I asked our Vendor of the Month, Melissa Vasa of Thirty-One, to share her tips for creating a CLEAN and TIDY pantry. I don’t know about you, but this is one area I struggle in. Between kids roaming the shelves for goodies and myself running in-and-out in a hurry,
I find it a jumble-y mess!
Just for reading this blog post, Melissa is offering you FREE personalization on any order placed in July of 2014 (you can personalize everything in your order)! Visit her website to check out the goods and then send her an email with your order to get the free personalization! melissavasa@msn.com
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Time to get that pantry organized!!!
With busy schedules, hungry kids, and at times messy husbands, our little food haven can start to look a lot like a messy food pile-up. Don’t worry! With just a little bit of time and in 5 easy steps you can get your pantry looking like a dream. 🙂
Make time!!! This one might be the hardest… we are busy moms and sometimes cleaning or organizing is the last thing we want to do when we have some time. Look at it like a treat to yourself – you will feel so much better when you have an organized pantry for your family, and you will save time not having to wonder where that box of noodles is hiding. 😉 This is a perfect nap time or early-morning-during-cartoon-time chore.
Declutter! Get rid of that Cream of Mushroom soup from 2009! Throw away all of those expired “non-perishable” items, and if you have food that isn’t expired and you know you’ll never use it, gather up a collection for the Food Bank.
Organize! This is where you can start to make your pantry really work for you. Categorize your items and group them together. Canned goods should all be together, and the same goes for dry goods, baking items, grab n’ go snacks, you get the idea. Organize your food so that you know right where to look when you need something.
Add Functional Storage Solutions! Here’s where you can have some fun and really increase your pantry’s efficiency. 🙂 Use bins and labels to help keep you organized in the long term. Plus, it just looks pretty! If your kids rummage through your pantry, tossing things around until they find what they want, then put those snack goodies they like in a collective, labelled bin! Put all your baking items in one bin so that when it’s time, you can set that whole bin on the counter while you bake, having it all within arm’s reach and making it easy to put away. The ways you can use bins in your pantry are endless!
Keep It Up! The trick to keeping it organized is putting things back where they belong – you can do it! When you put groceries away, remember to keep up the de-cluttering and move things out when they no longer belong. The hardest part might be training your family – help your kiddos learn where things go, and keep their bins and boxes where they can reach them. Once you’re in a routine, it will be easy to keep that pantry looking great!
A little organization can go a long way – taking some time to spruce things up is a long-term investment in your time and satisfaction. Give it a try!
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Melissa Vasa is a wife, mom, high school counselor and 31 consultant. She and her husband have two little boys, ages seven and four, who keep them adventurous and busy. In addition to having a passion for helping high school students, she is addicted to Thirty-One products! When she learned that they were a faith-based, service-minded organization, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. You can check out some great products and what Thirty-One has to offer here: www.mythirtyone.com/melissavasa
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