Empty half your kitchen today?

One day I was standing in my kitchen and I had this realization that the amount of glassware, plasticware, mugs and more were astounding. I did a quick inventory in that moment:

1) 22 coffee mugs. Why did I have 22 coffee mugs?  Am I a diner?  No. Do I plan to open a diner? No. Do I plan to drink coffee for 22 days without doing dishes?  No most definitely not.

2) 16 glass drinks of various sizes. Do I have 14 kids?  No.

3) about 25 plastic lids and only 6 matching plastic bowls. Why was I was keeping the lids?  Did I plan on using them for something else?  No. Would the missing bowls magically appear?  No.  

4) 22 glass wine and champagne glasses. Will I have 22 people drinking all at the same time in my 20x16 living room all at the same time?  I can't even justify this.

5) 240 mason jars of various sizes. Half of which were empty.  I love to can some of my own food. 

6) various empty canister containers floating through the cupboard partially full with food.

7) 6 stainless steel to go coffee mugs we rarely used mainly because they were a pain to keep clean.

8) 24 spice jars I rarely used.

9) 12 vases of various sizes.

10) about a dozen glass candles holders.

11) a collection of shot glasses given to me by another family member. 21 in all. Do I plan to have 21 people drink a shot all at once?  Hey, that one just might be fun to do.

Okay, so there yet have it. It was an excess and I was disgusted. How did we reach a place where we have to buy all these specialized items for multiple uses and then on top of that, have so many of those of specialized items?  So what do did I do?  I got rid of everything except the mason jars. I did keep six wine glasses and two champagne glasses from our wedding and one large vase. But everything else went. Beside flowers look waaaaay prettier in mason jars.

Mason jars?  Maybe not 240 of them if you are not into preserving food the way I am.  But even if you don't preserve food, the potential to simplify your life by only using canning jars is wonderful.  Yes, we now use our mason jars to drink coffee, tea, milk and water. We use it to store food in the fridge and in the pantry. Leftovers?  No big deal, I pop them into a mason jar. I use them to hold our salt and pepper and other extra spices. I even use it hold our butter on the counter at room temperature so I got rid of the butter dish. I highly recommend this move. I managed to free up so much space in the kitchen.  And I when I a done with them, they store so easily together all in one space. 

I could list in details all the wonderful things you can do with mason jars, but in the name of simplifying my life, I will instead list those who have already done this.  

Eating and drinking with mason jars as well as spices:

www.citygirlfarmingblog.com/2013/03/06/practical-mason-jar-gifts-and-solutions/

This one is also amazing, entire weddings done with mason jars:

www.moncheribridals.com/trending/mason-jar-weddings/

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the most useful one of all, 50 ways to use mason jars....

http://www.mommypotamus.com/50-creative-ways-to-use-mason-jars/