Re-decluttering is a thing. You know that, right? I didn’t know for a very long time.
Back when I thought decluttering was once-and-for-all, I stressed over doing it perfectly. I didn’t want to make a mistake. Decluttering decisions weighed heavily on me, and that stress made me put off decluttering way longer than I should have.
But once I realized decluttering is something I’ll have to do again next year and the year after that and keep doing for the rest of my life, I chilled out a little.
I learned from experience that I’ll survive even if I get rid of something I end up needing later, and I learned from experience that being wrong, keeping something I actually don’t need isn’t the end of the world either.
Like this:
Last year, I decluttered a pot I hadn’t used in more than ten years to make room for a new, significantly more useful pot I got from my mother for Christmas. I was following my game-changing-other-people-are-born-knowing-it-but-somehow-I-wasn’t Replace, Don’t Add Rule. Following that rule was good. Getting rid of the never-used pot made room for the new one.
But then, a few weeks ago, I realized I was using that pot a LOT. For more than just roasts. I was using it for soups and stews and noodles. That pretty red pot was becoming my Go To Big Pot.
And I wasn’t using my Old Go To Big Pot anymore. Even though it was a wedding gift (sixteen-and-a-half years ago). Even though I used to love that Big Pot.
And yet I was storing it. Moving it, shifting it, thinking unkind thoughts about it as I shoved and pushed and rolled my eyes at my too full cabinet.
Ummmm, duh.
“Ummmm, duh” is pretty much all I need to say. I lived with one Big Pot for fifteen-and-a-half years. I replaced it, even though I didn’t realize I was replacing it.
And once I realized what I’d already done, Old Big Pot needed to go to a new home.
And my cabinets are easier to manage.
I’m choosing to celebrate the realization that I finally had instead of lamenting the months I unnecessarily grunted in irritation at my kitchen cabinet.
These things take a while for me.
Wondering why the Old Pot is so oxidized and unpretty? It might be due to the fact that even though I would NEVER (like never, ever) recommend you put your nice pots and pans in the dishwasher, I totally do. I decided a while back that I didn’t care about the lack of prettiness when my daily dishwashing routine meant I had enough space in my dishwasher for the big stuff I used to handwash. Seriously, don’t do it. Or if you do it, don’t blame me for a lack of prettiness or whatever other horrible things might happen. Unfortunately, I don’t put the pretty red pot in the dishwasher, but it’s very easy to clean using this (affiliate link alert) dishwand. P.S. I think that dishwand is probably cheaper at the store, but if you click through to see which one I mean, maybe you’ll remember you’ve been meaning to buy a new mattress and then I’ll get the teeny-tiny affiliate commission for that!
--Nony
I put my aluminum pans in the dishwasher and they look like that, too. 🙂 My mother never did, so it felt like a big step, lol. I also put my stainless steel pans/bowls in the dishwasher too, and they come out fine.
Dana, thanks for all the good you’re doing in this world.
I have a warning for fellow followers trying to come clean.
On Saturday after Christmas I announced that I needed to rearrange the kitchen. I was actually talking about finding out what I wasn’t going to use and moving it out. Someone had a better idea: within a few hours our just fine microwave turned a slice of refrigerated pizza into a pile of ashes and I finally had to open the window and turn the exhaust vent on high for a few hours to remove the stench even after bagging the “corpse” and putting it in the trash tote.
My husband said he would not feel comfortable about using it again, so we needed to get a replacement since it is used almost daily.
Even after the appliance employee said he had never heard of something like that happening before, we went ahead a got a new microwave. We had taken measurements of the microwave shelf and thought we were fine, but did not allow for the way the power cord was arranged on the new still-in -the-box appliance did not fit the way our outlet was located which made the shelf not deep enough. Long story short: I cleared off all the counter tops, moved my grain mill and Tupperware canisters to the former microwave shelf which turned that into my baking corner, and got rid of a number of items cluttering up my counter and condensed the items that were in the dish rack above the new microwave counter. (I wonder if I can put one more plate in each slot and free up a couple of slots for cookie sheets…)
Next adventure: how to dispose of a possibly defective or possibly just fine microwave. (Confession: that desiccated slice of pizza was pretty dry and the guest had put it on 1 min. so it may have been operator error. ) First step will be to ask the Reuse/Habitat repair team if repair is possible. If not I guess we will turn to the sanitary district to recycle.