The Great Declutter Part 2

Pitlanepiglet

I've got too many cake tins (mainly as a result of amalgamating a couple of households) but mainly I just one of of the smaller roasting tins and make a traybake!

Tidy out what you don't need but don't give up OS.

itsallinthemind

I do wonder if this is a phase? If you are just a bit tired of it at the moment?

I have been clearing out after a house move, I suspect my rented kitchen is worse that ceridwen's. It is tiny, dysfunctional, battered to pieces and about 30 years old, we are talking grill over cooker etc. You can't almost keep it clean as half the surfaces are missing! I have put my excess in the shed. I only put in the cupboards what I use atleast on a monthly basis. I am leaving it there 6 months, if I need anything I will retrieve it, if not I will freecycle it. I am concerned I will regret throwing what amounts to big cash if it needs replacing!

Food wise I am torn. A relationship breakdown and the snow has made me realise that I am not half as mad as I look for stockpiling food.

Storage maybe is not an issue, but an issue of how you store? I have very deep cupboards, so have made use of baskets in them and those shelves you can put in etc. I have cupboards used for regular baking and another for my random things.

Why not just make bread for the weekend?

As for jam, why not barter? I have met a local lady(she put some seeds on freecycle and passed me a jar of jam which is the BEST ever!) we now swap her jam for my cakes as she can't go past a flapjack skill wise? We are both over the moon with our swap

As for being proud, I'd rather have a homeley functional and productive kitchen than one of those sparkly ones in glossy magazines!

valk_scot

itsallinthemind wrote: »

As for being proud, I'd rather have a homeley functional and productive kitchen than one of those sparkly ones in glossy magazines!

I buy Country Homes.....my house is an eclectic shambles of items picked up over many years and it's amazing how often I see something I own (or close in style) in one of the pictures in that particular glossy mag. It makes me feel I might actually have some morsel of style, though it might not be to everyone's taste. Mind you, I'm the person who has a sewing machine in her kitchen.....

itsallinthemind

Oh Val, I know what you mean, sounds like my Aunt's kitchen, everything from the 50's through to present day 'vintage'. I LOVE it!

Mine just gives me the horrors, I wish it had a door, all open plan and the post man gets to see it. Not good!

As for your sewing machine, best place for it, if you have a table in your kitchen to work on

[Deleted User]

Hi I do tend to have quite a bit of food in store in my cupboards and fridge /freezer but then I also at this time of the year like to 'shop' from my freezer and stores rather than try to get to the shops.I have a mobility problem that is worse in the bad weather so its far more sensible not to venture out when the snow and ice is on the ground as I would only fall and end up in the hospital so it makes better sence for me to keep my store cupboards reasonably full.I am a bit of a squirrel in October/November and I always have enough stashed to see me through the worst of the weather .Re Jam Jars I too seem to save quite a few ,although I do give bags of them away to friends who make jams and marmalades in exchange for the odd jar.One of my arms has very little strngth in it so it would be daft to try and make my own jam,so I'm either given it or I will trea myself to some as and when needed.I always have a jar in the fridge but its not something that gets used every day.I love honey and my local builder keeps bees so I can usually get a nice jar from him fairly cheaply.Now and again I will go to Macknades farm shop just outside Faversham and treat myself to a jar of my favourite which is Concords grape jelly,but its just under £4.00 a jar so thats not often.If my Dd goes to the US in the autumn as they do they will bring me some back.
With regards to cake tinds I too have cut right back and keep a couple of bun tins, a small loaf tin which will do for lemon drizzle cake and two victoria sponge cake tins the rest were given away when I had my new kitchen fitted three years ago.I have two baking sheets which do for scones or biscuits and thats more than enough for me.Its very easy to get clutter in a kitchen then bung it into cupboards out of the way then your cupboards get cluttered up as well.One of my friends bless her bought me a covered cake stand for Christmas which is lovely but now I have to try to find a space for it in the larder.I seem to accumulate quite a lot of lock'n' lock boxes but they do get used for a lot of storage stuff.I also have quite a bit of those washed out chines plastic boxes in a stack in one cupboard but they are very useful for portions in the freezer as they stack easily.
This time of the year I do have a good de-clutter when I do my 'new year cleaning' (a throwback from my Scots Mum) who insisted that everything was scoured before Hogmany in the house so the New Year came into a clean house.
This is what I will be doing when I go home tomorrow for a couple of days before Friday night when I will be at my DDs for New Year .Work on the principle if you haven't used it for six months you won't miss it if you donate it to a charity shop or give it away .

ceridwen

<cough> yep to most of JackieO's post....

On the "get rid of stuff you havent used for last 6 months" point - I think it depends a bit on whether it WILL get used once one has more time.

I DO have to admit that - like most people - I have bought kitchen gadgets over the years that may not necessarily have been a good idea <ahem>:o. So - I did buy a top of the range breadmaker and errr....ended up giving it to a friend a couple of years later (still unused):o:o. I just prefer to make my own by hand.

However - I've got a VERY expensive all-singing, all-dancing food processor and fancy mandoline that I've not used EVER :o since the day I bought them. But - I will be using them once I have more time for really getting into cookery as a hobby (rather than basically having to focus on doing it just enough to make sure I eat properly - as at present). So - I will keep these items for then.

Even someone who is still slap bang in the middle of their working life and working all hours God sends might find that their circumstances change (even if for bad reasons - eg losing a job) and then they have the time to make more of a hobby of cooking and would regret getting rid of things that are currently little used due to lack of time.

TheDoolallyDilly

My family are having one of their 'lets sort stuff out' days today so I have several bags for the charity shop (not open until tomorrow) containing :-

6 t-shirts (from DS2)
1 of DH's shirts
1 of my t-shirts
A plastic bowl, plate and mug set
2 books
Several old DVDs
A valence for a bed
A pair of curtains
A pair of unworn flipflops

pipkin71

I like the idea of living an OS life.

Living with a disability means I cannot always follow the OS ways that I want to, but I try to keep up with various things.

Good luck for a tidier 2011, OP

pipkin71

Mrs_Bones wrote: »

I think like others have said you just need to think what OS bits are important to you and do some serious decluttering.

We're preparing to move and I have had to do quite a bit of decluttering, which, at the moment, seems never-ending.

I've got quite a big kitchen at the moment and would be extremely lucky to get another this size, so lots of stuff needs to go.

It is quite a difficult task to be ruthless

Mrs_Bones wrote: »

I do like to keep a well stocked store cupboard but thats because I often can't get out, especially when the weather is bad, for me though being OS is about making life easier and slowing my life down to a more simpler time, not more complicated, it doesn't mean you have to do everything or be completely self sufficent unless you want to be.

Agree here

mineallmine

mineallmine wrote: »

It's a new dawn, it's a new day and I'm feeling I gotta blitz again today. The lounge was looking better yesterday so this is making a difference. Sometimes I resent how long it's taking but hopefully I'll be able to do small but regular decluttering in the future. With a full house, loft, understairs cupboard and garage that may be a little while off but house first. And walking into a charity shop with loads of stuff always feels good.

63. - 100.

Up to 100 things, woo hoo. Found a perfume which I'd asked OH to buy me for Christmas, so now I have two!

Right, quick break.

Long break! Right need to get back on track if I want to get rid of 500 things by 1/1. Hello everyone who's thread has joined us.

101.102. Rubbish (bin)
103. Old (very) old Optrex, emptied and packaging recycled (recycling)
104. Bedding (charity)
105.106. Toiletries used up (bin) (recycled)

Night all.