1. The Right Containers
   Make sure you are using containers that are appropriate for the type of food you want to store. For example, if you want to keep frozen foods you can use glass or stainless steel to keep your food contents frozen without the fear of freezer burn. You might also want to avoid storing bread in a box if you live in a humid climate, but you should keep dry grains and flours in a tightly sealed container to keep moisture out.
   
2. The Right Environment
   All foods have different types of conditions it can last best in. For example, potatoes are best in dark cool places, while flours are best stored in tight containers away from moisture and sunlight. Research and find out what environment works best for your food items. You can find some clues from www.stilltasty.com to figure out storage time and length of time the food item can last.
   
3. The Right Amount
   Don't over purchase, you can always go back to the store and get more, especially if you live in a first world nation. There will always be plenty of food, and there's no need to prepare for an emergency situation unless your location requires emergency preparations. But usually nonprofits like the American Red Cross are there to help. However, for everyday needs you only need a little, and you should only purchase for less than a week's worth of cooking. Avoid overstocking things unless you use it everyday. Grains and flours might be good if your family eats it everyday, but for a single person or a small family you may be able to buy just enough for a weeks worth, and then go to the store again after work or school to pick up a few fresh produce from the store. 

I once read an article, and recently found a video about a Japanese man named Fumio Sasaki, and his transition from a hoarder to a minimalist. Here's the clip from YouTube:

Minimalism is about finding ways to have less, whether that be less stress, less things, or less debt. One way to achieve the goal of minimalism is through the concept of multipurpose.

Multipurpose is easy to conceptualize, using one thing in more than one way.

Instead of owing a lot of things that may have single or limited uses, you can instead invest in something that will offer a lot of value in return. Hence, multipurpose items.

Not all tools will work for everyone, but I think that by considering your own lifestyle, and what you often find joy in doing, you will be able to determine and narrow down what multipurpose items you want to have in your life.

Some tips I have for you, that I believe can be pretty much universal (or at least for the typical western household):

1. Cleaning Supplies
   Just use baking soda and vinegar, these two tools are great at cleaning, and can even act as a hair rinse, ph balancing for your skin, or a scrub if you incorporate water and some salt/sugar. You can also throw in a lemon or castille soap and make up a ton of great DIY cleaning products too. Reduce waste, and reduce harsh chemicals. Win-win!
   
2. Cooking Appliance
   I think the instant pot 7-in-1 is awesome and acts as my steamer, boiler, rice cooker, pressure cooker, and yogurt maker. I use this thing at least 3-4 times a week to prep foods like meats or soft-boiled eggs. I admittedly do have a zojirushi rice cooker, which I won't give up simply because I make rice every single day and don't like the idea of pulling out the big instant pot just for making rice. I also own a blender and hand blender for making smoothies and pureeing soups. I'm sure I could have just went with one, but they're handy and I use them often enough that they're worth the cost and room. Additionally, I have a food processor from Kitchen Aid, and this item has been useful in grounding meats, breaking down large items like rice into flour or turning veggies into a paste. Just make sure that whatever you get it used often enough for whatever purpose you have desired.
   
3. Reusable Bags
   Reusable bags are not only good for bringing to the grocery store to put your produce and bulk items in, but they can also be good for shopping for regular shops for glass containers or clothes. You can also use them to carry your books and cell phone around. You can repurpose reusable bags to carry anything you need to lug from A to B. So, instead of buying many bags you can just repurpose the ones you're already using for your general shopping.
   
4. Food
   This is another area you can definitely  multipurpose. I recently found out that oatmeal I hadn't been eating lately can act as a bread crumb in my meat balls or used for making a facial mask. You can also multipurpose meat by shredding it up or dicing it after you've pressured cooked it. You can multipurpose tomato paste to make marinara sauce or stews. I've multi-purposed rice to make sushi, or added to making a Turkish style meatball called kadin budu kofte. You can also use a whole chicken and make broth, shred it, make a stew, etc. Other food items I find great are zucchinis, carrots, potatoes, onions, which can be used in stews or salads, or as a bulk filler for stir fried dishes to reduce meat portions. I also found there are spices and condiments I often use like sesame oil, soy sauce, anchovy stock powder, all-purpose flour, etc. 

Make a list and narrow down the essentials, and sometimes it's ok to forgo the extraordinary, since there are still many ways to use what you have on hand. I'm sure there's more ways to multipurpose items around the house, like clothes, and furniture, but I thought these four ideas can get you started. If you have any more ideas please feel free to post them in the comment section below.

So recently at my internship I was given a task to work with CSS animations and transitions. I'm really seeing a big progress in my understanding, before I didn't think much about CSS and focused solely on JavaScript. But I realize now how important CSS is in order to add a bit of glamour to any website.

One of the areas I've been focusing on is understanding how to write in LESS, and also to apply both CSS, HTML and JavaScript together to make really cool effects. I've been working on a Soundcloud custom player using their starter code to initially set up my project. After awhile of messing with other people's code I began to find that I'm beginning to learn to READ the code and actually UNDERSTAND it.

That means I'm getting somewhere.

Well, anyhow back to CSS animations. I found that a lot of simple things can be done using well simple coding. Here is one I did on codepen, with a little help to make the heart-shape, but the concept of just making the heart thump came from understanding the basics of keyframes. Pretty cool, no?

Anyways, keep practicing. A little effort goes a long way. I've also been doing my yoga and studying languages, right now I'm doing French, Turkish, Cantonese, Korean, French and German. Not too much, right?

So you probably started or have been a long time minimalist, but found that you're not getting near enough to your goal of living an efficient or minimal waste lifestyle as you would like. Well, I've got one phrase for you Zero Out. My husband actually mentioned this term to me first, but it was like a light bulb in my brain, why hadn't I thought about this before?

WHAT IS ZEROING OUT?

You might already have an idea about what "zeroing out" means just by the phrase. But I'll give you a simple explanation here.

So, you want to reduce food waste or stop using liquid shampoo and instead use bar soaps, you should first finish what you have.

That's right, getting rid of stuff and donating things to Good Will might seem easy, but it isn't always the best solution. After all what you're really doing is just displacing items and not really dealing with the actual issue. So, by zeroing out, you reduce the wastage.

Yes, it might seem terrible to own that SFL containing bottle of shampoo, but the best thing is to not toss the entire bottle, but to use it up and start with a clean slate.

Clean slate. Just think of that, you can't just get rid of everything in one go, maybe you can just use that old shirt or wear out those shoes until you can afford to do the research and save up the money to get a good replacement.

Dumping everything and getting eco-friendly products is not necessarily the best solution to start minimizing. After all, not everyone has a boat load of money to spend on new products or clothes.

So, when you're thinking of ways to change your lifestyle to a more minimal one, start by zeroing out, and clear out the pantries, bathroom cabinets, etc before adding more in.