If you followed along through the January organize-a-thon, you know I love some organizational stuff :) Organization makes me happy! It does. It really, really does.
But, that doesn't mean I'm always organized. It doesn't mean I don't have messes that need tending to, and it doesn't mean I don't have trouble spots in my home. In fact, you could walk in right now and find a mess in every room of my house :) It's true. But do you know why? Because we LIVE here.
A couple weeks ago I had a few people over for lunch. Someone said, "Billie, can I impose on you?" I said, "Sure! What do you need?" She said, "Can I see your pantry? I really need some organization in my pantry and I just want to see what all you've done in yours."
"Oh.... my pantry? Really? You wanna see it? Like.... the inside of it?"
Oh boy.....
Here's what she saw - and let me tell you...it was anything BUT organized!
How's that for a royal mess? And you can imagine how my heart felt when another guest said, "That's not the picture I saw on your blog!"
"No... no it's not..." But life happens, and we live here... and every moment of my day isn't spent organizing and cleaning.
However, it did spur me to rethink my pantry solutions. Let's take a look at what's wrong with this pantry!
So let's fix it! I made a little trip to Wal-mart. Spent less than $30, and I'll show you what a little thought can do.
First I emptied the pantry of everything.
Sometimes cleaning up a mess means making a bigger one.
Next I vacuumed the floor, cleaned the walls and baseboards and started fresh!
Then I started restocking the pantry:
Breakfast items first... Cereals go in clear bins so we can see what's inside.
Snacks and oatmeal go in these little handled bins for easy access.
Next, the drink stations: Coffee supplies in one area, teas and power drinks in another. I keep my coffee supplies in small re-use containers. It's an easy solution for me.
Next is the canned and jarred goods: Funny thing about these little wired shelf helpers; they don't work so well on wire shelves :) duh!
So I took a pizza box from the recycle bin and cut it down to size:
I laid it on the wire shelf...
Covered it over with shelf liner so no one can see it :)
And suddenly the wire shelf helpers don't fall through the cracks :) No more duh!
There was a little wasted space on the end so my extra salt and pepper fit nicely in there.
Next on my list was a basket for my bread. I hate squashed bread. It happens every time! Something falls over on my bread and it ends up a ball of dough... EWWW! Now it's safe in this little basket.
Then guess what? I realized that my handy shelf helpers weren't so handy after all. I found lots of wasted space. I found I can store more if I stack the old-fashined way. So, buh bye handy dandy shelf helpers!
I placed two more bins like I used for bread on the top shelf for chips and snacks. This will keep them from falling on my head when I open the doors, and will be easy to pull down when I need something inside.
I bought 2 rolling drawer carts for the bottom where the wasted space was.
Those two carts now hold the following:
- baking supplies
- baking mixes
- trash bags
- dog treats and meds
- spice packets
- extra meal helpers
And here's the finished product. I must say I'm rather pleased with myself! This little project made me feel so much better about what's in my pantry!
I wouldn't be ashamed to show this one now, at all!
Thanks for stopping by!
Only By His Grace,
Billie