Most of you will be familiar with the concept of decanting and decanters, as in their traditional use: that of containing open bottles of wine and liquor.

Decanted wine tastes better (apparently) since the process allows the liquid to aerate, and, for older bottles, serves to separate the wine from any sediment in the original bottle. Meanwhile, serving liquors in decanters is the only proper, presentable thing for a host to do.

Plus, they just look beautiful on a bar.

The process of decanting–that is: transferring–can equally be done with much of your household supplies, and can have the same elevating effect as that of a beautiful decanter of whiskey can.

You all are stars when it comes to being in the know, and so you likely are familiar with the concept of decanting pantry items such as sugar, flour, nuts and seeds and so on. But have you ever realized, reader dear, that you can decant pretty much anything into any other more attractive vessel?

Probably you have. Only you’ve rejected the notion, thinking it too high maintenance for as regular a person as you. Or, your preemptive embarrassment at the level of anal retention that would surely be prescribed to you by family and friends who caught sight of your matching bottles convinced you it was too silly an idea to pursue.

Guess what I’m here to tell you? You can decant! People of The Blogland, you are hereby granted permission to transfer whatever goods you like from one container to another!

Laundry detergent?

You can decant that!

Other cleaning products?

You can decant those too!

Dish soap? Hand soap?

Definitely Decantable! (!)

You can decant your spices into uniform spice jars,

and your oils and vinegars into matching jars,

and you can even–yes, really!–decant your toiletries, whether in the shower or out on your bathroom counter.

Mouthwash–you can positively decant that (I practically insist you do if yours lives out in plain sight).

If you’re reading this and wondering what in the hell the point is of all this transferring of one substance from a perfectly functional container to a different container, well then, you’re probably not the decanting type. (Nothing wrong with that.)

But for those people who are sensitive to the overall effect of their homes, who get distracted or overwhelmed by the visual noise that product packaging creates, or who are looking to inject that extra measure of Simplicity into their spaces, decanting may be a magical revolution.

Image credits: Home of Kate Davison, photographed by Colin Price for The Everygirl, laundry: Oh Happy Day, cleaning products and laundry: Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart, dish and hand soap: West Elm, spices: Dora iz Londona, toiletries in shower: Almost Makes Perfect, toiletries; Torie Jayne, mouthwash: New Home Magazine (published by Better Homes and Gardens)