solutions That Really Work.

1. Dani’s dad gave us a pair of kitchen shears for the holidays last year, and damn if they aren’t the most useful tools in my kitchen. I use them to chop veggies for soup, open frozen slow cooker meals, snip herbs and efficiently de-bone whole chickens. I’ve also twice butchered entire 10 pound chuck primals into 1 inch cube-oids with nothing but kitchen shears. If you’ve never owned a pair, go get some. It’ll take a little while, but soon you’ll be constantly finding new uses for them that you’d never considered.

2. Cider or distilled vinegar can be had by the gallon jug at any supermarket for a dollar or two, and until a few years ago, I couldn’t figure out what anyone would do with that much vinegar. I was raised to believe that common vinegar was a seasoning for dark green vegetables, bought sixteen ounces at a time, and sprinkled conservatively on your dinner from small salad oil cruets. I was also taught that you can use vinegar to clean your coffeepot. Since I met Dani, I’ve learned that vinegar not only tastes good, it also cleans floors, polishes glass, unclogs your drains, and kills bugs dead without any nasty chemicals to poison you or your pets. Speaking of pets, it’ll neutralize the pungent odor from what are euphemistically referred to as “pet stains” just as well as those mysterious enzyme sprays. Vinegar is good stuff. Use it.

3. Is your coffee just not giving you the perk in the morning it once did? Are you suffering from tepid, weak, bitter or just plain boring brew? Then get out and get yourself a french coffee press. These exotic little bits of javacrucianism are simply the best devices out there to make coffee with. Over-brewing is the #1 culprit for bitter, sour coffee. A french press doesn’t brew coffee as much as it steeps it, making it much more difficult to extract the nasty flavors from your beans. French pressing your coffee also adds a lot more of the beans essential oils into your coffee, giving it a much more unctuous, almost silky texture, and a wildly rich and complex flavor. If you’re in the market for one, though, be careful; since they’re all fancy and French, a lot of retailers will charge enormous prices for them. Don’t be fooled. Last time I checked, IKEA sells an excellent French press for about 12 bucks. All you need to do is throw some coffee in the bottom, and pour in some water that you get from your nifty…

4. Electric kettle! Yeah, OK, I could just put a regular kettle on the stove and boil it and bam, hot water. It’s not exactly the lowest-tech solution on the block, but the electric kettle is an improvement on the original. They’re lighter, they’ve got insulated handles on the side, and they boil faster. They’re super handy if you need hot stock for a recipe, to deglaze a pan or make risotto with. And have you ever tried to reach inside and clean a tea kettle? I’ve got large hands, and have yet to meet one that has a hole on top big enough to admit mine. And it was built to make…

5. The greatest kitchen crud-busting cleaning fluid known to man: Hot Water. If you soak your baked-on crud with power dissolver and hot water, the crud will lift away. If you soak your dried-on muck with dish soap and hot water, your muck will be a mere memory. If you soak your burnt-on crust in hot water, it’ll disappear. Detecting a pattern here? It’s very unusual that a dish soaked in soapy water will be cleaner than if it was just soaked for the same amount of time in plain hot water. Hot water is also fundamental to my favorite cleaning trick. This is especially good to do if you’re about to replace your sponge. Get the sponge nice and wet, and throw it in your cruddy microwave, right on the turntable. Set the microwave on high for a couple of minutes, carefully remove the now very hot sponge, and just wipe the crud out of your ‘wave with a towel. It works, and you don’t need to worry about cleaning chemicals accidentally staying in there and possibly mixing with your popcorn.

6. A potato masher. The old-fashioned wiggly wire metal kind, thank you very much, as they’re about a million times easier to clean than the usually plastic cross-hatch variety. It’s perfect for mashing potatoes, obviously, but it’s also great for mixing meatloaf, stirring thick sauces, or making lots of different sorts of dough. The next time you reach for your heavy spatula or sturdy wooden spoon, take another look at your masher.

7. Scrubbies. You know the scrubby green back on your kitchen sponge? You can get little packs of just that stuff for, yanno, scrubbing. Do yourself a favor, though, and buy the name brand. I’ve found the generic versions useless. Grab one, and keep it separate from the others, and use it to scrub your potatoes and other veggies. It’s so much easier than dealing with a traditional veggie brush, trust me. They’re also the best solution I’ve found for scrubbing soap scum out of the corners of your bathtub ledge.

8. You know Dani and I love our slow cooker with an unnatural passion. It cooks. It’s fairly easy to clean. It keeps food hot if you’re doing a buffet. It’s great for melting wax if you want to dip your own candles. You can simmer potpourri in there and make your house smell nice. If you put a sheet of aluminum foil in the bottom, add plenty of water, a couple of hefty pinches of salt and about three times that amount of baking soda, then dump grandma’s silver in and set it to cook on high for half an hour or so, you’ll have nice clean silver, too, no polishing needed.

9. Spring-loaded tongs. I shouldn’t have to explain this one. Go watch the Food Network, and see that every single chef AND Rachel Ray uses these flat aluminum v-shaped tongs for everything. They’re simple and cheap, and yet they’re almost never found in the typical American kitchen. Just go get a couple and make me happy.

10. Not just for your dad to do that stupid walrus impression every single time you go out for Chinese food, chop sticks are sorely lacking on this continent. They’re my favorite tool for cooking delicate foods, like eggs and fish. If you need to whisk something but find a whisk is incorporating too much air (scrambled eggs come to mind), use chop sticks. They also work great in a pinch as skewers and corn holders, too. What, you say you can’t use them? Learn. You never know when you’ll be invited to have dinner with the Emperor.

11. Last on my list, silicone pot holders. Remember the last time you grabbed your fluffy pot holders and dumped your spaghetti, but the water splashed back onto the holder and it absorbed the boiling hot water and you burned the Janet Reno out of your fingers? Yeah. Silicone pot holders won’t do that. They also make excellent trivets and keep cutting boards from sliding around, and they’re the second best tool for opening stubborn bottles and jars I’ve ever met.

(The best tool for opening jars and bottles is a probably 75 year old iron mechanical doodad my mom picked up somewhere, and I’ve demanded she state clearly in her will that I get it when she shuffles off this mortal coil. Incidentally, after threatening her with a lease in a substandard nursing home in her old age if I don’t get her jar opener few weeks back, she says she found a replica of it at a small specialty store in New Jersey. I’ve been looking for one for years and never found one like hers. I’m seeing her this weekend, so watch this space, as I’ll probably rattle on and on about The Best Jar Opener Ever next week. It really is that good.)

Did I forget something you can’t live without? Leave a comment and let me know!

Every Friday is 11 Things day at Living Behind the Curve.

Making the decision to get out of debt is the first step on the road to financial freedom. Once you make that decision, however, where do you go from there? Inspired by this post at Zen Habits, here are my recommendations.

1. Create a realistic budget. Put as much money as you can towards paying down debt and having an emergency fund, but allow for a little bit of fun. Only the truly dedicated can live with no social/recreational activities for the amount of time it takes to become debt-free.

2. Take a hard look at what’s truly necessary, and be willing to make compromises. Cable TV, satellite radio, and lunches in the office cafeteria are not necessities. If you have a hard time letting go of these things, run your numbers through a debt calculator twice - once with your current budget, and once with the additional money that is currently paying for niceties. You’ll be amazed at how much of a difference those few extra dollars make.

3. Get creative. If there’s something you think you don’t have time to do more frugally, find a way around it. For example, cooking at home is much cheaper than eating out. If you don’t have time to cook, try investing in a slow cooker.

4. Be patient. Debt reduction is a long, slow process. Depending on the method you use, you may see no significant progress at first, but it will happen.

5. Have an emergency fund. It may seem counter-productive to direct money away from your debt reduction plan, but having money set aside will keep you from creating more debt if something happens. This is something I wish we had done better - we only had $1000 set aside in an emergency fund when Mer’s car went in for inspection a few months back, and ended up charging a fairly large chunk of change so that her car would pass inspection.

6. This should go without saying, but stop using your credit cards. It is impossible to pay off your debt if you keep generating more.

7. Do the math, and spend less than you take in. This goes hand in hand with budgeting, really. If your take-home pay is $2000/month, and your expenses are $2300/month, something has to change.

8. Use the layaway concept. Does anyone other than me remember layaway? When you put an item on layaway, you gave it to the counter clerk, and set up a payment plan with the store. Once you paid it off, they gave you the item - no credit involved. I furnished my first apartment this way. I don’t know if this is still in use anywhere (it seems to have been chased out by the instant gratification of credit cards), but you can do it yourself. If you really, really want that plasma TV, put aside a set amount every week for that purpose, and buy it in cash.

9. Recognize that it takes money to get out of debt. If housing+utilities+food is just barely equal to, or even more than you are bringing home, you need to find a source of money. Get a roommate, start selling your stuff, get a 2nd job - do whatever it takes to find extra cash, and apply that towards your debt.

10. Get complete commitment from all involved parties. If you are focused on becoming debt-free, but your spouse is a spendthrift, it will be difficult (if not impossible) to achieve your goals. Make sure that you are in it together, and truly make the commitment to the plan and each other.

11. Don’t remain stagnant - constantly reevaluate your plan. What makes financial sense now may not be the best thing a few months down the road. Interest rates may change, or you may get a raise. Set a firm goal, but be flexible in getting there.

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There’s no magic pill to get your debt under control, just like there’s no one-size-fits-all financial plan. I hope I’ve inspired you to look at your own plans for financial freedom. How are you taming the debt demons? Inspire others by leaving your methods in the comments.

Every Friday is 11 Things day at Living Behind the Curve.

Frugality and simplicity. There are many times when these two concepts, when combined with our need for convenience and our lust for the good life, are at odds with each other. We need to make choices, and sometimes frugality loses. Here are 11 things we know we could do more frugally, but choose not to do:

1. Breaking S.T.P. (Standard Tightwadding Procedure)
It may break the hearts of some hard-core tightwads, but we do not wash baggies, recycle aluminum foil, or change our own oil. This is not driven by convenience or lack of time at home; I have tried all of these at one time or another, but have found that we either prefer our “un-frugal” ways, or the expenses are justified for us.

2. Give me Coffee, Tea, and Beer or Give me Death
We are coffee snobs. We do not re-use grounds or buy cheap coffee. There are several local brands we like, and we stock up when we’re on sale. I’ll drink cheap tea – I’ve found that the local store’s generic iced tea bags work well as hot tea for me – but I love honey in my tea, and I prefer the non-clover varieties. Mer is a beer snob. While we don’t drink often – a case will normally last us 4-6 months – it’s got to be the good stuff. We are blessed to live in the Yuengling state (my apologies to the Commonwealth), so when we’re not springing for something from a smaller brewery such as Flying Fish or Victory, we’ve got classic Yuengling lager and porter as standbys.

3. “The Fizz”
Approximately $40 from our monthly budget goes toward the purchase of sugar-free, carbonated, flavored water – affectionately known as “the Fizz”. Because the water at my office is not drinkable, it is well-worth the expense to me to up my water consumption. It’s also a nice sweet treat that is filling (due to the carbonation) and not bad for us.

4. The Chicken Dance
There was a time, not so long ago, when we purchased whole chickens in bulk (usually $0.39-0.49/lb), sectioned them at home, and used them bone-in, skin-on for all our poultry needs. When we started our adventures in slow-cooking, however, it quickly became clear that de-boning chicken, before or after cooking, was costing us too much time. We now purchase boneless, skinless chicken (usually thighs). This was mostly my decision, but I still feel a bit guilty when we indulge in this luxury.

5. We Haven’t Gone Orange
If we moved the money in our credit union Money Market account to a high-yield savings account with HSBC or ING, we could earn as much as 0.50% more than we do now – but we won’t. The convenience of having all of our accounts in one place, thus simplifying our online banking, is worth the few dollars we may lose, especially considering the low account balance. As that amount grows, and the opportunity cost of staying with our current Money Market grows, we will most likely move most of it to a credit union CD, which consistently has the best rates.

6. Drive me Crazy
Mer and I work within the same general area; our offices are close enough that we could, theoretically, carpool. It would certainly save on gas – we follow the same route for the first 75% of our commutes), but it would add an additional 60-90 minutes to both of our days (due mostly to traffic congestion in the area) – but could be problematic on days when one of us needs to work late, or has a 6:00 class.

7. To Dry or Not to Dry
When we first committed to frugality, there were a few weeks when I hung every single load of our laundry to dry in our basement. It didn’t last. Our dryer is fast and efficient – it was a present from my mom and stepfather when we bought our house last year – and it gets the job done. Every single load (except delicates) gets thrown in the dryer – and I even pay a little extra for lavender vanilla dryer sheets, because I find the scent keeps me calm.

8. Pumping Iron
My job comes with a number of fabulous perks, one of which is a free gym (with trainer) located on the first floor of my office building. And yet, we spent $700 last month on an elliptical trainer, and reorganized our spare bedrooms to make it fit. This is all about convenience for me; I can, and do, hop on the elliptical before or after class, early Saturday mornings, when I’m watching videos on my laptop. It’s been excellent for me so far, and is giving me the opportunity to exercise without driving 45 minutes to the gym, or dedicating 40 minutes to my Pilates routine. I did use one tightwad trick, however: I asked that anyone who planned to get me a birthday gift this year instead contribute toward the purchase – over half the cost of the machine was covered.

9. I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty
One of the only “girly” indulgences I have is my hairdresser. Once a month (my hair grows unusually fast), I head downtown to Lords and Ladies, where Karisa shows me pictures of her baby and does fabulous things to my hair. There’s something about being at the salon that allows me to not worry about work, school, the house, etc. for an hour – and so a few months ago, I decided to treat myself to an expanded salon trip and have my hair colored. Not only do I love the extra relaxation this provides every other month, but I’ve found that the process gives me a little extra professional confidence somehow. I also use the salon-quality goo and special color-boosting (now with tourmaline!) shampoo and conditioner – all in the name of relaxation and being just a little girly.

10. Dairy, Dairy Good
I love powdered milk for baking and for thickening dairy sauces in a pinch; it’s great in homemade protein bars. That’s about where its applications end for us – we use fresh dairy for drinking, coffee, and cooking. The only way I’ve found to make the taste more palatable is to make it in advance and let it sit, and we use dairy so infrequently these days that keeping some around is wasteful. I don’t drink milk, but I do adore yogurt; however, until I have a free weekend to mess around with a heating pad and back-episodes of Good Eats, my yogurt comes from the grocery store (or preferably homemade from the Indian market.)

11. Keep it Clean!
Right now, we clean the house ourselves…and it’s icky. Mer smokes in the house, so the dust sticks. There’s cat hair everywhere, and the wood needs polished. I can’t remember the last time I cleaned the windows. Once the credit cards are paid off, we plan to hire a service to come in and clean once weekly. Having the house clean eliminates a great source of stress from our lives and leaves us free to focus on work, school, and the future.

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While many of these may fly in the face of frugality, they all fit our overall outlook – balancing work, calm, happiness, and financial security, all while eliminating stress and focusing on the more important things in life. We prefer to focus on living well, rather than on the extra $6 we spent for chicken this month. How about you? What decisions have you made to simplify your life? Tell us in the comments.

LiveJournal found something it didn’t like about our feed, and so Friday’s post didn’t appear on the LJ feed until about 20 minutes ago still has not appeared on the LJ feed.  We’re working on it.
Devoted LJ readers, welcome to 11 Things Fridays.

Every Friday is 11 Things day at Living Behind the Curve.

What is a blog without a good top ten list? We go one better with “11 Things” Fridays. From frugal crafts to completely biased opinions, we give you 11 Things to last you all through the weekend. To start things off, here are 11 Things That Living Behind the Curve is Not:

1. Uptightwad
Amy Dacyczyn, author of the Tightwad Gazette, has a place of honor in our hearts, along with Alton Brown, Julie Andrews and Mike Callahan. The Tightwad method is a marvelous way to cut spending, reduce consumption, save money, and reduce waste. When taken to extremes, it also starts bearing a remarkable resemblance to a cult. We’re big advocates of reducing consumption to save money and simplify, but we’re not going to scold anyone for not felting their dryer lint and making hats for the entire family.

2. Hard-Core Finance
Financial blogs are a dime a dozen (at 4.92% interest, compounding quarterly). I recently found one blogger who deposits 86% of her pre-tax day-job income into a retirement account. Not all of them are quite that extreme, but financial bloggers love numbers, obsessively comparing annualized rates of return to see whose is bigger. Budgeting and saving for retirement are important, but we try to strike a balance between penny pinching and fine living - Dawes, Tomes, Mousley and Grubbs be damned!

3. Donna Reed
If you came here looking for the kind of recipes to serve from your sparkling kitchen in your high heels and perfectly starched apron, you might want to look here. I have nothing against Donna Reed – I just don’t wear pearls when I dust. Hell, I rarely dust. We’re busy people, with a busy life, and an insatiable lust for good food.

Ed. Note: Did you know there’s a drink called a Donna Reed? The frozen version sounds delightful. There’s also a soundtrack released by Nick at Nite.

4. Goat-Milking
There is a large contingent of people who equate simple living with abandoning modern life and establishing self-sufficient farming communes, where the goats are milked by hand, the produce shines chemical-free in the sun, internal combustion engines are a distant memory, and you can hear the sound of paradigms shattering for miles. Nice work if you can stand it — we can’t. Simplicity is possible in even the most spiritually corrupt suburb.

5. Predictable
Well, on Tuesdays, anyway. There’s just no telling what the Kitchen Sink posts will bring. There will probably be some discussion of silly hats, for example. You never know.

6. Impersonal
If you love us, we’ll love you back. Whether it’s a comment, a link, or an email, if you’ve got a thought for us, we’ll think back. To illustrate the point, we have some advice for Jeff, who laments the loss of our original tag line. Always remember, Jeff, that without geometry, life is pointless.

7. A Top Ten List
David Letterman totally did that already. 11 Things are better, because there’s one more!

8. Cheezburger
We appreciate a good LOLcat reference, and I’m sure we’ll make a few, but there’s a time and place for verbing your nouns, and this blog isn’t it. Kthxbai.

9. Perfect
It may sound strange, but I’m looking forward to sharing our failures with you, in addition to our successes. Everybody screws up – the important part is to pick yourself up and keep on keepin’ on.

10. In our Right Minds
We’re two twenty-something people working full time jobs and going to school who, at the same time they are working to simplify their life, decided to create a blog and commit to a posting schedule. We’re a little off, and a little twisted (and occasionally a bit punny.)

11. Kidding
We’re not kidding about how easy it is to life a more simple life, or get your finances under control. In the spirit of full disclosure, however, we weren’t kidding about the puns either.

This concludes our week of introductory posts — Monday will start us off with the actual content portion of our program. If there’s something you’d like to see here, or if you have fabulous sources for silly hats, please let us know in the comments.