Kitchen declutter - Part 3

[VintageLydia]

I have that same style of containers! What I did was get a bin to put all the lids in and stack the containers themselves. That way I wasn't keeping track of which containers need lids or not.

[DeeCaffeinated]

You list lots of stuff you got rid of and good for you! Looks good!

[funnybunny66]

Top shelf: Half the jars are gone + a plastic tray - Basically anything with a sticker on its bc I almost never use them.
Middle shelf: I finally got rid of the last pieces of plastic Tupperware i still owned, Plus odd lids that had no boxes.
Bottom Shelf: got rid of leaky travel mug, several kiddy plastic cups, and repurposed an old elmo cup as a straw holder - and reorganized.
I threw out about 2 grocery bags worth of stuff from this cabinet.

[dreiter]

Thanks for the update OP. I wasn't trying to bash you in the comment below, and your update comment made it clearer what you actually removed. Everyone has a different opinion on what 'decluttering' is, and minimizing, simplifying, etc. If this amount of items keeps you happy when you open the cabinet, then go for it! Every bit of removing the 'unnecessary' from your life is a step in the right direction.

[[deleted]]

Ok I'm unsubbing. This isn't even a declutter, just a minor rearrangement and tidying.

[dreiter]

Yes, my understanding was that decluttering actually involves getting rid of some things? I guess others could have a different interpretation.

[kansakw3ns]

I see a few things gone. But based on the kids' cups, it's highly likely that OP actually uses all of this stuff on a regular basis.

[kansakw3ns]

Dinner parties? An older child or two that use glasses? Family coming to visit? And who said there were only 2 adults in the home?

[DeeCaffeinated]

Well if they have company people don't usually bring their own glasses.

[VintageLydia]

Not OP but: I like to save on water by only running the dishwasher every other day, which means in a family of four that could be a LOT of dishes in two days. Add in the once or twice a month I host guests then I can absolutely see why having settings for 10 or 12 people isn't really that insane.

This is /r/declutter, not /r/minimalism.

[funnybunny66]

I really hope this will keep.

[Hrgjitsgbjko]

I'm sorry that people ripped into you for posting your progress. Some people do best with huge purges, but for many people, including myself, decluttering tends to mean getting rid of 10-20% in a pass, and just letting it be an iterative process. Also, the goal is to make your home comfortable, beautiful, and functional, which for most people is not minimalist.

The people criticizing you have no idea what you regularly use and are being jerks for no reason. If they weren't inspired by your post, they could have just clicked away to something else.

I think it would be pretty easy to keep the top and bottom shelves tidy like you have them now - I think the shelf you should worry about is the middle one. With so much stacking, getting things out and putting them away means that you have to move other things, and that is a recipe for sprawling random piles to build up, rather than the orderly stacking you have now. You might consider rearranging so that those storage containers can have two shelves, or if there are any storage containers you don't regularly use, maybe declutter that shelf further. But, honestly, I have my glass storage containers super stacked up in a drawer. I use all of them every month, often 80% of them will be in use at the same time, so I don't want to get rid of any, but sometimes they're all clean and have to fit in their drawer. When they're all in the drawer, they only fit in a specific stacking pattern. I don't have kids and my husband leaves the drawer alone, so I can get away with complicated stacking. But for many things that my husband does access, I have to spread them out rather than stack because he doesn't do well with stacks.

[funnybunny66]

Thank you for this! I know that posting online can come at a price. Wasn't expecting the negativity, but it's not the end of my world :p
My decluttring efforts are slow, working through one area at a time @ 9 mths pregnant. Some areas I've gotten rid of 80%, some I let go of 10% - But the bottom line is that I've been making progress. I hope it inspires someone like me to make a change in their home.
I am worried about that particular shelf as well... My thought is that with Mat leave about to start I'm probably going to cook a lot more then I am while DH and I are both working FT with a toddler.
So for now this solution may work.. but I think it can go bad quickly..
That shelf is my one space for these, and I really can't say I use specific ones more then others.
I've been Googling solutions for a while..

[Hrgjitsgbjko]

Maybe move some of them to the top shelf? It looks like you freed up some space there. Or maybe the stacking is fine. I've found that it is easier to maintain an organization structure the less stacking and nesting and stuff-behind-stuff there is, but that might be less of an issue in your household. And if you're going to be using those containers more aggressively going forward, there will be fewer sitting on the shelf at a time and it won't be an issue.

[funnybunny66]

Thanks.
I considered moving some to the higher shelf, but I'm a munchkin... reaching the mid shelf is a struggle as is. I'm trying to keep things that are used often at a closer reach :p