Week 2: The Pantry

We are now moving into our second project. I picked one that I have been wanting to work on for a awhile now. The pantry! I recently was at a friend of a friends house and she had the most organized and clean house I've ever seen, and she has four kids. I was in awe. I was most impressed with her pantry. Everything had a place. She had all opened food in containers. All her canned food was organized and stacked. It had nice shelf liner on all of the shelves. It was beautiful. It inspired me.

A website that I enjoy is called Real Simple. They give some tips on cleaning and organizing your pantry. For a link to the article click here. They are:

1) Empty and categorize

The first step is to get everything out of your pantry so you can see what you have and start sorting. Separate items into these four categories:

• Items you use every day
• Items you use less frequently
• Unopened items that can be donated to a food pantry
• Expired or suspicious items to trash

2) Clean the shelves

Now that your pantry is completely empty, take this opportunity to vacuum any crumbs off of shelves and the floor. Then wipe down each shelf with a damp cloth and let dry before reloading. If you need to buy extra containers or organizers to corral items like spice jars, now is the time to do it.

3)Restock smartly

Refilling your pantry in organized zones is the best way to ensure you don’t have to do another pantry overhaul in a couple of months. Start by putting baking items (flour, sugar, baking soda, etc.) in one section and breakfast items in another. If you have kids, set up a snack zone so they can find what they need easily and don’t rifle through the other shelves. Keep heavy items, like jugs of olive oil, on the bottom shelf, and the stuff you reach for every day—lunch ingredients, pet food—at eye level.

Finally, stash a stepstool in the pantry, if you have room, or nearby to make reaching high shelves easy. You’ll be amazed at how much time you can save by being able to locate the

couscous on the first try.

Good luck and don't forget to send in your pictures to cleanbyspring@gmail.com.