~OH GOODNESS, I had to pour 1 bottle of white wine down the drain!!  I hate it when that happens. (Left over from a little get together with friends)
~I saved another bottle of wine by freezing it in 1 cup increments. I have already used one cup in a dish...
~I saved fresh spinach & mushrooms (that were on the verge of going bad) by making a super yummy almond crusted chicken breast on a bed of spinach with a fantastic mushroom sauce (in which I used 1 cup of frozen wine...well, I did thaw it).  Totally made the recipe up and it ROCKED the house. Now if I can find the piece of paper I wrote on that tells me exactly what I did.
~I saved fresh basil by going out and buying a bottle of vodka and made more Basil-Lime Martinis (hey, deployment is coming up soon, don't judge me).
~I saved 1/2 a diced tomatoe by freezing it, and then I used it to make salsa later in the week.
~I saved 3 helpings of chili by putting in individual containters for 1 serving dish for consumption later on.
~ I made grillled cheese sandwiches out the heels of bread, turned the crust to the inside and no one was the wiser!! (Thanks Sarah)

So, I still wasted several items these past 2 weeks, but seriously, look at how my list is shrinking!!
1/2 block moldy feta cheese
3 pieces slimy salami
1/4 of a slimy green pepper
1/2 a small slimy cucumber
1 mango that got lost in the drawer...
I soggy orange
2 egg whites...oops, let them sit too long and was afraid to use them....
Almost an entire bag of mini bagles!  I totally forgot I had them.  The would have made great croutons, or bread crumbs..
Another 1/2 bottle of wine...went bad before I could drink it.

I DID NOT BUY Celery!!

In the past two weeks I removed 176 more items from of our house - the most painful was a super cute pair of pair of shoes. I've been holding on to them for years because they are so cute and I keep thinking that one day they won't hurt.  I wore them around the house the other day for 10 minutes before going out, they hurt, I reluctantly put them in the Goodwill box.  Although I am not sure it is really "Goodwill" some other poor sap will fall in love with them as well, and will try to wear them, they will hurt her feet and they will hang out in her closest for a few more years....oh, how the cycle never ends. ;)

In the past two weeks I went shopping and I added 22 items to my house....

For a grand total of 973 items out of my house since 3 Dec 2010!!!

We are not even going to talk about the gym.

I know I said I would post every Friday about decluttering and food waste but I think I was a bit overzealous when I said that.  I'm now thinking every other Friday (or Saturday or Sunday) is a better idea.  Last week got away with me and before I knew it I was a week behind on this venture. So, here I am 2 weeks later. I'm going to try very hard to do this every other week (did you hear me?  I said TRY). So here goes, these are the things I/we wasted/threw out over the past 2 weeks. Even though our list is long, I think we did MUCH better that the previous week since I am more conscious of waste in the kitchen.  However I am wondering when I will STOP buying celery!  I always throw away more than we consume.

Things we wasted over the past 2 week:

1 package of chives
1 package celery – yes, the entire package.
10 baby carrots
2 green onions
½ bag of lettuce mix
1 bunch of parsley
2 helpings of sliced steak
2 cups of buttermilk
8 bread heels 
½ green pepper
1 almost full jar salsa (it was a science experiment)
1 hamburger bun
1 piece of Chicken Pot Pie
1/2 red onion
1/4 cup chopped tomatoes

What should I do with all those heels? Not one person in my family likes to eat them....give me idea folks, or this will keep appearing week after week on my list.

OK, a few things I did differently to keep from throwing things out -

-I had 6 egg whites left over from a cake I made.  Instead of throwing them out (like I normally would have done - don't hate) I saved them for breakfast the next morning and made egg white omelets. Boy 1 looked at it funny, but ate it anyway.
-With our left over steak and chicken from Mexican Street Tacos, I made flautas!  They were wonderful and were all gone within a day.
-With my leftover Mexican bean soup I made refried beans for burritos!  Yummy!

In the past 2 weeks we (I say we because Hubby is loving this and is getting rid of things as well!) have gotten rid of 140 more items from our house.  In the past 2 weeks I have purchased 14 items, bringing my grand total of things out of our house to 819 items!!  Only 1192 things left to go!!

AND to my embarrassment I have only worked out ONE, 1 time in the past 2 weeks......

So, my husband think this decluttering venture makes us sound like hoarders, we are not.  Especially him.  He keeps NOTHING.  Really. Girl, well I'm a little concerned about her ~ we got rid of 177 items from her room alone and this number does NOT include clothes that were too small.  I do keep way more than hubby, but by no means am I a hoarder either. I admit that I do have issues with dishes and papers ~ I'm working on the paper issue, but don't touch my dishes.  If you do I just might be forced to break your hand and never cook for you again.  

ALSO, we do have 4 kids and with 4 kids comes STUFF, lots and lots of stuff.  Sometimes I save things because I think the next kid might want it, or we might need it for a rainy day (like the 42 board games we have - hey, give me a break, I just got rid of 12!), but then that rainy day comes and goes and I did not need that item.  I am going to tape all the game boxes shut and at the end of the year any game that is still taped shut is GONE!  Several years ago I stopped 'saving' Boy 1's clothes for Boy 2.  I mean there is 7 years between them and I realized that by the time Boy 2 can wear the clothes, they are hideous.   OK, maybe not hideous, but definitely out of style.  Plus, that is a lot of crap to move from house to house to house.....  Yes, I do save clothes from Boy 2 to give to Boy 3.

Since December 3rd, 2010 I have gotten rid of 584 items that we do not use.  I've decided to add a new rule to my decluttering venture, something I have been thinking about, but wasn't committed to, but now I am.  Hold on to your seat, here it comes rule #12 ~ if I buy something new, it counts against my number.  Like the Wok I just bought, and the book shelf and the 4 organizers for boy's room.  So I guess I am down to only 578 items gone.  It's OK.  I'm good with it.  This will keep my purchases in tact as well.

Make sure you guys let me know how you are doing – I’m off to tackle the boy’s room.