If money was not an issue, I’d love to have these:

A Black & Decker 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker, so I can have nice coffee in the comforts of my own home. Edil is a big coffee drinker during the mornings and he now can rival me with his coffee preferences.

A Presto 8-Qt. Aluminum Pressure Cooker. I am not a good cook but I do know how to eat. And I know tender meat makes a nice meal. I have some nice kaldereta recipes from my aunt I want to try. She has the kaldereta beef that melts in your mouth. Yummy.

The Deluxe Dual Chocolatiere.

The Deluxe Dual Chocolatiere has two chocolate melting pots for twice the fun. There’s no need to boil water. The electric Deluxe Dual Chocolatiere allows chocolate to stay melted and soft at just the right temperature. No more waste or mess. Perfect for making candies and covering your favorite fruits. Also great for a chocolate fondue party.

So great for me, a sweet tooth, right?

An Oster 2-Speed Classic Beehive Blender so that Matthew can enjoy shakes and I can plan my diet around shakes as well

These items are actually very affordable, most of them ranging from $30-$60. However, if you add them up (I want more) we are sure to hit our budgets right off the ceiling. Edil might need to apply for payday loans to make us survive until next payday. So we are taking it one step at a time, buying them one at a time. Im happy to realize most of the things I kaboodled last year I was able to buy already!

I havent talked about my shopping loot when me and other online friends filled a balikbayan box for Glo to send home. I actually had no plans (read: no money) to fill an entire box so I was glad my friends helped me. In the end, they ended up filling another whole box! I got less items than before when Glo sent me a box. Perhaps, if I made some cash advance with Edil’s credit card I would have gotten more but I was dependent on the money from my Paypal account. I am so happy with my big purchase though. I got our family Corelle dinnerware. If money was not an issue, I would have bought matching serving plates and another 16-piece set (so that I can entertain guests). I’m sure Edil will like what I have bought. He is partial to square plates. My next project would be to have the custom made shelf that can hold our microwave, a space for our bread basket and the plates. I asked around our place and having it made will be very cheap.

One of the things I need to buy for the new house is a toaster. While staying at my parents, I realized my kids love (actually, they love it very very much) toasted bread. They eat a lot when the bread is hot and toasted to a crisp. I also learned I can reheat pizzas, cook hotdogs and do many other things with it. Did I mention it’s cheap too? So yes, I think a toaster in our counter is foreseen in our home in the very near future. I gotta love things that make my life easier!

I need to know how to organize my kitchen cupboard efficiently. I inspected my kitchen cabinets and the cabinet on top of the stove had laundry detergents. I had to cross to the end of the kitchen to get sauces if Im cooking! The cookies for the kids are placed on the highest part of the kitchen cabinet (how in the world will me kids get that, you think?) and the kitchen utensils are on the wrong side.

I blame my maids for this just so you know (I wasnt there when they did the kitchen) - and yes, we have been here since May and I only noticed it now (This is how long I have not touched the stove and cooked, hehehe).

With them leaving by the end of the month, I need to be in control! Here are the steps Id do:

Clean Your Cabinets

One great way to keep your kitchen cabinets organized is to clean them out every couple of months. That allows you to keep stock of what’s in there and get rid of anything that is past its prime or has damaged packaging. Containers with damaged packaging that leak food can attract pest like ants, cockroaches and mice.

Organizing Your Cabinet

After cleaning out your cabinets, put everything back in a well organized way. Items that you don’t use very often, put towards the back, while having frequently used items within reach. Try to group “like items” together. If you know where to reach for specific ingredients it will save you time in the kitchen. Train everyone in your house to put items back where they got them.

Remembering Where Stuff Is

If you tend to have a hard time finding things that are stashed away in the back of your cabinets, place an inventory list on the inside of the cabinet door. You can even draw a square and diagram where items are likely to be located. A diagram may also help inform other family members where to put things away, which could save you headaches down the road.

Grocery List

Attach a piece of paper to the inside of the cabinet door to write down items as you run out of them. Then you can reference it when you put together your grocery list. This is very useful if other people use the kitchen as well, everyone will know that you have ran out of something and won’t spend a half hour looking for it.

Access More of Your Cabinet Space with Lazy Susans

I always keep my eyes open for inexpensive Lazy Susans at garage sales and discount stores. A Lazy Susan is basically a turntable that you can install in a kitchen cabinet or pantry that rotates so you can easily get to everything on the cabinet shelf. This is especially useful for cabinet shelves that are difficult to reach.

So I was talking about how difficult it is to get delicious rolls of bread in my town. I’d sometimes buy three to five kinds of variety and try to stock it up for a week. Well, either of the two things happen: we run out (which usually happens), or we get stale bread (since bread have shelf life).

Im seriously considering making my own bread from scratch (yes, me who doesnt even want to cook). I’ve had nice creative dreams about me making my own pizza dough before so why not? Plus bread machines are really affordable, add to that the cost of ingredients, and you’ve got savings! We all need that right now.

So I looked for bread machines that makes rolls and found three within my budget - Sunbeam 5891 Bread Maker, Cuisinart CBK-200 Bread Maker and the Breadman TR875 Bread Maker. All of them range from $70-$130 so they are affordable. I compared the bread machines and Im now deciding between the Sunbeam 5891 Bread Maker and the Cuisinart CBK-200 Bread Maker.

Cuisinart CBK-200 Bread Maker | Sunbeam 5891 Bread Maker

The Cuisinart CBK-200 Bread Maker has power interruption protect and 16 different programs while the Sunbeam 5891 Bread Maker has 12 different programs and one year warranty (which is really a plus for me).

I have to consult this first with Edil. I bet he will be making fun of my newfound curiosity for domesticity.