Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Pantry Clean-Up

Y'all, I'm so embarrassed. I've organized my pantry and as a result, I'm about to show you how unorganized I am:


The inspiration behind this pantry clean up was not all of the Pinterest photos and organizing blogs out there, suprisingly. You see I always admired their antics, but considered them to be for those who considered organization a priority, for those who invited other people to look into their pantry. Me? I'll have you over, cook you dinner, and talk (or dance) the night away with you- but don't you dare look in our closets. 

This was working really well for me, actually. And then we put our house on the market. The first time someone called to say they were coming to see the house, I panicked and went to throw everything in sight into a closet. And then it dawned on me: these people are coming, to look in my closets! Gulp.

So I hauled all of the stuff that I normally would have put in the closet into our SUV (Sport Utility Van) and drove away. For real. But I fear I may not always have time, even for this clever maneuver. One realtor actually called when they were in our driveway to say they wanted to see the house. Thank goodness it was presentable at the time. The only bummer was that I was making hard boiled eggs. Wasn't the olfactory experience I was going for...

Anyway, check out the before and after pic of the pantry (don't mind the poor lighting, it's been dark and rainy for three weeks now):
This is what I did (I can't believe I'm actually giving tips on organizing. This is funny, like, I'm laughing at you  with you, for reading this).

1. I got rid of a whole lot of things that I didn't have a use for: a few tablespoons of graham cracker crumbs, expired items, untouched items (I tried to like you green tea, I just couldn't).

2. I actually had empty canisters in this closet, and boxes of things that could have been stored in said canisters. Why wasn't I using them? (Lazy) Hey, I heard that.

3. Recently, at my friend Rachel's house, I noticed that all of her spices were stored neatly in a kitchen drawer: genius! Even with my three tiered shelf in the pantry, I used to have a hard time finding the spice I needed.

4. I have a LOT of those small wooden crates that clementines come in. I couldn't bare to toss them and I couldn't bare to see my friends toss them, so I have a collection. I organized bags, jars, cans, snacks, and miscellaneous items into the different crates.


5. Things were looking MUCH better, but it needed a little pizazz. So I covered the clementine boxes with paper from my favorite stack and it looks sorta snazzy all of a sudden.


I stare into my pantry a lot now. I stared a lot before too, but that was only because I couldn't find anything I was looking for. Now-a-days, I just admire the organization that a non-organized person has attained. It makes me want to call back all of the people who have visited our house with their realtors and say "Please, come back! I've organized my pantry! I'm not totally gross! Just don't look inside my mini van!".

2 comments:

  1. You have me smiling and chuckling, miss Erin! Especially laughing at us for reading your org. tips, lol! But, really, it looks so good. Way to go with the pazazz.

    Maybe i should come mess it up so your house doesn't sell?

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  2. Thanks, lady! You had me worried that I misspelled pizazz, but I did my research and both "pizazz" and "pazazz" are acceptable- phew!

    ReplyDelete

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