At the beginning of 2008, I decided that I had had enough of the clutter in my house. It was actually affecting my ability to get anything done. The piles of notebooks, books, magazines, clothes, ETC., were driving me mad. LAW, Wifeunit and Cassandra can attest to the fact that I have alot of crap. I do.
My goal for 2008 is to get organized. I mean really, really GET ORGANIZED!!!! I don’t have an upcoming move to force me to declutter so I have to find it within myself to get it done.
So yesterday, I cleaned out my pantry.
Let me just start off by saying that I had no idea Jello had an expiration date. I mean…c’mon…it’s Jello for crying out loud. Turns out it does expire at a certain point and I am two years late in making all of those wonderful recipes they were purchased for.
I like to shop at Trader Joe’s occasionally but I am aware of the dangers of doing that. Trader Joe’s has so many really cool, exotic food items. Alas, I never did find a good use for for the jar of caper berries that looked so tempting on the shelf. In retrospect, they were just a little too big. They made me kind of nervous.
Moving on…I have no idea why I have a jar of Mango chutney but I do. Well, I did until I threw it out yesterday. If it’s THAT dusty on top, I didn’t need it. Oh, and the cans of foie gras that Lancelot brought back from a trip to Paris…gulp…two years ago? Ummm….gone too because they also have an expiration date and I did not feel like playing Johnny Vegas with THAT stuff.
All of this reminded me that I come by it naturally. When my grandfather, Beep Beep (he used to come home from work and say,"beep-beep" and it just kind of stuck) died, there were two very old jars of mincemeat (ewwwww!!!) and a can of boiled grean peanuts (triple ewwww) that somehow made it over to my parents’ house. Now, my mother made mincemeat pies with the two jars. That stuff had been fermenting for so long, people got tipsy just from the smell. But that can of boiled green peanuts just sat on their pantry shelf until one day, it exploded. Let me tell you, if the thought of boiled green peanuts makes you…well…a little green, you have no idea what the smell of ROTTEN boiled green peanuts is like. There are just no words.
So now I’m in a pitched battle to take control of the house and my gene pool is not on my side…
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Heh.
As we discussed earlier, I have been doing the same thing.
I am scared to death to tackle my spices. Even my SPICES have spices – my kids come to my house and their eyes light up when they see turntable upon turntable of spices in my walk-in pantry. Some of these things have no known use in the modern world, however.
What the helk is turmeric? Who uses this stuff?
Turmeric is a good substitute for saffron and used quite a bit in Middle Eastern cooking.
That's one of the spices I do use but I'm with ya…mostly my spice cabinet scares the crap out of me.
I've a recipe that uses turmeric if you want…:)
I inherited two boxes of 70's Jello and and a bulging can of sliced pineapple.
I'm a big fan of decluttering (my username references something other than closets).
Heh, thanks to PCSing (did I really just say that?!!), all of my cabinets got the complete overhaul while packing. Which, of course, now means I have *holes* to fill……
I'll trade ya. I spent the better part yesterday morning and afternoon buried under the kitchen sink installing a new faucet as well as locating and fixing the source of the massive leak that left a half inch of water standing under the sink. Yeah, I was a nasty mess by the time I got done. OTOH, though, I did get that cabinet area cleaned out and all the cleaning supplies organized.
heh
SFW – I'm still available to help on weekends, if you need it. Spices – if they are over a year old and not in the freezer, or something terribly rare (like saffron) PITCH. old foie gras – gone. mincemeat (yum yum, I make my own and it's lovely) over 2 years old if frozen, bye bye.
I threw out soooooo much before we moved. and I don't miss it! we just put up an organizer (over the tank thing) in the bathroom and the sink top is nice and cleaned off.
I love this organizing!
LAW
I probably shouldn't admit this. Stretch had a can of something when we got married and I didn't know how long he'd had it, so I never used it. However, it moved with us several times. Yes, it did. I don't know why, but it took me years to pitch that can. As if Stretch would have missed it had he known! That man thinks dialing for pizza delivery is cooking.
Saffron.
Another thing I haven't used since 1976.
Actually, that's not true. I used it in rice dishes. Occasionally. When I can't find the yellow food coloring.
I'm just in a foul mood :p
Just think, if you were in a *fowl* mood, you'd have something to serve the saffron rice with…..
0>;~}
we bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate our 2nd anniversary but never drank it. we are swiftly approaching our 10th anniversary and we've never drank it! its moved with us throughout the years, and as i was packing us up yesterday for our next move i came across it and laughed as i do each time i find it shoved in the back of the top cabnit. "hey babe! here's that bottle of champagne again!" i yelled into the living room. he just smiled and said "well make sure to pack it good, we dont want it breaking"
its like the only thing we have left that hasnt been lost or broken from our "early years". i dont think we'll ever drink it. its more of a sentimental thing now.
There must have been something in the air! I went through and started my whole house overhaul yesterday! I worked so hard on closets that my back hurts today! I should have started with the pantry!
Papa Bear left for a three month training TDY yesterday and I think it was cathartic for me! My problem is that I did have a lot of work to get done – but sometimes hard, physical work is the best solution to facing reality!
DizzyLizzie – drink the champagne! We've got the bottle from the one year anniversary of our son getting through chemo – kept the bottle, definitely drank the champagne!
I have been working on my sewing room. I did the spice cupboard last fall and it still is neat and organized.
The Jell-O has been relegated to food storage helk. The children are permitted to make one flavor twice a week
for a snack.
Family room and school room are next. Clothing has been gone through but needs it again in light of lovely fabric discoveries in the
sewing room.
Oh, and did I mention we have a garage in another state we
have to purge? The house was nearly done when we moved…
Don't get me started.
I cleaned out my mother's food the last time we were home. We found stuff from Clinton's first term. No joke.
The movers helped us declutter during one move. They completely forgot to pack up my spice cabinet…the whole thing! I got to buy all new spices (that I actually use)when we got to our next assignment. It was actually a little thrilling. ;)
I tend to think I am Spartan for this reason. I seriously do not keep things. Never have because I grew up around Grandparents that survived the depression.
amazing what they recycled and kept.
I try and be very Spartan.