How I’m organizing my pantry

This is not one of those posts that will show you tips on how to organize your pantry or how to get started. I’m just telling you what I did one Saturday afternoon because I was tired of living in a pantry hoarder paradise. I will break down where I bought all of my stuff at and then I will tell you the moment I cried. Here is how I’m organizing my pantry.

Organizing my pantry

Why I decided to organize my pantry

My pantry is kind of small and I hadn’t cleaned it out that well since I moved in two years ago. I just kind of threw things in there and hope that I found it when I needed it. I have two kids who go into the pantry on a regular to look for snacks and to pack up their lunches in the weekday. I bought a box of crackers one day and I know I did but my daughter couldn’t find it in the pantry. Things were missing like socks so I knew that I had to take a Saturday afternoon and get my pantry life together. I didn’t do the pantry organization like you are used to seeing with all the pretty baskets and the pretty containers because number 1…I am not the one to do that and number 2 that costs me way too much money so I kept it simple and made the closet neat. I am now in order and I couldn’t be happier. Everything has its place and I can now find things readily when I need it. Another thing I was doing was buying the same things over and over again. Later in the post, I will tell you why that made me cry.

The Spice Rack

I bought this on sale a when I first moved in but I never put it up.

I gave my daughter the task of putting it together. I guess she did it correctly….it hasn’t fallen down yet so that’s good lol.

I moved all of my baking goods from my closet to the rack because I needed more space in my closets for my cups and wine glasses…my wine glasses needed a home so don’t judge me. I don’t know how I like this on the door hanging literally hanging out like this but for now, it will do.

Plastic Containers for dry goods

I love the plastic container look but I can’t afford the plastic container look. Do you all know how much those things cost? I picked mine up at various places including home goods, bed bath and beyond, Target and the Container Store. All of them cost about the same no matter where you go but I found that home goods were slightly cheaper by a few dollars. I used the containers for cereal and snack. It’s easier for me to put the containers in the pantry because both kids can reach it without going on top of the fridge. This also keeps down boxes of stuff all over the place. I also love the easy pour container because the kids seem to make less of a mess when they have control over the container vs the box with the bag. You don’t know how many cheerios and stuff I find under my fridge, cabinets and deep places in my kitchen we shall not speak of.

I did a story on instastories and a lot of people asked me where I got the liners on the shelves. Let’s talk about that in the next section.

The Container Store shelves

So my shelves are not original to the house. When I moved in I got all of my closets done in the entire house. Since I was already paying an arm and a leg I might as well had pay some toes and fingers and do the pantry shelves too. The liners came with the shelves…I mean after the final cost they might as well had thrown that in for free. I love that the closets are adjustable and I can move them around and do various looks with them.

I didn’t buy baskets I just organized what I had

So by now, most people would be telling you about their basket life and how they did their closet from the dollar store and all that stuff…chile, please. I already spent enough on the cereal containers so I decided to forgo the baskets for now and focus on just organizing my closet as is. I made sure all of my can goods were together, all of my baking goods were together, and all of my other stuff in a neat format so I can just grab and go.

All of my soups as you can see is in one spot. All my Ziploc bags (I had a lot) in one spot, and all of my other stuff neat and readily available for me.

At the bottom there is a shelf/basket combo I use these for snacks so the kids can just go in them grab what they need for school and after school and we are good to go.

I got this from the Container Store because I was going to line up the bottom but changed my mind so I can put my water jugs down there so I only bought one.

The moment I cried

Have you ever been hungry? Well, I have and the amount of food I threw away had me taking a moment to sit down and not only thank God but also be upset that I, who was once hungry, threw away 3 big bags of outdated food. That is the main reason I needed to tackle my closet because I was buying things and not really looking to see what I had and then I ended up not using a lot of stuff and having it sit there and then go out of date. I had things in my closet since 2016 that had expired big time. I can’t believe I got that bad with the stuff. Now that I am organized I won’t be throwing out things and using what I buy because I now know what I have. Having food wasted just made me upset because there are so many that go hungry!

When was the last time you cleaned out your pantry? Would you buy the baskets and containers to organize with?