Minimize it Monday - Elimination

After using the four of everything of the table services in the last couple of weeks, I am glad to say that I am now a happy dish washer mom! LOL! I liked it so much that I have started eliminating my dishes as well. It has been a week now and yes, I am extremely happy with the result of this act of minimising. It is hard to believe how quickly I could get all the dishes done with the perfect amount of dishes for each member in the family. We had our friends over for dinner last Thursday and we simply brought the extra dishes in from the storage cabinet in the garage, and the cleaning up was a cinch. I had put away the extra dishes the day after the dinner. Right now as I write my kitchen sink is sparkling clean with all the dishes put away in their proper places in the cabinet. Did I say I was happy with this minimizing effort? I am on a roll now. What a great feeling.  Praise the Lord!

I have de-cluttered my stuff many times before, but honestly I was really just shuffling things around instead of getting rid of the excess. It got to be that emotional tie that I have with the stuff. It was hard to ELIMINATE. This time though, I evaluated each item as I put it away, gave it away or threw it away. I have been taking my time doing this because I am ready to live with just what I really love and really need. The added blessing is that the whole family is in on this minimizing effort which has been a great support. I can't wait when this year is over and we can look back to see all that we COULD live without.

Before - It doesn't seem like we have much dishes in this picture but we do. We are only a family of five and we really don't need all the extra dishes in this cabinet. I also wanted to make it more ergonomic friendly with the item placement as I am getting older now that sometime a simple stretch of pulling down something could just throw my back off.

After - In case you are wondering, the Kleenex box houses the plastic grocery bags for my little kitchen trash can under the sink and the coffee filters' double duty is to hold the homemade french fries. They don't really "look" belong in this cabinet. I may put these two items else where one day when I minimized other areas. I still need to go back to line the shelves with my famous brown paper bags. No worry, it will be done soon. :)

These are the left overs that took me a few days to put away (I wanted to be sure I was ok with what I kept in the cabinet). I did switch the measuring cups back. I like the look of the Pamper Chef's measuring cup but I realized these Pyrex ones are better marked for the measurement. Some of the dishes I put away in the garage (will bring them in when we have company) and some I gave away. I am glad to have found a way that works for me to make the cabinet look more spacious and less dishes to wash. :)