July 2014

Periodically, because it's good household management but usually because we're in a budget crunch, I go on a campaign to eat the food that we have. Those items that have gotten pushed to the back of the pantry or freezer. Anyone else have this issue? I consider it the fat corn years intended to supply the lean corn ears (see Genesis, the story of Joseph and Pharaoh), but just like the biblical story, it takes some creative management.

I'm going to keep a journal, hopefully during the entire month of July, of my own efforts to economize as I clean and organize my food. My journey is happening in 2014, a time when Americans waste about 25% of what we buy (see newsstory here). That's appalling, but it easy to do. When my culture fails this way, it pains me. When I am too lazy to eat the rest of the spaghetti sauce in my fridge, hey, what do you know about my life? Stay off my back.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Day 9: seasons

Eating what we have is about two things: spending less this month on groceries and regaining control of the pantry and freezer. I have a system for keeping the kitchen organized, but this summer, it needs a little extra attention.

I have a tendency to think that I can come up with the perfect system that will cause me never to need to clean out corners of the refrigerator. "If I just do blah, all the time..." I like systems. I believe in improving.

But I also believe in seasons. The spring semester of school got very busy for me. Some of the things that kept me busy were unusual, and may never happen again (like the events of my daughter's senior year). Some things, like extra tutoring, I have learned not to take on (or, if I do take them on again, I will better understand the cost). Busy-ness somehow led to about three packages of pasta that we don't normally keep on hand and a snack cabinet so piled with food that no one knew what was there.

Spring was a busy season. This July is a time to rest and reorganize. Expecting myself to be hyper-organized during the spring so that I don't have to rest and reorganize in July is silly. Spring was fun; it was a little too crazy to keep up all the time. And this season of rest is a gift.

Life is meant to come in seasons. A mentor once told me: these are the busy seasons for this job. You will be tempted to stay busy when they are over, but you must resist that urge and rest.

All of life has crunch times, hurricanes of activity. Rest when you are given the chance. Get your kitchen clean, get your good habits back in place, because the next time of Crazy is coming.
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