Downsize Step 1: Kitchen

I got home from work today and I had a mini fit. Not a huge fit, just a mini fit (the kind that only I realize I am having). The reason for the fit? I started looking around the house and was annoyed by the mountains of ‘stuff’ that we have accumulated. It is not that our house is cluttered or jam packed. It is not that our closets are overflowing (although the one at the top of the stairs, does need my attention). It is just that our house is not in a state that we could easily pack everything into 20' truck and move across town in one trip. I understand that there are 5 of us, but the amount of things we have is exasperating to me.

Four years ago we went thru this exact same thing. We sold our home of many years and moved into half the square footage. It was liberating. At the time we shed ourselves of many, many things. I remember wanting to purge even more, but the rest of my family members could only go so far. While we definitely have a lot less than we did then, we still have more than I care to keep, maintain, and frankly dust.

Room by room I walked. I looked in closets, corners, cupboards and crannies. I was hard pressed to open a single drawer that didn’t contain something. So how do you decide what you keep and what you get rid of?

The kitchen. This is a tough one. When I have the time, I like to cook. When I cook I like to have the proper tools. Nothing drives me nuts more than wanting to re-create a tasty dish and I find that I don’t have the proper tools. This includes spices. I have an entire cupboard that is packed with spices and other basic ingredients for whipping up a variety of things. Yes, I honestly do feel the need to maintain 3 types of salt in my cupboard: the standard iodized, sea and kosher. I have used each of them the last 2 weeks. I also like to have several kinds of pepper: black, colored peppercorns for grinding, red pepper flakes, ground red pepper, and ground white pepper. The ingredients in my ‘spice cupboard’ go on and on. Not that long ago I weeded thru that cupboard, I don’t think I can weed it down anymore. BUT, what if we sell our house and I have to move into a place with a kitchen that won’t allow me to have a dedicated 4 shelf high spice cupboard? How do I decide what I keep?

The rest of the cupboards and drawers are filled with dishes, glassware, serveware, pots, pans, knives, strainers, measuring cups, pantry ingredients and of course specialized items like my lime press. Can I get hard core with myself and part with my glass punch bowl, or my 30 cup coffee pot? What about my boxes of 'party' items--those boxes that have extra wine glasses, tablecloths, and specialized serving dishes.  What about the stack of plastic serving trays or my Kitchen Aid stand mixer or my food processor? What about the panini grill? I just used that one last night for dinner.

I reflect back to the times that we have traveled in Mexico and stayed in host homes. I am always amazed (and embarrassed) to compare our lifestyle to the lifestyle of those families. We are SO excessive in comparison. The kitchens in those homes are very modest. Usually there is a small cooktop and refrigerator and maybe a length of counter. There are no cupboards but generally open shelves which contain a few basic skillets and a pot or two. An oven is a luxury (I think we have stayed in one home with an oven). There are a handful of basic plastic dishes, cups and cutlery that are all washed immediately after a meal and put back away. That being said, we have eaten some of the most amazing meals created in those simple kitchens. So why am I having a hard time deciding what the bare bones kitchen would look like for me?

I will cover the other rooms later.