Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Decluttering the dishes


We have an eclectic collection of dishware. Lots of decorative mugs and little plates and various bits of this and that. DH hates it. I, well, part of me loves the variety and part of me just wishes for plain white plates.

That part won. I've set us up with new dishes. They're white porcelain. They're microwave, dishwasher and warm oven safe. They're simply designed and just about could be called elegant. I've been spending the morning fitting shelf liner into my dish cabinet. Once the new dishes are clean, they'll go into their new home. We'll have eight dinner plates, eight salad plates, four shallow bowls, four deep bowls, four mugs and four cup & saucer sets. Everything else will be packed away for a month and if there's a specific piece anyone misses dearly, it can come back. After that, donation time.

Living without most of the dishware for the past two months has actually been great. I can't point out even one thing that I genuinely miss. It's a good argument for the "let it age" policy--give yourself time, time while you still own the item(s) to miss them or not. If you miss them, heck, you still have them. If not, easy to take the box to the Goodwill.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is an interesting idea, "letting it age". And so simple, I can't believe I haven't thought of it before. I wonder if it will work with my Mom (OCD Hoarder). I think I'll see if she will try it. Thanks a bunch!

paisley penguin said...

I have let things age before. I even let them age in my hallway in donation bags. I lived with it for one week and didn't miss a thing. Keep up the good work!

Jay Bazuzi said...

yes, I think that "let it age" strategy is fantastic. It lets you get rid of many things without having to make tough decisions.