I SMELL A FISH?

Refrigerator Before

I am completely speechless as to how long it has actually been since I have updated my, Clutter Blog, as it is known for short in my house. I am proud to say that with illness and doctors’ appointments to keep my younger son comfortable, I still found time to complete a project that is usually one that goes for years...yes I said years, undone unless there is a massive spill that usually goes undiscovered until an odd mystery smell finds its way throughout our home. Obviously by the picture to your left, you knew I was talking about our refrigerator. Now come on, how many of you clean your's on a weekly basis?...Yeah I know there will be some of you out there who do, and are completely disgusted with my lax-a-daisy method. In my home, as I looked around each room, I noticed a theme present. Items were never put back in the place where they belong in our home. This is the same for our refrigerator/freezer. Put it where it fits, seems to be the thing to do when putting things back.  So, my plan was to complete the refrigerator side this week and the freezer side next week. Again, my plan was to have the one side done in an afternoon. Not no...But Hell NO! I wish you could have seen the things I found. Jell-O or jam that had fallen over and slowly oozed down the sides and back of my fridge. Then the worst part, the mystery meat and green cheeses, that were not green when I purchased them. The most revolting part of this clean was the piece of Cod, which I had planned on making fish chowder with, that was somehow pushed to the back bottom shelf.  I figured my husband or kids had thrown it out days ago, as they are not fish eaters and probably feared I would make a dish with fish in it, without telling them.  Now come one, would I do that? Not after what happen to my husband when I opened a can of tuna one day for my lunch...he made himself sick. Anyway the smell of this hidden fish, found its way through out our home, and oddly enough, my husband and boys started looking at me. Hey now!...I have no hygiene issues. I'm not getting blamed for the odor in the house. But the green cheese, now that rancid smell, wow, it was close to the bad case of boot foot that my three guys have. I keep telling them to wear sneakers once in a great while and they wouldn't have halitosis of the foot so much, but do they ever listen to me? Nope.

Refrigerator After

So battling the bulge of food and items that kept falling from our fridge each time we would open the door, I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands and get the job done and done right. The trash guys hated me. Nothing worse than a ton of bad meat, cheese and items that are sold in glass. It makes the trash bags extra heavy. Glad I don't get charged by weight or volume. I'd be broke. So as you can see with the picture to the right, things are organized, but not in places where I would like them to be, usually I have milk on the door and vegetables in the veggie bin, but one of the bids were so filled with stuck on things that had made their way from the top of the fridge to the drawers, that it wouldn't open and so the track is still soaking and I need a very small tool to get into those tiny crevasses. UGH. But for the most part you can see that the less is more approach, is a nice way to go. You can see what you’re looking for and there is no funky meaty, cheesy, fishy, smell. Be glad that the internet doesn’t have a smell button. You would have never kept reading. All in all, I am getting there at a snail’s pace that is on its way to Florida from Maine. Slowly but surely, I am getting a hold of the constant clutter and will be able to brag about my victory in another 11 months, 1 week and 4 days. Thanks for stopping by to check on my clutter progress. My next attempt will be going back downstairs to clean out the linen and coat closet. If that gets done, then I will be able to go back to my bedroom closet and liquidate it for sure. I'll keep you posted on my progress and will always post before and after pictures. Just so you know I'm not making any of this up. I'm also excited about a blog update on my weight loss, talk about shockers, can't wait to share the before and after pictures of this milestone, but that story, I will have to share sometime in the future. Right now I'm focused on clutter. Have a great Friday, I know I'm going to enjoy it...its date night with my sweetheart.