Spring Cleaning

This week I have been trying to get a little spring cleaning done. You know things that only get done once or twice a year - like cleaning blinds, organizing the pantry, detoxing the fridge, etc. I was cleaning out our pantry and I found this:

I know you may be thinking that this has to do with my children's snacking habits, but not this time. There are about 10 pieces of pasta left in this package and I know that I am the one who left them there. Why? Why would I leave just a few pieces of pasta in the package instead of putting them all into whatever I was making? I tend to do this a lot and I don't know why. There will be a little bit of ketchup in the bottle and I will put it back in the fridge because there is just enough for one more hot dog. I will milk every last bit of toothpaste out of the tube before opening a new one. I will transfer the itty bit of hairspray left in the bottle that the sprayer can't reach into a new bottle so it doesn't go to waste. I know this drives my husband crazy. "Just throw it away!", he says. But what he doesn't understand is that "Waste not, want not." has been cemented in my brain and is most likely part of my DNA. I must confess to another weird compulsion. I absolutely cannot run the dishwasher unless it is completely full. If it is close to being full but not quite, I will scoure the house looking for any dishes that can be put in. I will search under couches for sour sippy cups. I will check the bedroom nightstand for the remnants of a midnight snack. I have even risked waking a sleeping baby to check her room for cups. Crazy I know, but it just doesn't seem right to not have it be full. Of course my husband has no problem running it no matter how few dishes are in it. And if you can believe it, he will start a load of wash with like 4 items in it. Come on- with 6 people living in our house you know there are always enough clothes to make a full load. It honestly almost feels like blasphemy to me!