Spring cleaning can be a daunting task. Instead of tackling your entire apartment or house in one day, start small, room by room or section by section. Here at That’s it.®, we started with what we care about most - where we store our snacks! Check out three easy steps to get your pantry clean and organized.
1. Start with a clean sweep
Toss items that have outlived their expiration date. If you don’t use it, throw it out! Here are some examples of things you should definitely toss.
- Herbs and spices that are 1+ years old
- That sample of protein powder you got months ago
- Any bulk food that is older than you can remember
- Dented or unused cans
Instead of throwing out unused canned food, donate it to a food shelter or another organization!
2. Take inventory of what you would like to keep
Sort everything into groups before putting them back in your pantry. Abby Lawson, pro organizer and writer of Just a Girl and Her Blog says "I like to take every single thing out of my pantry when I'm decluttering so I can start with a completely blank slate.This allows me to clearly see everything I have and analyze my available space."
We categorized our pantry into:
- Snacks
- Condiments
- Baking products
- Canned good
- Spices
3. Categorize your pantry shelves
Organize your shelves by canned goods, condiments, spices and snacks. To make it easy to find what you need, keep what you use most front and center so that they are easily accessible.
Baking staples, including flour, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder should go in glass, airtight containers.
Once you know where you want everything to go, grab a sharpie and a label or masking tape and mark your baking containers with what is inside. Clear containers also make it easy to know what is in your storage containers.
Now that your pantry is in tip-top shape, make sure you have healthy snacks on hand! From our delicious fruit bars to our dark chocolate fruit bites, we have plenty of guilt-free options to add to your pantry.