An untidy pantry is not a pretty sight.  Our pantry nose-dived into chaos after our baby was born.  It sat in neglect for months as clutter accumulated, making it not only an eye sore but also a challenge to navigate.  Enough is enough!  I finally got around to sifting and sorting through the mess and thought I’d share my process and results with you.

I knew this was more of a clean-up project than a reorganizing one, as the last organizational overhaul I implemented seemed to still be working for us for the most part.  The clutter was a result of neglect, not a dysfunctional organizational structure.  It’s important for me to comb through my pantry on a regular basis to make sure we are using about-to-expire items and generally tidy up.  I honestly can’t remember the last time I did a proper pantry purge.

It took me about an hour total to go through each shelf, toss expired items, sort nonperishable food to donate, and tidy up.  I took the time to wipe down each shelf and empty out crumbs from the bins.  What a difference an hour of dedicated attention makes!  I didn’t change the organization of the pantry except for moving one shelf down a bit and swapping the location of a few items to suit our current needs.  I use an Elfa system in our pantry which makes it super easy to tweak the structural arrangement whenever I need to make changes,

I am loving the finished result!  The arrangement and location of food and other items suits our current needs with a growing little one.  We eat mostly fresh foods so it’s easy for nonperishable items to get lost in the mix.  I’m going to try to make a point of doing a pantry sweep seasonally from now on so it doesn’t descend into chaos again.

I share much more detail about the clean up, including a proper before and after tour of the pantry in this video:

I hope you enjoyed this peek at my pantry clean-up.  I’d love to know if you’ve been inspired to take on a neglected space in your home lately.  Completing manageable projects like this motivates me to tackle even bigger ones.

Happy Tidying!

* This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are genuinely my own. *