Simplifying - My Pantry

I've been totally MIA from the blog and Twitter this week because I've been obsessed with organizing ALL THE THINGS.

It's a little insane.

Or maybe I'm a little insane. But remember my simplify my life plan?

I'm working through it, making progress.

One of the first projects I tackled was my pantry. Oh my word, this has made such a huge difference in my life.

My pantry looked like this for months and months:



I couldn't find anything. I really dreaded going to the store because I knew I'd have to put my food away when I got home, and where would it go???

I bought lots of things that I didn't need because I didn't know I already had it.

I love the random Easter basket from LAST YEAR! on the floor. And Andrew's Halloween candy was still up there in his jack-o-lantern. I have a hard time letting go of holidays. :)

There were jars about to fall off the shelves and tons of stuff that just didn't belong in the pantry - my command hooks, to-go coffee cups and all our childproofing supplies.

So I took every single thing out of my pantry. Well, almost everything.



And put it all in my dining room:



Bwahahaha!

Why do I have that much food?? Why do I have dog treats from four years ago?? Why do I have THREE bottles of white vinegar? What am I going to do with it all??

My plan of attack:

• Throw away all the old, expired food. There was surprisingly little old food so I didn't waste too much.
• Move everything out that didn't belong there.
• Group like items: baking, snacks, dressings and condiments, cereals, paper goods, etc.
• Use baskets and containers!

And afterward, my pantry looked like this:



I know it's still full, but it's so much better! And it's actually a little better today as we've eaten through some of those cans of soup and diced tomatoes.

The baskets helped so much. I love those wire baskets that are corralling my baby food and snacks, and all the baking ingredients.

I thought about buying containers for all the snacks, but I decided to be realistic. I'm probably not going to empty all my boxes into containers after every shopping trip.

But I still know where new food will go when I'm putting away groceries. I know what I already have so I don't need to buy more until I'm almost out.

And I'm buying way less food. I'm being more deliberate in my purchases, not buying it unless I really think we need it and will eat it soon-ish. I don't want it taking up space in my tidy pantry!

It's really amazing what a difference a clean pantry can make.

I love it so much.

Are you working on any cleaning and organizing projects? I'd love to see! I'm always looking for inspiration!