Organizing the Pantry

It’s time to start organizing and simplifying your life. This tends to begin in the home. To make things easy, I started with the pantry, which for me is a small space.

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After reading two organizational books: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondō and The Home Edit by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, I started my journey with decluttering and organizing.

Last month, I cleared out and organized my pantry. It’s always good to throw away any expired items periodically. This helps to make space that wasn’t previously there as well as remove unwanted or useless items.

For the most part, each shelf was “categorized” as something. For instance, the top shelf was dedicated to baking items (flour, sugar, chocolate chips, etc). The middle shelf was for pasta and rice, and the bottom shelf had cans, cooking oils, juices, whatever may not have fit on the other shelves. However, our pantry was at the point where the door would not close, which meant we had too many things in there.

The first step to organizing a pantry is to remove everything from the shelves and floor. Nothing should be left inside. In order to do this, it is important to have a cleared space, ideally a dinner table or a folding table, to be able to place all items onto it. Second, it is helpful to categorize the items into similar groups. For instance, cans with other cans, dry “side” dishes (rice, quinoa, pasta, etc) should be together, baking items become grouped, etc. Thirdly, read through the expiration dates. Anything that was expired, I tossed into the garbage; any remaining items were then placed into organization bins to be returned back into the pantry.

The Home Edit recommends purchasing any organizational storage AFTER items have been decluttered. I, on the other hand, decided to purchase organization bins before because it gave me a visual of what I was trying to accomplish in this space of the home.

Organization Items Purchased:
– Target: Brightroom Y-Weave Half Medium Decorative Storage Basket
– Target: Brightroom Y-Weave Easy Access Storage Bin
– Amazon: ClearSpace Plastic Pantry Organization and Storage Bins
– Amazon: OXO Good Grips 10-Piece POP Container Set

Look at that before and after! A lot more organized and clean and the door closed! How often do you clear out your pantry?

For more organizational help, you can read an ApartmentGuide article I was featured in: How to Declutter Your Home Fast: Tips From Our Experts | ApartmentGuide