What I am doing

Declutter 365 is going good.I have the upstair hall and staircase (stash dash and wait until I am going up for some other reason since we don't use the upstairs much any more. That's going to change) done and cleaned.

I worked on the butler's pantry, another dump until I go down to the basement area as the basement door is right there..which meant I was stepping over things to get to the dry goods that I can't store in the pantry in the basement or things I use daily (I don't store food in the kitchen cabinets, never have).

This is what it looked like before I started....

there is over 50 cake mixes on that top shelf. My youngest gave me a recipe to use them up making cookies .If I had 50 brownie mixes I would have everyone of my grandkids offering to bake them LOL.

I took some stuff and placed in 5 gal food grade buckets with lids and put in basement pantry including 30 of the cake mixes, kept no more than 2 of each kind plus brownie, muffin and cookie mixes I was given. I have a few things that were missing and didn't realize it until I cleaned it so today I will be making a grocery list of those items as right now they are just jotted down on the white out board on the side of the frig that sits at the doorway to this area.

I forgot to take a before picture of the pegboard I hang my pots and pans on (idea from Julia Child). To say the least it was a horrible mess since I had bought new pans  and the set had more pans than the set I got rid of (gave to grandson that got his own place) and never dealt with it. Hubby likes the new way because if he hangs it in the wrong spot it's be into another pan and he KNOWS that isn't how it's set up.  I got rid of the rice cooker that I haven't used since the kids left home (hum, 9 yrs?) and put the instant pot in its place so it's off the floor.

SO after 3 days of several hours a day this is what I now have.

and then I have this...I hang the tablecloths here. We don't use the baseboard heater (shut off at breaker box) so I use it for the cold cereal. I very seldom buy cereal unless it's on sale for less than $2 and I have coupons.AND if I can get a rebate from it it's even better. BUT Hubby likes his cold cereal and at least it's not the kind with tons of sugar. We are stocked for about 6 months if not more.

Hubby built this as a bookcase for me in 2005 when I started my business as a personal/private chef.It's purpose has changed several times through the years.I have a step stool that isn't in the picture that usually leans against it. It's being used upstairs at the moment. This is another one Hubby built. We had moved into a very small rental house that had a built in pantry wardrobe and there was this spot next to it that nothing fit in and I didn't have any place for my baking staples so Hubby built it to fit the area. When we moved here it fit in this corner but now it holds the teas, sodas,jello, pudding, and the booze. Just FYI, we don't drink 95 % of it. It's for cooking mostly that I used in my cheffing....I pawned some off on my bartending daughter for her and her coworkers to use coming up with new drinks etc. Still have some I am either going to have to pawn off or find recipes for since I have retired.Got a few from Mom before she passed away and a couple from a friend that brought it back from Italy. I plan to start working on the shelves that are in the staircase to the basement next. Kitchen is just wipe out cabinet and drawers and the top of the cabinets wiped out. I keep the kitchen decluttered mostly. The kitchen table gets a lot on it as it's the only work area and holds the coffee maker,my kitchenaid, tea box, water pitcher, cookie jar LOL ...it's only 24 inches by 40 inches so it's a work horse for it's size.