When it comes to organizing, a pantry that falls over to greet you when you open the door is not only a mess, it is a time and money waster.
Spending time looking for things you think you know are there but can't find and then buying them only to find the first one is such a frustration.
Here is how to save time, stress, and money by getting your shelves in order.
1.
Set aside time for it.
Skip the Martha Stewart recipes and don't invite company.
Tonight order pizza, eat a freezer meal, or have the kids flip pancakes and keep your afternoon free so you can work on reclaiming the Battle of the Pantry.
2.
Stratagize.
How do you use your pantry? Organizing it is like playing checkers.
You have to plan out your moves strategically so you can move 5 boxes of cereal, and 3 bags of pasta to get to the syrup.
Think about how you use your pantry: Do you like to stock up on sale items? Is this the only and the best place you can store those things, or is there a shelf somewhere else to use and free up some valuable pantry space? Plan with users in mind.
With children you want the snacks to be within reach (or out of!) and the baking goods to be up high.
3.
Store it right.
Check your containers inside and out.
Do you need to invest in some new ones? Insure that what you are keeping is worth keeping and someday eating.
Chuck the stale food.
Check the container itself to make sure it gives you optimum storage.
Bags fall and half full containers are a waste of space.
Make sure you arrange things so you can easily see what you have.
If you can't see it often means you buy more of what you don't need.
Organize for health.
Do you have to move the chips to get to the fruit cups? 4.
Snapshot it before.
A picture really is worth a thousand words.
When I organized my pantries a few months ago I took a picture thinking I would impress Randy with my incredible "Organizational Prowess.
" Instead I found that this snapshot helped me step back and come up with my pantry plan of attack.
I could more easily see in the photo things that needed to be done.
I saw half of a shelf being used for cake decorating supplies which we hadn't used in years and a bin of various stale nuts.
Somehow I hadn't looked at it all the same way until I saw it in the photo.
5.
Save the good.
One thing I already did was mark to mark on a container when there was more of that item in the pantry and the purchase date on the bottom of new containers of spices so it's easy to tell when they've been around too long.
A couple of other "keepers" were that I used a few bins on the shelves to better store bags of snacks and be able to easily pull it out and I keep a small white board and pen on the inside of the door to jot down grocery items needed.
Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
Reorganizing doesn't mean you can't keep the good.
6.
Sift, sort, and sweep.
I found that I like to empty the whole pantry.
Then sort in piles that I want to store together so I can see how much space I need.
Some categories you can sort with are: pasta, cereals, cans, baking, oils and vinegars, sauces, condiments, snacks, and spices.
Also take the opportunity to sweep out every crumb.
7.
Stopping might not mean you are done.
Don't stop thinking about how you can make it better just because you got it all put away.
Adjust as needed.
I had my tea bags in a Tupperware.
After about 3 mornings I decided it was a hassle to get a tea bag out every morning.
I moved the tea into a drawer and used the Tupperware elsewhere.
Organize and reorganize.
Here Are a Few of My Favorite Things oA plastic bag holder to tame the mess of plastic grocery bags and get them off the floor.
oDeep stacking rectangular snack containers to use instead of bags of pretzels and chips that often get stale or knocked over and pulverized before they're eaten.
Plus, this eliminates multiple bags of the same food being opened.
oOne favorite addition is actually a deletion.
Brown bags are now stored in the laundry room.