Toss It RIGHT NOW!!!

 

I read a lot of articles that say “If you have ____ in your home/kitchen/bedroom/etc throw it out immediately!” Some are pretty interesting. Here’s the latest one concerning your kitchen. IT JUST MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE!!

 

Drawer full of take-out menus/condiment packets

We’ve never done take-out meals. Not even pizza delivery. And we’re not big on condiments. Especially Marv. I always have mustard and ketchup in the fridge. And whenever we go to Taco Bell I always grab a few extra mild sauce packets that I like to have on hand when I make taco salad or homemade burritos.

 

Old sponges

This one is valid for everyone. Those sponges get icky fast and have lots of bad cooties in them. I have no problem tossing them.

 

Ancient spices

Oh, man! Did I have a lot of spices I never use! I finally got around to going through them and tossing the old stuff and the ones I NEVER use. My faves to have on hand for regular use are: salt, pepper, season-all, garlic salt, onion salt, celery salt, chili powder.

 

Elderly pantry supplies

Almost everything I buy that comes in a cardboard box I transfer to a glass container. It doesn’t matter how clean your house is, critters will get into the boxes and ruin your stuff. The only cardboard packages I don’t transfer are rice meals and man n cheese, because I use those up on a regular basis.

 

Half of your coffee mugs

Another thing I’ve collected over the years. Mostly cat ones. Some that I had were ones I kept because they had a pretty design on them, but were actually a bit small for a regular amount of coffee or hot chocolate. So I went through them and got rid of a lot. I also use some of my very favorites for pencils, pens, paint brushes, etc.

 

Old cookbooks

As a new bride I acquired a LOT of cookbooks. All of the Jeff Smith ones, various specific ones for things like Jell-O, canned soups, beverages, cake mixes, one for lactose-free recipes, ones put out by the church and microwave books. At one point I went through them all and there were several that I only really used for a couple of recipes. I copied those on a 3x5 card for my recipe box. I kept my favorites: Fanny Farmer, Betty Crocker, church cookbooks and a couple more. I truly regret getting rid of my grandmother’s Betty Crocker book.

 

Too many plastic containers and lids

Like the joke goes: I have a full set of salad bowls with lids and all of them say Cool Whip on them! Growing up, empty plastic food containers were the only containers we had and we used them all the time. That meant that sometimes when you went to the fridge to get the margarine, you’d take the lid off and find the leftover spaghetti from the previous night. Always an adventure. I carried this habit into my married life. I do have some “real” storage containers, but the re-used ones are in the majority. Every once in a while I get them all out and match up lids and containers. Anything that doesn’t match up goes into the recycle bin.

 

Duplicate tools

No one needs more than a couple specific spatulas, plastic spoons, soup ladles, cake servers. I finally went through that drawer in the kitchen and donated a LOT of duplicates.

 

And then there’s the “junk drawer”….save that one for a rainy day when you’re bored.

 

theend