Sara’s Pantry Reorganization

Step 1

Take stock of where you are. We love taking “before” pictures as much as possible, but we also know many of our clients do not want photos being taken, so we always respect everyone’s privacy. But if you’re working on your own project, we highly recommend taking photos so you can visualize all the progress that you’ve made. This is an important step, especially if you have a lot to do. By putting attention on your small wins, you will shift your focus to the positive, and this will give you a lot of momentum to keep going.

Step 2

Make sure to clear off a space so that you can take things out of your pantry to sort them out.

Step 3

Take everything out, and group like items. Sort in broad categories to start, and refine as needed.

Step 4

Purge what you don’t need. Compost and recycle as much as possible, but if things need to go in the trash, make peace with it. No one likes throwing out food, but if you keep expired stuff in your pantry for too long, you’re going to really regret it. If you’re not going to eat it, let it go. Whatever you do, don’t donate expired food to the food bank. That just creates more work for the people who work there.

Step 5

Identify things in your pantry that need to get used up soon. Make a plan to use them up. Or, like in Sara’s case, put your apron on, fire up your oven, and get baking! (Once you finish organizing and putting everything away of course!)

Step 6

Now that you’ve already sorted your pantry goods into like-item categories, and you’ve purged what you don’t need, now is the time to start planning how you’d like things to get stored. It’s important to take into account both shelving systems and types of bins as you’re in this planning stage. You might need to cut additional shelves, get more shelf brackets, use shelf risers, lazy susans, or utilize drawers so that you can access what you need more easily. I love Shelf Genie products for custom storage solutions. As you’re doing this, try to use as many of the bins you already have. If needed, make temporary bins out of appropriately sized cardboard boxes to help you visualize ideal sizes to group your items.

A note about buying organizing products

The internet might try to convince you that you’re not organized if all your bins don’t match, or if you’re decanting all your food into beautiful glass or ceramic jars. You [in most cases] don’t need to buy a bunch of new stuff to get organized. Here at Seattle Sparkle, we value functionality and ease of use over just making something look “pretty”. We like to re-purpose what we have or what we find rather than going out and buying new stuff whenever possible. Once everything functions well, if our clients want to upgrade to enhance the aesthetics, we will gladly assist with that. Who doesn’t love matching bins or artistically crafted labels? But many people don’t want to spend money unnecessarily, and for environmental reasons, would prefer to repurpose things they already have rather than buying new items. If you ARE someone that loves gorgeous new bins and that “Home Edit” look, we will have a blast helping you achieve your goals by recommending the right products for you, but we will still need to do all the sorting and decluttering before we can tell you which bins to get.

Step 7

Wipe down the shelves and insides of bins. Put your things back in a way that makes sense to you. Take into account how frequently ingredients need to be accessed, and consider creating a backstock system to help preserve high value real-estate.

Step 8- optional

Once you’ve got everything into appropriate bins and back onto the correct shelves, you may choose to label either the bins or the shelves, or label both. Some people don’t like labels, or they don’t seem to need them. Personally, in my pantry at home, I need them. But in other homes I’ve lived in, I haven’t always needed them. It really depends on your lifestyle, your organizing style, and personal preference.

Step 9- not optional

No one is immune from organizing their pantry and never having to do it again. Not even Marie Kondo! As much as you’d like to believe you’re never going to have to do it again, you will. But if you’ve created an organizing system where everything has a place, you are going to have to reorganize far less often, and it will take far less time. At least once a year (or more often, especially if you have kids), make a date with yourself to maintain your pantry.

Step 10

Enjoy your freshly organized pantry! Don’t forget to take an “after” photo. Compare it to your “before” photo, and pat yourself on the back for how far you’ve come. This photo will also help you pop everything back into place, and may serve as a template to help teach family members where things belong.

Here is the link to the recipe Sara used to bake those yummy scones! She adapted the recipe so she could use the open bag of almond flour she had and wanted to use up. She just did a straight replacement and although they didn't rise like her scones usually do, both her kids loved them. The whole batch was gone by dinner time!