Time to Clean Out!

Visiting Mom's house is always an incentive to do some house-cleaning of my own.  After emptying the refrigerator upstairs, and cleaning out the freezer above it, ridding the corner of the kitchen of all of the boxes of Ramen noodles and Rice-A-Roni so that the floor could be seen again, and sifting through the boxes of pasta, dry milk, and popcorn dated back to the late 90s, I decided that our own pantry area in the laundry room needed some inventory reduction.

We started by setting up the long table in the kitchen/ dining room.  Gary pulled items off the shelves to put on the table.  I checked the 'use by' dates and put them either at the other end or in the trash.  Guidelines to follow?  Anything with a date prior to 2017 (except a few tubs of frosting)  A bag or box that had been opened and clipped shut except for those from the last two weeks.

By the time we were finished, we had a large box of items plus a couple of large black trash bags, full.  At first Gary said he was going to put all of it in the sunroom until Friday morning, then take it over to the big trash can at The Farm for the trash guys.  Well, I protested that!  No need to entice mice into the sunroom.  No need to possibly forget about all of it until Friday noon and it would be too late to transport it for the pick up on Friday.  So off we went with the bags and huge box in the Escape.  Three bags (our regular trash too) were deposited in the large can for pick up and the box is on the freeze on the porch for next week's collection.  Gone!  Gone!  Gone!

We also decided on a new policy.  Since we make so many trips south through Monticello, there really is no need to plan menus for a week or so ahead and purchase items for those meals.  What usually happens is that there is a change in plans or more times away from home for meals than expected.  Then the food items make their way to the back of the shelves and in a few years they too will be placed in the bags for the trash.  Instead we need to focus on breakfast and some major snack items (like Gary's apples and chips) or foods the kids like when they are going to be here.  Otherwise we can stop at Kroger on the way through and pick up what we need.

Next up?  Closets!  Of course those have been on my to-do list forever, but one of these days.....