Donna Harper from Clear & Simple shares tips on how to cut the pantry clutter.
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When the pantry is cluttered, we spend time and energy looking for things. We also spend money on items that we don’t end up using because we are unaware of what we have or can’t find them. Fall is a fabulous time to clear out your pantry before the Holiday cooking and baking season begins.
See It
Preliminary to any organizing project, in this case clearing your pantry, it’s important to determine why your clutter exists. Doing so, will help you avoid recreating the chaos. Ask yourself these questions in relation to the area you’re organizing:
What’s working?
What’s not working?
Why does the chaos exist?
You can also See It literally by taking pictures. These pictures will provide an objective view of exactly what exists within the space as well as provide some great before pictures. I encourage you to take additional pictures when you finish your project so you can see your progress!
Map It
After you determine what is currently working and what’s not, it’s time to make a plan. You can create this plan in a number of ways, but one of the most powerful is to simply ask yourself, “What is my vision?” Once you know what you want your space to be, you can make better decisions regarding what to keep, throw away or acquire during the actual doing of your project. Your visions will help keep you on task. Another aspect of mapping is to actually schedule when you are going to do your project. Block out time on your calendar to do your project and honor that time as you would for any other commitment.Do It with S.T.A.C.K.S.™ one step at a time!
Sort
o JUST SORT! Make no decisions! Sort into categories: cereals, snacks, paper products, baking goods, canned food items, etc.
o Use banker’s boxes to sort into.
o Label each box what the contents are.
Toss
o Ask yourself, “Do I use this in my cooking?”
o Check for outdated items.
o Do the Toss at your high energy time.
o Go through one box at a time.
Assign
o Create zones within the pantry that match your bankers boxes ie: cereals, snacks, paper products, baking goods, canned food items, etc.
o Find the best home for your items by usage, ie: highly used items more accessible.
Contain
o Measure! Measure all shelves height, depth and width, especially if the shelves aren’t adjustable.
o Leave open space.
o Use consistent containers.
o Consider which containers are most appropriate to the items you’re containing. Plastic in pantries is most functional, easy for clean up and see through so that you know what you have.
o Choose containers you love. Baskets in pantries bring a warm, homey feel and are great for breads and snacks.
o Some of the containers I love for pantries are—
•Clear plastic 15qt. containers, available at Target, Wal-Mart and other big box stores. Clear plastic containers are great for pastas, rice, snacks, etc. Shoe box sizes are great for jello, envelope mixes and all those little things that always fall over.
•Shelf stackers double your available space and are great for canned goods.
•Under shelf baskets are another way to double your available space.
•Again, baskets just look fabulous!
•The stepped expanding shelves or gravity feed can rollouts are perfect for those lost items toward the back and are great for canned goods, available at The Organization Place in Orem.
Keep It Up
o Label! Label every container and the shelf it belongs on.
o Create systems and establish routines.
Simplify
o Ask—
§ Does this serve me in my life today?
§ Will I use it?
§ Do I have room for it?
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For detailed information on Marla Dee’s Clear & SIMPLE™ Systems of See It. Map It. Do It.© and S.T.A.C.K.S.©, go to clearsimple.com. These systems will transform your organizing experience from stressful and overwhelming to fun, simple and freeing
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