Kitchen Cabinets: Lower (Decluttering and Simplifying 2010)

The year 2010 hasn’t even arrived yet, but I’ve already started the process of decluttering our house. December 10 was my start date.

I was pleased when David joined me in a couple of sessions aimed at getting rid of things stored in the lower kitchen cabinets. Now, they are not as empty as I had hoped they would be, but we eliminated a whole kitchen table full of stuff. Take a look.

Week 1 Items to Goodwill
Week 1 Items to Goodwill

When David and I moved in together, we assembled kitchen supplies from several sources. David had some things that he brought from his house, and we later acquired some other items that had belonged to members of his family. My mother gave me lots of things that had been my grandmother’s and some of her own stuff, too. All those mostly useless items moved from our first apartment to our second and eventually to our house. Very little was eliminated from this collection over the years, and new items were acquired. Over time, of course, I settled into using only a few dishes, pans and tools, mostly ones I’ve purchased in the last few years. Everything else sat unused in the cabinet. These items — pots, pans, glass pie plates and crock bowls — were easily the most useless ones in the house.

Now, much of the junk has been taken to Goodwill. In addition to the items in the photo, I took a few other dishes. And I have still a few more items to take.

The silverware drawer has been cleaned and reset with only eight of each type of flatware. Some of the excess has gone to fill in gaps in my mother’s silverware drawer, and the rest is off to Goodwill, too.

So… the cabinet under the kitchen counter is cleared of some junk. The cabinet under the sink is cleared of extra bags, excess cleaning products and other bits of debris. And the four drawers in the lower cabinets are cleared of clutter, making access to the items that remain easier. One storage crate, used to cart items off, is eliminated. Three or four extra (medium) bags of trash when off Friday as well.

There’s no way you could call my collection of kitchen utensils minimalist, but it much more under control. I’ll eliminate more later, I promise.

The top cabinets are a project for another time. It’s on to other parts of the house now.

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