Day 2 of 91-Day De-cluttering: Pantry

Confession: I like the little shreds of shredded wheat at the bottom of the bag.

The pantry. Wow. I started at 9:40 with a goal to be done by noon. At 12:30 I quit looking at the clock as well as setting goals. To be fair, I had a fuzzy stuck in my contact that I had to get out. If I hadn't had that setback I'm sure I would have finished by noon.

I always wear socks and shoes (laced up and tied) when I clean; wearing shoes not only adds an extra bounce to my step, but also protects my feet from the stuff I drop. I have three pair of Nike running socks, each with different colors of embroidered Nike swooshes and designated foot symbols "R" and "L." I couldn't find a matching pair, so I picked out one pink and one blue--which is fine, but both were embroidered with a capital R which means Thou Shalt Wear Me On Your Right Foot. Feeling like my life might be in danger, I sifted through my sock drawer one more time to no avail. This is a scary situation because the packaging doesn't come with any warning of what might happen if you disobey your sock. Luckily, once my shoes were on, other than a little bit of mental discomfort I couldn't tell the difference.

I decided I wanted to completely empty my pantry. I always say I wish I could empty my whole house and only put back in it what we really need, so my pantry was the mini version of my wish. I didn't trash anything immediately because I wanted pictures of my piles to make my before and after pictures better.

Before

Before

Before--up high

Before--down low

2 shelves into the process...

Blue basket for "donate/sell"
White basket for "relocate"

My kitchen after the pantry is empty

Some of the stuff I trashed...

I'm pretty sure I brought these with me from Rexburg, Idaho, NINE YEARS AGO.

Just in case I ran out of my other 50 packets of hot chocolate mix I had. (I threw them all away!)

To quote Scott: you never know when you're gonna need sprinkles!

What if my neighbor calls and needs 1/2 tsp. of red crystals???

Everyone knows I love hot dogs. It's only fitting that I have this petrified relic.

11 bags of cereal.
The ones on the left are for those who like to strain their cereal through a colander in order to get one spoon full.

Next, I put everything into the pantry that I was keeping so I could trash, donate, or relocate the rest.

Keep

Trash

Organized trash

donate/sell

relocate


And this was my final product
 

I took the time to post all the items I want to sell on a Facebook garage sale page, and I relocated all the things that didn't belong in the pantry or on the table. It was quite the process, but it's all done! Ty came home and said: "Woah, MOM! The floor is empty so we can set mouse traps!" Calli said: "Wow. That's amazing. You know it's not gonna last?" Ha! I think it's time to add "organize pantry" to their weekly chores. And for the record, it was really nice to clean out the pantry without the purpose of cleaning up after mice! 

Insecurities and stuff

Confession: I have insecurities.

More than a year ago, someone made a comment about my blog that made me uncomfortable. So I stopped writing. I know they didn't intend to make me uncomfortable, but I let it stop me. Then, I met with some of my dearest friends a few months ago, and they helped me realize that I was letting the fear of negative response get in the way of one of the things I love most!

Over the course of the last year, I changed jobs, had a baby, and had to choose whether or not I wanted to continue working a job I really loved. The problem was my boss needed someone who could work more hours that I was willing to give with my new babe and my increasingly busy family schedule. Now, here I am, once again a stay-at-home mom and loving it. I'll write more later about my own progress, but in summary, I'm totally mature now! Ha!

Confession: I have stuff.

One of the things I'm excited and overwhelmed about is organizing my house. I've realized that when my house is cluttered, my mind feels cluttered. And STUFF! We have so much STUFF! I was browsing Pinterest for organization ideas and found this:

http://bit.ly/1emRX9k

I'm going to de-clutter my home in 91 days! I'm 2 weeks late according to her schedule, but I started today! If I post my progress, I'll be held accountable. I'll also be posting a lot of embarrassingly honest photos of my home--the parts I hide behind closed doors. I plan to be clutter free before Christmas. I'm also planning to sell some of my stuff as I go so I have money to buy more stuff for Christmas! :) Here goes...

Week 1, Day 1: Clean out fridge/freezer!

I decided to clean off the outside of my fridge, too. I went the extra mile today, but it's only day 1! I have two baskets: one for items to relocate, and one to sift through and decide whether I need it or can trash it. Can you see the cauldron on top? that's full of Halloween candy from last year! I haven't tackled the nook next to the fridge yet. That's another day. 

I also scrubbed a door shelf of sticky soy sauce that spilled a long time ago and coated the bottoms of every container on the shelf. I've just ignored it until today. Boooooo. I also found a lot of ice cream toppings and I couldn't bring myself to throw them away! I guess we're having ice cream every night this week.

I owe a special shout out to my sweet neighbor girl who came over and helped me with Meg while I did this! I couldn't have done it without her. She even stayed and helped me after Meg went down for a nap. So sweet! Thank you!