Not all people are same. Some are happy with little less and some are happy with little extra. No judgement here. In the past you could have easily put me in little extra category especially in relation to Kitchen. I have shopped extravagantly for utensils and crockery . My refrigerator was packed with produce, milk , condiments etc. and my pantry... well let just say it always used to be "too full". Now for all practical purposes I am an average cook with an average interest in cooking. But this "fullness" of kitchen never bothered me. I had definitely felt myself as one of the happy go lucky shopper full of energy and vitality. Well that was in the past. With job and kids, things slowly became overwhelming for me. Too much stuff around started giving me anxiety. Then came a point when I thought I need some extra space. So we bought bigger house. Ironically that hardly helped. I thought I need an extra help.. may be a maid. I tried that option for short time but it was little hard on my pocket. Slowly and surprisingly shopping became an unwanted burden- an extra chore. To deal with this I started shopping in wholesale stores such as " costco" getting more stuff in the house in one go. That lead to more crowded kitchen. How absurd it is that things that we sometimes do to make life easy may lead to hardship. Honestly, I never thought about this "need for extra" as a real culprit. However, thanks to "Minimalist" I was convinced. Besides in real life I had this awesome example of my grandma. My grandma's kitchen was compact with only things that she really needed to cook. And she was one of the best cooks. Its almost 6 months or more now that I am making slow and steady changes in my "kitchen arena". I would say it has made my kitchen related life easy which has given me time and space to do other important things.
I did my decluttering project with some skeptisim at first. There was lot of emotional attachment with things . They ether reminded me of my happy shopping time or reminded me of a friend/ family who has gifted me something special that is close to my heart. But once I got rid of those "loved items" that I really don't use, the rest was easier. ( FYI-One can take pictures of these things to save it as a lasting memory before getting rid of them). I would say it was small incremental progress.
I started with getting rid of utensils that I haven't used in last 2 years. Then I started getting rid of things that I haven't used in last 1 year. And oh yes.. I do have played "what if I need this stuff in future?" tape again and again. Belive me that is such a waste of my time. In reality, that time hardly comes. And even if it does, human mind is creative enough to come up with plan B. My plan B is rely on friends in emergency if I need something that I don't have. Belive me ...friends help. I also got rid of few electronic gadgets such as extra rice cooker , extra toster and some other things that I haven't used for long time ( I have no clue why we had 2 of each ). Next stop was pantry. I gave 3-4 hours one day to organize my pantry. Getting rid of things that I don't use or are expired was a must. Organizing spices/lentils etc in glass bottles has given my pantry an open look and I find things pretty quickly now. I involved my husband in the pantry organizing project too. He built wooden multi-step storage with his carpentary skills that has increased storage space and made it easy for me to look for things. I spend around ten minutes once in two weeks to quickly reorganize it as things do get cluttered easily. Same with refrigerator. I go for shopping twice a week to buy fresh produce, milk ,eggs etc. My motto is to shop in small quantities and wait till things are over. I don't waste food/produce that often now and I have become little more creative with things that I have. This has helped me impressively well. Some items I do buy through wholesale store such as nuts / organic protein bars etc but its limited in scope now compared to previous times. I would like to reduce this bulk buying even further.
I can happily report that I haven't shop for utensils /crokery for more than an year now and I don't miss a thing about it. I will shop them only when my old ones need to be replaced. I am planning to buy good quality things and not cheap ones. Good quality items lasts long and therefore eases stress on environment as well. Utensils get washed on time as we have only couple to spare. So my kitchen- sink area stays clean and clutter free. Now my kitchen looks specious , feels clean and does make me go on anxiety mode less often. It is always easy and enjoyable for me to cook in clean clutter free area.
As a working mom with no outside help it is my need to find ways that will help me. Switching towards "little less" path has helped me to come a step closer to my sanity. These simple changes have made me and my kitchen atleast 50% happier. I think thats not that bad...right? - praj101
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