Survey Says...

Okay, two things:

1. If you're a tea drinker, how often do you actual sip tea from a teacup?  I don't unless I'm someplace fancy schmancy... or at my parents.  (I have to say that, because Mom will read this.)  Even at Thanksgiving when we get out the good china at our house, we often end up using mugs for coffee and tea with dessert.
2. If you own "good china" and live in a small home (like I do), where do you STORE your china?  Why am I asking?  Keep reading.

These are two things that I am mulling over as I clean cupboards out this week.

I have cups and saucers that match my everyday Pfaltzgraff dishes, and they never get used.  Oh, my son would argue.  He uses that size once in a blue moon to boil water in the microwave for his oatmeal.  Son -- you might need to choose another size, because these are getting filed away for the time being.  I'm going to see if we miss them, and if not, they'll likely be donated.

Several years back, I read that if your good china is packed away in boxes (as opposed to someplace where you SEE it), you will never use it. You know, "out of sight, out of mind?"  Well, I love mine, and I was determined to use it more.  So, to that end, I unpacked it all, and reconfigured my kitchen cabinets so that there was room on the top shelf for my china. The result?  Well, it's no longer a "pain" to get the china out for Thanksgiving.  And, we did have one celebratory kind of dinner when we used it.  But, basically it sits on my top shelf like it sat in the boxes.  Virtually unused.

Enter, real life.

As I remove the everyday cups and saucers, I think I might relocate the saucers to a spot with the small plates.  We're forever running out of those little plates for snacks and such, and maybe sometimes a saucer would fill the need?  Trial and error, folks.  Trial and error.

In the meantime, this pile of pretties is going down to the basement... somewhere.  For a limited engagement.  Afterall, if I keep them down there too long, I'm just relocating, and not purging.

And the good china?  Well, I don't know if I'll ever be able to part with it.  For now, it stays.

Okay, so fess up.

Since we've started tidying and organizing,

what is the thing you've realized about yourself?

What type of thing have you purged the most of?

ME?

I've realized that sometimes I care too much what other people think.  SOMEtimes, I hang onto something -- not because I LOVE it, but because I think I should hang onto it.  This can be true for things people gave to me, or just things that COULD be useful down the road.  Slowly but surely, I'm getting over that, and becoming bolder.  I play the "I just don't have room" card.  By the way... that's a real card folks.

As far as what I've purged the most of...

Well, we've been mostly in the kitchen so far, right?

I got rid of a few gadgets,

but mugs were a biggy.

So, c'mon.  Tell me what you've been up to.

And tell me,

where is your good china?