Decluttering the extra food storage containers is the decluttering task for today.
Of course, if you use Tupperware containers regularly then
it is definitely something that you need to keep. They are fantastic at storing left and other
food items. But if you're praying that a
large quantity of them will not spill out every time you open a cupboard or if
a drawer can't close properly because it is overflowing with them, you probably
have too many.
What Is the Appropriate Number of Containers to Keep?
When thinking about how many items to keep there are several factors to consider:
- Do you save leftover food?
- Do you batch-cook your meals?
- Do you use them for storing meat or cheese?
If you don’t batch cook food, you would need less than
someone who makes up their meals in advance – Do you use the leftover food for
lunch tomorrow?
My needs would be – I don’t store leftover foods, I don’t batch
cook, but I store the kids packed lunch ingredients in the fridge in Tupper
ware boxes (ham, cooked chicken, cheese), and my Raw meat (bacon, minced meat
and chicken) so that the raw juices don’t spill out into the fridge.
What Containers Should You Discard?
The obvious candidates for decluttering are containers that
are badly warped, stained, have lost their lids, and have broken seals or
clasps.
Additionally, if you have a lot of Tupperware, keep good quality
items rather than cheap ones.
An Important Note Regarding Re-Using Food Containers, like ice-cream Tubs.
It would be remiss of me to not mention these food storage
containers, such as used yoghurt pots and margarine and ice cream containers. I
bet a pound to a pinch of salt – you have some lurking in the cupboard. I know I do.
Whilst these are inexpensive because you already purchased
them with the food item you received. Saving
every single one can seriously mount up and is the cause of that avalanche of Tupperware
when you open the cupboard door.
I do keep my old ice cream tubs, and yoghurt pots – because I
use them when I mix up paint or clean my paint brushes with white spirits. I don’t keep them in the kitchen, I keep them
in a box in my craft room.
If you have a lot of these types of items, use the criteria
above to declutter them. Most of them
are recyclable so the next time the bin man comes to collect your recycling
they are gone – easy as that.
Once you’ve gotten on top of the Tupperware mountain - use
the one-in, one-out rule. This will help
to keep them at a manageable level to prevent these containers from slowly
piling up and creating a major mess once more.
What to do with your Decluttered Containers.
I would say that you have two options, you can either
recycle them or donate them. In my
experience, it is not worthwhile to try to sell these unless you have a full
set in exceptionally good condition.
If you are thinking about donating them. Make sure that the item is complete – i.e the
container has a matching lid - otherwise, it is just something useless. As I have mentioned in previous posts – I used
to volunteer in a charity shop and the amount of useless crap that people
donated was quite honestly disgraceful. Tupperware
without lids, and vice versa, chipped mugs – Donating to charity is meant to
help the charity raise money – not stick them with the problem of how to
dispose of your rubbish – Ok – rant over…
How I store my Tupperware
I used to keep them in my bottom cupboard, but I became fed
up with having to shove them all back in because they had fallen out when I tried
to get a container.
But I re-organised my kitchen cupboard, so I now store them in a box on top of my wall cupboard, they are easy to get to, but they don't take up space in my cupboard anymore.
For me, decluttering is not about becoming a minimalist - it's a way that I can become more organised, and have systems in place to make my life easier - for example when I'm cleaning.