Hands up who has more than 6 mugs, cups, plates, serving dishes, saucepans or kitchen gadgets?

I am imagining everyone with their hands raised. We’ve all done it – seen a gadget and thought it would revolutionise our culinary creations, then got it home, taken it out the packaging, used it once – or maybe even twice – then put it in a drawer or a cupboard and forgotten about it. Then when we tried to declutter that drawer or cupboard, we remembered why we bought it, what a difference it could still make, and put it in the keep pile (or back in the drawer or cupboard).

It was the same with hostess trollies, SodaStream machines, waffle makers, cheese slicers, bread stamps, pressure cookers and many, many more.

As with all our clutter, it’s time to start making balanced, realistic decisions based on the present and our vision or our Clutter Free Best Life future, by thinking about what we REALISTICALLY need and will use. We can probably let go of that le Creuset set of dishes that we got as a wedding gift, convinced we’d be having dinner parties for 8 every month, when we were ‘smug newlyweds – yet have rarely (if ever) used. 

The golden rule to follow is: if you’ve already ‘let go’ of the person you married, you need to let go of the wedding gifts too!

Never was the reality of focusing on what we actually NEED made clearer to me than in the 1990’s when I was travelling to West Africa every 4 – 6 weeks to be with my fiancé. My future mother-in-law and sister-in- law took it in turns to prepare incredible dishes with amazing flavours. Shawarma wraps are amazing!

I was amazed as I watched them adding things to just two pots that hung over a yard campfire. They had one pot for meat, one for rice, one spatula, one saucepan to mix in, and two knives – one small and one that looked more like a machete than a kitchen utensil.

The culture in Senegal and Gambia is for the family to eat together, eating off a communal tray of food, using their hands. They were so generous, kind and compassionate to me that they bought a plate, fork and spoon especially for me as they knew I wasn’t quite comfortable enough to eat with my hands (yet). 

It’s always been a great memory and reminder to me that it’s not gadgets, utensils, crockery and cutlery that gives the food it’s flavour. It’s the environment and memories that result from the sharing of the food. 

If people are going to judge you for not having the latest gadget or only having a few miss-matched mugs, plates, dishes and pans, then they’re probably not a positive person to have in your home.

You can clear your clutter FAST, or you can clear your clutter FOREVER, but you can’t clear your clutter FOREVER FAST.

To find out how Clare can help you clear your clutter Forever, without the need for an expensive home visit, click here now: https://www.clutterclearing.net/clares-help-centre/