If I had to blame someone, I’d blame my mother.
But I’m not blaming her, because I truly have no idea if she did this or if I did it myself.
When I decluttered my pantry, I noticed this oh-so-resourceful use of a green bean box.
(I did not, however, notice the grimy cabinet . . . )
The size was right, so it probably WAS a good idea to use that box to sort and separate and organize.
Right?
Except I have one of those out-of-sight-out-of-any-possibility-of-consciousness kinds of minds.
Looking inside that totally opaque box was an adventure. I had absolutely zero idea what might be in there.
Beans.
Beans in a blue and white package design that Walmart discontinued quite a while ago, I believe. (Beans I forgot to photograph, evidently.)
They’re beans, so they’re probably fine. I moved them to a place where I’m 78.4% more likely to notice they exist. So on the 3.82% chance I decide to make beans (from DRY beans) on a random day, I’ll notice them.
Maybe.
The other thing in the green bean box with dry bean contents?
A partially used chocolate cake mix.
Or brownie mix.
How would I know?
The only possible reason I can think of for this partially used and instructionless mix being in my pantry is that my daughter used cake mix (or Brownie mix) for her Easy Bake oven a while back.
Fine. Several summers back.
I let go of that dream and threw away the mix I didn’t know existed.
Using that handy dandy box was resourceful. But in this case, that resourcefulness ended up making me waste perfectly good stuff.
What have you uncovered in your decluttering efforts lately?
(That’s the bag o’ beans in sticking out of the box. Remember that design?)
--Nony
This made me laugh! We must learn to stop ourselves!
I’ve found that if I leave the beans in the cupboard until I want to use them, they stay forever. I’d plan chili for dinner next week and be rid of the beans. It’s chili weather anyway, and you won’t want that this summer (the next time I’d remember the beans are there).
This came at just the right time for me, thank you! I’ve been starting on tackling my glory hole, I mean, pantry, and was going to be so clever and use boxes I’ve been saving. I thought, “Hey, I can make them pretty by covering them in fabric, then the pantry shelves will be pretty, how cool is that?!”
What a rabbit hole…..
thank you again for your good sense.
Oh this is funny! Glad for the timing!
Who doesn’t have a “glory hole”?
And, no, I don’t think I invented that handy DIY storage device when I organized your cabinets….hmm, let’s see. PK is 10 going on 11…years ago. But who knows, I forget some things.
I’ve totally done things like this! I went through my spices and baking ingredients this week.
http://www.myjoyinchaos.com/home/2017/1/2017-clutter-buster-challenge-week-5-spices-baking-ingredients
Hi Katie! I de-cluttered my spices yesterday. Hoo boy! What a lot of garbage I ended up with!
I threw my beans out and bought a tin of pre-cooked instead. Fantasy me would soak those beans but real me never does.
Hey Dana, and Stella!
This is funny! I just bought a bag (SMALL) bag o beans today. WE’ll see if I have any better luck making them in a timely fashion!!
throw out those damn beans!! You have moved them in an earlier post- face it, you’re not gonna eat them beans- and that’s ok.
Ugh – a micro-plane grater for whole nutmeg and Parmesan cheese. Proud of myself for remembering I wanted one while at Walmart, I found it at a reasonable price and put it in the utensil drawer by the stove – the logical-to-my-brain place where I’d look first. A few months later, I’m decluttering (trying to find something that should have been there) the pantry and discover a still-in-the-package micro-plane grater. I have no memory of acquiring it, no idea how long it’s been there, and so I donated one of them. The last time I bought nutmeg, I completely forgot I had this device, wanted to buy a whole nut for grating (it’s supposed to taste way better), and bought the powdered stuff as usual. This, in a nut shell (pun intended), is a Slob Brain.
Ooh, keep the microplane grater. It is so helpful for adding fresh ginger or lemon zest to recipes and teas. I use mine all the time!
Well, if using that style box, atleast add a label for contents on the front. I cannot tell you how many leftovers get put back in our refrigerator without a label. The Mister is famous for that. I have now banned him from reusing margarine, sour cream, etc containers. Clear storage containers are set up for him. But he still slips up!
Oh yes, I understand. I, too, am one of those “out-of-sight-it-might-as-well-not-exist-at-all” kind of people. My stuff needs to be organized (one can hope…!) AND visible. Or else I have to make notes. And then _those_ will have to be organized. *sigh*
All that comes to mind in response is “Labels”.
…but…but…but…I would have used the partial bag of cake mix and made a fruit dip out of it. 🙂
Susan, we have learned in recent years that out of date cake and pancake mixes can contain toxins from the combination of ingredients that go bad… people have gotten very ill. Best to toss these items.
Beans can always be pressure canned if regular soaking/cooking doesn’t soften those bad boys. Pass them onto someone who will can them instead of tossing if it comes to that.
Our mothers may have been sisters! My mother also cut boxes like that to organized her cupboard. Sometimes covered them in contact paper. They were used to store magazines. Same thing happened with them – out of sight, out of mind. Eventually they ended up in the recycling bin.
I hate when that happens! I was working on my storage room during an all-day declutter event through the Take Your House Back course, when I found what I thought was just another of like 50 cases of canning jars. It was, in fact, a case of jars. Full jars! 12 quarts of applesauce! SMH…