Does your pantry need a little help? I’m guessing that after a summer of kids going in and out of it, it may be in a bit of disarray. Things may be falling out or you don’t even know what’s in there! Well, let me tell you about a pantry I just organized for a friend. I did it on a serious budget. Now it is more functional and much prettier. You can do it too!
First of all, you need to assess the situation. This is what we started with:
Does it look familiar? This is a good sized pantry but my friend felt like she couldn’t find anything and there was no room. When we began pulling everything out we found duplicates of a lot of items and expired items. If you are cringing right now it’s because you have the same problem. But never fear! You can have an organized pantry too!
I went to the Dollar Store and picked up some organizational items. Nothing fancy, but enough to corral some things. When I arrived at my friend’s house we took everything out of the pantry.
We discussed how things should be grouped. Always think about how you use things so you can group them together in the most effective way. First we started putting sauces and spices and oils on the pantry door. This is the easiest way to find them, in my opinion. You can see the labels easily.
Then we started putting items in bins. Drinks and large bags of chips went in the larger bins that we kept on the floor. Small items went in the smallest bins, like granola bars and fruit snacks.
Duplicate boxes of foods were placed on the shelves with the opened one or the one expiring first in front and the rest in back. Canned goods were corralled into the medium sized bins.
We stepped back often to make sure it all made sense. That’s the key…. Your pantry should make sense to you. There is no single right way to organize your pantry.
And when we were done, it looked like this….. All for less than $25!
