Coffee Cups

For the past several years I've been following this blog that I somehow stumbled upon. The author is a really funny writer and about the same age as me so I enjoy reading her blogs. They aren't always clean which is why I'm not putting her link here because I just know that my mom will check it out and then be horrified by what she's read, so I'm going to avoid that scenerio. :) A few months ago this girl made a shift to her blog and instead of it being focused on her life raising two kids and working from home as a free-lance writer, she's switched the focus over to simple living. At first I had no clue what that was exactly but after she's taken the time to explain it I found it interesting. Part of it is living "green", which is basically being eco-friendly with recycling, driving less, basically doing everything possible for the environment. I am not a tree-hugger, so most of that aspect isn't something I'm going to apply.

Side note: if my area provided recycling bins similar to our trash bins, I would totally recycle without any hesitation, but honestly, I'm not going to go out of my way to sort through anything that might be recycleable and then try to find some place that will take them. And don't even think about asking me to give up my SUV, it ain't happenin'.

OK, I'm getting way off course. The other part of living simply is basically living within your means, avoiding debt wherever possible, cutting down on "things" and when you do get rid of your excess don't just toss them in a landfill, but donate them or resale them so that you are, in a way, also recycling. I am on board with this. First of all, I'm married to an accountant who is pretty budget conscious which means that we definitely live within our means and the only "extras" that we have as far as monthly bills that really aren't necessary are cell phones, internet, and a monthly subscription to Blockbuster online. We also don't buy things that we can't afford (not including our house or our SUV-however we do limit ourselves to only having one car payment at a time, meaning atleast one car is always paid for). Our credit cards are paid in full every month (if you don't buy what you can't afford, then you should have the money to pay that bill each month) and we've limited ourselves to one credit card each (that was a lot of phone calls that I had to make intially because I signed up for every card that gave me a discount when I was in college, not a smart thing to do). So I am now implementing the part of cutting down on the "things". I've spent the past several weeks going through my kitchen cabinets when I get a chance, and thinning things out. For those of you who attended our wedding showers you know that we were given a TON of stuff when we got married. I kept it all because I had no idea what we would and would not need. Well, we've been married for almost 6 years now and I have yet to use probably half of the stuff in my kitchen cabinets, so it's time for it to all go to someone who needs it and will use it. I'm not completely done yet, but I just have to share some of the things that I have discovered while doing this project.

First off, we are a family of 3 and don't have any plans of being more than a family of 4 at some point in the future (let's all pray that God doesn't decide to have a good laugh at me and give me multiples when I get pregnant the next time). So what does a family of 4 need with 42 coffee cups? 42! Can you believe it? They took up a shelf and a half in my cabinets, and that's with several stacked on top of each other. The sad part is I can only bring myself to cull 7 out of those 42. Of the remaining 35 mugs, they either go with my china pattern, so I can't get rid of them, or they say "Dad" or "Sweet Sixteen" (someone gave me a Precious Moments coffee cup on my 16th birthday and I still have it). I just can't get rid of anything that might have sentimental value. In fact I'm having a hard time with 4 out of the 7 that I am getting rid of because they're part of my very first set of dishes that my mom gave me when I was still in highschool (I was a weird teenager and insisted on getting "hopechest" items very early on for my birthdays and Christmases, I had a full kitchen of stuff when I went off to college). Oh, I probably should mention the fact that KEITH AND I DON'T EVEN DRINK COFFEE!!! Why in the world do we even need 5 coffee cups let alone 35? Of course both of our dads, plus my mom, drink coffee, though they're only at our house a few times a year. I do occasionally drink a cup of hot chocolate during the winter, but I think I might have had maybe one cup last year. Of course I do grab a mug and drink water out of it every once in a while just so they'll feel useful, but I have to rinse it out first because they get dusty. If anybody has any other uses for coffee cups beyond the standard "drinking", please feel free to pass those on.

A few other random things that I've discovered in the kitchen cabinets, I have 10 cutting boards (5 of them are those flexible plastic kind so they don't take up much space, but still...), 7 sets of measuring cups and spoons (Garrett plays with many of these so some are scattered around the house), a countless number of mixing bowls which I'm having a hard time reducing because some are glass and some are stainless steel, who knows if I might need both at some point in the future! (This is truly a sickness.) I have 3 dip trays and I don't think I've even used one yet. I haven't begun to count the number of serving spoons and spatulas but I definitely need to get rid of some of those. I'm sure there are more ridiculous numbers I could share, but at this point what are you thinking of me. I don't want for you to think I'm a hoarder like those people you see on Oprah who live with rooms in their houses stuff full of things they can't get rid of. I promise you it isn't like that! I am really looking forward to actually having room in my cabinets though. I have a few small appliances (ie a blender that's never been used but I might need someday, so there's no way I'm parting with it!) that I would like to put away rather than having them out on the counter getting dusty. So the plan for all the stuff I'm getting rid of is as follows: I will take pictures of all the items and email them to my mom and my youngest sister Christie (if any of my other siblings are reading this and are interested, let me know). My parents are building a new house and my mom is wanting to replace some of her stuff that she's had for 30+ years (I can guarantee that the majority of the stuff I'm getting rid of has been used less than 10 times, and some have never been used) so she is interested in possibly replacing some of her stuff with some of mine for free. Christie has shown no interest in taking any of my stuff but she doesn't have anything saved for when the day comes that she moves out or gets married (she isn't weird like I was and would much prefer a gift card or a good book as a gift rather than silverware.) But she might have some interest in taking some of my stuff and storing it for when that day comes. Whatever I don't give to my family will be donated to Goodwill. I abhor garage sales (I like going to them, but have not one ounce of desire to have one myself) so I'm not going to attempt to make a quarter and sell whatever my family doesn't want.

Next up, Garrett's room. Do you think he'll be mad if I simplify his number of toys? Yeah, I think so too.