Just to prove that I don’t always live up to what I write here is a photo of my kitchen bench this morning.
Well, everything was certainly not in its place. Saturday morning is not usually the best time at our place. We have both had a long week at work and despite the best of intentions, I have usually run out of steam be the time I get home. The empty box on the floor and the wine on the bench were part of a delivery of purchases made by The Duke while we were away the other week. There is an assortment of paperwork that had not been dealt with as well as some clean dishes and numerous glass jars and bottles.
So, what is their place?
The packaging from the wine has gone into the recycling. The box was repurposed to hold some jars that I have listed on Freecycle. The paperwork has been sorted into recycling and a pile to be filed.
I keep 2 plastic tubs of jars in my pantry. One holds the ones which have pop-top lids which I use for preserving and the other tub has an assortment which I keep for storage etc. There were too many jars so it was time to cull them and keep only the best ones. I only keep about 4 different style/size of jars with pop-top lids so that I can use a consistent size when making something like pasta sauce.
The excess jars have been listed on Freecycle but if no-one wants them I will drop them off at the op shop.
The wine has been relocated to the wine rack storage in the cellar. Alas, it is not strictly a cellar in the true sense of the word but it is downstairs and maintains a fairly even temperature. The Duke and I took the opportunity to tidy up and sort out the contents of the rack. It is now in a more logical sequence and hopefully we will easily be able to locate what we are looking for in future.
As usual, one thing led to another and I now also have some excess coffee mugs to take to the op shop as well as 2 low folding chairs to put on Freecycle. The less stuff we have, the easier it is to keep everything in its place.
organised castle 
i wish i had a kitchen bench. =)
Sounds like you have an opportunity for some creative thinking! As Francine points out in “The Joy of Less” those with limited storage or space have a headstart to their path to minimalism. Perhaps this will help you to put a positive spin on your situation. 🙂
Well that is one way of looking at it… but I imagine I could find more uses for it than just for storage. =)
Nice to see your kitchen bench looking like mine at the end of the week LOL
Working full-time and maintaining a household is certainly a challenge! I work on the principle that the less stuff that I have, the less I will have to clean and tidy. This is one of the things that keeps driving me to reduce our stuff.
I am enjoying this series, now if only I could clean out my place again with you, but for now other things are taking a priority, I will come back and follow along soon.
Best wishes with th current priorities. The posts will always be here to revisit when you are ready. 🙂
I am cleaning out a bit too this week – so far we’ve cleaned out two chest freezers and we attacked the cold storage room that had been sealed off for years before we moved in (there had been critter infiltration). Now it’s all cleaned out and ready to receive potatoes, onions, carrots and apples for winter.
A cold store room! WOW! What great storage for your harvest (as long as the critters have gone). Cleaning out 2 chest freezers is a big job, too.
Good luck in feeding those budding Olympians!
Oh I have an overflow of jars too – the glass ones I can take to the coop and they’ll be for free use for people there (rather than buying new). Sadly they don’t take the plastic ones, and I try not to recycle plastic if I can reuse, but then I prefer glass to plastic. Oh the dilemmas! Thanks for showing the less than ideal, helps us all remember we have human times!
I understand the circular dilemma of glass vx plastic and recycle vs reuse. It is hard work but worth the effort.
I love your commitment – keep up the good work.