Too Much Thyme? Decluttering Your Spices Without Losing Flavor

Mary Anne Ivison  0:01  
The Declutter Queen with Avery Cundill.

Avery Cundill  0:06  
Welcome back to The Declutter Queen. Today we are heading into a surprisingly sneaky clutter zone, your spice cabinet. Okay, okay, so maybe it's a spice drawer or a lazy Susan, or a crammed shelf where expired oregano goes to die. However, you house your spices, you get the gist. Wherever you keep them, spices are one of the most overlooked forms of clutter in the kitchen. But here's the thing: when your spices are organized, cooking gets easier, your food tastes better, and your kitchen just feels more functional. Today we're going to walk through a fast, no-stress process to declutter your spices, make space for the ones you actually use, and say goodbye to that jar of celery salt from 2009 Let's dive in.

Matt Cundill  1:13  
Why spice clutter happens.

Avery Cundill  1:16  
So spices tend to multiply quietly, and here's why we buy some spices for one recipe, and then we never use them again. Think of a time you bought, I don't know, let's call it fennel pollen. Now, my apologies for those of you who use this spice regularly, but I think it's safe to say if, and that's a huge if any of us have this kicking around our kitchens, it was likely a one hit wonder. Another thing that happens is we tend to forget what we already have, so we buy it again. I confess, at some point in my life, I owned 10 dried mustards. Guilty as charged. Another reason why they multiply quietly is that we inherit jars, we inherit spices from roommates, relatives, or even kitchen clean outs. We have a family member who has given us many spices, most of which we have no idea what to do with. Another thing that can happen is we're not sure when they expire, so we just keep everything, and although we may be quick to throw out expired milk and cheese, we are less likely to do this with spices, I am not sure why that is, but I can tell you that spices do have a shelf life, so going through them and getting rid of old stock makes very good sense. And let's face it, cluttered spices slow you down, they crowd your cooking space, they're a waste, and let's be more honest, stale spices do not make delicious food. So, depending on just how many spices you have, this declutter can often be done quickly, in under an hour. And here is how.

Matt Cundill  3:17  
Step

Matt Cundill  3:18  
one: pull

Matt Cundill  3:19  
every spice out.

Avery Cundill  3:21  
Okay, this is the gather stage. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Super important: grab all your jars, tins, bags, boxes, wherever your spices are hiding, and lay them on the counter. You might be surprised at how many you actually own. You also may have to go on a small scavenger hunt to find them all, as they may be housed in various locations of the kitchen. Do it, because it's so worth it to have a well-organized and consolidated spice area in your home.

Matt Cundill  3:54  
Step two, check dates and do a sniff test,

Avery Cundill  3:58  
so most ground spices, particularly lose potency after one to three years. Whole spices can last a little bit longer, but what you want to do is look for any expiration dates, faded color of the spice, or even a weak or musty smell. If it smells like nothing, it'll taste like nothing. Time to let it go. And here's a pro tip: if there's no date on it, but you can't remember buying it, it's probably old and has to go.

Matt Cundill  4:35  
Step three: group and evaluate.

Avery Cundill  4:38  
Now that you've done the sniff test, time to group the keepers by category, so your daily use spices you want front and center: salt, pepper, garlic, chili. Add whatever are your dailies, have them at the ready. We don't use all our spices as often, so you want to make sure that the one. You use are accessible to you if you're a baker, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, those might be your ones, have them available, you might even want to have the daily use spices and the baking spices available. Then you've got global flavors, so curry powder, zatar, I love the Chinese five spice, have those in an area, and last but not least, herbs, so oregano, thyme, rosemary, and there may be more, and you might want to have another category, but try to keep the spices that you use for certain things together, and then, of course, ask yourself, Do I use this regularly? Can I combine duplicates into one container, and then do I even like this flavor spice? Let go of anything you haven't used in a year and don't plan to. That spice is taking up space, and you know what, you and your kitchen deserve better. And look, we all like to consider ourselves as culinary diverse, or at least some of us do, but that doesn't mean that you need to own 78 different spices. The truth is that you are likely able to cook very well and eclectically with as little as 10 to 15 different types of spices, possibly even less, so even if that jar of am churn powder, yep, that one will need a Google search. Looks cool if you're not using it and not cooking with it. Get rid of it. Step four, store smarter. Okay, so storage is important, and I know I said you may have this situation in your house, a shelf, a drawer, but try to keep a dedicated, organized spice area. One of the things that I really like is a spice rack, so that can work in certain homes. A drawer insert also is really helpful if you have space to keep the drawer, the spices in the drawers, even a turntable, if you're keeping them in a cabinet that's more upright friendly. A turntable for visibility. Another thing I suggest is to label jars clearly, especially if you like to decant them. So I even actually bought these little stickers that had spice labels super cheap on, you know, where on the Zon, and you can put them on top to make it even clearer, black and white, really visible, so you can find your spices right away. And again, I mentioned this earlier, keep everyday spices up front and the seasonal or specialty blends in the back, you can even alphabetize them if that brings you joy. No pressure. Another thing you may want to consider is we sometimes have bags of spices in addition to jars, so consider transferring loose bags or spices that are in other carrying situations into glass jars for consistency and easier storage. They may even last a little bit longer, to be honest. If your spice storage comes in a multitude of shapes and sizes, this makes them harder. So try to streamline. Consider all bags or all jars. You can do a combo too, but just make sure it's organized and easy to follow. Okay, I've said a lot. Let me give you your weekly challenge. Declutter your spice cabinet one session. So, here we have it. I want you to set a timer for 30 minutes and start decluttering, toss what's expired, consolidate what you can, and organize what you love. If you're feeling extra motivated, and I love to do this, snap a before and after photo. It is amazing to see how much visual peace this small change creates. And remember, this isn't just about getting rid of old paprika, it's about making your kitchen work with you, not against you. And if you like this episode, consider sharing it with a friend who you know is drowning in spice problems, and if this episode inspired you, share it with a friend who loves to cook, or maybe even a friend who keeps three open jars of cinnamon, just in case. And now tea with the Declutter Queen. And now let's welcome Lily Rich to the show. Hi, Mom. Thank you for coming on the show and agreeing to share your decluttering issues and problems. We appreciate it. Well, thank you for having me. I clearly need help. You can't see the state of my room, but it's pretty bad. There you go. Well, honesty is all. Always helpful, so we'll jump right into ask away. Ask any question that is in your mind about decluttering, and I'll help you answer as best I can.

Lily Rich  10:10  
Okay. Well, my question is not about the state of my room, because that's separate. I would say my question is, as a very busy university student, pre-grad school stage, applying to law school, trying to, you know, have a good social life and good grades, and also good hygiene. Generally, I find that it's very hard to decide what is worth my time and what is not. So, I guess my question is, How do I best declutter my schedule in a way that keeps the meaningful stuff and cuts everything else?

Avery Cundill  10:47  
Oh, I just love this question. Like, this is one of my favorites. And just starting to answer, I'll say you are not alone. So, in my decluttering journey, I hear this problem comes out a lot. So, thank you for asking this question, calendar chaos, so I'm, I may give it, gave it a name. Do you like it? I appreciate the alliteration. Yes, calendar chaos sounds, it kind of rules off the tongue, but this is a very real kind of clutter, and can actually hit more at your nervous system than a physical mess, so you know, you just talked about your room being a little bit of a mess, and our viewers can't see, but I saw, and so, yeah, things, when we don't attend to them, get out of control, but believe it or not, the calendar kind of chaos can actually cause more issues than the physical, so understand that when you feel overwhelmed or that you are failing in that department, calendar chaos, you are not your calendar is just asking too much of one human, so let's calm it down instead of causing it all these issues, and I'm going to kind of go through first. I kind of want to deal with the why, if that's okay with you.

Lily Rich  12:06  
Yes, of course.

Avery Cundill  12:07  
Yeah, and then I want to give you three helpful steps for this, and don't worry about taking notes. I'll send you everything later, so you can have it if you want to review these ideas.

Lily Rich  12:18  
Like, it's in class,

Avery Cundill  12:20  
it's a class. Well, as a university student, I'm kind of in line with what you deal with all the time, right?

Lily Rich  12:25  
Yes.

Avery Cundill  12:26  
Okay, so before I get to some hard and fast techniques on how to declutter your calendar, it may be helpful to understand why this happens. So most people who are harried and late are dealing with one or more of these now. I'm not saying you're harried or late, I'm just kind

Lily Rich  12:46  
of.. I am

Speaker 1  12:46  
married and late.

Avery Cundill  12:47  
Okay, okay, there you go. I hit

Matt Cundill  12:49  
it right,

Lily Rich  12:49  
I'm married and late.

Avery Cundill  12:51  
So, most people are dealing with one or more of these. So, when I mention these, see if they sound familiar. Number one, you schedule tasks, but not the transitions to the tasks. Oh, okay. Keep that there. Sound familiar?

Lily Rich  13:09  
Interesting way to phrase that. Yes, I've never heard that phrase like that before.

Avery Cundill  13:14  
Number two, you underestimate how long everything takes. Oh no, very human, right? Oh no. Okay, let's go. Number three, you say yes before checking your future energy. Uh, oh, number four, your calendar reflects other people's priorities, not yours

Lily Rich  13:42  
interesting?

Avery Cundill  13:43  
Okay, and number five, you don't have white space, so one hiccup can ruin the day.

Lily Rich  13:51  
Okay, I would say I have three out of five, the first three.

Avery Cundill  13:54  
Okay, so let's fix this gently. Okay, this isn't a quick fix, it's one of those things that we have to work on. Okay, so whether it's one or two, these are things that happen when we have overstuffed, chaotic calendars, and you know the good news is it's you're a busy person, you've got lots going on, but there is ways to manage things so that your calendar does not create chaos in your life. Okay, so let's go through them, and then I'm gonna, after each, each suggestion or step, I'll pause, and I'll, you know, if you have any questions or anything. Okay.

Lily Rich  14:31  
Yes. Okay.

Avery Cundill  14:32  
Okay. Step one: create non-negotiable buffers, and this can be a game changer. Okay, so from now on, every event that you put in your calendar, everything that has to get done, you put in a buffer 15 to 30 minutes before for getting ready, travel, and brain warm up, and then 15 minutes. It's after for decompression and lateness insurance. Okay, so that means if you have something at 10, it actually is at 930 to 15 minutes after. So, if it's 10 to 11, it's 930 to 1115 That's the buffer, okay? And practically, and this is like a tried and true method. This alone can often cut lateness by 70 to 80%

Lily Rich  15:31  
Interesting stat.

Avery Cundill  15:32  
It's a strategy, so you got a class from 10 to 11. It's now from 930 to 1115

Lily Rich  15:40  
Okay. Yeah, that's

Avery Cundill  15:42  
sound interesting, curious,

Lily Rich  15:44  
very interesting. Yes, I mean, thankfully I'm one of those people where, like, I guess your audience can't see it, but because I use a wheelchair, I kind of have to budget in that time already, but it ends up being, I guess, maybe for me it should be 30 minutes and 30 minutes, not just 30 and 15,

Avery Cundill  16:02  
100% So you take that buffer and you go, if I already buffer, this is the new buffer.

Lily Rich  16:08  
Yeah,

Avery Cundill  16:09  
right. And this is going to help you never be late, have a stretch of time for things, and not be harried. Okay. All right. So that's step one. Step two cap your daily out of the house events, and what does this mean? So you decide your personal max during the week, and now you've got classes, so those are non-negotiables, but two to three, and this might be surprising to you, two to three other events in a day is often plenty. It's often enough. You don't need to schedule so many things to do, so if you got a class that day, two or three other things on the weekend, one to two, that's your downtime, so jamming things in on the weekend, not so good, because that's the time you get to rest, and anything beyond that, so anything beyond these caps becomes optional, virtual, rescheduled, or a no. Your calendar should reflect capacity, not possibility. Oh, that's a piece of advice. Oh, oh, I know it's a good one. Yes, you'll want that line. So, capacity, not possibility. We all know our own personal capacities. I know myself on Saturday, I like to just cave in and watch movies and be quiet and have a bath, so if I schedule nine things on a Saturday, this would be a terrible day for me.

Lily Rich  17:50  
Yes,

Avery Cundill  17:51  
you figure out your own capacity and you cap it, and you know, okay, well, if this has to happen, it's got to be virtual, I got to reschedule or it's no, and that's it. I'm glad this is resonating with you a little bit. I can hear the wheels turning.

Lily Rich  18:05  
It is. If I can be so honest, Matt is making me laugh.

Avery Cundill  18:12  
He does that to me too.

Lily Rich  18:13  
He did a thing that was like Lillian has cleared up her outstanding accounts at Ax Lounge.

Avery Cundill  18:19  
Well, there you go. I know

Speaker 1  18:22  
I will leave it to the ax one time

Avery Cundill  18:24  
for the audience. My husband and daughter both went to, well, my daughter's going to Acadia University, and my husband went there, so they have this whole thing that I'm not involved with. Yeah, it includes donaires and other things, so they're playing some games,

Lily Rich  18:40  
other activities,

Avery Cundill  18:41  
there you go. Okay, moving on. Step three, do, and this one I love. I love this step. Okay, do a weekly calendar declutter. So, once a week, you sit down, you look at your week. I like to do this on a Saturday or Sunday, because it's anticipating the week ahead, and once a week you look at your calendar, you look at your upcoming week with everything slotted in, and you ask yourself four questions. The first one, does this still need to happen? And then you look at every event, and you go, okay, I can maybe get rid of one, maybe not. We'll see. Maybe two. Second question, could this be shorter? So, you've got something. Did I schedule it? Is it too long? Could I make it smaller? What can I do? Maybe yes, maybe no. Question three: Could this event be grouped with something else, so okay, you've got two rogue events that they're kind of in the same place. Can I kind of couple them together? Number four, do I actually want to do this? This might be the most important one. You put something in, now you're absolutely not interested. The mental fog of keeping that in your calendar is big. Get rid of it, it's gone. That's it. Delete, shorten, or move one thing - just has to be one. Could be more, but one, and that is calendar decluttering success.

Lily Rich  20:19  
Interesting.

Avery Cundill  20:20  
It's, you know, I'll tell you, I do this, and I look at my calendar, and I'm like, you know, like doing interviews, just as an example. I know I can't do more than two a day, I don't have the energy, I don't have the voice, I don't have the capacity, but some days, oh, okay, move it, it's fine. You think to yourself, I can't move it, you can, you think you can, you can fix things to suit you, because then that event is getting the best of you. Otherwise, it's getting depleted you, and kind of nobody deserves depleted you. Do you know what I mean? Everybody deserves,

Lily Rich  20:52  
yeah, it's not fair.

Avery Cundill  20:54  
Yeah, you gotta, you gotta reset. So, what do you think of my three steps?

Lily Rich  21:01  
Good three steps, I I'm realizing that half of this is not a matter of over scheduling, like, of course, it is. You, because you're saying yes to too many things, but it's.. it's a matter of a misunderstanding of capacity, as opposed to like simply just jamming too many things into a calendar, and I think,

Avery Cundill  21:20  
yep,

Lily Rich  21:20  
not that they're two separate things, but it's a symptom of a problem, it's not the problem itself.

Avery Cundill  21:26  
Absolutely, and you know what, I know you're running for a position. What's the position you're running for again at a KDA,

Lily Rich  21:32  
VP Academic External?

Avery Cundill  21:34  
Okay, so you're now adding probably a, you know, a quite.. you know, it's gonna. it's gonna

Lily Rich  21:40  
full-time job, full-time

Avery Cundill  21:41  
job, two years late, so you know that's something now that this might be really helpful in, is that you're adding something, you might have to take something out, you might have to shift things around in order to accommodate this new addition, kind of shuffling the cards, you got to make, got to make room for stuff, it's not just gonna.. you're already busy now, you're gonna be more busy. How do I get the clutter and chaos out in a, in a, in a, in a way that makes sense to me?

Lily Rich  22:10  
That's true, that's a.. that's a good point, because I know that, like, I actually just got my exam schedule. Matt, you'll laugh at this. So I got my exam schedule, my last exam is 7pm on the 23rd which is the last day of the exams, like, period, of

Matt Cundill  22:26  
course it is the way, the way generally, the way it generally goes is you've got two exams super, super early, like, like on the on the sixth and the seventh, and then you get to wait around for two weeks for the last

Lily Rich  22:38  
one, yeah,

Avery Cundill  22:40  
yeah,

Lily Rich  22:40  
and then I start work may 1, so like I like I was talking to my partner, and I was like, I was like, I guess I'm coming to Winnipeg for five days, like I get the schedule I get.

Avery Cundill  22:55  
Yeah, it's interesting, right? But that's life, right? That's okay, you got something thrown at you, you got to adjust, and then, and maybe your partner will come see you, you know, like you now it's like shuffling cards, right? Okay, well, this doesn't work, so we can make this work, but that's actually part of it, like calendars are not static, they are fluid, so when we, when you get the expectation that I'm gonna have that. Oh, wait a sec. Now I gotta change it, and there's room for that, because that's kind of how we manage these this busyness. Yes,

Lily Rich  23:30  
this is true. That's so funny. As you've like, I hate to do this, but as you've been talking, my friends texted up, 'Does anyone want to do this? And I just said yes, and I realized, as you were talking, I was like, maybe it should.

Avery Cundill  23:42  
Well, you know what? Look, we changed our interview time to now you're free, you see, so it works out right. And I said to Matt, so we're doing this interview on Saturday, 7pm I knew my daughter's gonna go out, so I'm like, let's bump it up, and you know, just to get it done. But you know, thinking ahead is also one of those things that's like, you know, maybe we should do it earlier, and sometimes it works out, right? You know, and there's room in the calendar to make these changes, right? Just,

Speaker 1  24:13  
there is.

Avery Cundill  24:14  
Okay, we can do it. And now we've cleared up your evening, so I'm so happy about that.

Lily Rich  24:19  
And now I get to travel, I get to do the, you're gonna kill me, Matt. The walk of shame.

Matt Cundill  24:27  
Nah,

Matt Cundill  24:27  
are you going to Crowell Tower?

Lily Rich  24:29  
Yeah,

Matt Cundill  24:30  
that would be the Walk of Shame.

Avery Cundill  24:32  
Walk of shame.

Lily Rich  24:33  
All my friends are unfortunately 40% of my friends live where I live, and 40% live in Crowell Towers. That's

Avery Cundill  24:40  
all right. You've got like you've drawn a path between the two now, eh?

Lily Rich  24:44  
Yes, yeah, a quite well-worn one.

Avery Cundill  24:47  
Okay. Well, go rest before you go out. And thank you so much, Lily, for joining me on the show. Thank you, thank you for having me. I might do a check-in with you in a few months, just to make sure you're see if. You've had progress. Hope you've had progress.

Lily Rich  25:02  
I would hope so. While I'm working throughout the summer, so be good time.

Avery Cundill  25:05  
Lily, thank you so much for joining me. And I'm gonna check in with you, and I'll send you all of our notes from our session today. And I so appreciate it. Love you so much.

Lily Rich  25:16  
Thank you. I appreciate that, of course. Love you. Bye.

Mary Anne Ivison  25:21  
Thanks for listening to The Declutter Queen with Avery Cundill. For more decluttering tips and tricks, go to The Declutter queen.ca

Tara Sands (Voiceover)  25:31  
Produced and distributed by The Sound Off Media Company.