One In, One Out - Bottle Brushes

Dear Nony,

Oh! When I buy something, it's not enough to think about throwing out the old...I actually have to, you know, throw it out? Huh. Who knew?

I've been washing bottles and nipples for almost three years now. I have been using the same first two bottle/nipple brushes that I bought when I started buying bottles. The bottle brushes have held up pretty well, all things considered, but it has been almost 3 years. The foam on the ends is starting to disintegrate, the rod is getting bent from the force I apply to scrubbing out the last of the milk or formula, and let's face it: they look kind of grungy. I've been eyeing the Munchkin bottle brushes that have the ability to stand on end (for better drying, I guess) ever since the first time I saw them. This past weekend, I finally bit the bullet and bought a set!

The new brushes standing on end, the old ones lying down. Because they don't stand on end.

I washed the new brushes in the dishwasher last night, and proudly stood them on the edge of my sink, prepared to use them tonight. And then I took a look at the old brushes...where should I store them.

Wait. What? Store them?

Yes, store them. You know, in case I ever, you know, need them. In case I hate the new ones, or I don't know, there's got to be reasons to store bottle brushes that I don't need to use on a daily basis anymore, right?

Well, the only valid point was that I might hate the new brushes. So, you see all those bottles on the side of the sink? They got a good washing tonight. And you know what? I don't like the new brushes. I LOVE them! The nipple scrubbing part twists out instead of having to tug it, the handle is a bit thicker and fits my hand better, there's far less bendy-portion, it just feels sturdier in my hand...why did I wait so long to get these? I took a quick picture of one of each brush laying next to each other, with the nipple scrubber removed to see the difference, and the old brushes went into the trash!

Well, actually, that's a lie. I didn't throw them away immediately...I waited until just now, you know, just in case. No, I don't know what "case" I was waiting for, but...oh, I give up. I had no reason to keep them, but I figure you know why it was so hard for me to throw them away. I guess you could say this is a good example of the Exploding Brain rule, as well as one in one out?

Daily Checklist

So, in addition to actually decluttering something (yay! Go me!), I washed ALL the dishes I could find. Since I ran the dishwasher last night and emptied it (and the dish drainer) this morning, there were so few dishes from during the day that I just added them to the pile of dishes to be hand-washed. Twenty minutes later, they were all done.

The coffee pot and everything to the right of it was going to be washed by hand anyway, everything to the left was in the dishwasher until I pulled it out to be hand-washed with everything else.

I found a couple of random drinking glasses and a small saucer left in the living room once the dishes were done, but they went into the empty dishwasher for next time. Once the dishes were washed, I swept the foyer, the kitchen, the hallway-like area, and under toddler's booster chair in the breakfast nook. This took right about 5 minutes (I know, because one of my favorite songs came on my mp3 player as I started sweeping, and ended just as I was sweeping everything into the dustpan to throw it all away, and that song was 4 minutes, 30 seconds long).

Earlier today I folded what felt like a TON of laundry, and went ahead and did laundry day a day early. I normally do two laundry days a week, Monday and Thursday, but by doing the laundry today I can spend some extra time tomorrow sorting and maybe decluttering my clothes (there are still maternity clothes in my dresser!) and the baby's clothes (he is almost 6 months old, and the 6-9 month clothing I have for him is about to be outgrown). All the clean clothes are now folded and waiting to be put away...tomorrow.

To anyone else reading, have you met Nony yet? You should definitely check her out at A Slob Comes Clean. Roam around, click a few links, and then go here if you want to read through her blog the way she recommends.