Use It Up

Part of the decluttering phase is consolidating all the bottles of lotions and hair gels that I have. I have almost used up all the sample sized bottles that I collected while traveling or that came as a bonus in a bigger pack. It is amazing how many little bottles you can collect. Next up is the 5 or 6 different kinds of baby lotion I found in their closet today. I plan to mix as many as I can together. They are cute, but take up too much room. 

I also threw away a ton of store hangers today. I have nice hangers, why use the cheap plastic ones that come free? Why did I have so many? Ugh. How do things pile up so much? Does this happen to you too? I am trying to follow the one touch rule this year. If I pick it up, I immediately have to put it back where it belongs. Otherwise, I find that things just travel around from spot to spot. Also, I am discovering that everything needs a place or I should get rid of it. :) 

I went through the boys' clothes and organized the 4, 5, 6, and 7 sized clothes into their own bins. They were all together, but after some hand-me-downs from one of Jared's co-workers, I decided they should have their own bins. They are all neatly marked and in the closet or under the bed. 

I am now working towards a cleaner washing machine. It is slowly getting there. Maybe I will have pictures next week. 

I am also trying to use up stuff around the house before it goes bad. Last night I made ricotta calzones to use up some ricotta that was open and needed to be used. Tonight we are having acorn squash and applesauce with dinner. The acorn squash came in November in my CSA bin. The applesauce is made from the last six apples from 2 bushels that my sister brought me in October. I also threw in two pears that had bad spots on them. 

Thank you, Sarah for all the delicious apples!! 

I used a lot of these apples for applesauce, which is in my freezer. I used up about ten last week making a Dutch apple pie for Jared.  He jokingly asked if we were having apple pie for dessert an so I threw one together (from America's test kitchen, of course). It was a crustless apple pie with a crumb topping. And it was amazing. So I will post the recipe later. 

Any tips to keeping the clutter down?