And finally, I do a post on organization! You may have noticed, when I designed this blog, I made one of the categories Organization because I believe sharing valuable tips for organizing your home is helpful. And when I created the category, I knew it would force me to get certain areas of my home organized, so win-win! Recently, I tackled my on-going clutter mess- my pantry. I am excited to share ideas for how to organize a pantry- and keep it organized with teenagers in the home!
WARNING-SCARY PHOTOS AHEAD…
Please be kind and reserve judgment as I share some before photos! These were taken after a weekly grocery trip because I want to share how my pantry looks full. Here goes:
As you can see, as much as I have tried to organize products into sections, it has become a jumbled mess. Food everywhere! While I can find most things, if anyone else has to find flour, or a particular soup can, I wish them the best in their search. It is no easy feat. Time to get this mess organized once and for all!
Disclaimer: For your convenience, I have included some affiliate links. This simply means if you click on one of the links and buy something, I receive a small commission, but do not worry… you will not pay a dime more.
ORGANIZE A PANTRY
Organizing a pantry takes time but the benefits in the end are so WORTH IT! I tackled the project on a Friday morning, and the majority was complete within a couple hours. I scrubbed the shelves really good while they were bare, so this accounted for extra time. Are you ready? Let’s start!
Step One to Organize a Pantry
First, you want to clean everything out of the pantry. Everything. Out. I know, it feels easier and faster to just move some things around, get rid of some things to free up space, but in order to truly organize you should move everything. As you remove things, decide two things: what should stay and what should be tossed. While I never want to waste food, we hauled three kitchen garbage out to the trash with stuff from the cleanout!! You truly do not know what is lurking on your shelves until you shift everything. You got this!
Step Two to Organize a Pantry
Once everything is out, separate like things and group them together. Begin to think about how you can store them in the pantry so they are easy to access, but also in a defined space. Having your items in organized spaces will prevent the overflowing mess that quickly takes over! As you separate like things, consider the how you can keep them together. Should you use a basket to store the items? Or will a plastic bin work better? Begin to visualize the space. (My favorite part! )
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Step Three to Organize a Pantry
Step three to organize a pantry is to collect/get the supplies you need to organize your items. I used a combination of glass containers, fabric bins, and baskets. Remember, you want your food to be easily accessible, but stored in a way that allows for separation and space. For example, a container with a locking lid may look fashionable and organized, but may present a challenge every time you need to get something because you have to remove the lid and it is a pain! Another example is you want to avoid having food stored in such a way that if you take one item out, you do not end up with an avalanche of food falling!
I used simple glass containers to store everyday cooking necessities, like sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar, and flour. I added fun chalkboard style labels to avoid confusion for my young chefs!
Step Four to Organize a Pantry
Step four is implementing your storage and organizing tools! This is the fun part! One thing to consider as you reassemble your pantry is the placement of your items. Things you will need multiple times a day should be placed on shelves nearest to the entry, and preferably eye level or slightly lower. Items that you need less frequently can be stored on the highest and lowest shelves. You will notice in this picture we have our paper plates, plastic silverware and napkins on the lowest shelf. This works for us because we access those items maybe once or twice a week when we grill and eat outdoors.
I fell in LOVE with this organizer for my canned goods! It has an elevated, stairs-like platform so I can see each can without having to pick each one up to view.
Here it is without cans on it:
I bought mine at Lowe’s! Awesome!
I used a simple Command hook on the wall to hold Target reuseable bags:
Step Five to Organize a Pantry
Here is the fifth and final step: ENJOY your organized pantry! Once upon a time, I would cringe anytime one of my kids left the pantry door open because I was so embarrassed about what was behind the door. Now I proudly show it off!
Like any space in your home, it is easy for things to slowly go back to disorganization over time. I have three teenagers, and you might imagine they are in and out of the pantry multiple times a day. Our use of fabric bins to house miscellaneous items like macaroni and cheese boxes, ramen (my son loves this- don’t know why!), and hot chocolate packets helps me keep our pantry in order. I reinforce to my kids that these things need to STAY in the bins and not just pile onto the shelves. The bins can easily come off the shelf and be organized if need be in seconds, which I believe is making all the difference in us being able to KEEP the pantry organized with three teenagers!
Here are a couple close-ups of the bins:
Lessons Learned from Organizing Our Pantry
Organizing a space that is used as frequently as our pantry feels great! I no longer dread going into this space to get food! In fact, I love opening the door and seeing everything in its place. Aahhhh…
This task did raise a few questions, though, like how did we acquire so many Belvita breakfast bars? Good grief- did you see this- we have a lifetime supply it seems!!
Also, why on Earth do we have so many tubs of Crisco?!
These are the real mysteries of our time, my friends!!
Organizing your space allows you to take stock of what you have- and what you will not need to purchase for a long, long time!
Alright, let’s sum up what we covered today. Here are the steps to organizing a pantry:
- Remove everything from the pantry
- Separate and group like items, consider how you would like them organized in the pantry
- Collect/acquire the organization items you wish to use (bins, baskets, etc.)
- Place items back in the pantry, implementing the organization tools you selected
- Enjoy your beautiful, organized pantry!
So there you have it, my friends! What organization projects have you tackled lately? Be sure to share in the comments!
On a separate note, I got a new Cricut Explore Air™ recently! It is a Cricut Explore Air and it is the BOMB!! On Thursday, I will do a special post on a fun project I am doing with this super cool machine!
Even the box is beautiful!!
Also, soon I will reveal my stenciled accent wall… oh la la… here is a sneak peak:
See you Thursday!!
