"These knives look great! They are in perfect condition! Really! You should see what most people bring in to us... Your wife gets the 'Best Customer Ever Award.'"

That's what the guy at Ergo Chef told Dwayne when Dwayne took in my knives to have them sharpened a few weeks ago. It was proud moment for me. But I think Dwayne was even prouder of me than I was of myself. He spent a lot of money to give me those knives and it blessed him because I had shown gratitude by taking care of them. A few days later, he brought home my knives and six new steak knives I didn't have already as a reward. So, in turn, I've been rewarding Dwayne with more steak for dinner.

But there's a good reason I do a good job of caring for my knives. I follow the care instructions to the letter. And I follow the care instructions to the letter because I keep them in front of me constantly. And I keep them in front of me constantly because they go in my notebook.

I use a notebook for just about everything from storing current library lists and prescriptions to writing notes out of books I read, websites I look at or telephone calls I make. This is the third notebook I've had like this. I've already filled every page of two others before this. It's great to have one notebook for everything, because this way, I don't have a lot of scrap papers lying around.

Because so much goes in this notebook to begin with, I am often opening it for one reason or another. That way, I my eyes are always coming across the care instructions for my knives, my pots and pans, etc. and I can reread the rules almost as often as I open my notebook.

The connection between my office organization and how I care for kitchenware isn't an obvious one, but I know that couldn't have kept my knives so well without the help of my notebook. It works well for me, so I thought I'd share this tip because a notebook may do wonders for you, too.