(no subject)

[fred_mouse]

I may possibly have fallen down the rabbit hole of decluttering websites, having followed a link to one that had All The Links to recommended ways to declutter. There are lots of things that I could try, but I've started with A Bowl Full of Lemons which has a 31 day declutter. Having looked at the first one, no way am I going to manage one a day, if they are all as intense as that. Instead, I'm going to work my way through them gradually.

The first task is 'pantry food'. I must admit, that when I thought of that, I thought 'and fridge, and freezer, and spare food cupboard, and the snacks and drygoods drawer', so maybe it is me that is over thinking things! Any way... our pantry has the equivalent of six shelves, although not everything stored there is food, and has 5 little basket shelves on the inside of the door. This evening, I managed two shelves, and either three or four baskets.

And this is where things fell apart. They said 'purge expired food'. None of that on those shelves. Some duplicated items, and some items that should be used up, but nothing expired as such. So, nothing that can be decluttered immediately. What I've done is to write each thing that should be used up on a sticky note, and put it on the wall next to the sink. My goal is to get that reduced by one *every day*. When I run out of things on the wall, I have to do the next section, although there is nothing stopping me starting that sooner.

The plans for tomorrow - 1. make cupcakes. That should deal with the tag end of rice flour, and the tag end of potato flour, and some of the soy flour, and maybe a bit of the tapioca, and some of the oh-my-when-did-we-get-so-many patty pans. 2. make hummus. That will deal with the cup and a half of chickpeas currently soaking. 3. make chick pea bread. That will deal with some of the chick pea flour. 4. make polenta. That might empty out the polenta jar. Good thing I'm going to have 20 at dinner tomorrow, really, isn't it!

As I go through, some of the items (polenta, chickpeas) will go on the shopping list, but I don't need them if I'm still working through other such items! And I'll get rid of some of the jars. They are either 2-3L pickle jars or similar sized coffee jars, and some of them sit in the hand better than others. Given that we empty a pickle jar a month (not the coffee ones though - those don't appear to be sold any more) I don't expect to run myself out of jars!

Tomorrow's goal (above and beyond all the cooking) is to do the same with either the floor or the spices shelf

Comments

[tanaqui]

fallen down the rabbit hole of decluttering websites

Hahaha, yeah, I did that too -- those things can be addictive for a while! But I found it helped my motivation to discover one or two that closely resonated with me to read regularly.

write each thing that should be used up on a sticky note, and put it on the wall next to the sink

That is a great idea for making sure things that are used less often don't end up in the expired category -- and so simple! Pure genius!

Hope you enjoyed the baking and the 20 dinner guests, and good luck with continuing on with working through the decluttering suggestions.

[fred_mouse]

today, I emptied two jars, and decreased the amount in a couple of others (soy flour and coconut flour - I didn't like them enough to put them in the regular rotation, and there they sit, taking up space).

The 20 did not quite eventuate - counting us, we ended up with 13 at afternoon tea, and then nine for dessert, as the early crowd all had to get home for dinner, and the late crowd all ate before they got here.

I'm thinking that what I need is to make a list of decluttering categories, and put them on index cards, and just cycle through them. Because looking through the various sites, I can see areas that I should go back to (like the pantry) on a regular basis.

[hooloovoo_42]

I think the problem with most decluttering sites is that they don't actually get anywhere near the level of clutter I have. Some of them are more just "daily chore" sites, for those who need a bit of help getting themselves organised.

[fred_mouse]

absolutely. When we moved house ten years ago, I told the person on the other end of the phone the size of the house, and that we had 'a lot of stuff'. They basically poo-poohed, me, and sent the standard sized truck for a house that size. It did two full runs. And we have continued to collect stuff (although we might have nearly finished getting rid of duplicate items, fifteen years after we combined households). Our house is full of teetering mounds, and cupboards that can't be safely opened, and such like. Also boxes in teh front hall, the music room, the spare room, and the garage.

I joke that the simplest way to declutter would be to rehome the cat and get the other humans to move out, because then no-one would gainsay anything I wanted to get rid of. But we are making progress, and some days that is all that matters.

[hooloovoo_42]

Your house sounds like mine, apart from living alone. I'm only semi joking when I say the easiest way for me to declutter would be to set fire to the house!

We're going to have to deal with a much worse scenario when we finally get round to shifting stuff at my Dad's. We've made some headway inside, but we don't have a key to the garage and that's crammed full of stuff that's been there for 15 years. I think the easiest thing is to skip the lot, but I don't know if there's anything in there that is actually of value - monetary or sentimental. I'm hoping there's a box of my old books in there, but I'm sure if they are, they will all be ruined by damp.

[fred_mouse]

You have my sympathies, particularly in relation to the shed. I have stress dreams that are all about having to deal with one particular person's house in the event of unexpected demise, and it is not pretty. And I occasionally wonder what I would miss if the house burned down. Should that happen, I would certainly build a much smaller 2 storey house instead of the sprawling single level monstrosity that I have, the the top floor being completely open plan, with 'work stations' around, and windows all the way around (and screens/awnings/etc, to keep the sun out in summer. I also dream about being able to sink a basement, but we are on sand, and it Just Isn't Done around here).

By 'skip the lot' do you mean to get a rubbish skip and put the lot in it? Like 'bin the lot', but on a larger scale? Or some other potentially regional variation I haven't previously encountered?