I have spent most of my day reorganizing and decluttering my kitchen cabinets. I did not really intend to do this, but the idea grew from a mini tantrum I had last time I accessed the spices. They were spilling out everywhere, I couldn't find what I needed (but that I was certain we had), and playing Tetris to get everything back in so I could close the cupboard door was just more than I could handle.
So, a couple of days later, Garry came home from the store with a legitimate spice organizer to replace the silly carousel we've had for 14 years. It's a cool little system. It's just not big enough. So we started moving stuff around in the cabinet above the stove, and found an arrangement that seems suitable. While Garry was working on that, I opened another cupboard--the one that has been vexing me for months (years?). I stared at it for a good long time. Then I went to bed.
After thrusting all my anger about messy cupboards (among other things) onto the elliptical and treadmill this morning, and after dropping Lexi at preschool, and after putting Kate down for a nap, I tackled that junky/random/crazy cupboard. That cupboard led to the bakeware cupboard, which led to the cooking utensil drawer, which led to the regular utensil drawer, which led to the plastic food container drawer (which may deserve an entire post by itself), which led to the junk drawer, which led to the office closet. Oh my. The mess is currently much bigger than it was last night.
Do you know what my prevailing thought is after all of this ridiculous sorting and organizing?
WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF.
Who needs six boxes of paper clips? We do, apparently, because the Apocalypse will surely bring a shortage of paper clips, and that we cannot abide. And we also need 27 plastic baby spoons. And 16 medicine spoons from the pharmacy. And 12 wooden spoons. (Spoon fetish? Maybe.) How about 200 cookie cutters? Yeah, we've got that. And 18 kinds of cupcake sprinkles, and four kinds of vinegar, and 11 knives we have never used once since our wedding day. Don't get me started on the service-for-16 china and crystal that has never been opened. We have three combination locks for gym lockers, but I have never once in my entire life used a gym locker. We also have a lock box from when we Fake Moved. Since I never intend to move ever again in my entire life (yes, lightning can strike me now), I'm wondering why, exactly, we have that thing.
Do we really need H-shaped sticky notes? Or 37 pairs of socks per person? Or this gadget or that tool or this pan? Or four large tubs of Christmas decorations? Everything we own has a purpose, for sure, and having plenty of everything maybe makes us feel more secure in our material world. But today, right now, I am so sick of our accumulated STUFF that I want to move to Pennsylvania and become Amish.
Who's with me?
9 comments:
Don't toss the vinegar!
(I'm actually with Garry on the vinegar. I think I have 6 kinds?)
BUT!
I am TOTALLY with you on the rest of it. A month ago I was trying to talk David into selling everything we own, including the cars, and moving to a little apartment in London, where there is magical mass transit, the skies are cloudy all day, the grass is greener, and none of my stupid problems can track me down!
It always looks much, much worse before it looks better. I hope you can get enough done to feel good about your efforts!
Please mail the 200 cookie cutters to me if you go Amish.
I'm with ya. I just MOVED all that stuff, plus added some from my Sister In Law's as she was moving and had a bunch of my MIL's stuff that Laur wanted....
Today was go through the boxes in the garage, move in what needs to be moved in, sort, send to DI, and put the boxes of stuff we are storing on those wonderful shelves I built back in July!
Rant over... I hear ya!
Lloyd
LOL to doug's comment.
i'm a minimalist at heart, hoarder by hobby. it's a battle. :) i always feel better when i get rid of crap, but "H" sticky notes are so cute! and let's get real....you never know when you might need a cookie cutter in the shape of texas. :) it's a constant bi-polar-like dilemma for me. :)
however- becoming amish sounds refreshing on so many levels to me today. when's the next flight to pennsylvania?
Ditto. I'm constantly trying to pare things down, but it seems like our stuff multiplies faster than I can weed it out.
Ditto. Amish sounds really good.
Don't I hear you!
I am SO with you. I've been fighting this battle for what seems forever, but mostly this past year. When we remodeled our kitchen I had to pack everything up and move it to the garage. There are still two boxes out there that I've hardly touched. I grabbed my cake pans out of there yesterday and realized I could get rid of everything else in the box since I haven't even looked at it in nearly a year. I truly understand the adage "less is more."
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