Reorganized Home Challenge Week #5: Pantry Organization

Thanks for joining us for the 52 Week Reorganized Home Challenge. This is week #5 of the challenge. If you have missed any of the prior weeks, see the links at the bottom of this post.

This week's challenge is going to take some time for most of you. This can be an ongoing process, so don't worry if you can't complete it in a week.

This week's challenge is Pantry Organization.

Challenge Steps:

1. Pull all of the items out of your pantry (Yikes!).
2. Throw away any items that are expired.
3. Put any items that you aren't going to use in a pile to be donated.
4. Decide what each shelf will store (i.e. You may have one shelf for pasta and one for baking goods, etc)
5. Purchase any items that you need to help get your pantry organized (I will discuss some ideas below)
6. Label any containers that you will be using to store food
7. Put back all of your pantry items in an organized fashion

Optional Steps:

1. Before replacing items, line the shelves or repaint your pantry
2. To save space, create a space outside of your pantry to store any large quantity items or items that you buy in bulk (i.e. paper towels, canned goods, etc). I keep these items in my garage on a shelf.

When you organize your pantry, keep in mind that it doesn't have to look like something out of Martha Stewart Living. It just needs to be functional for your family. I have to constantly reorganize my pantry because my two and three year old like to rearrange it while they are playing pretend. My pantry never looks perfect!

Here are some additional pantry storage solution ideas:

• Check the dollar store for storage containers. Many of the containers that I use came for The Dollar Tree and they are perfect what what I need them for. 

 

• Buy a basket or a few baskets to keep loose snack items in. Again, these can be purchased at a dollar store. I have one basket for kid friendly snacks and one for adult snacks.
• Purchase containers to hold items in that you frequently have on hand (i.e. flour, cereal, rice, etc) and label. I know some people like to make fancy labels, but I just use my Brother Personal Labeler Machine that I purchased from Amazon.
• If you have a small pantry, utilize your door space with an Over The Door Pantry Organizer. I have a small pantry and use one to add additional space.

• If you need to save drawer space, you can store your plastic wrap, aluminum foil, etc in your pantry using an Under Shelf Wrap Rack .

What other storage solutions/ideas do you have for your pantry? Share your ideas in the comments.

52 Week Reorganized Home Challenge

Week 1: Refrigerator
Week 2: Freezer
Week 3: Declutter Your Kitchen
Week 4: Declutter Kitchen Cabinets
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