Pantry Organization on a Budget

Lately organization has been ALL THE RAGE. I’ve always been a pretty organized person but this year I’ve made it a huge goal of mine to get extra tidy and for everything to have it’s own place. Trust me when I say, organized home = organized life. I have been trying to pretty much Marie Kondo my whole life/home and my most recent project was my pantry. I got so inspired by seeing so many others do the same but the one thing I found that I didn’t like? The price tag that came along with buying all the bins, baskets, containers and such. I mean, I love organizing as much as the next but listen, I’m not about to spend $2k at the Container Store to do so. With that being said, I thought others might feel the same so I wanted to show you guys how I got neat & tidy in the pantry on a budget.

So here’s how I got started…
STEP 1: DE-CLUTTER

1. Take everything out (yes everything 🙂) This is probably the worst step because you see how much accumulated nonsense you have that you completely forgot you had. One thing to note? Check the expiration date of EACH and EVERY product. I can’t even begin to tell you how many things I had to get rid of with this step alone. I’m also shocked I allowed myself to keep expired items for so long. No joke, I think some were expired in 2015. Gross!
2. Organize into piles. Put like items together so you can see how many you have. This is important so you can decide how many you really need in each category, what kind of bins you may need and so on…
3. Designate 3 bags:  trash, recycle, charity
4. Go item by item and ask yourself if you really need it (and if they are expired).
5. If you haven’t used it in a full year get rid of it!
6. Continue until you have made it through everything in your pantry.

STEP 2: TIME TO SHOP

Once you’ve gotten rid of everything you don’t need, you can think about what bins/containers you want to get everything organized. To save on budget, I utilized items I already had which were the white bins you see above (from Ikea) and the OXO Containers. I’ll be honest – the OXO containers are not budget friendly BUT I have had them since my first condo so they last a LONG time and work very well. Other than that, I did a little research online. Saw a couple things I wanted at the Container Store like the expandable pantry shelf & spice organizer as well as the lazy suzan to organize additional spices and such. For about everything else, I went to Ikea and saved a TON of money. Here’s what I got:

Container Store Items (a bit more pricey but liked the design of these):

Ikea Items I purchased:

A little more in detail about some of my favorite items I purchased:
Risatorp Wire Basket: I like using these for my pasta sauces, fruit/veggies and my extra Keurig pods! Super convenient and they look cute wherever you decide to use them.
Pluggis Bins: These come in a bunch of different sizes and I actually use them all over my house. They are great separators and in my pantry I use them for things like snacks, protein powder, tea, and packets.
Knagglig Box: Obsessed with this box since it looks cute AND you really cannot beat the price. I bought a bunch of these to organize smaller items together. I have a ton of dog treats so I made one box for that, another for sides, baking and soups. I searched a ton of places and these were the best bang for my buck! The only downside is you have to put them together. To me it was worth the savings so I was all for it!
Holder for Container: When I saw these at Ikea I really wanted to try them out and I love them. You can basically attach these to any shelf make use of the space under your shelves in a smart and efficient way. I am using one for items such as onions/garlic and another for small potatoes!
Korken Jar: LOVE these jars! I didn’t want to purchase more of my OXO POP containers since they are super pricey so I went for the Korken Jars from Ikea! The jar has an airtight seal, which makes it perfect to store foods!

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STEP 3: ORGANIZE

Bring the food back in, but don’t just throw those tuna cans anywhere. I chose to put everything that I use regularly in plain sight. The way my pantry is, it is VERY deep but not a walk in or anything like that. I hate having to get a step stool to get to the top and I also hate to have to bend down to grab things so I basically just utilized those two areas more so for items I don’t grab often. I used bins to categorize like items together such as dog food, snacks, cans, packets and sides. This way everything has a place and all is organized. When you are looking for something you know exactly where it will be and that is the BEST feeling ever!

STEP 4: LABELING

When it comes to labeling, there are a few ways to go about doing this. I didn’t want to spend $100+ for a label maker, but if you have one definitely go ahead and utilize it! What I did was just went on Amazon and got pre-made labels as well as blank ones in case I needed to make my own. These are the pre-made pantry labels that I loved and they have them in a ton of different fonts if you prefer another style! These are the blank chalkboard labels and they come with an erasable chalk marker as well.

That’s it! Make sure you guys keep it organized once you spend the time to do all this and I swear you will be totally obsessed!