How many Coffee Mugs are too many? Decluttering and Organising Coffee Mugs and Glasses …

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Isn’t it amazing how some things accumulate without us even realising it! I’m pretty organised and generally feel in control of clutter but I was a little alarmed on the weekend, when I noticed the number of coffee mugs and glasses we had. I was really surprised that I hadn’t noticed before!

 

Mugs and glasses were everywhere:

 

  • one shelf of an overhead cupboard stored our everyday mugs and glasses

 

  • another shelf in a different overhead cupboard stored another 12 white coffee mugs that matched my dinner set (but were never used) and my good crystal wine glasses that only come out on special occasions

 

  • three shelves in an entire cupboard stored wine and champagne glasses used for family celebrations … we have a huge family and sometimes need to cater for very large numbers

 

  • another shelf captured the overflow of coffee mugs, along with extra glasses

 

  • a couple of coffee mugs had also found their way into the appliance cupboard

 

When we go on holidays, we always seem to bring home a coffee mug as a souvenir. Although it’s a practical souvenir that reminds us of our holiday, we had just accumulated too many. Note to self … don’t buy any more coffee mugs! It was time to declutter and organise!!!

 

Once I emptied the shelves and put everything on the bench, it was easy to see that I simply had way too much … too many coffee mugs and too many glasses. We do need more than average because our family is so large but as a general rule, I think 2 glasses per person is a good guide. The cupboards were given a wipe over so they sparkled and then it was time to get tough and get rid of the excess!

 

All the mugs were still in great condition without any scratches or chips so, rather than throw them out, I donated some to my local “op shop” and also sent quite a few into my hubby’s work to share in the office staff room. I only kept the 12 white coffee mugs, a set of 4 gorgeous blue and white mugs from Country Road and 6 of our favourite souvenir mugs.

 

I kept maybe half of the glasses and they stacked easily inside each other but I did throw out some that were simply impractical and hardly ever used.

 

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I left the good crystal, wine and champagne glasses on their original shelves and then condensed the coffee mugs and glasses onto a single shelf. All the coffee mugs are now together instead of being scattered throughout the kitchen and all the glasses are together. Not only does it look better but, it now makes the job of unloading the dishwasher easier, as it’s obvious where each of these items belongs.

 

It works for me to keep coffee mugs and glasses in an overhead cupboard because they’re more accessible without anyone bending into cupboards to grab one or bending again to return mugs or glasses to the back of a hard-to-reach cupboard. We also have lots of little nieces and nephews, so it’s great to keep the breakables out of reach and up high.

 

And the end result … I was able to condense 6 shelves of glasses and mugs into 4, saving loads of space and creating extra space to store other items, if needed. This was a perfect little weekend project, which took less than half an hour but left me smiling because who doesn’t love to find extra space.

 

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So tell me, have you accumulated too many coffee mugs and glasses and do you buy coffee mugs as souvenirs when you travel?

 

 

Comments

  1. A few years ago we had so many mis-matched mugs that I just took them to Vinnies. I was over how they were such an odd assortment and none were particularly precious. I do seem to somehow acquire mis-matched glassware and I’m trying to work on that because I do like things that match! xx

    • I love my white mugs because they’re part of a range that sells individual pieces, so they can easily be replaced if broken. I feel so much better now that I’ve disposed of all the extra mugs and glasses and I’ve now got some lovely extra space to play with x