Dictionaries, like people, have different personalities. Keep this in mind when you’re in search of the right one for your reference shelf. Think about the way you plan to use your dictionary to help you decide which features are important to you. Here are some things to consider:

Copyright date.
Get the latest date available.

Number of definitions.
This can vary by more than fifty thousand words.

New words.
Look for terms like road rage and intranet if staying current with contemporary words is important to you.
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Few things are as frustrating as needing the answer to a fairly straightforward question—Who directed Shane? Where is Mozambique? Who said “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds?”—and not being able to find the answer quickly without calling the public library or firing up your computer. When you’ve got the right books on your reference shelf, the answers you need are at your fingertips. Here are the standard reference library books you’ll reach for again and again:

1. Dictionary. Take a look at the copyright date of the dictionary on your shelf. If you’d be suspicious of any can in your pantry with this date, it’s time for a new edition. An older dictionary may be serviceable, but it won’t include the most contemporary words and meanings, up-to-date biographical and geographical entries, or current acceptable usage, leaving you more open to making mistakes. See the box below for what to look for in your new dictionary.

2. Thesaurus. It’s best not to depend exclusively on the thesaurus in your word processing system. Whether you’re reaching for the best word to capture your meaning, or just want to limber up your vocabulary, an actual (as opposed to virtual) thesaurus will give you more words and more nuances of meaning to choose from. Look for a thesaurus that lists words alphabetically, so they’re easier to find, and that groups synonyms according to similar meanings, so you choose the best word for the context.
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If you wouldn’t know a bobbin from a bobby pin, and you visit your tailor more often than your mother across town, this list is for you. When a winter coat suddenly pops a button, or the heel of a shoe yanks out the hem of a skirt, where do you turn? You need a sewing kit even for just basic repairs. You just open up that old cookie tin you prudently stocked with the following:

1. Package of needles in assorted sizes.

2. Thread in basic colors like white, black, beige, red, yellow, navy. You might want to add a spool of any other color you keep in your wardrobe (light blue, pink, purple, etc.).
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Considering that a third of our lifetime is spent in bed, sheets and pillowcases that feel good next to the skin also make a big difference on a daily basis. Industry expert Liz Hough of Cotton Incorporated says sheets with a higher thread count (the number of threads in a square inch of fabric) last longer, and “the more you wash them, the softer they become.” If you have sensitive skin, or just enjoy the feel of soft sheets, you’ll be happier with a minimum 200-thread count. Not surprisingly, the price of the sheet goes up with the thread count, but you don’t have to spend a fortune to get good ones. Watch for sales, especially department store “white sales” in January and July.

1. Sheets.
Two sets per bed will allow you to have one in the wash and one on the bed. A third (or even fourth) set is fun if you enjoy giving your bedroom a new look by changing the sheets. Make sure you have at least one set of sheets for every bed in the house, including sofa beds for those times when everyone comes to stay at once.

2. Pillowcases.
Keep the same number of pillowcases per pillow as you have sets of sheets for the bed. Extra cases are nice if you like changing to a fresh one in the middle of a sweltering summer night.
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Any of these quick and easy one-dish dinners can be good enough for company. Round out the meal with salad, bread, and dessert and serve the feast with speed and pride.

Mexican Pizza: Layer refried beans, salsa, and grated jack or cheddar cheese on pizza shells. Bake in moderate oven until heated through.

Speedy Salad: Add canned tuna or salmon to a bed of fresh greens, sliced sweet onion, carrots, blanched and chilled frozen green beans, toasted pine nuts (and anything else that sounds good to you). Toss the whole thing with bottled dressing or a vinaigrette.

Darmody Chicken: Put boneless chicken breasts in a shallow baking pan and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon; add several bagged baby carrots and sprinkle them with dill; next put in a few quartered potatoes and onions; place a few cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced, on and near potatoes and chicken. Sprinkle thyme, salt, and pepper over everything and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees until chicken is done and potatoes, carrots, and onions are tender (about 40 minutes).

Pasta and Sauce: Toss cooked penne, angel hair, or any other favorite pasta with bottled pasta sauce that you’ve heated in the microwave. Add garbanzo beans to make a complete protein and add peas too if you like them. Grate fresh parmesan over top.

Couscous and sausage: Use your favorite flavored couscous; before you boil the water, put in a dash of cayenne pepper and a couple tablespoons of raisins. Toast pine nuts or pecans while the couscous is steaming. Toss the cooked grains with garbanzo beans and nuts. Serve this with sautéed or microwaved chicken sausages.

Stocking a Linen Closet

Whether you view sheets and towels as essential elements of household décor or think of them in strictly utilitarian terms, stocking your linen closet with attractive, good-quality sheets and towels is both practical and satisfying. Here’s what you should have on hand.

With the right ingredients in your pantry, fridge, and freezer you can always have the makings of a quick, easy, and delicious dinner, even on a busy weeknight. Take this checklist to the grocery store and you’ll be surprising family and friends with your ability to pull dinner from thin air.

IN YOUR CABINET

1. Extra-virgin olive oil.

2. Vegetable oil.

3. Balsamic and red wine vinegar.

4. Dijon mustard.
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If you haven’t cooked much, or at all, or haven’t been near the kitchen for a very long time, there’s no reason you can’t start now. You need to have some kitchen equipment anyway. Take this checklist to the kitchenware section of your favorite store and you’ll come home with the basic tools to stock your kitchen and whip up a few simple and delicious meals.

BACHELOR’S BASICS

1. Knives. One small (4–6-inch) paring knife; one 8–12-inch all-purpose knife (sometimes called a chef’s knife); one 13–16-inch serrated (saw-tooth) knife for slicing bread. Don’t waste your time or money buying cheap knives. They are much harder—and more dangerous—to use because they aren’t always sturdy enough for the job (the blade can snap off), and they dull very easily, which increases the risk of slicing something you weren’t aiming at (like your finger). By the time you replace a few cheap knives, you might as well have enjoyed the use of a good one to begin with. If you only buy one, make it a large paring knife.

2. Vegetable peeler. Even if you buy your carrots bagged and precleaned and like to mash your potatoes with the skins on, you’ll need a vegetable peeler sooner or later for something. If you are left-handed, buy one designed for lefties.
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Raise your hand if you open your closet each morning and serenely retrieve the very garment you had in mind. (Martha Stewart, put your hand down.) For the rest of us, this doesn’t have to be a fantasy. An organized, user-friendly closet is well within reach—and your clothing will be too, when you’re finished with this checklist. All you’ll need to make this dream come true are a few uninterrupted hours and a supply of gritty determination. It may help to invite a friend in as referee.

1. Shovel it out. Unless you’re lucky enough to own a cavernous walk-in closet, you need all the space you can get. Find another place for your tennis racquet, the ugly lamp, the rolls of wrapping paper, and anything else you were storing in your closet until you could figure out what to do with it. If you can’t find homes, or uses, for these articles, put them in a box to donate to charity.

2. Be ruthless. Toss or donate anything you haven’t worn in two years. Wedding dresses are excepted. Salmon pink dyed-to-match bridesmaid shoes are not.
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Many of us “sort” our photographs by dumping them into shoeboxes or shopping bags anticipating the lazy, rainy afternoon we’ll spend leisurely catching up on our photo albums. The fact is, it would take a rain of biblical proportions—forty days and forty nights—to make the time for this project and the longer you await the perfect day, the more jumbled those boxes and bags become. Stop waiting: get those photos organized now and then go out and take some more—rain or shine!

1. Weed ruthlessly. Wouldn’t it be nice if all your pictures turned out perfectly every time? You save yourself a lot of storage space by pretending they did, and getting rid of pictures you don’t like. If Uncle Charlie’s elbow covered the baby’s face, toss the picture! If the photo is nearly perfect, except that it’s overexposed, throw it away! If you hate that picture snapped while you were chewing steak, out it goes!

2. Don’t save duplicates. If you order duplicates so you can send photos to grandparents, or to pass along to friends who are in the shot, by all means, share them. Then throw the rest away.
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The axiom that work expands to fill the time available can be applied equally well to storage: papers, files, and miscellaneous clutter expand to fill all available space. A messy desk and chaotic filing system waste time and siphon productivity—and sanity. Once you’ve worked your way through this checklist, you’ll have an organized workspace that makes you look forward to getting down to business every day, whether in your study at home or at the office.

1. Take a deep breath. If you’re starting out with an intimidating pile of “stuff” on and around your desk, don’t despair. Take a deep breath and devote a small amount of time—half an hour—daily to sifting through it. If you do a little organizing each day, you will reach the bottom of the stack!

2. Ask questions. As you go through your stacks of paper, piles of files, mountains of magazines, etc., ask yourself: Do I need this? Why? What happens to it next? Where will I look for it when I want it? Don’t ask “where should I put it?” Your organizing system is only as good as your ability to remember where you put things!
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