Coaching myself

I recently had to treat myself as a client to deal with a situation in my kitchen.  You see, I bought a new microwave.  I've wanted one for a few years now.  My old one still works, but it was small and not that powerful.  After saving up some gift cards and doing research, I finally decided it was time.  I love the new microwave, but it is bigger than the old one.   My microwave lives inside a large cabinet next to the stove.  I love being able to shut the door and hide the microwave.  And the cabinet is large enough to provide some extra storage.  I used to store cutting boards and sheet pans in the cabinet next to my old microwave, but now there is no room for that.  So I was forced to make some changes.

When it comes to kitchen tools and gadgets, I have a hard time purging.  But I know it must be done from time to time.   In this case, I could have shoved the excess in another cabinet and just lived with it.  But I knew I'd get frustrated by the overflow very soon.    I also could have moved some things around and stored some items in the oven, like many people do.  Again, not for me.

What did I do?   I took all the baking equipment out from one smaller cabinet and the storage drawer under the oven.  Seeing everything together, I decided what I really needed and used versus what I could do without.  And then I packed up what was unneeded and put it in my car with the old microwave to donate to charity.  I didn't allow myself to really ponder each item.  I went with the facts of how often or when I last used each item.  And I trusted my gut.

The process only took about a half an hour.  And it was well worth it.