If you read my About Me, you know that we recently moved from northern Illinois to St. Louis at the start of the new year. Unpacking has been a chore as it always is, but I feel like I did take my time to think through where I wanted to store most things; what location made the most sense, how I wanted things organized, and it is all coming together. However, I will admit that the pantry in our new home has become a bit of a dumping ground. I knew I really wanted to eventually spend extra time figuring out a system that worked for us and was easy to use, as it is one of the most visited areas in our house. And, as I knew a big overhaul was coming, I definitely took advantage of the situation by just throwing food and other odds and ends that didn’t yet have a specific home in there since I knew the mess wouldn’t be permanent. Well, I finally couldn’t stand the chaos anymore. I decided it was time to take charge of the situation. And I am so happy with how it turned out!
Check out the before:
And the after:
Before:
After:
Woohoo! I just love it! I completed the organization all during my littlest one’s nap time. As sweet as her pudgy little hands are, I knew they were not going to make this overhaul easy.
Below are my tips for organizing your pantry. My biggest piece of advice would be to take your time! This wasn’t a one day deal. Sure, I did the final steps of organizing in one afternoon, but I definitely took my time planning and finding storage containers that I knew would help me accomplish my end goal of a nicely organized pantry that was functional for my family.
- Assess your pantry- Before getting started, you need to make a game plan. Assess your pantry and mentally group all of the food items: baking items, chips, crackers, canned goods, etc, and decide what items you want to store together and what sort of items you need to make this happen.
- Shop your home- Before jumping on Amazon, take a look at what you already own that might be of use. For example, I bought 8 of these baskets years ago at Target to use in my old laundry room and wasn’t currently using them in my new house. So, instead of buying something else for the pantry refresh, I took what I already had and put it to work.
- Shop for new products- After taking a good look at what you already own, decide what new products you might need to make your space more functional and organized. Be sure to measure your shelves before you start shopping. Target, The Container Store and Amazon are great places to look for organizational goods.
- Clear and clean out your pantry- This is your time to do a thorough cleaning. Take everything out of your pantry and wipe down all of the shelving. Go through your items and check “best by” dates, put any random things that don’t belong in your pantry in their correct spots and dispose of or donate anything you no longer need.
- Put items in places that make sense- Mom approved snacks for the kids are good to keep lower. If storing products like paper towels or Ziploc baggies in your pantry, it is also a good idea to keep them lower so kids can grab them easily when needed. Chips and candy are good items to keep up high so they are not easily accessible for the little ones. Any serving ware or infrequently used kitchen gear that you store in your pantry, can also be kept high as you probably won’t be needing them often. You’ll also notice I store my toaster next to my bread basket. It just makes sense!
- Utilize every space- I used Command Hooks to hang all sorts of bags on the wall behind the pantry door. It is a perfect place to hide things as I am the only one who will see these.
- Lastly, label items- For ease of use, labeling storage containers that are not see through or items that could be confused easily (sugar vs. flour) is helpful. Or, you can label things solely because you are a little type A and it is fun!
My pantry refresh took place a month ago and I am happy to report it is still nicely organized. The system definitely works for us and is easy for the kids to use.
Click below for products I used from Amazon
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Click here for additional products:
Chalkboard Hard Labels
Chalkboard Sticky Labels
Wicker Baskets
Do you have any pantry organizational tricks that you use? Leave your ideas in the comments below!
-Brittany
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