Cupboard Love

We are of course in mid February and it is very true to form that it is only now that I am reflecting upon Christmas presents and resolutions for the New Year.  In fact now I think about it I am just in time for Valentine’s Day, which is traditionally actually the date I normally send out my Christmas Letter.  Whilst in the resolution reminiscent mood I should make one resolution right now; that at some point today I will find a suitably tasteful and romantic card to hand over to Husband on Sunday morning, thus avoiding the usual scramble at 5pm on February 13^th, where I, together with a group of disconsolate males, for strangely most of the other late purchasers tend to be male, stand gazing at sad remnants of the left over cards at the newsagent, these last minute tokens of love generally featuring koalas and/or badly drawn teddy bears clutching roses to their chests, and have quite rightly been deemed by more timely purchasers, as unfit for human consumption.

My family gave me a copy of “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying” for Christmas, apparently, I asked to be given it, I have no memory of making such a request but I do concede that if I was taking a clear look at myself in the metaphorical mirror (generally smeary and surrounded by interesting objects parked there over the years) I would perhaps have acknowledged a guide to tidying could come in handy.

If I condense the wisdom of the author Marie Kondo in a couple of sentences, the essence is discard, discard, discard and then tidy the few possessions that remain.  Key to the discarding element is that if when you handle an object/book/clothing if it doesn’t bring you an immediate jolt of pleasure/joy you get rid of it – am so tempted to test this method on dog/Drama Queens/Husband but fear it might lead to unfortunate scenes, particularly as our council ‘Throw away day’ is coming up and I would hate to see a member of my family sitting on the kerb looking for a new home.  I can see the sense of her particular ‘no joy and it’s out’ mantra and I am actually looking forward to tackling my wardrobe as I do know there are many garments in there that I pick up, consider as daily wear, and then put back on the grounds they fail to thrill.

However an infestation of pantry moths meant that the larder cupboard was the place that needed my tidy-minded attention – top tip if every time you open the cupboard door, you are greeted by a flutter of moths, and your teenage children are complaining that the chocolate chips are full of weevils and they think they may have unwittingly eaten some, then it’s time for action.  I cleaned out the whole thing, discarded, discarded and discarded, less on the grounds did things give me joy, and more on the basis that were foodstuffs a) infested with weevils, b) out of date by a number of years, c) conspicuously bulging or d) fitting into the category of the type of food that is bought in a fit of optimism but which clearly is never going to be eaten by any member of the family – step forward flaxmeal. 

The whole thing was a gloriously purging exercise – and I was overcome with satisfaction at the end of it – until I opened the cupboard door this morning and another moth flew out.  I suppose on the bright side at least the moths and weevils have somewhere tidy to live – and I can now move onto the more entertaining wardrobe purge, hopefully not moth infested in its turn.

Just to avoid embarrassing confusion - these are pictures of my larder cupboard POST clean-up!

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