Pantry organization and my cereal storage solution

Good morning! It is still beautifully snowy outside this morning! As much as I have the spring bug, I must admit the sun shining with frost and snow blanketing everything is a gorgeous site to see!

 I recently did a pantry beautification/organization. You all know I have some issues and things that are organized, functional and look good are kinda my thing.

Here some of the ways I keep my pantry tidy and organized. First I removed everything. I bought the checkered liner at Fred Meyer, and lined all of the shelves. Someday I would like to paint the shelves and go with clear liner.

Bins and baskets. I do wish mine all matched, but I used what I had on hand. I may get busy with some spray paint if I don't find some that are perfect at the right price. Most of the plastic ones are from the dollar store. The wicker type ones are from Fred Meyer, or TJ Maxx. White baskets with a little chalk board label would be perfect and I'm on the look out.

But for now.... Instead of keeping all of the granola bars, breakfast bars, microwave popcorn etc. in their boxes (that never get closed) I dump them in to a bin, labeled of course. Small spice mix packets are in a small wood bin I found at Jo Ann's. Floor space is used for bulky items. Bins for corralling flour and sugar, small bags of chips, potatoes, and my back up coffee pods.

Jars. I put items we always have in the pantry in jars, also anything I buy in the bulk bins at the grocery store. These go on sale often and can be found at thrift stores and TJ Maxx type places for cheap. Tape on cute labels, the cute ones I used were from The Farm Chicks store that is sadly now closed, you can add instructions for preparing as I did with my oatmeal. Scrap book paper also makes for cute labels. I just taped on with packing tape.

Group like items together. Mac and Cheese, Top Ramen and Maddie' s favorite dry soup go in a basket together. All the pasta is put in a basket together.Canned goods are grouped together on risers, all wire shelves are from Shopko. All breakfast foods are on a shelf together. As well as baking stuff etc.

 

Cereal boxes are so bulky and take up so much space. Here is my solution.  I take all bags out of their boxes. I made clothes pin labels to tell what is what, and put them all in a big basket.

Here is a how to make your own cereal clothes pins. It is easy peasy.

You will need, scissors, clothes pins and chalk board con-tact paper. Chalk pens work best because of the small surface you will be writing on. (I also used the con-tact paper and chalk pen on some if the jars.) I could only find both the con-tact paper and the markers at Michael's.

Simply measure and cut con-tact paper to the width of the clothes pins, remove the backing and stick it on. Trim any over hang with tiny scissors. Then write the kinds of cereal. These don't have to be perfect...

Place them all in a big basket.

Lastly here is a full veiw.

So, does my pantry always look this tidy? No, but pretty close. It just needs a little straightening now and then. With a place for everything, everything is almost always in it's place.