Quick: What do all these things have in common (besides being glasses)?

Juice glass, water glass, red wine glass, white wine glass, cocktail glass, martini glass, champagne flute, coffee mug, beer mug, teacup, shot glass, pint glass.

Answer: They’re probably taking up too much space in your kitchen.

Think about it: how often do you break out those beer mugs chilling in the freezer? Or those champagne flutes? I faced a dilemma last New Years when some friends were coming over to celebrate the end of 2014. Preparing for the party, I realized I didn’t have the appropriate stemware for the champagne… so what did I do? I went to the store and bought a 6-pack of champagne flutes. Since then I have used the flutes exactly zero times. #notwinning

When I stumbled upon the champagne flutes at the back of my kitchen cabinet the other day, it got me thinking about how much glassware we each own. It might take a trip to the kitchen, or the china cabinet in the dining room, for you to realize just how much glassware you’ve accumulated.

Wanna cut down on your count? Here are some tips:

Consider how often you wash dishes. Do you have a dishwasher? Do you run it every day or every few days? The less often dishes are cleaned, the larger your collection might need to be to compensate for the time in between cleaning cycles. How many people, on average, do you host for special occasions? This should dictate how many special glasses you have (like champagne flutes and cocktail glasses). Standard rule of minimalist thumb is 8. I personally like to avoid hosting, so my number if very low… like 2. Think versatility. I have friends who don’t have wine glasses, they serve wine in their cocktail glasses, and water in coffee mugs. For some, cutting out the stemware might be going a bit too far, but do you really need tea cups AND coffee mugs? How often are you using your white versus red wine glasses? Could you get away with having one set? Cut the collection of coffee mugs. Do you still have that I heart NYC mug from a high school field trip? I’ve found many memorabilia mugs in my collection I don’t use because the design is not conducive to drinking hot things. I moved the super special ones from the kitchen cabinet to my memory box, and the freebies from the local radio station, etc, to the donate bin. Now I don’t have to hunt for a useful mug when I’m making tea, they’re all winners!

The Simplest Rule of Thumb: evaluate your glassware based on average use. Put the water glasses you use on a daily basis in an easily accessible place, and leave those celebratory champagne flutes in that tricky-latched display case in the other room.