Day 5 - Kitchen Part 1 #cgsc2015

The kitchen. The heart and hearth of our homes. When family gathers, it's often in the kitchen, when we have house parties the busiest room seems to always be the kitchen. Our morning wake up regularly starts here with coffee or tea and this is where we are sustained in body. Important decisions are made in the kitchen and the little comforts are found here; the smell of supper being prepared, cookies baking, bread rising, coffee brewing, so many of our olfactory memories can be associated with the kitchen. Remember when your parents prepared those special holiday feasts, mmmmm turkey roasting or Grandma's amazing scones and shortbread. Mom or dad getting us a warm glass of milk after a bad dream, a hot cup of cocoa after playing in the snow, homemade popsicles and ice tea on hot summer days.

Being the busiest area also means the kitchen is usually one of the biggest areas of clutter in our home. Because we tend to spend so much time here, everything and sundry follows us in. Inevitable junk drawers begin to grow a life of their own and who knows what in the hell is in the very back of the very top shelf of the corner cabinet. Expired dry goods, tupperware with no lids and lids with no tupperware, the retired blender that was tucked behind the flour, in case the newer one craps out. Unopened mail piles up on the counter by the kitchen entrance and the rest of the counter is a jumble of small appliances and gadgets.

Even a small kitchen can be quite daunting in the task to clean it so this room will also be split up into two days. Today we are going to focus on the upper cabinets and any freestanding shelving/cabinets such as baker's racks. As with the other rooms we will continue to work widdershins (counterclockwise). Maybe it is just me, but I really feel the difference of the energy of working one direction or the other. When I want to bring in something new, do a blessing or call in positivity, it feels natural to work deosil (clockwise), and conversely when it is time to banish or release widdershins really does seem to help focus the energy to let go.

One cabinet at a time we will go through our kitchens. I'm pretty sure by now you've gotten the gist of how this goes but hey, I'm here to give you that extra kick and kicking I shall do ;). Coffee mugs, drinking glasses, wine glasses, and beer mugs, determine how many you really use, match them up or find your favourites and the rest go to the give away. If the handle is nearly off, if there is a chip in the glass, or there is only half the cute cat picture left on the mug, it's time to chuck it. When you throw out glass or ceramics do be sure to dispose of them properly so that no one can get cut on it. Go through the rest of your dinnerware and dishes and do the same with all of it. If you have Granny's china and you hate it, I'm going to be honest here, then she really would rather you did not keep it. Take a good picture of the collection, another of the pattern and sell it to someone who will truly love it. Or if you have other family members that whined they didn't get anything from her, pass it on and tell them to quite their bitchin' ;).

How to NOT clean out your kitchen ;) (Scenes after ours was flooded this past February).

Spices, pastas, and raisins, oh my! Put your hand up if you were absolutely certain you had a jar of cloves but be damned if you can find it to make that delicious pie, so of course bought a new one, and of course found the original months later buried in the back of middle shelf, behind a really old bag of peanuts. Yeah, that's what I thought. Though a lot of dry goods do not spoil, they still have a shelf life. On Still Tasty.com,

Do Spices Ever Go Bad?

Answer: From a safety perspective they should be fine, but when it comes to flavouring your food, you may not be very happy with the results. As seasoning makers like McCormick point out, spices do not actually spoil. But when it comes to quality, the story is different. Over time, spices will lose their potency and not flavor your food as intended. As a general rule, whole spices will stay fresh for about 4 years, ground spices for about 3 to 4 years and dried leafy herbs for 1 to 3 years.

Their website is a great resource for deciding should it stay or should it go now ;). 9 Foods That Last Forever is a great article too :). Continuing with food, though canned goods have a really long shelf life too but if you accidentally bought pumpkin pie filling instead of canned pumpkin or hate tomato soup why do you still have it in the cupboard? Two words: Food Bank.

Don't forget your before and after photos, especially the pile of what you have decluttered.

Love & light,

~Síonaínn **  ƸӜƷ  **

Ps. Thank you to everyone for your patience with me, love you me pretties xx