The Hometown segment of Blue Mountain Television recently featured me on the show! Watch to get tips on decluttering and organizing your pantry.
Click below to watch on YouTube. To only watch my segment, you can skip to 2:26 and end at 9:57.
Here are the decluttering and organizing takeaways from the episode:
If you have the energy and time, I recommend you sort an entire category at once rather than just a small section of it. In this example, we did a single pantry shelf, but ideally we would have sorted all the non-refrigerated food items in one go. That way is more efficient and you are able to see everything you have at once.
The basic steps to decluttering and organizing any category are:
1. Pull everything out.
2. Sort into logical categories (including trash, donate, sell, etc).
3. Wipe down your storage area
4. Put keep items back into containers by category.
In this case the categories we sorted the pantry food items into were:
Expired foods to throw away
Food items that are still good but you know you won't eat (throw away or donate to your local food bank)
Snacks (broken down into more specific categories like crackers, chips, etc.)
Breakfast foods (broken down into cereals, breakfast ingredients for cooking, etc.)
Lunch/dinner ingredients
Baking ingredients
When buying organizing containers, always measure the space and consider what things you'll need to store there BEFORE purchasing. As tempting as it might be to buy a cute bin at the store for "something," those bins and baskets usually become more clutter. If you don't know what you are going to store in it and where, don't buy it!
Maximize deep cabinet space by using tall, large bins in the back and small, shorter bins in the front.
To store more in less space, see what extra packaging you can remove. Take some snacks out of their box, take sentimental cards out of their envelopes, and remove anything you don't really need, especially if you are working with limited storage space.
Add labels to bins and shelves so that if you remove the contents, you know what needs to be put back there later.
Be intentional with getting clear vs not clear bins. For certain categories, spaces, or people, if you don't see it, you won't remember it exists. So when possible, especially inside cabinets and drawers, opt for clear containers.
I hope you enjoyed this TV segment and these organizing strategies.
If you want help organizing your home, kitchen, or pantry, contact me today!
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