SPRING CLEANING~

~OR THE CUPBOARD OF SHAME~

you decide.....

When I was a kid my mother embarked on a  spring cleaning mission every year. This would involve buckets of soapy water and much 'elbow grease'. Both my parents were smokers, so as you cleaned the ceilings and walls, you could see the white come through the yellow nicotine stains. I do know we didn't have a lot of clutter or stuff like that plaguing the tidiness. No, it was just mostly a deep clean, light fixtures, walls, windows, ceiling and floors washed and waxed. We only had one bathroom, but, that is a whole other story. With as many as 12 kids in the house, there were no extras, and things just got all used up before they got too old to use. Dishes were always done, because if you didn't do them, there would be nothing to eat off of for the next meal. Dinner time alone was a production.  Its time to show you my 'dirty little secrets'  Having recently been inspired by  Bloggers and Pinterest pins about getting the clutter out. I Googled Spring cleaning and learned about 40 bags in 40 days. I am a late joiner and never did find the original poster for that one?

I decided to tackle the baking cupboard first. 

I started unloading it before I took the first photo

 this is some of what was on the shelves

Note the garbage bags for expired things

The condensed milk is my favourite,

 some from 2008...I know shamed...

I only use it at Christmas time to bake and suffer apparently from the delusion that I am always out of condensed milk......The different labels should have been my first clue. How often does a manufacturer change their label?

I thought the cocoa stash would be the worst..

.....Not so my friend

Turned out I am way more addicted to the idea that I will run out of Vanilla X-tract. Well in my defense, 

"I LOVE VANILLA" Even made my own to give away a couple of Christmas's ago. Read about that HERE

Two hours later, here is the finished cupboard, ready for me to do some Easter baking. I only got rid of the oldest vanilla, and very little of the chocolate. {The truth about the old vanilla....I poured it all into one jar and set it, open, on a window ledge to evaporate as a pleasant scent...spoken like a true hoarder or a thrifty tosser?} I'll be using the cocoa. Then I pulled things to the front for ease of use. I will share my next 'Walk of Shame' or 'It Hurts to Let Go' and encourage you to do the same. What will you tackle first? This is probably the least shameful area of our house......stay tuned for when I hit the big 'hoard'...

.I meant to say, other problem areas.....