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Thursday, August 28, 2014

Pantry Organization on a Budget!

The pantry is one of the most accessed places in the entire house, so it's important to make sure that everything has a place! I was super excited to move into our new apartment because I would finally get my first pantry. Here's a look at how I have organized it: 

Everything in the pantry was contained using bins that were either on clearance or from the Dollar Tree. This entire section in the above picture was organized by spending around $30!


The large square fabric bins were from Target on clearance for around $4 each. They hold all of our larger snacks. I added Martha Stewart chalkboard tags to specify what to keep in each one.


 These are all reused jars. You can wash out your salsa and spaghetti sauce jars to store spices. Storing spices here is a lot more convenient and aesthetically pleasing than the plastic bags they come in!
                                   

To the left, I kept some Indian spices in containers from the Dollar Tree. Some of them are still in plastic because I need more jars!


On the right, I kept our some snacks for my husband's office in little buckets from the Dollar Spot at Target. They came with the chalkboard stuck on it already, and I thought the snacks would go perfectly in there. Easy to grab and go in the mornings!

Bags that contained a larger quantity of dry goods were placed in larger containers, also from the Dollar Store. Here I've kept different type of flours and lentils. Inside the most used containers I've inserted measuring cups for convenience. 

Then we had chocolates all over the place. Most of them are hostess gifts or from the husband :) It takes me months to finish a chocolate packet (ice cream finishes much faster around here) and I had too many of them lying around in their original packets. It looked really messy, so I took them out of their original packaging and put them in portion sized Ziploc bags. This made it look more uniform. At the back there are some drinks.

I didn't put the cereal in different containers because I felt it was easier to leave it in its original box. The rack is wide enough to have a double row of cereal boxes, so that's great.
 

This is one area I had struggled with for a long time - paper plates, cups, bowls and napkins. I found these baskets at the Dollar Tree and they keep everything really organized. Things are finally not toppling over everywhere! The chalkboard stickers were from the Dollar Spot at Target - $1 for a pack of 12. I have used and reused them many times, they continue sticking great on various surfaces.

I keep the rice on the floor because it's too heavy to put high up and reach for every time. I refill a container we got with rice once every time rather than using the fabric bag it comes in. There's a measuring cup in here as well. I've put it on a shelf riser. Underneath that, I store onions and potatoes. The box slides out very easily. 


Right above the rice is the right side of the pantry. Over here, I nailed in a couple of Wrap Organizers and they hold a lot of items. This is definitely not part of the $30 budget, but I installed it because it always remains neat and is long-lasting.


On the other side of the pantry, I hung all of my cleaning tools. Hanging them using simple nails keeps them from toppling on the floor and opens up the space in the pantry. Don't be afraid to use the wall space! There's no point in wasting it.

Finally, here is where all I keep all of our canned goods. This is another example of things never getting messy because everything has a very specific place. Although we barely ever have canned food, it's essential to keep extras in case of emergencies. We also keep shelf safe milk as backup for emergency situations.

If you add up all of the costs in total, the pantry has been completely organized from top to bottom for around $80. This beats the professional organizing systems that can cost thousands of dollars! What do you think of it? Would you make this investment?

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3 comments :

  1. I love all the labels, especially the top ones. Super cute!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love that you posted about desi things as well! Usually, the masala packets are the messiest :) Good job!

    ReplyDelete

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