Monday, May 23, 2011

Too Much Of A Good Thing?


This isn't our cellar. It's far to bright and cheery to be ours...
I was thinking long and hard this weekend abut all the "stuff" we have hanging around in this 150 year old house of ours. Much of it was here when we got here in 1997 and of course we brought all of our own stuff with us. Then you add in everything we've purchased, created or been gifted over the past 14 years, and I have to admit that we've got  A. LOT. OF. STUFF.  Oh, so that you don't think we just barged in on the previous owner one fine day and decided to stay, I suppose I'd better explain:



We moved into the house that I grew up in. You see, Daddy had been gone for almost 3 years and Mom was in the mid stages of Alzheimer's. My Aunt (her older sister) who was already in her 80's at the time, wasn't physically able to keep an eye on things. She wasn't at a point where she needed nursing home care yet, so moving in ended up being the best solution. When we arrived, of course all of Mom's things were already here.  I'm almost ashamed to say that about 75% of the boxes that we brought with us back in '97 are still down in the cellar, unopened. The moral here (if you can avoid it) is never move a whole house full of stuff...  into a house full of stuff.

Anyway.... Back to our stuff.  Every time I think about going through this place and weeding out the things that aren't necessary, I usually find some way to rationalize keeping it all. Don't get me wrong... I'm not a messy housekeeper. As a matter of fact, I'm a bit freaky about cleanliness. Mom was seriously one of those borderline obsessive cleaners. I know I'm not as bad as she was, but I admit that I have a few "issues" regarding cleaning. I'm not going to lie about it. The main living areas might get a bit cluttered for a couple of days here and there, but it's never that way for long. None of my close friends or family have ever come out and said that we needed to get rid of things, (not even the ones who are extremely blunt. LOL) BUT there are comments made sometimes that make me wonder what they're really thinking.

As an example, people have often been shocked when they see our pantry for the first time. The usual reaction is that we have enough stuff in there to get us through a natural disaster. I don't really see it as that much. Then again, maybe I'm just deluding myself and we're truly bona fide pack rats.  I guess I'll let you all be the judge. (If you don't mind)

I'll focus on the kitchen and pantry for now. (Sorry for the quality of the photos. They were taken on a gloomy, rainy afternoon)

This is one side of our pantry. The cupboards below hold extra dishes, pots, pans and small appliances.

I'd say that this is about 1/4 of the cookbooks we own.

And then some people have commented that I have more dried herbs and spices/seasonings than they would ever know what to do with....

OK.  I admit it. There are more in the pantry...

We've also been told that we have far too many Pepper grinders....



Is this really too many tea options to offer my guests??




OK. This one's a biggie. We get lots of rolled eyes over this one. Do you think that 3 refrigerators might be too many?  Before you answer, let me just say that... The first fridge is in the pantry. The second is the actual kitchen fridge. The last one is out in an attached enclosed "porch" between the kitchen and the back deck and we only use it in the summer for beverages and extra food space when we have a cookout. Seems practical, right?




What do you think?  Can you really have too much of a good thing?? OR, Are we just a few newspapers away from having the people from the TV show Hoarders come knocking on our door?

Happy Monday everyone!

3 comments:

  1. Your kitchen is just fine. Ignore those who say you have too much stuff there.

    I would start going through those boxes in the basement! You will feel lighter in mind and body!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I for one, love being prepared. It all looks neat and organized, so if it works for you, then why worry?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks ladies! I guess if you need stuff, you need it... and if you haven't used it in a long time, it's time to give it a new loving home. Mr B has promised that we're going to get all of that stuff in the cellar sorted and then have a huge garage sale. We'll see....

    ReplyDelete

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