Day 4: The Freezer

Read the previous entry in this series:  Day 3: The Fridge is an Elephant or start at the beginning with the introduction: 5 Ways Clutter Costs.

We are blessed.

Not only do we have an upright freezer--but it is stocked with meat and vegetables, meals in a box for times I am too busy to cook and jams and broths and pre-made home made meals from those times when I was not. All of it, I realise, in the context of everyone who eats in the entire world (and that, hopefully, would be everyone, though sadly is not) we are extremely fortunate.

Looking after the food in my freezer is just good stewardship of our resources. Yesterday, I defined clutter as things out of line with my intentions. Well, one of my intentions is to live according to our values--and good stewardship is one of them.

This touches on what I want my home to be. In part, it is to be a refuge from the world, (I'm an introvert in an extrovert's job). It is, more importantly, to be a place that supports and reflects our values. And clutter is my greatest enemy to living my values (Well, OK, maybe fear (and the accompanying cowardice) is my greatest enemy--but clutter is right up there on the list.)

Have you thought about why you want to declutter? Have you thought about the purpose of your home?

The owner of any business will tell you that inventory is money--but it's money that's frozen, tied up, already spent and not doing any good, yet. That's how I feel about the food in my freezer. When we get low on funds, I look to my freezer and do my best to eat through it before we buy more. (Yep, frugality is another value!)

We need to do that again.

I took all the food out and put it in laundry baskets which I covered with towels. Then I held my breath. Would the freezer defrost before the food thawed?

Chris and I went out--and when we returned about five hours after I emptied the freezer--everything was fine. The raspberries from the garden and a few jars of homemade chicken broth were just starting to thaw a bit.

I keep my food organized so I can quickly see what I have when I plan my meals. (We'll talk more about that tomorrow.)

It doesn't stay like this--other people put away the groceries sometimes and don't pay attention to where things go. But it's a good foundation.

 Read the next entry in this series Day 5: Recipes (and Menu Planning)

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