I spent most of this afternoon and evening reorganizing our pantry. I know, sounds like loads of fun. I just came to the realization that I hated what a mess it was and the fact that I was constantly just stuffing things wherever I could fit them. Then I said to myself, "Self, do something about it!"
So, on Friday I measured the shelves and headed to Wal-mart. I had seen a pantry organized by baskets in a magazine a few months ago. They had a basket for spaghetti fixings, taco night, etc. It was cute, but I knew I'd need to organize a little more generally to make room for everything. As you can see from my before picture, it was a wonder I could find anything or retrieve an item without having six others falling out behind it. Honestly, there have been nights when Josh and I will be upstairs or in another room and hear a loud thud.
J: Did you hear that?
L: Yeah
J: Wonder what it was?
L: I'm going to go ahead and guess something in the pantry
I've also included a photo of what the kitchen looked like in the middle of my project. I'm ashamed to say that this is how much is in my pantry on a night when I would typically say, "we don't have anything to eat, guess we better go pick something up!" This photo does not include one other counter top you can't see and my kitchen table (which was primarily filled with paper products & utensils...how many plastic spoons does one family need?)
Fast forward a half hour and I had most everything in a canvas bin and loaded on to the shelves. It's harder to see what you have at a glance, but I feel like I've made more room for things. I guess I could have bought clear tubs, but this looks much nicer. The bins will soon be labeled, and who knows...maybe I can keep it organized like this?
Josh had to work in the ER tonight and so Jack and I were just hanging out after he left. I was preparing some stuff for a luncheon on Sunday and trying to get a few things put away when Jack decided to play in the fridge. It was so close to bedtime and it made him so happy, that I just let him. I'm guessing it defeats the purpose of having an Energy Star appliance if you leave the door open for 5 minutes. I'll try to be more green tomorrow.
In other news, I finally labeled the storage bins in my pantry...2 weeks later! I think the only reason I finally did it was because Josh & I went out tonight and I was afraid the sitter would look in the pantry and think I was a looney tune! I wanted to make sure she could find the snacks and popcorn, if she felt so inclined. I'd also like to point out how ridiculously full some of these bins are. I'm ashamed to say the one spilling over the most is the Chips, Cookies & Candy bin (in the top right corner of the photo)! 
