Unseen Consequences

One benefit of cleaning my pantry is that I'm suddenly much more aware of what we have. Before when mealtime came 'round, I'd stand in front of the piles of food and be so overwhelmed that I'd be unable to come to any conclusion. (Which led to take-out and drive-through meals far more often than I'd like to admit.) Now, I look into my pantry and I'm inspired. I know what's there and I'm suddenly excited to cook again.

Yesterday I made these mini-muffins from a long forgotten box of blueberry muffin mix. There were so good that my family gobbled them right up.

I ended up picking up another package from the store last night when I went for the cheese we needed for dinner. We had enchilada and tortilla soup, so good! I had no idea that we even had so many cans of enchilada sauce until I went through the pantry.

There are other benefits that I hadn't anticipated, as well. I ended up getting rid of all the unnecessary "snack" foods, and moved the cans to where they had been. I've found myself opening that cupboard multiple times, looking for something to nibble on. When I see the cans I'm reminded that I don't need to be eating right now. It seems that there's health benefits to a minimal lifestyle, as well!

My next project, sticking with the theme of food, seems to be the refrigerator. I've yet to pull it all out, but I honestly don't think I would be doing myself any favors by doing so. Let's just say that there are a few leftovers that we never got around to eating. I'm chipping away at the Tupperware and Rubbermaid containers, bit by bit. Once I'm left with only edible things, I'll go about cleaning it out. Even if there's nothing to throw away, I'm sure that the fridge could stand a good scrubbing. Not to mention putting things to order.

Operation: Pantry

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you my pantries. We have limited cupboard space in our apartment, so when we moved in we decided to purchase these beauties.


It looks innocent enough with the doors closed. The top is pretty shameful. I have cookbooks, toddler art supplies, vases, old magazines and abandoned crochet projects piled up. I'll have to address that another day, though, since most of it depends upon our second bookshelf being put into our bedroom.

Once you open it, you can see the piles and disorganization. I'll spare you the closeups, just know that everything is stacked three or four items deep. The drinks on the table are what we chose to keep from the old bench, which used to sit beneath the painting.



I tried to start by just plucking things out, then I remembered the rules. Take EVERYTHING OUT, then decide what needs to be put back in. Pick what to keep, not what to toss.

 So... out it all came!

That's..... a lot more food than I thought we had.

Not to mention tortilla chips!! Why do we have FOUR bags?

Let's just say that we had nachos for dinner last night.

A few hours and some close scrutiny later, I was able to turn the pantry into this.

It's beautiful! I can see where everything is! I thought about packing it all in more closely so that I could fit other things in there... but then I remembered. This is about having less. This is about being streamlined, organized, and minimal. I'm not throwing things away so that I can make space for more. I'm making space for living!

Mission Accomplished!

I wonder what I should tackle next?