Tomato Soup and Expired Cupcake Mix Do Not Make a Clutter Free Pantry

My last post gave you a couple of wonderful sites of organizational projects that were amazing and beautiful.  The question posed was which was worse-the clutter or the envy?  I had whined that I would love to have kitchens with the beautiful pantries shown on not only those sites, but in magazines.  And honestly, that made me unsure and a little embarrassed at my own attempts at controlling the pantry clutter.  After thinking on it a week, I realized that this is not what my blog is about.  I will never have a professional organizer come in and do my home with custom built cabinets. My pictures will never be shot with professional lighting and a group of stagers.  But that’s O.K.  I am getting a handle of the clutter in my way, with my budget and with you all along for the ride! Although this make over is supplied by the Dollar Spot at Target, it works.  I hope that it will inspire you to toss out that expired can of soup, get rid of the box of healthy cereal NO ONE wants and for the first time in a long time enable you to open your pantry and see what you truly have.

The first step in organizing any food space is purging. 

Why does it seem that organization always starts with getting rid of things?  Because clutter is made up of too much stuff!!! I was not entirely surprised to find some things that had expired.  I was surprised to see the amount of things in the pantry that we were never going to eat.  Even if the power was out for a week, there was no way that I was ever going to convince my family to eat tomato soup.  What? You love tomato soup?  Well, I will send it your way. But my boys would rather try the dog Snausages than try runny hot ketchup.   

What worked for me was taking everything out and dividing it into food types: Cereals, mixes, salad dressings, cans, ect.   Then I went through each item and looked at the dates and thought about whether or not we would really eat it or were we allowing it to add to the clutter?  If you find that you have a lot of items that you have that is just there “BECAUSE” then put them in bags and donate to a local group or food pantry.  Especially this time of year your extra supplies can help feed people who truly could use the help.

Second, think about how you want the space to work. 

 I wanted Austin to be able to go to the pantry and get a snack without asking if it was something he could have.  I also wanted to be able to see what I had for dinner in that jumble of food.  In looking at the piles on the counters, it just made sense to keep all the like things together in the pantry as well. I had a plan and it was now time to start putting the pantry back together.

Why plastic is good

In the linen closet makeover I sang the praises of baskets and trays and how wonderful it looked!  But the kitchen proved a different dilemma.  Sure I could go out and get jars and canisters.  But for us that wouldn’t work. One, because they had to be easily opened without a call for mom every two minutes and two, because some of those things are breakable.  So for me baskets or bins would be best- something easy to still see what was inside, but also easy to slide in and out. 

The next question was what material?  Sure canvas and wicker look best, but in the kitchen I wanted something that wouldn’t break easily and would also be cleanable.  I found these bins for a dollar each at Target.  They are the perfect size to fit on the shelves, they hold lots and have great handles so that everyone can grab and go.   I got out my handy dandy label maker and set to work….

Austin now has his own bin that has mom approved snacks that he can get something from anytime!

But what about the things that didn’t fit in a bin? 

I arranged all the like items neatly together but still needed something else to make sure that the pantry stayed neat.  But I have those standard wire shelves and the labels would not stay attached to them no matter what I tried.   So after a few days I came up with something I thought was really unique. 

We had tons of the tabs that go in hanging files at the office.  They sure do make looking for a file a breeze; surely they could help me find the mac n cheese!  And you know what?  Those tabs fit perfectly into the slots of the wire shelves.  They do not move, they show what goes where, they can be changed out if needed and they were free!

If you look you can see where the pointed tabs at the top slide right behind the wire bars holding the labels in place.

Here it is in action

So how does this makeover break down?

The cost- 8 bucks (for the 8 bins) and the freebie folder tabs

Does it work- Yes, I have been able to see what I do have.  One thing that you can learn really quickly is if you are good on an item. Be honest, do you really need 8 cans of peas?  I am not saying get rid of the peas.  I am merely hoping that you realize that even if they are on sale at Harris Teeter, that its ok to let the deal go this time.  It will also prompt you to say,” Hey kids how about pea surprise for dinner tonight?”   Conversely you can see when you need things so you can add them to your shopping list. Best of all no one has asks if we have something.  If they want Cheez-Its and they are not in the cracker section (yes, I made a cracker section) then they know that we don’t have them.  For a mom this is invaluable!

Is it eye pleasing? Well, this is what started the whole doubt on posting this makeover.  But the truth is that it is as eye pleasing as I can possibly make it with what I got. There is definitely more space and it is organized so I am going to say yes, it is eye pleasing to us.

What ideas have you come up with to help organize your food spaces?  Everyone has different challenges- walk in pantries, small pantries, no pantry and cabinets shoved tight.  What cool tricks, ideas and suggestions can you share?  While I wait on the responses, I will head to the pantry for a snack…and I know right where to lookJ