Hello. My name is Tiffany. And I am addicted to china & glassware. πŸ™‚

It all started back in 1998 when I left Virginia (home after we moved from Texas), to go off to college at the University of Miami. I moved into to my very first apartment in Miami, all by myself, and ready to take on the world. One of my first orders of business was to get a job. And so I ended up working at Dadeland Mall in the Burdine’s home store. I had been working retail for a few years already, while I was in high school, and I really enjoyed it. But what I was about to experience in this place was discounting beyond belief.

Oh yes, not only do they bait you in there with an employee discount (which you can only get if you use your store credit card — what a clever little trick) but then there was the clearance stuff. Up to 50% off, plus our 15% discount. Pure. Heaven! Since I worked in the silver department (which bordered on the china & crystal departments), I decided that I would be a more attractive “catch” to a guy if I had china & glassware service for 16. I mean, why just go with 8 when you can really throw a good party with 14 people other than yourself.

Well, to date, we have NEVER had a dinner party with 16 people at it. We did do Thanksgiving dinner last year with 12 plus 2 kids — but that maxed out our seating space completely. And now that we’ll moving to an apartment in Berlin, I do not want to once again box everything up and just move it along to the next house. So I’ve been going through the cabinets, one shelf at a time, and looking to see what is actually in there.

I love our kitchen. I love the spaces we created and the roominess of it. But I am pretty sure that whatever apartment we find in Berlin will not have as much space. German houses in general do not usually have enormous kitchens, but I doubt we’ll take a place with just a single cabinet next to the oven and sink, either.

Now I’ve not gone completely overboard and gotten rid of everything. But I did get rid of a lot of things that we have not used more than once or twice in the last 6 years. Because honestly, if it’s right in front of me in the cabinet and I STILL don’t pull it out to use it, what’s the point in having it?

While I didn’t take before and after photos of every cupboard or shelf, I did take a photo of all the stuff I put together before I boxed it up. We put an offer out on Freecycle and two people were interested…one has already come and picked through the stuff a little. And the second one (who is actually an American expat who’s been here for a little over a year) is coming today and taking everything else (I hope!) plus some of the furniture which has been collecting dust in our barn for decades. The glassware and china are all wrapped and boxed for him, already, which will make it harder for him to say no. πŸ™‚ And then he and a few friends are going to split it all up, according to what they need.

william morris project

While I was working on this project, I also decided to see if we were ready to let go of the china my husband had as a bachelor. It was actually pretty tasteful for a single guy, white with a silver trim, but you can’t put stuff like that in the microwave, it was a bit heavier than my everyday china in plain white and we basically just never ended up using it. So it’s going to be making the expat guy (or his friends) really happy since we have pretty much everything still. Since part of it was actually up in our attic with a few other boxes of china we never use, I decided to see what was going on there too. Found a few more things I was ready to let go of…and I totally notice the different in my cabinets which I am loving!

While I was in the attic, I also came across one box of old china I already knew about…

william morris project

and another one with nearly twice as much in it that I didn’t know about (or had at least blocked from my memory.)

Glassware collection Ideas

I’m hoping the guy and his friend need some plates to eat off of, and aren’t picky about it. The stuff in there isn’t horrible, but it definitely isn’t my style. Although I did find one thing I liked in there. Ok, I lie. It was 7 things.

Six of them where these little soup bowls which go with my plain white china and I think are super cute. There’s only 5 in the photo because I discovered this morning that they are perfect for Mack’s cereal bowls — and she loves the double handles.

william morris project

The other was a little blue and white Japanese saucer (sadly no cup) which I’m going to use as a dish in my office for holding small stuff and/or a coaster.

I figure keeping 7 and getting rid of something like 70+ items from my own personal stash is more than allowed if you try to go by the “get rid of two old things when you bring one new item into your home” rule.

I also decided to see what life would be like without the plastic IKEA mixing bowls we’ve had forever and one set of plastic measuring spoons. I got some smaller stainless steel bowls about 2 years ago (I guess) and intended to stop using the plastic ones just because they were starting to get grungy and I have no clue what sort of bacteria is breeding there. But I still had them in the drawer so I was constantly reaching for them. I mean seriously — check out the color on these things. Sure, it’s just from washing them with something that had tomato sauce in it or whatever; but ick.

Glassware collection Ideas

The experiment was simply to remove these from the drawer for about two weeks and put the stainless ones in their place. And if I needed something bigger than those two, I either used the KitchenAid bowl (and used the KA to mix up the ingredients also) or used one of my bigger Pyrex bowls.

The result: the plastic bowls and measuring spoons hit the trash can today and will be recycled in the next pickup. And I no longer have to look at the bowls and wonder if there is something growing in them because I’ve watched one too many documentaries. Yes I could have passed them on — but really, I wouldn’t wish a plague on someone like that! πŸ˜‰

What do you really need to purge in your life, physically or emotionally? What’s holding you back from living a life full of beautiful and useful moments and things?Β