Oh, Those Orphaned Lids!

This frugality thing can be carried too far, especially for those of us who don’t routinely clear out our storage places.

This morning I tackled the plastic lid box. When we got new kitchen cabinets a few years ago, we bought roll-out racks on all the lower cabinets. As 2-year-old Pete says, “I lub ‘em.” To keep them “organized,” I put boxes or baskets on them to hold whatever is supposed to be on the shelf.

Over the years I’ve just tossed still-good plastic lids in a box on the lower shelf of a cabinet in the pantry. It got so I couldn’t find any lid I was looking for, so I added a counter-top box, which quickly filled to capacity. Today I weeded out about 7/8th of them, figuring I only needed 9 McDonalds large drink lids, 10 McDonalds coffee lids, 10 from Hucks, etc. I’m certain I don’t have many of the cups left…I hope.

In the process of sorting, I found the lids to several travel mugs. I thought those lids were long gone…..although I knew for certain that I had not intentionally thrown them away. Now those orphaned mugs can be put to use again. (Do I really NEED 7 plastic travel mugs???)

I also found about 20 sturdy lids that went to plastic containers of different sizes, shapes, and age. I can almost remember some of the containers, but I haven’t seen them in years. Now comes the hard part: I have to throw away those lids! And I KNOW that within a month I will find the container, and the lid will be gone.

Now, logic and common sense tell me that if I have not had lid+container in the recent past, I do not need that set. Still, my frugal (or crazy) nature abhors the thought of throwing those perfectly good lids away. But I’ll do it. Yes, I will. Yup, I’m on my way to the kitchen right now to pitch them in the trash…..or not. Tune in next time to find out if Karen still has a cupboard full of sturdy, orphaned lids!