Many people forget about the pantry when decluttering their home. An organized and clutter free pantry will not only save you time when you are looking for something, but it will save you money as well.
Here are 8 tips to get you a decluttered and organized pantry:
Take Everything Out Of Your Pantry
Purge Before Organizing
Wipe Down All Surfaces
Group Your Items
Use Storage Containers
Take Advantage Of Vertical Space
Maintain Your Pantry
Rent A Self Storage Unit
The very first thing to do when organizing and decluttering your pantry is pull absolutely everything out of it. Trying to move things around and understand exactly what you have, while it is full, or even half full, leads to a lot more work and confusion.
Take everything out and lay it on your table, counters or even floor. Whatever works best for you so that you can see everything.
As you are pulling everything out of your pantry, check all expiration dates and get rid of anything that has expired. Anything you have tried and didn’t like, get rid of that too. There is no point in having it in your pantry, taking up space, if you are never going to use it.
Try to be honest with yourself about the items in your pantry. Lots of people feel guilty about throwing away food. Have a box handy to put items in that you can donate to your local food bank. Keep in mind that you cannot donate expired food or anything that has been opened.
It’s also a good idea to have a garbage can and recycling bin handy while you go through the purging process.
You now have the perfect opportunity to wipe down every surface of your pantry. Make sure to wipe up all of those old spills and stains that have been hiding. Grab your vacuum and vacuum up all crumbs and debris. Leaving these can cause rodents and insects to start showing up and infesting your food.
Don’t spend all this time organizing and decluttering your pantry by putting everything back on dirty shelves.
This is also a great time to add new shelving liner or do a fresh new coat of paint.
Once all of the purging and cleaning has been completed, the next step is to group all of your items into categories. For example, cereals, snacks, kid’s items, soup, etc. This will make it much quicker and easier to find what you need in the future. It also makes building a grocery list easier as you can easily see what you are running low on at a glance.
How everyone groups their items in their pantry can vary greatly. Different items will be used more frequently. Maybe certain things will have to be placed higher or lower depending on the height of family members or if you have kids.
When you start putting your items back, remember to check the expiration dates and put the oldest food in the back or on the bottom. This way, you will be able to use items before they expire.
Some of the best items to use in a pantry are clear canisters and bins. The cardboard boxes that most items come in take up more space than the items inside them.
Take all of your granola bars, fruit cups, bags of popcorn and boxes of raisins out of the boxes they come in and put them into clear storage bins. These items can be grouped into smaller storage bins and then placed in a larger bin to keep items neater and grouped together. You can even buy clear dividers to separate your items in the same bin.
By using these items, not only will it make it easier to find something when you need it and keep your pantry organized, it also allows you to easily see when you are running low on something.
Lots of people don’t really look at all of the possible space in their pantry for storage. They just see the shelves that already exist and try to make that work. Depending on the size of your pantry and how it is laid out, you may be able to take advantage of a lot of vertical space.
Take advantage of all of the wall space in your pantry, as well as the back of the door, if you have one. Extra wire shelves can be hung above, below or next to the already existing shelves in your pantry.
Another great solution is to find some storage baskets and attach them to the wall. With so many different sizes, colours and styles out there, everyone can find ones that suit their needs and their pantry.
Pick up a small storage unit or even an over the door shoe rack to take advantage of the overlooked space on the back of the door and free up extra room on your shelves.
After spending so much time and energy on decluttering and organizing your pantry, the last thing you want to do is let it fall back into chaos. It’s quick and easy to keep it clean and organized even with small children running around.
Every time you go into the pantry to get something, take a few seconds to put anything that is out of order, back in its place. If any spills happen, clean them up immediately. Don’t wait for it to dry and make it even harder and more time consuming to clean up.
When adding items to your pantry, rotation is very important. Always make sure to put the new items you just purchased to the back or bottom. This will prevent you from having to get rid of expired food again and keep more money in your pocket.
Although no food of any kind is allowed to be stored in a storage unit, there are other items taking up space in your pantry. Any small appliances, party supplies or even the few odd ball items that don’t belong, but have no spot anywhere else in your home, can be stored in a self storage unit.
At Riel Park RV & Self Storage, we have a variety of storage unit sizes with both drive-up access storage units, as well as climate-controlled units. With access hours from 6am to 10pm, 365 days a year, you will be able to access your items whenever you need.
Estimate the storage unit size you need or give one of our storage solutions experts a call today at 780-459-6435. We also offer instant online move-ins and reservations.
