Getting Rid of Junk!

I have missed blogging so much! How did I while my time away when I did not have a blog? These past few days I have been possessed by an obsession to turn our new apartment into a home. Some of the hardest parts about moving in to our new place were decisions… where to place furniture, store things in, and most of all how to arrange my our kitchen. I have forgone blogging, working out, and cooking for an entire week to dedicate all my free time to the move… that never happens! Fortunately, my boy can cook and he made three incredible dinners: fajitas, pasta with tons of veggies, and ginger-soy sauce beef with rice. I, on the other hand, came home one night with greasy pizza and beer. That also never happens! But it was worth the sacrifice because our new place somehow slowly came together over the past few days and is feeling like home. There’s still some work to do, but we are close to being done.

It was surprising to realize how much stuff I have that I don’t really need. I don’t have too many clothes, shoes, or knick knacks but still there was way too much. When I first moved to this country, I came with one huge luggage and that was it. How did I acquire so many things over the past 5 years? I consider myself pretty frugal when it comes to shopping… my main indulgence are food ingredients at the farmer’s market which disappear within a week or so, kitchen utensil purchases that are all loved and used, and the occasional cookbook greed (which have dropped considerably after I discovered food blogs… thank you to all of you for the food inspirations!). Every now and then I would go shopping for workout clothes because these are what I wear all the time, except when I’m at work and am forced to dress somewhat nice.

So anyway, part of arranging all my things into the new apartment was getting rid of the ones that I absolutely do not need. Clothes that I haven’t worn in years: pants that are way too big, shrunken shirts, etc.; papers from college; binders; old lotions; sheets; trinkets; and so on. There were a couple of boxes for different purposes: Goodwill boxes, Plato’s Closet box (gotta get a little bit of money for some nice stuff, right?), friends-might-like-this/return-to-friends box, throw away box, and prize box (for my students).          

It felt GOOD to rid myself of all the extra stuff! However, there’s still a few that I’m iffy with letting go. These things I put in a semi-hidden corner and if they’re still not used within a year, they’re going away.

One of the other things I have let go of is my collection of bulk food in plastic bags! This was the perfect time to get air-tight containers and arrange everything nicely. I seriously spent two days of my free time organizing my spices, beans, lentils, flours, sugars, you name it, and arranging the kitchen the way I want it to look while taking into consideration efficiency for cooking and baking.

We do not have any decorations… just simple basic stuff that we need and I want to keep it that way. All decorations are cookbooks, novels, my teaching textbooks, DFJ’s chemistry textbooks, puzzles, and a few framed photos. That’s it, keeping it simple! Less clutter = less clean-up = WIN!

Now, on to cleaning DFJ’s old apartment and my old apartment… then some more organizing over here. Have a great Saturday everyone!