Purge Day

THE GREAT PURGE! 

or the pretty good clean out.

Hey There!

Well, when I say purge day I don't mean day. That's kind of misleading. I'm talking more like month. It has been a purge month and I'm almost done. I spent most of this morning doing a deep clean on my kitchen. I know folks. The mood doesn't strike very often, so I have to do what I can when it hits. I'm not going to go into everything I did -- just the major parts. Maybe they will give you an idea or two.

I am in NO WAY an organization guru. I have great ideas in my head and that's typically where they stay. The must organized place in my house is the makeup area -- nail polish to be specific. I just decided that with the holidays approaching, I might want to purge and make my living space a little more company friendly.

COOKBOOKS - I love to cook. Now that the kiddo is older, I don't do it as often as I use to. She and I are both on the run a lot so meals are normally quick and easy or from a restaurant. Ten years ago, I cooked a lot and I had a ton of cookbooks. Before the purge I forgot to count. But, to tell you the craziness, I now have 24. That seems like a lot, but it's not really. My most beloved cookbook is my Betty Crocker cookbook from 1978. I learned how to make a killer béchamel sauce from this book. The other cookbooks that I gave to Goodwill were ones I bought from Goodwill or other thrift stores and never used. I only kept ones that I love or that I refer to often.

PLASTIC CONTAINERS - Because we are so close to the kitchen, I'll wander on in there and tell you that I gave away 3 trash bags of plastic containers. Yep! There was a time that I cooked and froze and stored things and needed that many containers. I don't cook and freeze stuff that often anymore and we don't have leftovers the way we use to. I decided to move over to glass containers (and I am loving them!) and so I didn't need quite as much in the way of plastic. I kept a few things plastic containers but my full cabinet of plastic-ware is now one self of glassware and a few plastic items.

PANTRY GOODS - The ridiculousness is real! I tossed 3 open (but properly secured) packs of saltines! Who does that? I also have a bad habit of buying a bag of chips or flavored popcorn, eating 2 or 3 servings and then putting them away. And then I NEVER pull them out again! Well, today I tossed 3 bags of popcorn and 2 bags of chips. It's a problem. I also had baking mixes that I let expire - cookie mix, brownie mix, cake mix. I had grand plans of making those things and then never did. I also had spices and seasonings that were over a year old. Have no fear. I made a clean sweep and I have plans to keep it that way. If I want brownies, I'll purchase the items for them at that time, not have mix at the house just in case.

TOWELS - Yeah....I've had some of my towels for a long time. This weekend I purchased new ones to replace the ones that I gave away. Sometimes it's ok to get fresh towels. Oh, no, I did not keep the old ones as cleaning rags. Why? Because I already have an abundance of cleaning rags. Then I'd have to purge my cleaning rags so no, I did not keep them.

I tossed and donated quite a few other things. I just didn't think you good folks needed to see all that craziness. When I pulled up to the thrift store drop off, that lady had to clean out my entire back seat and floor! She's probably seen worse but I didn't want it to be from me.

My plan for the upcoming week is to purge old paperwork. I have a terrible habit of keeping old papers that I really don't need. I'm going to make a real effort to make 4 or 5 bins of paperwork into a neat system of smaller bins of paper work. I've already started and feel good about where I'm going.

I know it's not makeup but it's clearing things away. I haven't been the best as keeping things as tidy and organized as I should but now I'm going to change that.

And that it certainly going to make me making it up as I go!