Pantry Perfection Take 2

Several years ago I did an overhaul on my pantry that revolutionized the way my family can find things in there. It has worked very well but now that my kids are older that means they are in charge of getting their own snacks and packing their own lunches and so I knew it was time for a change. Plus, there were some elements that needed tweaking for myself as well. Organization is a process after all. Sometimes the system needs to adapt and grow just like we all do.:)

I started with the bottom row of the pantry AKA the "snack bins". Originally, I had put all snacks into four different bins. I tried to organize them by category but they mostly didn't stay that way. And while everything is contained you can see that things were spilling out. Another problem that occurred was my kids were awful at using up a snack and then putting the empty box back in. When I'd make my grocery list I'd check the pantry, see the box, and assume that there was still that particular snack. It led to extra trips to the store and things taking up space that didn't need to. Kinda annoying really. 😕 So I got to work!

First I cleaned out all the snack bins and tossed stuff that was empty or old. That is the first must in any organization project! You don't want to store unneeded things! Next I went to the store and found clear shoe box containers for $1.50 each. Then I took all the snacks out of their boxes and put them into the containers by category. My thinking was if the snacks were in clear boxes I could see easily how many were still there which would help with grocery shopping.

With this method I can now fit ten boxes where there used to only be three! They look great and I was able to customize it perfectly for my family's needs. Now everyone can find the exact snack they need and I can see when I need to buy more of a specific thing.

The labels are an essential part to organization. It helps everyone find what they are looking for quickly! A friend of mine told me she has a similar method for snacks except she made a bin for each kid. I like that too!

With the kid section under control once again, I turned to the next section of the pantry that needed some help... The baking section. If you recall from my previous pantry post I have my pantry divided into zones: cooking, baking, breakfast, snacks, and then the floor hosts large objects that don't fit on the shelves. Still thinking on how to keep that more organized. ;)

The baking section of the pantry worked okay-ish, I had divided the spices up by tall and short and written their names on the lids. That helped a lot but I was still doing too much searching when looking for a specific spice or herb. So I began researching spice racks that don't take up a lot of space.

That's when I found this "beautious" (quoting my daughter Aftyn) thing! It's a spice rack that mounts to the inside of the pantry door!! I bought some clear spice jars and labels and suddenly finding the right spice has become so quick and easy! For one thing they are alphabetized and they are in clear jars so I always know when I'm about to run out. And I absolutely adored the "farmhousey" chicken wire style. Love, Love, Love!

With that taken care of, I turned to the rest of the miscellaneous baking items that used to be in a messy bin. I read about mini lazy susans in a January issue of Better Homes and Gardens (guys, if you are needing organization ideas check out January issues of homemaking magazines. They always have great tips!) I bought two mini lazy susans from amazon and put all my other small baking things on them. Now when I am looking for something, all it takes is a quick swivel! The baking chips are set snugly next to them in another clear bin for more easy access.

Doing those two easy things opened up a lot of space in my little corner pantry and I was able to slide my baking sugar and other canisters into the corner. Then I made a bin just for baking mixes, then another for bulk spices, and finally a shallow basket for cooking oils. Baking zone all done!😇

One more tweak. Originally I had been storing cans in two bins which kept them contained but made it difficult to find what I was looking for. I finally decided it was time for a can rack. It's a little big so I had to put it up on the top shelf in the pantry which I thought might be a pain because I'm not that tall but you know what? I like it where it is because I can look up through the rack and see what I need to get for dinner. 

Confession: I did all these projects at the beginning of 2019. 😳 I meant to blog about it but never got around to it. Life with five kids tends to be busy, y'all. But I'm kinda glad that I've waited until now because that means I've had my new ideas in place for a whole year and that's given us all a lot of time to see how well they work. Well, let me tell ya, they've all worked out great! I LOVE the spice rack and I'm keeping up so much better with the snack situation. All in all, it was time and money well spent!

I hope my ideas can work for you too!

Freeze!

A couple of days ago I did a quick little organization project and I thought I'd share. I organized my freezer... Prepared to be "frozen" with fear at the messy site! Ha ha! ;)

It was a jumbled mess, let me tell ya. :) Normally, I clean out my freezer and fridge a few times a year but with my major foot surgery and recovery this past summer/fall/winter, a lot of things got pushed aside. The freezer was one of many areas that suffered. Each shelf was packed and who knows what was even lurking in the very back? There were some mystery items, for sure. :)

The first step in any organization project is purging. Purging is where you take everything out of your space and go through it all, deciding what stays and what goes. Because I was working with frozen food I had to do this rather quickly. One very full garbage bag later, and I was ready to place all the remaining food back in.

Since I also have a large stand-up freezer in the garage, I decided to use the kitchen freezer for the things we use regularly and the garage freezer to hold the extra stuff that doesn't get eaten as often. To make the shelves able to stay neater I wanted to store the food into two bins, side by side on each shelf. The kids and I made a quick trip to the dollar store to see what we could find.

I was bummed to discover that my freezer shelves weren't wide enough to get two bins on each one. So I had to settle for one bin per shelf but it still works because the bins work as a divider of sorts which makes things easier to see and find. Here's how I categorized my freezer.

At the top is the "Treats" shelf. It's a terrible picture but for now all I have are my beloved boxes of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies. I have a love/hate relationship with these things. I love to eat them but hate that they tempt me to eat an entire box in one sitting. ;) This summer it will also be the shelf for ice cream too. No one really wants ice cream until it's good and hot outside.

In the middle I have a shelf for frozen breads. My kids love the maple french toast bagels (they sound gross to me). They take them in their lunches and since I always have extras, I freeze them until they're ready to be used. In the bin I put our frozen biscuits from Schwan's. They're really good and we have them with dinner very often. The shelf below has the things the kids and the husband eat for lunch when they are home. We store the box of chicken nuggets on its side so it takes up less space.

The bottom shelf and drawer have our frozen breakfast items and veggies/fruits. My littlest guy refuses to eat cereal for breakfast like the rest of us so we always have a steady supply of Eggo waffles and french toast sticks around because those are the only things he'll eat. I love frozen veggies because they are so convenient to add to recipes. I don't particularly enjoy cooking so anything that speeds up the dinner making process, I'm all for. ;)

The upper door shelf got the meats I use most often in it. I try to feed my family healthy things so we use lots of ground turkey in our dinners, chicken meatballs, and when I do use hamburger, I mostly only use half and freeze the other half for a future dinner.

The middle and bottom shelves got the frozen potatoes and the kids' ice packs for their lunches. After all my cleaning I actually had a little shelf with nothing on it. I'm sure it will get filled up quickly enough. It always does. :) If you noticed I decided to label my shelves. I'm hoping it will help us all keep things more organized in the future. 

I also did a quick cleanup of the garage freezer as well. It was full of things we had intended to eat over the summer while I was on bed rest but my picky kids didn't like half of what we picked out. Grr. In the door are all my cherries. My silly cherry tree decided to produce a bumper crop of cherries over the summer and of course I couldn't do anything with them. So I had my mom freeze them all for me and nine months later, I'm still working on using them up! Anyone want any cherries? ;)

I didn't have enough "happy foot energy" to do too much to it, but at least it's cleaner looking now!

With a little time and a little effort my freezers are functioning so much better! And with the Dollar Store helping, this project cost me a whopping $3 bucks! How's that for a win?!? Woo hoo!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Today I looked at the cabinet under my kitchen sink and gasped. How on earth did it end up looking like this?!? I'm supposed to be organized! Then I thought back to the last time I had cleaned out this cupboard and suddenly drew a blank. When was that...? I honestly could not remember, which probably equates to never. At least not since we moved here. Eight years ago. Yikes.

As you can see, once upon a time, I had made somewhat of an effort to contain stuff. I see a couple of bins and a grocery bag container. There's too much stuff in the bins though and there's even more junk hiding behind. This cupboard is in serious need of a makeover! Well, ahem, that happens to be my specialty, you know. So I had at it. I love me a good organization project!

First the little dude and I made a meandering trip to Target. You know, the kind you can only make when four out of the five kids are in school. Yeah. I love those trips. The others? Not so much. ;) Anyway, I digress... Where was I? Ah yes, Target. I love that place! Knowing that I already had two big bins to work with I was on the look out for some stacking shelves called shelf helpers and some smaller bins. Target did not disappoint!

When I came home I got to work. First I pulled everything out of the bins and decided what was a keeper and what was a tosser. I filled a garbage bag with tossers. Eight years became painfully obvious at that point. As you can see the bins were nasty. Years of things being spilled in the bottoms had not been kind to them!

Thankfully, they were good quality bins and all they needed was a good scrubbing. :)

After I cleaned the bins I continued on to empty out the rest of the cabinet. There was a friendly little Easter sticker waiting for me in the back. Hello little Easter egg! How on earth did you get there? It's a mystery. After all the dirty work was done I got to the good stuff. Placing!

An under sink cabinet is tricky I discovered. There's plumbing and a garbage disposal to work around. I had to rearrange things a few times until I found the most accessible and logical way to place things. I used one of my shelf helpers to place the garbage bags. Always try to place like items together. It'll make it easier for everyone to find/ put things away later.

Here's my favorite Christmas present of all time right here. I LOVE my label maker. After all of my items were placed in their appropriate containers, I whipped out this bad boy. Most organization projects aren't truly complete without labels. I can't emphasize this enough! Obviously, you don't want to label everything but an under the sink cabinet (or anywhere not out in the open for that matter) is a perfectly acceptable place for some labels.

I opted to place the labels on the tops of the bin handles. Since the cabinet is under the sink, it will mostly be opened while looking down into it. This will make the labels easily seen.

And here's the finished product! The extra garbage bags are tucked away neatly in the back but still easily reached thanks to my shelf helper. Another shelf helper sits on the other side and contains the extra hand soaps and has my handy rubber gloves (I don't like touching raw meat) underneath. The dish products are now in a little bin of their own instead of being lost/ spilling out every which way. And all the miscellaneous cleaners that I don't use as often are grouped together. 

It looks so much better and I'm confident my husband will be singing my praises tonight when he reaches under the sink to find the dishwasher detergent. That's right. My husband does the dishes at my house. Every night. Jealous? You should be. ;)

And that folks is how I conquered everything but the kitchen sink.

Sugar Sweet

Brown sugar turned rock hard? No problem! Take the heel from your loaf of bread and throw it in with your sugar. Within a few hours the sugar will have absorbed all the moisture from the bread and be soft again. This is a tip I learned from my mom and is probably well-known but I thought I'd share it anyway. :)

Here's some interesting facts about brown sugar. I learned some new things and maybe you will too!

• Brown sugar is essentially white sugar that has some molasses mixed into it. 
• Some people think that because the sugar is brown it is healthier (think white rice vs. brown rice) but it's not the case. Sugar is sugar whether it's white or brown. :)
• Because brown sugar has molasses in it, it makes cookies slightly chewier when baked with.
• Because it is not very abrasive, brown sugar makes a great exfoliant for skin.

And because I'm trying to make this post be at least a little interesting (ha ha) here's a recipe also that features brown sugar. My good friend Charlotte shared it with me and it is super easy and very yummy. Four out my five kids liked it which is really saying something for my picky crowd!

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

1 can diced tomatoes
1/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
3-4 chicken breasts
Mix tomatoes, brown sugar, and pepper flakes. Pour on chicken. Cook.on low for 6-8 hours. Shred. Serve on tortillas, cheese, lettuce and sour cream. Also good on a salad.

And this concludes my informative yet slightly boring post about brown sugar. Funny, when I told my thirteen-year-old daughter about the post I was working on she responded with, "Yawn. Mom that is so boring. If you want to keep your followers you'd better come up with something more interesting." 

Well too bad, Ainsley. It's staying boring so there. Homemaking isn't too awful exciting but I for one happen to find brown sugar interesting so there! Hmm, I think I need to get out more. ;) Leave it to the teenager to "keep it real". ;)

Making Grocery Shopping Great

Hi! I'm here today to make your life a little easier. What? You are always looking for things to be easier in your life? Well great! You've come to the right place. :)

A long time ago when I was a blissful newly-wed my husband and I used to do our grocery shopping together. We'd meander up and down the aisles buying what was on our list and anything else we wanted. Time was never important. We enjoyed our bonding time at the super market. Fast forward to us five kids later and that happy time has come and gone. I cringe if I have to take all the kids to a store and even shopping with my husband has lost its appeal. Bottom line-- Grocery shopping is a chore. I dislike it. Somehow having five kids and very little time sucked all the fun out it.

Being an organizer like I am, I decided the only way I could make grocery shopping a tad "funner" was to add some organization to it. Here's how I did it:

First off I started with this cool doo dad. It's a dry erase board on my refrigerator. I really can't take credit for this brilliant idea. My sister-in-law has one in her house and I copied her. Thanks, Michelle! So anyway, the purpose of this board is for everyone in the family to write down grocery items as we run out. I try to avoid in-between visits to the store and like to only go once a week if I can help it. This doesn't always work out but training everyone to write down what we need helps tremendously. Hmm, apparently my son wants some car stickers and I need rubber gloves. Random? Yes. Typical? Yes. :)

This past year I have had a new baby at my house and trying to think of meals that A) my family would eat and B) were quick to make was becoming increasingly difficult. So I decided to make a table of all the meals we liked to eat and divide them amongst the days in the month. I tried to come up with at least two for each day so we could have more options. This has worked out great and it has taken all the guess work out of meal planning. Plus, my kids don't have to ask me what's for dinner anymore. :) Oh and in case you're wondering, yes, we do eat breakfast for dinner every Sunday. My husband cooks that day and he only knows how to make breakfast. Yummy!

With my handy list as my guide, I then turn to my kindle fire. Using ColorNote I type in all the menu items needed for the week as well as the things that were written on the dry erase board. Since my meals don't change from month to month I can save the list and reuse it the following month for the same week. Brilliant! I usually put all the items that are found on the same aisle on the same line for added convenience. One quick tap and the item crosses itself off. It's very cool. I can also move items up and down on the list so I can arrange my list by order of the aisles in the store. And yes, I do that. I am that geeky, er organized. ;)

With these three simple ideas grocery shopping has become slightly more enjoyable and much quicker too. Here's one more tip: Become an early morning shopper. If you can get to the store before 9 am you will shave at least 15 minutes off your trip. 

Use that 15 minutes to have a piece of chocolate while you read your favorite book. You've earned it!

Spice Up Your Life

This poor sad, neglected blog! Life has gotten away from me since being pregnant and now having an almost 6 month old plus four other children. Frankly, I have barely had time for the normal things let alone some organization projects. Mostly, I've been just trying to survive and maintain the systems that I've already put in place. I'm feeling a need to share today though so I guess you're in luck!

This little project is simple but will change the amount of time you need in the kitchen drastically. I had my 10-year-old do this one for me when she was in need of a little extra cash.

Voila! I don't know about you but I was super tired of never being able to find the spice or herb I was looking for as I prepared dinner. Nothing irks me more than not being able to find something! Luckily, the solution was so simple! I just had my daughter write the name of the spice on top of the lid.

Then I arranged them alphabetically and by size. Now when I need something I simply have to glance at the lid to find what I'm looking for. Spice racks are also handy but I have too many spices to fit in one. I love these flat baskets though. I bought them in bulk from Amazon. No, I am not kidding. :) They are awesome!

So there you have it. Simple project, but life-changing. Anything to make your life run a little smoother, right? By the way, I am done with my craft room now! Stay tuned!

Yes You Can(ister)!

First off, I am sorry this poor blog has been so neglected. I am pregnant with baby number five and unfortunately even though I am almost 6 months along now, am still sick. Go ahead, feel sorry for me! I know I do! Ha! Anyway, just because I've been sick doesn't mean I haven't been organizing. The big project at my house right now is a total redo of my craft room. I am so excited about it! It won't be done for a while but it will be awesome when it is. I'll tell you all about it for sure!

Today's post is about the glorious world of canisters. Hey when you're an organizer you get to use words such as "glorious" when referring to storage. It's part of the job description! So moving on... canisters can really make a difference when it comes to having an organized pantry.

Just look at how great my pasta looks! No clunky ugly boxes here and the best part is I can see exactly how much I have left of each. Looks like I'm running low on the mini-rotinis! All of the canisters I bought at Wal-Mart for a low, low, price except for the spaghetti container which a Tupperware product. You can spend as much as you like on storage solutons but I prefer to save money as much as possible when I de-clutter.

To aid my frazzled memory I simply write how long the pasta is supposed to be baked on the inside of the lid with a permanent marker. It doesn't get any easier than that!

Another thing I like about canisters is you can squeeze a whole bunch into a small space. My pantry is not very big but because these canisters are narrow I can fit six into a space that's only about a foot wide!

Currently, these are the things I am storing in canisters: dry milk, brown sugar, bread flour (I have a bread machine), corn meal, powdered sugar, whole wheat flour, white rice, brown, rice and I recently added a canister for dried potatoes.

For the rice and potatoes I simply cut out the cooking instructions and tape them to the canisters so I know how to cook them. Looks great!

I will try to be more regular at posting but I can't make any guarantees. In the meantime, it looks like you've got some work to do. Happy organizing!

Kitchen Drawer Dilemma... Solved!

The holiday season is upon us and you know what that means right? Lots of time spent in the kitchen creating yummy goodies for all to share! Why not seize the opportunity then to get a little more organization in your kitchen to help the Holidays be a tiny bit less hectic! Every little bit helps, right?

This used to be what my utensil drawer looked like. Not pretty, huh? It was a huge pain to find anything in there and sometimes it would take my husband and I a couple of tries of digging through it before we found what we were looking for. So frustrating, especially when dinner was already on the table! One day I decided enough was enough and began brainstorming to find a better way to organize my cooking utensils. Here's what I came up with:

I went to the store and purchased some very inexpensive drawer organizers. They can be found in the kitchen department of any Wal-Mart or Target. Seriously, they're like $1.50 each for the white ones. I think the black one was more like $7.00 and normally I wouldn't have bought it but two more white ones wouldn't fit. :( I measured my drawers first so I knew that! I then categorized the utensils as best as I could and placed only the utensils I use the most in there.

The every-so-ofteners found a new home in a separate cupboard in my kitchen that had some extra space. The rolling pin was a bit too awkward even for this space so eventually I moved it from this cupboard to my kitchen towel drawer which is the only other place I knew I would remember where it was. My mom always kept her rolling pin in her towel drawer too. Why was that Mom? Probably because it didn't fit anywhere else!

Finally, the serving spoons and spatulas went in a caddy right next to the stove for easy access. I love this caddy. It's very homey don't you think? Plus, it uses hardly any precious counter space.

These drawer organizers work for any drawer. See how I used them in this drawer? To the right I have all the baby utensils and medicince droppers. Up at the top I have my measuring spoons. I love that they're in their own space because when I'm cooking or baking I just pull out the whole basket and have all the measuring spoons right at my finger tips.

So there you go, a super easy (and cheap!) way to organize your kitchen drawers. No more excuses, get to work! ;)

Pantry Perfection

With four small children I have a very limited amount of time to prepare meals, every second counts to be able to get things done, especially for my very impatient 2-year-old. :) Clutter and chaos drive me crazy and literally make me panicky. So I have organized my pantry in such a manner that I can easily find what I'm looking for. I've done this using several different sized bins and containers.

Here's how to get started:

1. Pull everything out of your pantry one shelf at a time (taking the opportunity to discard things you don't need)
2. Categorize items in a way that makes sense to you
3. Make a list of all the categories so you'll know how many bins to purchase
4. Once you've purchased the bins, organize your food accordingly
5. Label each bin
6. Place food back on shelf according to genre

Helpful Hints:

• Use different sized containers for different sized foods ie small flat baskets for spices, deep bins for flours and sugars, pourable containers for pastas, etc.
• Don't waste money looking for storage items at a specialty store, the cheapest places I have found are Drug stores and Wal-Mart.
• Keep similar foods together ie all baking items on one shelf, all cooking items on another, breakfast, drinks, etc.

Examples of what could go in each bin:

1. Bread (include peanut butter and extra jellies)
2. Packaged dinners (Mac n' cheese or Hamburger Helper)
3. Rice
4. Flours/sugars
5. Soups/sauces
6. Oils/Vinegars
7. Misc. baking
8. Baking chips/nuts

Organize your pantry in a way that makes sense to you and be sure and let your husband and kids in on the system so it always stays nice and neat!