~ We had seven pitchers and five vases taking up a whole lower cabinet ~ funny how these things accumulate over many years of running a household. I got rid of all but two plastic pitchers and I kept two glass vases. I later found two glass beverage dispensers on sale for $5 each at Fry’s a while back and got them to have something a little ‘classier’ than our cloudy plastic pitchers when we host gatherings.

~ I got rid of so many pots/pans. I kept a large skillet, a large saute pan, my Chantal stock pot (was my mother’s), my four quart Chantal stainless steel saucepan (a Ross find), my 7qt Le Creuset dutch oven (also from my mother), a cast iron skillet and a little Tfal egg pan that holds 1-2 eggs. I got rid of two 8″ skillets, a larger skillet, a cast iron grill pan that was a nightmare to clean, several little 1qt and 2qt saucepans from my last few sets of cheap pans, as well as a few 5-6qt dutch ovens from old sets. I also kept a cheap aluminum stock pot for canning that stays stored most of the time. I still find I need to replace my ceramic non-stick saute and skillet about once a year, but I just buy those and not a whole new set as I had been.

~ I got rid of several old scratched plastic cutting boards in various sizes and got one nice (and steeply discounted) wooden cutting board. I use cheap plastic flexible cutting sheets from the dollar store for meat.

~ I got rid of all our mismatched/stained plastic food storage containers (for leftovers and lunches) and replaced them with a set I found on clearance at Walmart for $8. Many have now been lost so I’m looking for another good buy to replace them. I have a lot of mason jars from canning andcrafting, so have put those to use storing pantry items.

~ I got rid of all the outdated loyalty cups and other plastic reusable cups from restaurants, the movie theater, etc.

~ I kept one small shelf’s worth of lidded stainless steel tumblers, and got rid of all our stinky old sports bottles with missing/damaged lids. I bought one nice stainless water bottle for me that I’ve shared with the kids because we’re usually together. It’s easy to clean, unlike a lot of what we had.

~ I sold my Fiestaware (it was too heavy for me, and took up SO much cabinet space) and replaced it with simple white Corelle. I did cave and buy a set of six stoneware soup bowls at Sam’s club…couldn’t pass them up for $12 ($2 each!) and less expensive than the deep Corelle bowls ($4.50 each) I’d been eyeing. I also came out ahead on the whole deal. 😀

~ Other gadgets and accessories ~ I had three apple slicers, for example. I just kept my favorite. I got rid of the mango slicer because we don’t eat them regularly and they’re not hard to pit and slice. I got rid of the corn kernal remover gadget because it’s faster to use a knife (Tom does it for me). I got rid of a lot of little single-use gadgets (in favor of multitaskers a la Alton Brown) and haven’t missed anything. The strawberry hukker went because I can do it easily with my fingers or a knife. These sorts of things seem nice to have when we buy them, but add up spacewise when we have to store them.

I haven’t had any moments of regret over reducing the amount of kitchen stuff I have…in fact, I often feel relief when using the kitchen and don’t mind occasionally having to hand wash a spatula or colander when I’m doing a lot of cooking or baking.
Next post…recap and how to keep from re-accumulating things you’ve purged.