The Organized Life, Tackling your pantry
I don’t want to bore you with a lot of embarrassing photos
We all have our messy little secrets
This pantry was taking over my happy moments, every time I opened the door it mocked me
“Just see if you can find that jar of nutmeg!” it would sneer,
and then when I would finally find it, my pantry would cry, “Do you know how old that stuff is?”
No. I don’t. I started dating my spices in a New Year’s Resolution 2 years ago but the stickers came off and the habit didn’t stick and blah blah blah I stopped.
So, I got tough. I showed my pantry who is the boss. I emptied, and purged, and cleaned, and tossed and arranged and rearranged and straightened and grouped and labeled
I got HH to hang a door shelf rack
Now when I open the door my pantry doesn’t say a word! It greets me with open arms shelves!
I can see what I have and what I need without moving things around!
It’s totally liberating! It’s exhilarating! It’s life changing!
I used chalkboard labels and chalk ink pens so they can be easily changed if needed. I used bakers twine to tie them to the wire shelves.
I have the spices arranged in groups of grilling spices, savory and salts and peppers. My sweet and baking spices are on the door rack with extracts, sprinkles, chocolates and other baking needs. The baking spices are right next to the larger baking supplies on the adjacent shelf. Everything is grouped together and the door basket shelves really help corral the little things that used to fall and flop around on the open wire shelves.
HH doesn’t ask what kind of soup we have any more, he can see the selection clearly just by opening the door
I told you it was life changing! Now he just makes it himself!
Grocery list making is a breeze too~
I purchased the door shelf unit at Home Depot, for about $40. I used 2 of these units last year when I reorganized my china closet. To see that click here
Dramatic I know, but seriously, there is no longer crap all over the pantry and floor the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders!
I tossed the old spices~ if you look really closely on the bottom of the jars most now have expiration dates. I found some from 2007, yikes! I am keeping a sharpie handy to mark the purchase date of the new ones. They say toss after 12 months.
Thanks for visiting, if you have any tried and true organization tips, I would love to hear them!
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Your closet looks great Jenna, congrats on tackling that big project! Yep, I Sharpie date everything right down to when I open a jar of jelly, really helps:@)
I never thought about jelly etc., I am always trying to remember how long I’ve had that jar of whatever, thanks so much Lynn!!
Your pantry looks so tidy & organized Jenna! I would love to have a spacious pantry, as it is my cupboards need some major purging and organization…not to mention the closets and drawers 🙂
I’m afraid I have some spices that are outdated, but some are so expensive I hater to throw them away. One way I keep my pantry organized is not to have too much stuff in it.
I know, the price of spices is so high! Do you have a Fresh Market nearby, you can buy small amounts of herbs and spices, which really helps the $
What a great way to start off a new year!! I can imagine the effort it took to complete this task, but you should be very proud and happy with the outcome! You are inspiring me—-especially since I opened my pantry the other day and a box of cereal came falling down from the top shelf!! It must have really wanted out of there!! Rosie
haha! Yes, that’s about what happened to inspire me~it did take me about 3-4 hours, but I bet it will save that much time and more in the long run and it’s really inspired me to cook too~thanks Rosie
I’m colored green with organizing envy! Fabulous job!
Looks great Jenna! Well done!! 🙂
What a great transformation!!!!! I wish I had a walk-in pantry. I COULD have one if a certain little Mr. who lives here would cooperate! He’s just so hard-headed!!! He can’t see the big picture! I’m going to surprise him one day when he comes home. The tear-out will have already begun, so there will be no going back! 🙂
Excellent job! This is going to make your life a thousand times easier!!!
I love the door organizer. I HAVE to have one! Thanks for posting on The Four Seasons Blog Hop! Sandra from Scrumptilicious 4 You!