P.S.

If you have boys, get the clothes pins without the spring; otherwise they will dis-assemble them and you'll step on clothespin parts!!

Congrats!

Let's see who else can dig in the back of the cabinet!

(boy, I hate cabinets w/ a "back" in them. but I guess they're useful for holding all that stuff we can't quite toss)

Here's what's in the back of my ultra-deep one.

*a box containing souvenirs and snapshots, marked "wedding and honeymoon."
*a box containing all the issues of "Good Food Magazine" ever published--it folded after 3 years, so I kept them partly bcs they showed my work (not that clearly, since I'm a copyeditor, and you only notice us if we screw up), and bcs the recipes were sort of nice.

Now, I have a set of Good Foods in the bedroom, and I get them out to cook out of them now and then. I won't really use the others, I don't think. But I can't quite let go of them. Maybe in a year or two?

Oh, and:
* a penguin platter that I keep forgetting I have and therefore never use.

S'pose I can let them go?

Yesterday I opened the bathroom cabinet under the sink, and found a large triangular patch of mold growing, which I have spent 2 days treating. Does that count as getting rid of something? Well, I also tossed 2 razor blades, a bottle of Pantene hair softener, 2 rags with so many hanging strings that they were a pain to use, and 8 bars of Ivory Soap (DH is allergic)(well, I really am going to give those away). Do we get to try another cabinet?

Obviously the clothespin comment was mis-posted (shame on me! LOL).

Yes, Plow In, mold counts only because it's nasty and took 2 days of treating. OF COURSE you get to try another cabinet!

My results:

Tonight's cabinet was the top shelf over the stove, with the DUSTY shoebox of small "treasures" and odd-shaped lightbulbs.

These bizarre items were flung without blinking an eye:

1 marker (dried out)
8 turkey skewers** see below
1 rusty-icky bottle opener
1 refrigerator diagram
3 wire easter egg dipper-holders
3 parts of turkey basters (why did I have 2, and where is the missing part??)
2 plastic relish forks
1 bent knife (might be a grapefruit knife, but I hate grapefruit)
1 metal something (actually looked like part of a desk drawer?)
1 small glass carafe for heating syrup for pancakes on the stove (LIKE I WOULD EVER DO THAT! LOL)
3 cork pullers (how many cork pullers does a house with no wine bottles need?)
2 wisks (one rusty, one too heavy to be useful)
1 vinyl patch kit
1 handle to something

**Please note that I did ask DH what those metal pokey things were, and he THINKS they're turkey skewers. Keeping in mind that we have NEVER USED THEM, he was a little snippy when he asked if I was just going to give them away to the garage sale. Ummm... YES!! Gee whiz, I'm sorry I even let him see them. Maybe one day he'll get rid of the hoarding mentality? It's really kind of funny because he makes fun of OTHER people with the hoarding mentality, but doesn't see it in himself.

I need to go tie up the trash bag before he decides to go through it and make sure I didn't throw out "good" stuff that we might need some day.

Julie
(I actually went to bed 2 hours ago but woke up & needed more cough medicine)

After almost three years of Flylady brainwashing, I can honestly say, "There's nothing in the back of the cabinet."

What a relief.

Gloria

I pulled one food cabinet apart today and tossed last year's Halloween/Christmas/Easter candy that my kids had stashed away and forgotten. I also tossed two bags of marshmallows that would have spent the winter turning into rocks. Thank you for the inspiration!

Gloria, I am VERY impressed! I've been flying for about 5 years and still find clutter in odd places. The first few years I concentrated more on the BIG items, now I'm working hard on the little hidden junk I missed during the past Super Flings.

Sheri, good job pitching that candy!

Julie--with six of us in the house, I know what you mean about stuff showing up. I'm just amazed at how much stuff I continually have going out of this house to the thrift stores.

One thing that really helped my this year was moving from a traditional house with traditional closets and cabinets to a house we remodeled extensively before we moved in.

I was able to spend four months really evaluating what we needed for storage space and adapting the space to fit how we live. Since I'm 5'4", I made sure that any spaces created didn't have shelves above my sight level. Out of sight out of mind didn't work for me (especially since my DH is tall and tended to stash stuff up high.) I took out almost all of the upper kitchen cabinets and am putting in open shelves.

For my youngest kid's rooms I didn't have closets installed. Now, nothing piles up in those black holes. The problem for me now, is since we don't stash stuff, we end up with hot spots piling out in the open. But that's good since it makes me deal with them. And as usally, 90% of the stuff is just trash.

Gloria

Yesterday I had 90"H X 90"W X 16"D pantry (right outside the kitchen door) added to the garage. So I am moving serving pieces and small appliances to this newly created area. I am just beginning to relocate things so I am sure that I will have a lot to report.

Thus far I have found:
6 red pitchers
2 gravy boats
27 ramekins of various sizes
my grandmother's depression glass dessert set
3 dipping oil sets
a never used French press coffee maker (I don't do coffee)
an ice sculpture mold
3 deviled egg platters

Can you say "excessive"?

Mustangs, did you get pull-out shelves in that pantry? If not, see if you can retro fit them--even if it's just in one section.

16"D is pretty deep--it'd be really nice to have some closely spaced shelves that you can reach the back of!

www.shelvesthatslide.com

Wow, 27 ramekins? And all those deviled egg platters.

deviled-egg platters always make me wonder if the reason I don't care for deviled eggs is mostly because of the platter--they're a pain, bcs they're SO specialized; you can't use them for anything else. You can't nest or stack them. And they're usually very big!

THREE DEVILED EGG PLATTERS?! I'm jealous! My sister and I were having a contest to see who could collect the most painted ceramic deviled egg plates. I think she found 3 and I found zero. She cheated, though, because she called my aunt and had them sent to her.

I came home from work today coughing less, but more tired. So far this is all I've tossed today:

1 empty canning jar
2 ceramic planters
1 vase
2 phone cords
1 pack phone directions
1 gallon bag full of wooden drapery rings
2 wood shelves
1 chin-up bar DH never installed for DS 12 years ago

Thirty more minutes searching for junk (while the clothes dry) then I need to get ready for early bedtime.

TS, I know what you mean, I wanted shallow shelves but for this application, I think I will be okay. I am using the garage pantry for non-food items. I am using it for:
extra sets of dishes
small appliances e.g. crock pot, bread maker
seasonal serving pieces

I played the "Cabinet" game over the weekend and cleaned out under the kitchen sink. WHO puts all the junk in there? Tons gone, AGAIN. It must be the stuff-all place for things that have no home.