Everyone does – right? What’s not to love? It appeals to my sense of order and helps me to find things quickly.Well, that’s the general idea. It’s the physical extension of a list. And I love a list or two or three.
As an Indian I became aware of the importance of storage and the variety available to us quite early in life . Other nationalities also use storage … ofcourse they do. Everyone loves storage. Wonder which nationality is the most OCD? 🙄.. There were three categories of goods that seemed to dominate our house.
1.Clothes
Only suitcases would do. The yards and yards of materials involved in creating just one saree meant a simple wardrobe just didn’t cut it ! Not forgetting the punjabi suits and the matching chunnis and the beautiful shawls. Suitcases were the way – which also meant most women were able to casually hide numerous outfits!! 😂. My mum was no exception. It’s at this point you think how efficient a black dress is as an item of clothing😱. And where do you put all these suitcases I hear you ask? Within easy reach and out of sight I’d say. No no no they go on top of wardrobes which then needs a technical team to gain access.But at least their presence up there adds to the decor. And who can honestly remember where the green sari with the gold border is in the pile of cases. No labelling going on here which makes me shake with irritation. Slowly the fitted wardrobe craze hid these cases for good. Not in our house , suitcases were piled up on the sideboard – for easy access you understand 😉. I’ve graduated from these old fashioned ways and hide the suitcases in the eaves and play Tetris with them once in a while. I haven’t gone to the extreme of vacuum packing yet 😂.
2.Cooked Food
All Indian households cook too much food. It’s because we are always planning for unexpected guests. A jumble of empty yoghurt pots and butter/margarine tubs 😂would always be hiding in a cupboard somewhere. These robust quality containers would be washed carefully, dried and stored. We were never allowed to throw them away. They were used to store away left over sabjis (curries) and anything else in the fridge. They always leaked if transported. But we kept using them and even used rubber bands to make them secure – silly people.Then there was the constant drama going on in the fridge of opening several butter tubs to find the real butter!! How we were in need of these fancy leak-free, easy lock, secure food storage items that can be labelled !!They migrate from house to house, these carriers of love , which really means home made food.
3. Dry goods
Spices, Lentils, chickpeas and kidney beans … no one used tins in those days. I remember deep wide units with big jars (sweet shop style) filled with every variety of daal you can imagine / there are more than just tarka daal and daal makhni 😂. My dad even did a chart with a layout on the inside of the cupboard door because he thought he was helping . I thought it was genius (I have inherited several amazing traits from him 👍🏽) but my mum couldn’t understand why he had wasted his time 🤦🏽♀️. We seemed to store food for the whole street ! Big bags of chappati flour and basmati rice. Now I feel embarrassed buying the smallest size that’s available. Herbs and spices from the Indian subcontinent, some that were probably only used on a rare occasion but you knew they were in there… somewhere.
I love storage ideas and space and am taking over as much as possible within the house. That may also be connected to my shopping addiction. 🤷🏽♀️👠👢👡👜🎒👗
When Simon returned from his recent trip to Japan he discovered he had lost some of his space- you snooze you lose!! My need was greater. SO many ways to utilise under the stairs. What a clever space.Flat dwellers you are missing out. In the old days it used to be the only place the atta (chappati flour) drum could fit. This space has created an industry that was made for me. How many ways to utilise the under stairs …..wow!
So if you want to make me happy please come and create more storage in my kitchen. I accept this is a #first world problem but I dream of a clear counter.
But for now you’ll occasionally find me in the utility room opening one cupboard in particular where the tubs seem to go down in numbers but the lids seem to multiply and pairing requires patience. And if I didn’t know better I’d think they were trying to escape 🤔….
Think storage has become an art form with the likes of Muji et al. I have a funny feeling that this is for people who actually have nothing to store 🙄.
🙏🏽
Seema
29.10.18
Seemaontheedge 