• Home
  • Get Started!
  • About
  • Blog
    • Cleaning
    • decluttering
    • organization
    • All posts
  • Podcast
  • Books
    • Organizing for the Rest of Us
      • Claim Your Preorder Bonus
    • Decluttering at the Speed of Life
    • How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind
  • Video
  • Shortcut Solutions
    • Take Your House Back
    • 14 Days to Opening Your Front Door to Guests e-book
    • Make Dinner Happen
    • The 5 Day Clutter Shakedown Video Course
    • Printable Checklists E-Book from A Slob Comes Clean
    • Teaching Kids to Clean e-book
    • Giving God the Worst of Me - free e-book
    • My Book Publishing Journey
  • Decluttering Coaches

Dana K. White

A SLOB COMES CLEAN

Reality-Based Cleaning, Decluttering, & Organizing

 

  • Contact
  • TV & Media
  • Speaking

  • Home
  • Get Started!
  • About
  • Blog
    • Cleaning
    • decluttering
    • organization
    • All posts
  • Podcast
  • Books
    • Organizing for the Rest of Us
      • Claim Your Preorder Bonus
    • Decluttering at the Speed of Life
    • How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind
  • Video
  • Shortcut Solutions
    • Take Your House Back
    • 14 Days to Opening Your Front Door to Guests e-book
    • Make Dinner Happen
    • The 5 Day Clutter Shakedown Video Course
    • Printable Checklists E-Book from A Slob Comes Clean
    • Teaching Kids to Clean e-book
    • Giving God the Worst of Me - free e-book
    • My Book Publishing Journey
  • Decluttering Coaches
Videos
Blog
Podcast
Products & Courses
Books
About
Decluttering Certification

I’ll Declutter . . . But Do I Have to Give Up ALL my Dreams?

January 15, 2010 By Dana White | 16 Comments

  • 537shares
  • 394
  • 0
  • 143

ill-declutter-but-do-i-have-to-give-up-all-my-dreams-at-aslobcomesclean-com

I worked some more in the kitchen today. As I’ve said before, finding a place for everything sounds nice, but it’s a LOT of work.

I began by looking for a place to put the Dollar Tree glasses that I washed yesterday. I ventured into an upper cabinet in a totally inconvenient place that I consistently forget exists. Good place for these rarely used items.
Upon opening this cabinet, I found a set of glass canisters with old/crunchy/useless seals, and a cookie jar. I could justify getting rid the canisters, but the cookie jar? No, I don’t make cookies very often. No, I never put them in cookie jars. Yes, that cookie jar has been in there for more than a year. But I love it. My husband bought it for me soon after our first was born, because I thought that every mother should have a cookie jar.

I also decluttered this cabinet. It’s the cabinet below my mixer and it’s where I keep the sugar and flour and such. The very outer edges get used consistently and there are things like my hand mixer that are stored in there that get used a lot. But there are also lots of things that we NEVER use.

Like that stuff. A special thing to grill fish, and some fancy baking dishes. The problem? I don’t really bake. A little, but not special-pan kind of baking.

But I got grumpy when I came across my spring-form pan. Spring-form pans are cool. They make canned cinnamon rolls look fancy. And I have dreams of doing more baking . . . someday. I started feeling sorry for myself.

Do I really have to give up all of my dreams and throw away every single thing that I don’t use? I haven’t used the spring-form pan in years because I didn’t remember that I had it, and if I had, I probably wouldn’t have been able to find it.

Each of the unearthed items represents some great idea I had once. A dream of finding a perfect recipe and having just the right thing to make it in.

I’m willing to be realistic. I’m willing to throw away the things that are just slightly different from something I have that I do use. But I don’t want to give up all my dreams.

Then I kept decluttering and found that I actually had TWO spring-form pans. So I got rid of one, and kept one.

And you know what, when my cabinet looks like this:

I think I can justify keeping one spring-form pan. Look at all that room.

And yes, I’m keeping the cookie jar.

ill-declutter-but-do-i-have-to-give-up-all-my-dreams-at-aslobcomesclean-com

Save

Related Posts:

Read Newer Post Our Last Official Week of Eating from the Pantry
Read Older Post Pantry Challenge is Making me a Little Nervous

Filed Under: decluttering | 16 Comments

Comments

  1. Buttercup says

    January 16, 2010 at 3:27 am

    Is that a tart pan? I know a home that could one *coughcough*

    Reply
  2. Nony says

    January 16, 2010 at 4:26 am

    Yep, it's a tart pan. And I've never made a tart.

    Reply
  3. 2 Tramps says

    January 17, 2010 at 5:44 am

    Wow, I am doing the same thing you are right now! And I have nine springform pans. I haven't use one in about a year… But I will… I do very much understand your reluctance to let go of things. What I am doing is realizing that my "I'm a gonna" plans have changed as my interests have evolved. So I am going to try very hard to part with some things. But it won't be either of my rock tumblers – I still plan to do that! Good luck from a kindred spirit!

    Reply
  4. Lacy @ Catholic Icing says

    May 10, 2011 at 5:52 pm

    You're so right! It's like, getting rid of the dress I NEVER wear means that for sure I'm just not the kind of person that wears cute sun dresses… and I SO want to be that person! It's hard to get rid of stuff, and I think you really hit the nail on the head here as to why. Great post!

    Reply
  5. Shelly says

    February 29, 2012 at 2:28 pm

    Seriously, I think you are me. And you are making me understand myself better! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Vicki says

      January 24, 2015 at 7:56 am

      I agree Shelly! It is like she lives in my head and blogs about it, lol!

      Reply
  6. TexasLea says

    January 11, 2013 at 4:10 pm

    I’ve been reading from the beginning for almost a week and even though I’ve wanted to comment several times before I’ve resisted just in case you figure out what I was gonna say or something even better in future (past) posts.
    However, I can’t stop myself this time. Do you still have your cookie jar? Is it still in the cabinet? Guess what I figured out? Cookie Jars don’t have to just hold cookies! I just call mine the treat jar now because I’m not a regular cookie baker either. You have all those granola bars so you could totally call yours the granola bar jar or the candy jar. What I’m saying is you can totally give it a place of honor in the kitchen and use it for something other than cookies.

    Reply
    • Cassandra says

      January 11, 2014 at 10:47 pm

      I use my cookie jar to hold spare keys and $2 bills!

      Reply
      • doug bowden says

        January 24, 2015 at 12:36 am

        Let me know if you declutter the $2s! Lol

        Reply
    • andrea says

      April 20, 2015 at 10:31 am

      Brilliant! So doing this!

      Reply
  7. Alisha says

    January 24, 2015 at 9:14 am

    My oldest daughter just married last month and I was able to giver her some things I had trouble giving up but didn’t really use anymore. It was somehow very easy to pass them on to my daughter who had nothing yet, than giving them up to the mission store or goodwill. 🙂 In fact she just called up asking if she could have the electric griddle I never use. Why yes dear you sure can! LOL

    Reply
  8. Linda W says

    January 24, 2015 at 8:49 pm

    I recently decluttered my kitchen again. I got angry with myself for keeping old appliances. They filled a large box that went to Goodwill. My two fondue pots went to my daughters.

    Reply
  9. jenny says

    April 20, 2015 at 11:24 pm

    The sidetracked sisters, call this caches, phantoms. The people you want to be, or even use to be. We had a phantom quilter, weight watcher, gardener, and cross stitcher.
    Getting rid of those phantoms freed up the space, in our house, and in my head. Now I have room for the person I really am, right now. Whoever that is!

    Reply
  10. Debby says

    April 24, 2015 at 6:16 pm

    Looks great! But I’m curious what’s in the Pampered Chef box? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done a kitchen party and the host pulls something out of her cabinet and says she’s never even opened it! I always laugh and say, Well let’s open it up & try it out!

    Reply
    • Dana White says

      April 24, 2015 at 9:07 pm

      I think it’s the cookie squeezer-outer!

      Reply
  11. Debbie says

    February 14, 2017 at 8:23 am

    I need to do this with my linen closet. It’s my only stand-alone closet in the house and it’s FULL of old ripped sheets and who knows what. REDICULOUS!!! The stupid part about it is the mop bucket in the bottom that my husband picked up at an estate sale and really wants me to use. It’s the thing in the closet that frustrates me the most because it “takes up valuable space.” Why don’t I get rid of everything else I the cabinet that is MY clutter instead of get annoyed with this one item he sees as useful? Maybe I’ll use the silly mop bucket if I get rid of enough stuff to be able to get it out.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

A Slob Comes Clean is the completely honest (and never-ending) story of my deslobification process. As I find ways to keep my home under control, I share the truth about cleaning and organization methods that actually work for a real-life slob. And I'm funny.

About Dana Get Started

Solutions to Your Biggest Decluttering Problems:


The Container Concept Explained:

YouTube player

Dana's YouTube Channel

Popular Posts

Why-I-Have-To-Run-My-Dishwasher-Every-Single-Night-at-ASlobComesClean.com sidebar
Five Truths about a Clean Kitchen even without a dishwasher at ASlobComesClean.com sidebar
How to Clean a Messy House at ASlobComesClean.com sidebar

Topics:

blogcast Cleaning daily checklist decluttering failures figuring myself out kitchen laundry Menu Plan Monday organization parenting podcasts progress random stories reader stories recipes sponsored posts Uncategorized

Want solutions to your biggest decluttering problems?

Join the newsletter and I'll start by teaching you how to declutter without making a bigger mess.

  • Home
  • Get Started!
  • About
  • Blog
    • Cleaning
    • decluttering
    • organization
    • All posts
  • Podcast
  • Books
    • Organizing for the Rest of Us
      • Claim Your Preorder Bonus
    • Decluttering at the Speed of Life
    • How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind
  • Video
  • Shortcut Solutions
    • Take Your House Back
    • 14 Days to Opening Your Front Door to Guests e-book
    • Make Dinner Happen
    • The 5 Day Clutter Shakedown Video Course
    • Printable Checklists E-Book from A Slob Comes Clean
    • Teaching Kids to Clean e-book
    • Giving God the Worst of Me – free e-book
    • My Book Publishing Journey
  • Decluttering Coaches
Search

  • Contact
  • TV & Media
  • Speaking

© Dana K. White | Site by Little Leaf Design