Fortunately, life has gotten a lot better over the last few months, and we've all settled into a routine that works. Meals are no longer stressful, homework is done without much complaint, and the clutter is slowly coming back under control. However, one of the places that has remained in chaos has been my walk-in pantry. Until recently, we had a "no entrance" policy for the kids (one of those fantastic boundaries that we set in place until everyone had figured out how to behave), which meant that the pantry became our catch all for... well, just about everything.
The kids went back to school two weeks ago, and I've been playing catch up on all the tasks that I'd been putting off all summer. That include a thorough pantry clean out and reworking, which finally happened this week. On Tuesday I pulled everything out of the pantry and started over, shelf by shelf. I ended up with a full sack of garbage, and a full bag for the charity shop as well. As the shelves cleared out, I realized that my pantry clutter was actually costing me money. For example, I won't need to buy salt for the foreseeable future, as I have four bottles and two bags of it! I don't need to continue to buy small jars of cumin, because I have two industrial size bottles that had been lost behind other items on the shelf.
On Friday I paid a visit to TJ Maxx and picked up several storage bins to help organize what remained. While the kids watched a movie last night, I hid away in the pantry, creating sense of calm organization on the shelves. The result might not seem like much, but suddenly, I know where everything is. I know if we're getting low on something, or if we're out of something. The Hubs (who does as much cooking as I do, if not more) walked in, took one look, and loved it! When we needed hotdog buns for lunch today, he knew right where to go. When I used up the last of the ketchup, I knew where I could find our replacement bottle. It's only been a day, but I'm already in love.
Now, if I could just get our other catch-all (the laundry room) and storage spaces (the basement) to the same level... #UnclutteredGoals
During the Purge (left) and After (right) |
No comments:
Post a Comment
A reminder: there are more than 400,000 words in the English language, please use them wisely.