I thought I should try and get one more New Year's resolution goal accomplished before returning to work so I spent my last days of my vacation cleaning out our pantry and reorganizing it.
Here is what I use to see when I opened my pantry door:
As you can see I had quite a big task ahead of me.
The first thing I did was empty the entire pantry. I put the items in three different groups; items to return to the pantry, items to find a new place for and items to get rid of.
As you can see there was a lot of stuff in our pantry to go through and sort. I tried to group items together into different categories. I also checked expiration dates and am embarrassed to say that I had to throw a bunch of stuff out.
It took forever but I finally had an empty pantry!
It needed a good scrubbing and some paint, which I did next.
Then it was off to Target to get some items to help organize the things going back in.
I found containers made by Snapware to put dry goods in. They range in price from $6 - $10 depending on the size. They are airtight and stackable.
I also bought some baskets which were only $3 for the large size and $2 for the small. They are stackable as well.
I used the plastic three-tier can shelves I already had to organize the canned goods. I haven't seen these around since I bought them a couple of years ago but I did find you can buy metal ones similar to mine at Target for around $8. I used sticky notes to help figure out what should go where.
I also bought two turntables for bottled items for about $5 each.
The last thing I had that helped organize my pantry was a spice rack that hangs on the door.
It took parting with some things, finding new places for some others, and a lot of time organizing and reorganizing but here is what I see now when I open our pantry door:
All I have left to do is label the shelves, baskets and containers so everyone knows where everything goes.
I will also be taking a trip to the grocery store soon to restock the shelves since they're a little bare now.
Next on my list to organize are my kitchen cabinets...wish me luck!
