Pantry Organization tips

Well, it’s been a bit since I’ve posted on organization, but, I had two big projects I was working on, and they’re finally ALL done!  In my house we have two pantries.  Actually, one is a pantry, the other is a closet in the laundry room, we call it the second pantry.

Hi! Future Ticia 2021 (almost 2022) here, and I’ve rebranded my blog from Adventures in Mommydom to Adventures in a Messy Life because reasons, but it’s hard to replace these particular images logos, so I was lazy and didn’t bother for most of them. I’m also adding more tips learned in my additional several years of life, and the changes in our family.

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Here’s what my pantry looked like before all of the hard work:

So, that’s the mess my main pantry was in before.  I don’t have a picture of the other one before, so no shocking photos there.  I’ll share my after photos after I share my pantry organization tips.

Pantry organization tips

• Make this a family project.  If everyone helps decide where it goes, then there are no excuses for not putting away properly. Future Ticia 2021, I’ve learned the family part is the unloading, and one person needs to plan where everything goes).
• Take everything out before you try to organize (this is obvious, but I don’t always follow it).
• Purge ruthlessly.  Not sure why you bought that food?  Don’t remember the recipe it goes with?  Give it to the food pantry.  Did you buy several boxes, and then discover no one but you likes it?  Give it to the food pantry.  The same goes for appliances.  Do you really need 5 pie pans?  I certainly don’t.
• Figure out what categories you have.  Put like with like.
• Put the most used where you can reach them easily.
• The corollary, put the least used way up high.
• Put snacks you don’t want your kids to get into up high.
• Get a lazy susan for the bottles you have.  Then you can spin it and see them all. I like this one: 1 tier lazy susan
• Get a double decker lazy susan for the spices.
• If your doors open out like mine do, then pick up an over the door shoe organizer.  I put all of the packets in there: hot chocolate, ranch mix, some of the random other things.
• 2021 Ticia now uses small plastic bins to hold everything. I picked mine up at Ikea. I bought two different sizes as an experiment, but I like the bigger size best because it’s about the depth of my shelves.
• Recognize you will have to do this on a semi-regular basis as your needs change. I now have a few bins on the floor that hold potatoes and onions.

Next pantry organization tips:

Label everything in your pantry so you know where it goes, and no one has any excuses for putting it away wrong.  I printed off the labels on my computer (on normal paper), cut it out with my awesome paper cutter (affiliate link) {side note, I love that this paper cutter uses the same blades as my Rotary Cutter (affiliate link), I am addicted to Fiskars products}.  Then taped it on using packing tape.

{second side note, the rotary cutter is not made for being sat on or stepped on, so this is my second one}

And here’s the main pantry:

Check out more Organization for an Unorganized Mom ideas