How long before Pesach do you think it's reasonable to start getting rid of chometz? I don't mean cleaning, but clearing out pantries, not buying crackers, pasta, flour etc. I know some people are makpid not to sell actual chometz so they try to be out of everything before Pesach. OTOH we're commanded to avoid chometz for seven days, not seven weeks.

Chanukah.

I think it would depend on how much I had in my home that was considered hames.

I don't have large stockpiles of chometz in my house....
If I am careful for a few weeks before I usually use most of it up...

But I sell chometz gamur so it really doesn't matter......

I start planning groceries a few weeks in advance, and clear the place out a few days before. But then, I'm very not anal when it comes to pesach.

We don't sell chometz gamur and, believe me, I was quite horrified when my husband started throwing everything away that first year.

So, around Hanuka I stat taking stock of what I have. By Purim, I'm consciously trying to use stuff up and will only buy more flour, pasta, etc. if I'm planning on using it right away.

i don't like the idea of going hungry as soon as the majority of the purim food is gone and the only food left in the pantry is the stuff that no one touched all year (for good reason). if someone doesn't want to sell, i'd say to use up whatever they can up to a few days before pesach, donate the unopened packages, and throw out any leftovers.

I have a previously unwritten rule, that I don't talk about or even think about cleaning for Pesach until after Purim. די לצרה בשעתה

I started paying attention abuot a week or two ago. This is because last year we wanted to try to not sell chametz gamur and about a week before pesach noticed 10+ unopened tortillas in our freezer. We asked a shayla and were told it's much better to sell chametz gamur than waste food, so this year I just recently started paying attention and know that I'm high on oats and lasagna noodles (and a few various types of frozen bread in freezer). Everything else I have some of, but nothing overwhelming so I think if I make an oat dish each Shabbos I should be okay (This week was cranberry kugel). I also have a bit of cereal, but my kids eat a lot of cereal/milk so I 'm fairly certain that will go. I basically have it 'mapped' out and plan to collect it all into a box after Purim to make sure to use it up.

Really??? So until (fairly recently) when people DIDN'T sell chometz at all and actually burned it they were oiver Baal Tashchis?????

I don't know. All I know is WE asked a shayla last year when this came up and this is what we were told. (Also, up until fairly recently, people didn't stock their shelves the way we do today).

Why'd you ask a shailah? What your parents did wasn't good enough for you?

Because we wanted to know what the right thing to do was.

My parents may not be perfect and they may not know everything. I still respect them a lot, it doesn't mean I can't make choices of how I want to lead my life (do you do everything your parents did?)

Being that Lubavitch sells chometz, that sort of thing doesn't enter into the equation at all for me.

I'm more concerned with using up the mayonaise, jam, etc. in the fridge, so I don't have to throw them away.

When did people start selling their chometz?

How much do you think they burned - minor leftovers or large quantities?

Why don't you just put it in a box/sealed container in back of your fridge, extra fridge, or neighbor's fridge. My mother never throws that stuff away.

i never throw ANYTHING away. everything gets sold - whether it's pasta in the pantry cabinet or a jam jar in the fridge.

The first pezach we were married, i did that - and we had rye bread and wheat germ tumbling out during one of the sedorim!

Never again !!!!

Oh my! How awful!

In my husband's house growing up, that stuff was kept in the fridge door and covered with foil, so that's what we do now. We also have a separate freezer so anything that can be frozen gets emptied into that and we seal it off for chometz.

opened wheat germ belong to the fridge. i'm definitely not saving bread for 8 days!!



yep, that what i do with the stuff on the fridge door. if there is more on the shelves, i put everything on one shelf and close it off with the silver foil as well. same goes for the freezer - although i usually don't even use the freezer for pesach, so i just seal it off and sell what's in it.

Is keeping chametz on the fridge door problematic from a muktzeh point of view?

what if there is also regular stuff on the door as well? (2-3 shelves on the door and only one fo them is with chametz)

I don't know. I have no idea. I'm throwing the question out there.

Interesting question. I hadn't thought of that. What if it's not actually chometz though, just mayonnaise and jam and such?

Standing on one foot, I'd assume that's not a problem since it's not really chametz.

But assuming it's really chametz...(not that you would keep chamutz gammur but let's say it's chametz de-rabbanan or something)
Chametz on pesach is muktzeh me-chamat issur and there's no dispensation to move it le-tzorech gufo u-mekomo.
I guess a door is a bosis and then I guess it depends if the muktzeh chametz is more important or if the nonchametz food on other door shelves is more important.
But I don't actually have any idea.




[usual caveats of asking LOR and ignorance and stalk trolling internet fora blah blah blah obviously appliy]

That's how I was before marriage. Sigh.



Yeah, I do that. In fact, I'm starting to use up bottles that don't have much in them so that it'll all fit.



I've never heard it to be a problem. Plus, my parents do it so I assume it's our mesorah straight from Sinai.