Day 13: Pantry {31 Days of Easy Decluttering}

Welcome back to 31 Days of Easy Decluttering!  If you’ve missed any of the previous posts, there are links to them all here.

Today’s Easy Decluttering Project

Today we’re decluttering the pantry.  If you don’t have a separate pantry, you can declutter any other kitchen cabinet(s) you keep your food in.

Ever opened your pantry door and had boxes of macaroni fall on your head? Or rushed out to buy more cans of something you need for dinner, thinking you were out, and then found 3 more cans buried at the back of the cupboard the next day?

Pantries need to be decluttered from time to time. Nearly every time I organize a kitchen for a client, we start with decluttering the pantry. Food gets pushed to the back when we add new food and then over time we forget it’s there and it expires. Or we waste time searching for things we know we have, but just can’t find. It’s all a waste of time and money.

So, take 10-15 minutes today to declutter your pantry!

Easy Decluttering Steps

Throughout the series, you’ll follow these steps to complete each daily task.  {Don’t forget to take before and after pictures to share too!}

Note: The main purpose of this series is to declutter so don’t get overwhelmed doing too much cleaning.  Once your house is less cluttered it will be easier to clean so you can always come back and do it later!

Also, if you have the time, you can organize the space while you’re doing this step, but don’t get overwhelmed with too much organizing this month.  We’re focused on decluttering!

Purging Tips for Your Pantry

Follow the steps listed above, and use these tips as you purge (step #5) your pantry:

  • Toss any items that are past their expiry date or covered in dust (unless it’s something you still feel comfortable eating past the date – that’s your call!)
  • If necessary, throw out items that have evidence of “visitors”
  • Relocate items that do not belong in your pantry (based on the purpose you determined in step #1 above)
  • Give away or donate any food products you bought, tried, and decided you didn’t like (e.g. a brand that was on sale but you don’t like it as much as your usual brand)
  • Get rid of foods or ingredients you won’t likely eat or use (e.g. that spice you bought to make something but have never used again)
  • Combine/consolidate items where practical to reduce the number of open packages

In terms of what to do with the food you’re decluttering, you can donate to a food bank but PLEASE make sure everything you donate is not expired. You can also have a “pantry swap” with neighbours or friends – each person brings several items from their pantry that they don’t use and everyone chooses things they do like.

Even if you’re an organized person, your pantry probably needs some occasional purging. But if you haven’t done it in awhile, take a few minutes today to get it done. You’ll be glad you did!

My Pantry

This picture of my pantry was taken several years ago. It still looks pretty much like this picture, aside from different varieties or brands of some of the foods and a few less small appliances. The baskets help us ensure we’re using up items before they expire because we typically grab from the front and restock at the back. I still need to go through it a few times a year because there’s always some bags with just a few chips left or granola bars we got tired of eating.

This pantry is at the end of our kitchen near the dining room and is used mainly for breakfast, lunch, and snack items (and a few small appliances that don’t fit in the rest of our cupboards). Our dinner foods and baking ingredients are in the main area of our kitchen, closer to where we actually cook and bake.

If You’re On A Roll…

You can go beyond decluttering your pantry, and organize it to help keep it from getting cluttered. There are TONS of great pantries online to give you ideas.

Just don’t get caught up in making your pantry so pretty that you make it hard to maintain. For example some people love the look of decanting everything into glass jars or clear containers, but that’s quite time consuming to keep up all the time (and let’s face it when we get home after grocery shopping we just want to put things away as quickly as possible because we’re tired). So if you’re short on time, open baskets may be a simpler solution for you.

You also don’t have to spend a fortune to organize your pantry.  Use the ideas you see online, to figure out how to make your pantry work for you.

You can read more organizing tips in this post: 31 Days of Organizing Tips:  Day 10 (Pantry)

Good luck with today’s decluttering project!  I’d love to hear how you did, so please leave a comment and use the hashtag #31DaysEasyDecluttering when you share your pictures.

How many items of food did you declutter today? How do you organize your pantry to keep the clutter at bay? Any purging tips I missed?

If you need help decluttering, contact me for in-person organizing services in the Mississauga area, or virtual organizing services anywhere else.

Happy organizing decluttering!