Let’s Get Organized~Pantry Edition

Happy Wednesday lovelies! Hope your week is off to a good start!

Let’s discuss the pantry! Do you have one? Do you wish you had one?

I had to clean our pantry out the other day because as life gets busy around here and we are rushed, we put things back where they don’t belong and it’s just a domino effect and then the whole pantry is utter chaos! I found random bags of chips that had been pushed to the back of the pantry, expired mayo and breadcrumbs and a bunch of other craziness in there!

As I was re-filling our snack drawers, it occurred to me that I needed to share my little organization secret that I use for our pantry (and other areas of the house as well) with you!

We don’t have a huge pantry in this house, but it’s a pretty good size one, so I’m not complaining! Our house prior to this one had a TON of cabinet space in the kitchen, but no pantry. So annoying. You don’t realize how much you miss a pantry until you move from a house with one, to a house without one! The Texas casa will have a pantry with shelves that aren’t as deep as our current pantry, so I’m already planning my organization tactic for when we move in! This pantry has a huge amount of floor space, that in most houses, would be unused, but I could not let that space go to waste! I seem to have found a pretty perfect solution and I’m really happy with it!

Here is my pantry.

It’s not perfect or anything, but it’s pretty organized and for the most part, items are easy to find, so to me, it’s perfection!

I struggle to stay organized in general. I will be so organized and things will look perfect in the house for like 5 minutes and then life gets busy and we (mainly me) throw things in random spots and then the chaos ensues. I try to at least keep the pantry part of the house organized for my own sanity, because when I am looking for bread flour or peanut butter or yeast, I want to know exactly where each item is and not have to search for it!

Snacks are pretty huge around these parts. I have two snackers. I don’t snack much myself, so it’s funny to me how much the little presidents want to snack. I like having things readily available to throw in my purse if we are headed out to run errands or healthy options to throw into Teddy’s lunchbox, right at my fingertips. So I have what we call, “the snack drawers.” The little presidents also eat breakfast on the go some mornings when we are running late to school (that is happening a lot! Ahhh!), so there are drawers with bars, etc for on-the-go breakfasts. I plan to label the drawers once the little presidents can read, so when they ask me for a snack, I can say “Sure! Pick something from the drawer 1 (pirate’s booty) or drawer 2 (dried apple chips)!” For now, I tell them what their snack options are and they can go in and pick it out themselves. Giving both of them options is key to less whining/complaining. Reagan almost always picks demands pirate’s booty, so I usually always have to include that in her snack options. 🙂 The girl LOVES her pirate’s booty.

The drawers are a perfect fit for the floor area of our pantry. If I didn’t have them down there, then this would be total wasted space! No thank you! I am a huge believer in trying to utilize as much space as you can!

I am a HUGE fan of The Container Store! I mean, really, who isn’t? Just walking into that store gives me a sense of relief and makes me feel like I am on the road to being perfectly organized. Then I go home and it’s another story. Ha!

These are my secret tools that help keep my pantry organized~

Pantry Organization Necessities:

Athletic Shoe Drawer~Snacks

Expand-A-Shelf~Canned Goods

Sweater Drawer~Snacks/Baking Products

Shoe Drawer~Snacks

So, what about you? What’s the area of your casa that you struggle to keep organized? Do you have any tips that help keep you sane and organized?

It’s funny that clear plastic shoe and sweater drawers are so helpful in making me feel a sense of relief when I open the door to my pantry, but hey, it really is the little things… 🙂