Spring Cleaning with Thrifty 101.....The Pantry

Welcome to:

The reason I wanted to start this segment on my blog is to motivate myself (and any readers that need the motivation) to stop wishing their house was clean and organized and start doing something about it.

I've seen a lot of blogs this past week that are talking about organization and ways they simplify their lives by organizing and cleaning their stuff.  Well, the weather here has been in the 40's for a few days (I had the windows open yesterday to "air out" the house!) and I'm in the mood for some serious cleaning!  So follow along with me or join me and let me know how your Spring Cleaning is going!

Here is the photo that started it all for me:

 

Isn't this amazing!?!?  From a blog titled "Delightful Order" you'd expect nothing less! I actually left a comment on this project referencing my own pantry and the crumbs that I know are on the shelves and floor.  So here is a before picture of my pantry:

 Not organized and hard to find stuff.  We have "general areas" but no designated spaces.  So I started by clearing off one shelf at a time:

 I wiped down the shelf and scraped up anything that needed to come off.  I then measured the shelf and applied White Contact Paper:

 I was AMAZED at how nice it looked after!  This was the 1/2 way motivator for me!  A while ago I bought these wire  hanging shelves at Walmart and this is how I've opted to use them:

 We don't eat THAT many tortillas, but they last FOREVER and if you have ever had to buy them when they are not on sale.....you understand why I stock up on them at .79! :)  And I have a ton of recipes that I can use them in if they start to approach their expiration date. (like my Edible Snowflakes)

I put my new Label Maker to work:

 Then I hung a 2 prong white metal coat hanger to hold the adult aprons.  I have a smaller hook below for the kid aprons.  The adult ones were too big, they were hanging on the floor so I moved them up.

And here is the final result:

Lets see them side by side:




It doesn't seem like much improvement, and certainly nothing compared to Delightful Orders.  I can see what we have, there is some kind of order and the shelves aren't cluttered. I was surprised at how many boxes I had with just a few things in them.  Boxes of Ice cream cones with 2 left, 1 granola bar left in a box...you get the idea.  Once I got all those boxes out it really opened up some space. I've used space on the walls to hang stuff that we hadn't accessed yet......I think it looks pretty good!  It works for me and my family and that's what matters.

So......Here comes the "join me part".  How does you pantry look?  Hopefully this has motivated you like Delightful Order motivated me.  Feel free to grab my Spring Cleaning with Thrifty 101 button (yes, the one I made myself ;), go clean your pantry and come back and tell us how it went!  Link us up with some pictures too so we can all OOOOO and AHHHHH over them!

I have a list of areas that have been bugging me that I'm going to feature in my Spring Cleaning segments.
My next Spring Cleaning with Thrifty 101 post will be about my "Craft Closet"....or as my husband refers to it my "Crap Closet".  Stay tuned!