Something I read on SOS recently reminded me of a fun scene in my kitchen.
I enjoy a cup of tea almost every day except in the hottest part of summer. I don't like a tea cup, but rather drink it in mugs, and I have a lot of mugs to testify to that. Most of my mugs have a story behind them or someone special gave it to me, so getting rid of them has almost always been a no-no. I would go through them and get rid of maybe one or two every couple years, but that's about it. My daughter has bugged me to get rid of more of them, but I would always tell her that each one held special meaning, or was a mug I really liked for its size, shape, and/or picture. She never really bought it, but she would leave me alone for a while until the next time.
Well, getting caught up and working to STAY caught up on the dishes has made me realize how many of those blasted mugs I really did have. The cupboard was overflowing, and the kids were leaving mugs and glasses out on the counter because there was no room for them in the cupboard. That was driving me crazy...it just made my newly cleaned counters look so cluttered. Plus, half the time those glasses would get washed again since they weren't put away, and no one would bother to look if they were clean or not...so into the dishwasher they would go...again.
I started to think...how many mugs does one family need? Especially when DH doesn't like coffee, only drinks tea when he's going to sing that day, and rarely drinks anything else hot. Even my kids don't use them that often. So...I got a bit ruthless and started sorting them out. I began accumulating a nice pile to give away and set aside some that were DH's and kids' mugs that they didn't use too often to ask them if it was okay to get rid of them. I forgot to ask until a couple days later, and when I did, what followed was a scene almost out of a sitcom.
It helps to know that DD and I both have a very sarcastic sense of humor. DD also has a fun, outgoing personality, so stuff like this can make me laugh as much as any comedian. She was "yelling" at me for getting rid of a couple mugs that she insisted she used. But then she would turn around and ask me why I was keeping certain mugs. One was a "mother" mug that she and her brother had given me, and when I told her that's why I was keeping it, she said, "Really? I don't remember giving it to you. So...that means you can get rid of it." She made me laugh, and since I did have another mug that they had given me that they did remember, I took her advice and got rid of that one, guilt-free.
Of course you might think that means it's my turn to harrass her about her choices to keep...but it wasn't that easy. We were "fighting" and reaching for each other's mugs (unsuccessfully usually) and going round and round about what were good reasons to keep them. We were laughing most of the time, and in the end, we did get rid of quite a few mugs.
The guys of the house didn't really care much except to keep one or two of their favorites. Otherwise, whatever we got rid of was fine with them.
Our cupboard is now full, but full of mugs and glasses we use, and the counter no longer has a bunch of clean glasses strewn about. We are able to keep up with the dishes more and waste water and soap less since we're not rewashing glasses every other day.
I love making things more functional, easy-to-use, and/or easy to put away and keep neat!
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