We have a big problem with clutter and are slowly working our way through it – if you are in the same boat then here is a quick and easy thing to start with – you’ll see results fairly quickly and at least have some sense of accomplishment after a few hours – instead of a whole day or weekend.
If you are like us at all there probably is a turkey in the bottom of your freezer which you bought two Thankgiving’s ago when Safeway had them on sale for $5 a pop. Never fear – starting with your freezer is easy.
First, make sure that you have room in your trash can – its a good idea to do this the might before your trash is taken – you don’t want things thawing out in there while you have the can full. Next, bring the can as close to the freezer as you can, or grab a plastic bin and have it near the freezer. Have a second bin available for stuff you want to keep.
Now start pulling things out of the freezer. If the wrapping is broken, toss it. If the plastic anything other than a very tiny dusting of frost inside it then it has probably gone off – your best bet is to toss that too. Sniff each package too – if there is any kind of odor coming off it, its probably gone bad as well – our senses are pretty good for that.
Unless you have a giant cheat freezer, this exercise should only take you a few hours at most – keep taking the bin to the trash and emptying it in until either your freezer is empty or your trash is full.
Put the good stuff back in the freezer, try to set it up so that you can reach everything without stacking it – run it up against all of the walls as required and leave space in the middle to reach down into if its a chest freezer. For side-by-side, just fit everything back in so that everything is visible, if you don’t see it you might forget it again…don’t want to see that turkey in there 2 years from now again, do we?
Pretty soon, you’ll have a full trash can, a great looking freezer, and feel like you’ve accomplished something (A feeling that we have yet to get so far trying to de-clutter our bedroom – that one has been in process for like 3 years now – please don’t call Hoarders on us yet!)