If there’s one thing I love, it’s a good declutter.
Last week the pantry was calling my name. And for once, it wasn’t the food in it that was requiring my immediate and prompt attention.
Obviously I’m talking about inhaling Tim Tams while standing in the pantry. Because everybody knows calories don’t actually count when you eat them in the pantry.
No, it wasn’t the Tim Tams – or if you happen to be any of my medical specialists reading this, organic free range vegan bliss balls – calling my name. It was the clutter.
It had to go and go for good.
Here’s what that pantry looked like before:
And here’s how the pantry looks now:
It’s still a work in progress – I’ve tweaked it quite a bit since taking this dodgy shot on my phone – but you get the idea….
If pantry clutter annoys you too, here are my top 5 tips that will take your pantry from drab to fab in no time at all.
How to organise your pantry without spending a fortune
1. Toss out anything old, unused or just plain fugly
If you want an attractive pantry, you’ve got to be ruthless.
I have three rules when it comes to decluttering:
- OLD – If it’s past the expiry date, in the bin it goes
- UNUSED – If I haven’t used it for 12 months, it’s gone
- FUGLY – If I’m hanging onto something because the neighbour’s best friends sister’s cat gave it to me as a gift and it’s not my taste at all but I’m too polite to get rid of it, so I’ll just keep it here, on this shelf for 17 years where it will sit, looking fugly and lonely, it’s gone!
Sticking to those three rules makes it really easy to declutter. Because let’s face it –
- no one wants to eat off food,
- if you haven’t used that pie maker or that packet of fennel seeds in the last 12 months you probably don’t need it in your life and
- someone, somewhere will love that fugly thing that’s taking up too much space in your pantry.
2. Clean as you go
Wipe down the shelves as you’re on your decluttering mission and BOOM! you’ve got yourself a clean pantry that’s ready to be organised.
3. Organise products by type
Having all your pantry products and items organised by type is such a time saver.
You’ll know exactly where everything is and if you can’t find something, you instantly know to add it to your grocery list.
4. Invest in decent storage
By decent, I don’t mean expensive. I mean practical and useful for your pantry space.
For us, going up, going round and going big is what works best.
Tiered shelving and round turntables save space and keep things organised – details below.
Taking lunch box and after school snacks out of their boxes and throwing them into baskets keeps everything in one place.
5. Label all the things
You can go hardcore Tonia Todman with the labelling situation and craft – or purchase – pretty labels for your items.
However by this stage of the pantry organising game I’m a bit over it and just want the job done. So it’s my good old label maker to the rescue.
I only have my baking supplies labelled – nobody wants to confuse their cornflour with their icing sugar, am I right? – but pretty much anything and everything can be labelled in your pantry.
How much I spent on organising my pantry:
This was a low-cost exercise. Because I was decluttering, I didn’t want to buy more ‘things’ that I don’t actually need.
Everything was purchased from Kmart and came in at the grand total of $42
1. Kmart Storage Turntable, $5
One purchased. Used for storing oils.
Two were required, but I already had one so only one was purchased. Used for storing jars of herbs, spices, condiments, spreads etc
3. Kmart 18L Storage Container with lid, $7
Four of these were purchased. Used for storing lunch box/after school snack items for the kids, health food (nuts, seeds, bars etc), drink bottles and first aid supplies.
4. Kmart Small & Narrow Clear Drawer, $2
Two of these were purchased. Used for storing bottles of sunscreen and champagne bottle stoppers – important pantry item.
Have you got a pantry organisation tip to share? Do you love a good declutter too? Tell me all the organising things!
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