With spring cleaning no doubt a part of most households’ to-do list, can pantry organization be far behind?
Organizing a pantry can be a huge challenge, especially if you shop for a big family. Put only the barest amount of effort into it and you may just find that locating one item suddenly requires turning half the place inside out.
This year, tackle the challenge of decluttering your pantry by taking note of these musts and tips and tricks.
The Musts
Cleanup
Take everything out and give the shelves a thorough cleaning, from top (ceiling) to bottom (floor). Opt for an all-natural cleaning solution of baking soda and warm water, which doubles as deodorizer. Replace shelf liners to keep the shelves crumb-free and facilitate cleaning. Be sure to mop the floor and
Inventory and categorization
Throw away all the items that can no longer be used. Then take stock of your staples—how much you still have left, what you need to get more of. There’s an old-school way to do this, which is to make a list of your pantry staples and regularly update it, and then simply take the list with you when you go grocery shopping. Or you can let an app link your pantry inventory with your shopping list for a hassle-free, and even cost-saving, grocery shopping.
Once you have a clear idea of what’s left and what needs to be added, it will be easier to determine your storage approach—what goes where, what additional containers to get. Beyond that, knowing how much to organize can help you generate practical ideas for any DIY work to optimize pantry space for smart storage.
Problem solving
The cleanup and inventory processes can be very useful in pinpointing major storage, organization, and accessibility problems. Take careful notes and start brainstorming solutions.
The Tips and Tricks
Placement and labels
Plan out your pantry into zones. The goal is to make items you use every day very easy to access. Play around with your zones until you establish an overall setup that works best for you.
Once that’s taken care of, work on the labels. It may seem like so much work at first if you’re writing out these labels yourself, but then just think of the hassle later on of opening containers to see whether it’s where an item should go. For some staples like flour, sugar, salt, and the like, you can get pre-labeled jars and canisters, traditional or modern, in stoneware, glass, ceramic, etc.
Container uniformity
Having uniform, labeled, containers makes your pantry look neater—at least uniform according to contents: a different set of containers for pasta, another set for nuts and candy, another set for spices, and so on.
You have practically endless options for containers, which include the following:
- Plastic containers
- Ceramics
- Tins
- Baskets and straw bins
- Wire and cloth bins
Wall space
Did you ever look at your pantry wall and think it can be put to good use? You’re right. Here are some options you should look into:
- Pegboard
- Floating cabinet
- Floating shelves
Ladder for plenty of vertical space
If you really have ample vertical space, you can add shelves and then bring in a library ladder for access. Just make sure the items up top are used only occasionally (whether they are food or kitchen tools and equipment or containers).
Repurposed items
Get creative and find new use for old or unused things that you would otherwise discard. Crates can be painted or given a rub of wood oil and used for pantry storage. So can empty biscuit and cookie tins and the glass jars that coffee or chocolate powder came in. How about old baking pans? Wouldn’t they be great for small bottles of condiment?
Smart separation
If you have deep drawers, chances are what you put there will be a challenge to keep in place if you take one item out. Be sure to use drawer separators to keep rows of items in place.
Often organizing your pantry is not a problem regarding the size of your pantry but of how the available space is being used.
If you’re planning to list your home this spring or summer, don’t forget to give your pantry some much-deserved attention to give prospect buyers a clear picture of your pantry adds to the overall charm and efficiency of your home.
Contact Team Clancy today if you need any help making sure your home gets the best offer out there.