Clearly this is not cornflour!

I was cleaning out my fridge this morning in preparation for the groceries arriving this morning between 7.50 am and 8.50 am (according to Coles Online). My story begins with the featured image of ‘not corn flour’.

Chickpeas disguised

Of course, the eagle eyes amongst you identified the contents as chickpeas.

Congratulations!

There are some obvious questions that may arise in your fine minds.

Answers supplied – read them at your peril if you are Kon Mari trained.

Q Why did she use that container? A It was the first one handy.

Q Did it ever hold corn flour. A Yes.

Q Will it ever hold corn flour again? A Yes. Corn Flour stock will be replenished just not in time to use this particular container at this present moment. There may already be a box undiscovered in the pantry.

Q Why not remove the label? A This is a Tupperware label. Those babies are made to stick forever! See question and answer immediately above

Q Does this cause confusion in the house? A The other occupant of the house has never used chickpeas in living memory. AND who would look for cornflour in the fridge? So attempted camouflage is not really necessary.

Fashionista plastics

Over the 40+ years that I have mildly active in storing things in containers, I have seen many trends. I have a nodding acquaintance with many.

Around my late teens, early 20s many of my friends were enthusiastic Tupperware party ‘goers’ and ‘havers’. These items were essential to running a happy, healthy and well-stored home.

Nope, I was not interested in the slightest. I was singing in bands, writing bad music, hanging out in pubs, working in jobs I hated and marriage and homemaking were far from my life ambitions.

So my heirloom Tupperware set was never commenced. Sir Freddy Tupper was never going to get richer with me on board.

I did buy a greeeeat set of stainless steel pots and pans. It had a 25-year guarantee. This mighty group lasted until about 7 years ago – a time span of almost 35 years. No complaints there. My husband at the time, a French chef, said these pans formed part of my dowry. (No I kept them in the divorce).

Since that time there has been a plethora of plasticware to make our homes neat and tidy. Well, our kitchens, pantries, fridges and freezers stood ready to be Kon Mari organised.

Here are just a few:

Decor – old and trusted.

Sistema a New Zealand company – the featured image is one of these clip top beauties.

Cook & Dine – a Coles supermarket special.

Bento – I admit I got one of these recently – a yum box.

So with no shortage of containers to put things in, there are no excuses for inefficiencies.

Kon Mari method

Since I have brought this technique up, I want to say that I have used it successfully in many parts of my house.

Areas listed in descending order of success:

Bedroom

Loungeroom

Bathroom

Kitchen – fading here

Back/sunroom – um

Back bedroom – nope

You see the main principle Marie Kondo asks us to embrace is:

stack all the items for review then keep each one that gives us joy, discard what doesn’t.

That is all very well, but does this include fridge items – both internal and external? I have discussed my fridge characteristics on these pages before.

Lettuce – just as it is becoming limp?

What about the latest gigantic electricity bill?

The bathroom scales? Granted these are in the bathroom but still…..

How do I decide to make more room on my desk by discarding my racing unicorns? They are posed beside the not corn flour container and repeated here with my dream motivator and my think positive button. (10 different uplifting phrases).

No drama no regrets lifestyle.

So as my meandering story rolls to a close.

I am in the boomer stage of life and here are some lessons I have learned.

I don’t care about labels, housework, perceptions, societal norms, status, wealth (although I could use some of that), clothes (other than having some on), or trends.

What matters most is each day being a source of peace, calm and some good humour for me and for those around me.

Have I been successful to date? Hope so.

You tell me where your thoughts wandered during this?