If you are joining us on this organizing challenge, welcome! I am so glad you’re joining. How many of you have beautiful and clean Laundry Rooms now? Doesn’t it feel good? I even did all of our laundry last week. (Miracles can happen š )
For this next challenge, I am going to split the room in two parts. I think organizing a pantry and organizing cupboards with pots and pans is very different. So this week we will start with the pantry and next week we will move onto the pots and pans.
First welcome to my kitchen. We have an extremely small galley way kitchen, which means little cupboard space. We have two pantries. One larger one, where we store snacks, cereal and the day to day items, and a smaller one where I store the spices, boxed foods, and canned food. I know each kitchen is set up differently, so take what you can and apply these methods to your space. (Remember You do you!)
Step One:
As always, remove everything from your cupboards and fridge.
Wipe the shelves down, line them with pretty paper if you have to. Anything to encourage yourself to keep the space clean. Ā Remember, the more you love the space, the more likely you are to keep it clean over time.
Step Two:
Toss old and expired foods. Combine half eaten items into one, try and eliminate boxed items and replace them with containers you can refill each week when shopping. (This helps me from over buying something we may have in the back of the cupboards somewhere.)
Then, eliminate foods that you know you will never eat. These are typically items that have been in your cupboard for over Ā 3 months. Donate these items to a local food pantry or homeless shelter.
Step Three:
Purchase organizing bins and containers that will help keep you organized. If you have deep cabinets or tall spaces, uses shelves to layer your cupboards and better utilize your space.
The SHELF WE USE.
Step Four:
Organize Bins and cupboard by “types of food”. Ā Label your containers. I purchased my labels from Label Daddy. I am going to do a giveaway of these on Instagram later this week so stay tuned! Try and keep some kid snacks on “their” level so you can easily have them get their own snack.
Step Five: (Game Changer)
Make a list of these categories:
Produce
Baking Goods
Canned Goods/Sauces
Spices
Meat
Dry Goods
Dairy/Frozen
Snacks
Fill in the list with items you buy regularly, items that are staple in your home. Ā Print and tape this list to the inside of your pantry. This will Ā help keep you from over buying, or forgetting items and making a thousand trips to the store in a week. When you make your grocery list each week, check your bins. If you organized your items by category, you’ll start to know when certain things are low and what you “need” to buy. We try and stick with three snacks a week so we don’t over purchase and end up with a ton of left overs.
We also strictly meal plan for the week so I don’t just buy random food. I only cook 5 dinners a week and we try and do 6 lunches at home, and go out on Sundays. With knowing this, I strictly plan what meals these are and only buy what I need. We use the Six Sisters Meal Plan for a lot of meals, and many of your know I only shop using the Walmart App and drive through pick up. ITS FREE!! These two things have helped keep us ON BUDGET, and reduce our waste each week. Literally, we stay under budget on food because of this change. Give it a try!
Thanks for joining me. Make sure you tag me on social media as you organize!!
After completing my pantry, I moved on to our cupboard spaces. We have minimal space so my best advice is minimizing the amount of everything you have. Try and get rid of a few mugs, or the appliances you never use.
Invest in appliances that have multiple uses like my favorite Instant Pot!!! These racks are perfect for stacking your plates, bowls and cups.
You can use these racks to organize your pots, pans, and skillets.
Overall, less is more. Minimize your clutter by finding what items you use on a regular basis.Ā
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