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Ever since we’ve taken on our full on renovation of the money pit, we’ve really enjoyed our kitchen. The entire great room is the hub of our home, and we adore gathering there. However, it definitely comes with its own challenges.
I recently posted on a clutter free kitchen in the name of all things purging and the new year.
Here’s a quick before and after in case you’re not familiar with our home, for a little refresh of the memory.
It was quite the change, to say the least.
Because we are an open concept house on our main level, clutter in the kitchen can definitely be an issue. But I wanted to share a ‘shameful’ {some say shameful, I say reality} take on all things the great pantry purge, because ours needed all the help it could get.
Over time, it had become cluttered with less functionality than I could shake a stick at. I was pretty miserable trying to manage it all, let alone find the time to make organization actually happen. Once upon a time I had it together, and then in between work and school and kid stuff and all things real life… it just got out of control.
For about a year ::facepalm::
Our pantry is to the right of our oven, and if you’re hopping over from our stories today, you’ll see that we had quite a bit of fun purging, and reorganizing it all. One could even say we got a little carried away.
I mean, if you can’t laugh at yourself…
Here’s a sneak peek at the before – I was actually so into the process, that I forgot an official ‘before’ still shot. But I was able to capture plenty in my after, as well as a lot of shame-inducing drama a-la clutter in the before. Leftover Valentine’s boxes, anyone?
Shame. Shame. Shame.
{It’s so much more fun to say shame. But reality reality reality}
So here’s our fantastic after. And we feel like these baskets aren’t just for the sake of show. We feel like we were able to work through a system that actually worked for us. Here are a few fave tips that we were able to garner from it all.
• Enlist a helper.
I know. Sometimes, this needs to be a solitary process. But I’m at a stage in my life where overwhelmed is my middle name and organizing my pantry just wasn’t at the top of my list. I was out of practice and still managing leftover messes from the holidays, along with work, projects for clients, school stuff with kids, side projects we have going on and more. Woe is me, I know.
Sometimes, it really helps to bring in someone with fresh perspective. Someone to help you formulate a game plan. They keep the process moving along, divide up the work for you, and help you process when you’re ready to melt halfway through. Trust me.
So it helped to have a friend by my side. {See: Our amazing friend Jess, who just so happens to LOVE organizing. I’m kind of keeping her a secret from you because she’s sure to become organizer to the stars in 2020 and then I will lose her and be forever sad because I’m selfish.}
• Pull it all out.
It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
No really. It all has to come out. I’m sure you’ve probably seen a lot of this lately in the name of January and all things new year. I found things I’ve been looking for, for over a year now. I found broken wedding presents I’d felt guilty about, and placed in the back. I found my kids Valentine’s candy from 2018. I found the elves on the shelves.
Oh wait. That was our middle last week, and her world came tumbling down in a total parental nightmare moment where I questioned all my life choices thus far and she realized the big man in the red suit is all a sham. I tried to compensate with the spirit of Christmas and passing it on and all the things we file away hopefully on Pinterest, but it was a lot.
FUN. TIMES in the thought derailment process.
Yes. Shameful. But also, this is two working parent’s reality. Once upon a time when I started the Lazy Gal’s Guide, it was easier for me to find time {easier, being a relative term} because I was at home all the time with three young children. Priorities are just in other places right now, and there you have it. I’m sharing to take away the shame and hopefully normalize that let you all know it’s okay when things get out of control.
In the process of life, these things happen and I think it’s important that we acknowledge that, or else we can never move past it. I can sit here and feel guilty over my occasional feeding of the children Velveeta Mac n Cheese {for the record, I feel no guilt here}, or I can own it in the name of reality and share what I know. I’m choosing the latter.
• Purge it.
Yeah. I know. DUH.
Some will make the cut, and some will not. Obviously my broken wedding gift and gross Valentine’s day candy that had been shoved in the back, did not go back in. We probably got rid of about three trash bags worth of stuff, and from there, we were able to come up with a game plan. Which leads me to…
• Have some good containers.
We actually measured our shelves and then chose containers accordingly.
We always say that baskets are a win for us, because we know that they work for us. To be honest, there was quite a bit of organizing that had to take place, and now we have to learn the locations of items all over again.
Baskets – We chose baskets that were soft so that a. they don’t scratch our cabinets and b. the kids could easily access them.
Labels – Along with labels so that we knew what the heck we were doing in each one. What we love about these is that they’re recyclable later, and we can change the names when we change up the baskets. We were going for simplicity here.
{And point D.} They’re uniform and simple. We needed some calm when we opened these doors. These brought what we needed on the aesthetic front, as well as functionality.
• Divide and Conquer.
Once the pantry was empty and purged, we decided which sections we could really divide into. And we started making baskets, based on that.
We had a basket for breakfast foods, baking, chips, bread, snacks, paper plates and more.
Side note: getting rid of packages was a game changer for space savers, and since the baskets now exist, are no longer necessary. We highly recommend considering this.
• Accept the learning curve.
It’s easy to step back and say, well… the pantry is done! This is amazing! I win!
Except now we have to really unload the groceries and keep it all in tact. And as soon as we were finished the other day, I couldn’t remember where we kept the salt. So there’s a process and a learning curve and intentionality to keeping it all neat. It comes with a few cons, but in a way, it also keeps us intentional.
This system actually prevents our weak spot, which is no more shoving. We tend to freak out because we have an open floor plan, and put things away quickly. This now holds us accountable, and we plan to keep it that way.
We hope our little take on all things pantry were a fun look at progress, reality, and what that looks like. Thanks for tuning in, and please… let us know your thoughts on the great pantry purging process! ‘Tis the season, and I know some of you have been tackling your own houses!
Check out our walk in pantry makeover {in our last house} here! And another fun take – Jess’ pantry here!
Have an inspired day!
Lucy Paker says
So nice and neat! Love those labeled pullout bin organizers! Great idea! We actually do something similar. We place a red clothes pin inside each bin, which we pin on the label whenever we get halfway through. It’s a reminder to shop and replenish.
ashley @ the handmade home says
Awesome! I love this idea! We were talking about putting a little chalkboard on the inside of the door to keep up with it all because we’re so terrible at all things list making! Thank you for dropping by today!