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Thursday, July 10, 2008

Day 22 - The Pantry

I love pantry's - they make me so darn happy! Why you ask? I don't know, there just fun to have!

But...

They get messy very easily. The place can get a bit crowded. Let's talk organization, shall we?

Getting Your Pantry In Order:

Empty everything out and take an inventory

-Check for outdated items (I had a one item that had expired in '04!)
-Write down what you need to stock up
-Get rid of anything you know you aren't going to use (donate them to a food bank)

Keep like items together

-For example, it is helpful to have the sugar with the flour and other baking supplies
-You will find things much more easily

Evaluate your pantry space

-Is it big enough to hold what you have? If not, you may need to consider other storage options, such as:

3-tier Cabinet Organizer: This is great for spices.
Pantry Door Organizer: Utilize that pantry space by hanging one of these on the door.
Soup/Can Rack: Keep your cans in order.
Plastic Bag Organizer: Okay, so you could just stuff them somewhere, or you could get one of these.
Kitchen Wrap Organizer: Holds your tin foil, wax paper, and cling wrap!

Put the most used items in the front

-This just makes life easier!

Want a more detailed list? Check out 10 Tips For Organizing Your Pantry - there are some great tips here, such as:

"Store all your baking items separately. Use baskets, wire or wood to contain all your baking items, everything you use to bake like your flour, sugar, vanilla, baking soda and powder and getting them to the counter and back is a snap."

Have fun! And let's do pictures - what do you say? Just add your pantry pics to your blog, link back to moi, and then paste the link in Mr. Linky. I can't wait to see!

Do you want to work on getting organized and "clean?" Well then jump in here (you don't have to go in order!) If you like what you read and don't want to miss a day, become a subscriber here (it's free)!

My before and after pics:







16 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my gosh - I'm actually one step ahead and I didn't even know it! Because of your tips, I've been on an cleaning and organizing binge. Yesterday, I started cleaning out my pantry! Yippie for me!

I love your posts - keep on blogging!

Laura said...

The pantry door shelves are great. We bought one for our previous apartment that had a pantry that was a little small. When we moved to our current apartment, we were saddened that we don't have a pantry at all, so we keep most of our food above the washer in the cabinets, but we still didn't have enough room, so we mounted the over-the-door pantry organizer on the wall, works just as well!

Kirstin said...

What great ideas. I will soon have my first pantry and I'm very excited to organize it. We are building a house. Our previous house did not have one, so I purchased a large cupboard thing from costco and have used that as my "pantry".

katylinvw said...

thisi s an area of our home that could definitely use some tlc! i've added it to my "six list" :)

Mary said...

Great list! I love pantries too...something extravagant about them...

Amanda Jo said...

Thank you for convicting me of my messy pantry sin.

Even though I'm too late to jump on board with the whole program I am going to do this one - cause it's baaaaad.

Heathahlee said...

I love my pantry, but it does get messy very quickly...thanks for the reminder as well as the tips!

Kimba said...

Oh too bad. Can't organize the pantry on vacation. :-) Can you hear the sarcasm?

But I did get my email cleaned out yesterday!

Anonymous said...

I did this!! I'll post a link, but my pictures are from Monday. Is that ok that they were not actually taken today??

-- Brandi

kari said...

the pis are up! very exciting, i might add..:)

thanks again

kari said...

me again..

is that a wedding photo in your pantry? now, that i haven't seen before.

too funny!!

Jan Russell said...

Hi Sarah! I linked over here from Laura's blog and was insprired to tidy up my panty...which I have to say does stay pretty organized on a regular basis...mostly because I ALWAYS need to go grocery shopping and it's practically empty- heehee. Okay, so having bins is really helpful too, one has my husbands lunch supplies (Peanut butter/cookies, etc.) another has my kids snacks, another has pastas, and another has canned goods - when I unload groceries everything goes right in it's spot - I love this system! Most cereal boxes are too tall for a basket though, so they get left out, same with the rice...

So hi! And there is entirely too much information about my pantry. You can see it here
http://weareallfulluponcrazy.blogspot.com/

I look forward to peeking on your blog again soon!

Rachel's Journal Pages said...

Oh you're so good! Your pantry looked near spotless anyway - love the idea of keeping all baking stuff in a box together (I hate getting out 7 or 8 different containers when I want to bake something).

Rachel's Journal Pages said...

That was lots of fun! I really loved sorting my pantry and my son was having a great time helping too - have posted lots of pics for all to see!

Anonymous said...

OMG - I'm so glad I happened on to your blog page. I'm really enjoying reading all your entries. I'm new to "blogging" but not new to a nice warm cup of "pick me up" coffee. And what a surprise to find out I can enter to win a new vacumn which I so dearly need. Hope you pick my name. Thanks for blogging.

Natalie

Anonymous said...

I'm with Bobbi- because of you I've been cleaning everything so I don't have a before pic because it was actually done the day before you posted the challenge! Hurray! I love the wedding pic. :)