Birrrr...
Woke up to snow this morning.
Its supposed to do it some more...
though it was not much.
The sort of snow where kids have to scoop up every
flake in the yard to build a small snow man.
We are awful about collecting things and reusing them.
We do recycle in a serious way here.
The whole dang two towns together do that.
(We might as well be one town, but a river runs between us.)
We don't have box sized recycle containers.
We have great big garbage can style bins on wheels.
The neighbors drive the dog nuts rolling out their bins.
We do our part in our house.
So every margarine, sour cream, cottage cheese, etc. tub
is carefully collected and put into the cupboard
we call the "Fibber McGee closet".
So named because when you open it, things fall out.
I am sick of reorganizing it repeatedly.
Their lids occupy two big drawers in the kitchen...
they are in opposite corners.
It is a pain in the butt to find a lid that matches a tub.
The more one digs, the more messed up
each area gets.
It is a flawed system.
The entire time I have been living here...
the man has said to me
"This is your kitchen, you arrange it the way you want."
It's my area.
So as I was flipping through a coupon book for a local store...
I became very excited about food storage containers.
This may not float your boat.
It does mine!
This morning I purchased 80 food storage containers.
Does that sound excessive?
They came in sets of 40... so I bought two.
The thing I like about them is that the lids snap to their container bottoms.
There is no need for the bottoms and the tops to
live across the room from one another.
Likewise no need for a messy method of picking through
piles of lids that are not the lid I want....
or the annoyance of lids getting stuck when you try to close the drawers.
I spent a wonderful day going through all our containers.
The man has more Tupperware than my mother ever had...
and a good mix of Rubbermaid, Zip-lock and Glad containers too.
Crazy!
When I was finished,
I had ten "saved" containers... the sour cream, etc.
stacked with their lids neatly stored beneath them.
Those are for sending left-overs home with guests.
No one has to worry about returning them...
please, please don't return them!
My cupboard is neatly arranged with lids below containers
for all of them.
Two drawers are empty now and ready to be used.
I've no idea what I will put in them.
But something will present itself.
Meanwhile, my recycle bin is 3/4 full of plastic
bottoms without tops...
and plastic tops without bottoms.
Not to mention all the sour cream, etc. with lids.
I kid you not!
Tonight I will smile when I sleep,
knowing that the cupboard is neat and orderly.
Happy sigh.
Tomorrow I will hit the drawer under the stove...
I rarely open it, its so scary!
There are pan lids and casserole lids in there for every
pot that resides here or ever lived in this kitchen... EVER.
Most do not have pots to sit under them.
I do believe in recycling and reusing things.
But the man, bless his heart...
is a bit of a pack rat.
Its all clean and lovely.
But certainly needs to be weeded out.
Clutter is a sneaky animal.
Where does clutter sneak into your life?
Are you a clutter buster...
or a pack rat?
I'm kind of both.
But every now and then, I go crazy getting rid of things.
I'm thinking this is spring cleaning itching to bust loose...
I really want the snow flakes to melt off and leave us be.
I'm so ready for sunshine and being outside again.
Our cupboards are a mess. We have a bunch of mismatched lids and bottoms too, but I haven't got the stamina to organize them, especially not now that I'm working on the taxes. Yuk!
ReplyDeleteBoth Mr. Cube and I have packrat tendencies, but he likes to think that only my stuff constitutes clutter.
BTW on your post of 2/12/12, I mistakenly gave you the wrong name of the creepy vampire movie I recommended. The correct title is "30 Days Of Night", not 28.
Cube- I am pack ratty about somethings, like all the things my kids made in school, even the outfits they wore home from the hospital when they were born. But my pack ratting goes into boxes that I can tuck away in a fairly orderly fashion.
ReplyDeleteThe man gathers clutter like a magpie. Like your Mr. Cube, he feels that his shiny objects are quite valuable and mine are of questionable worth. Maybe its a man thing.
I don't think I've seen "30 Days of Night". I'm not sure. Now I will have to check it out and see. Roxy and I can barricade ourselves in the bedroom with popcorn. We'll see if I can sleep with the light out afterwards.
we had a mish mash of various container's.. as you.. but after many years I finally cleared those out to make room for non-disposable ones.. they are reasonale in price and every so often we replace ones that have gone missing..
ReplyDeleteI had the same problem and then bought a set that sounds much like the one you got. Mine were Rubbermaid, and they come in a few basic lid sizes, each of the three lid sizes fit containers with maybe three different depths. And all snap into each other. I threw every other container into recycling and only use these now.
ReplyDeleteMrs.Harry Woman- Isn't it funny how some of them vanish? Just the top or just the bottom... or with favorites, the top and bottom! Its like how socks go missing in the wash.
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ReplyDeleteSecret Agent Woman- Those are the ones! They are so very nice. =:]
ReplyDeleteIt is super frustrating when I can't match up a lid with a container, but when it happens...I can hear a choir of angels. I also love looking at storage containers.
ReplyDeletewe are big on recycling too and have garbage can sized bins as well. we are a family of 5 and only throw out one can a week, whih i am convinced could be even smaller if we could recycle more but no centers around her accept some of the stuff. i have to confess though, my desk....oh the clutter. it's a perpetual avalanche waiting to happen.
ReplyDeleteDR is definitely a bit hoard-y :) Having a big family and small homes made me quite brutal about getting rid of clutter over the years. Sometimes I find myself backsliding and I get to my piles - trash, recycle, donate. Still...I almost always feel like I have too much stuff.
ReplyDeleteTara- There is something magical about things that bring order to life. Well, to my messy life anyway.
ReplyDeletelime- I hear you on the amount you don't need to toss. We have weekly pick-up but its rare that we put the can out more than once 2-3 weeks, but it is just the two of us. You are doing great for a family of five! We call our "office" area 51... its full of weird clutter.
laura b.- I was that way when I was living in apartments. But give me space and I will fill it. My mom was like you. I think it is a good way to be.