For those nights when you forgot to start your dinner on plan on time or simply didn’t have one to begin with, an organized pantry is a life saver. It’s also a blessing when it’s time to pack lunches or grab breakfast on the run. But what if your pantry is a hodge-podge of cardboard boxes and heavy cans? What if you are overwhelmed by the abyss? Follow these four steps to conquer your cluttered space and put your pantry back to work.

Now that you know what items will live in your pantry, think of them in broad categories. Decide where each category will go based on the size and frequency of use, and then identify that area with a label. When we organize pantries for our clients, the most frequent categories we come across are:

• appliances (including mixers, blenders, and ice cream makers)
• baking (ingredients only, pans go elsewhere)
• beverages
• breakfast
• entertaining (including paper plates and plastic ware)
• fruits (in baskets or cans)
• grains (pastas, rice, bread)
• meats (in cans or dried form)
• sauces + soups (in jars, cans, or bottles)
• snacks
• spices overstock (to replenish your on-hand spices kept near the stove)
• spreads (jellies, nut butters, and honey)
• vegetables (in baskets or cans)

Assigning areas, or zones, to your pantry will help you find the items needed when it’s time for meal prep. They also prove their value when you return from the grocery and need to quickly empty your bags.
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For most people, the kitchen is the heart of the home.

EVERYTHING happens here. From snacks and lighthearted conversation to dinner parties and budget discussions, this room is obviously more than countertops and food prep. The only way to keep your kitchen functioning like the well-oiled machine it needs to be is to get it organized.

Divide your kitchen into several specific areas based on function. Your appliances will give you some clues on where each zone should be. Dishes, glasses, and flatware all belong near the dishwasher. This reduces the amount of time it takes to return dishes after they’ve been cleaned. Putting away the dishes is already hard enough --- so give yourself a break and keep them all close together. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE using these cabinet shelves from Container Store to create MORE space.

The oven and stove top are the center (or end caps if they’re separated) of your food prep zone. Keep measuring cups, mixing bowls, can openers, vegetable peelers, oven mitts, and cooking utensils nearby. Drawer dividers are a life saver and will ensure your prep pieces remain exactly where they should be. Pots and pans also belong here.

Anchor the food storage zone near your refrigerator. You may have a separate pantry that will house food items too. These spaces are ideal for Tupperware, Ziploc bags, and lunch boxes.

​Finally, create a zone for serving pieces like platters, specialty dishes, ice cream scoops, and salad tongs.
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Your kitchen functions best when it’s got some breathing room. Keep your cabinets, shelves, and drawers no more than 80% full. This allows you room to lift items out or set them back in place without knocking other things out of place or creating a Tupperware avalanche. To edit the extras, you’ll need to see what you have. Within each zone, pull all the similar items out. Most folks have an excessive number of mixing bowls, spatulas, and bakeware. What’s excessive? Keeping more than what you normally use between dishwasher runs (roughly 2 days' time).
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If you’ve got items that you need to keep because you normally use them, but don’t use them on a weekly or even monthly basis, then they don’t need to take up the prime storage areas of your kitchen. Prime storage encompasses the drawers, cabinets, and shelves within easy reach. If you’re only using that turkey baster at Thanksgiving, keep it with your turkey roasting pan in the deep, dark, hard to reach corner cabinet or in the garage if your kitchen is short on space. Your dishes, spices, and pantry items should follow suit. Keep the most frequently used items nearby, and lesser used items up higher or lower.
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Now that your kitchen contains the items you need in the appropriate areas, make it a habit to always reset the area after meals or at least at the end of each day. It’s nearly impossible to cook what you want and use the correct materials when you need them if you’re always having to pause to wash what you didn’t wash before. Wash, dry, put away dishes and prepware when you finish. Don’t forget to catch the crumbs with a quick wipe down of all counters, cooktops, and the kitchen sink. ​

​A client recently asked me, “What’s the right amount of _______? When is enough enough?”

The question spurred a trail of thoughts a mile long. Every person is going to have a different answer for every area of life. The avid cyclist will have more accessories that I can count, while the once-a-year cyclist may just have the bike. The answer to the question lies in your love, need for, and use of all the things available within a given category. No matter the level of enthusiasm, there is wisdom in establishing healthy limits.

Here are your top 3 guidelines to help you discover when your enough is enough:

Each item in your home is used at least once a year.

This may sound like a tall order, but it’s easy to achieve if you give yourself the time to tackle each category and make decisions. Clothing is the best category to begin with and laundry is your easiest way to measure frequency of use. Runners who run 7 days a week and only do laundry once will require 7 outfits. Employees who work in an office (with no uniform) or teachers will most likely do laundry at least once a week, but may require 10 outfits so that they don’t feel like they’re repeating themselves every week. Instead, 10 outfits allow for a potential repeat only once every two weeks. Some folks like to have even MORE variety in their wardrobes. (I highly caution more than 3 weeks’ worth of outfits.) The Pareto Principle attests that we’re only using 20% of our stuff 80% of the time, so to help you identify what you’re actually wearing (all the time AND at least once a year), try this little experiment.

• Pick a date.
• The day before this date, make sure ALL of your clothing is laundered and/or dry cleaned.
• On your set date, turn everything backwards: hangers in closets, folded shirts facing the opposite direction, underwear on the other side of the drawer (use a divider like an empty shoebox if necessary).
• For the next 12 months (or less if you can finish the experiment before that), whenever you use an item of clothing, store it forwards (or the way it used to be before your start date).
• At the end of 12 months (or less), whatever you see you aren’t using needs to be edited. These items may be donated, tossed, or recycled. You might even sell them on Facebook, Craigslist, or Ebay. BUT THEY CAN’T STAY in your drawers or closets.
• This practice also works with other categories in your home. Simply turn the item (hammer, towel, serving platters, etc.) toward a different direction or angle to easily identify which things you have and haven’t used. There are a few tools that sometimes do not pass the twelve-month test, but may pass a two-year test. The point is to pare down your belongings to get to the point where you have enough. There are always exceptions, but exceptions are only exceptions by definition if they are RARE

Dust is at a minimum.

When you are actively using everything in your home, those items will be touched, moved, or laundered on a regular basis. Have you ever seen a pair of shoes tucked in the back of your closet covered in dust? You know why they’re dusty and your other shoes aren’t? I bet it’s NOT because you only dusted the other pairs. Who dusts shoes?! No, that one pair is dusty because they haven’t been moved in months. But what about snow boots? Well of course, those will probably get dusty --- that’s an expected casualty of the seasons. Don’t play hardball --- you know exactly which shoes I’m talking about --- the ones that you know won’t pass the “worn in a year” test. The point is, when the things in our home have a purpose, less dust will settle. You’ll still need to vacuum, mop, and dust, but your work will be cut in half because ….. (wait for it…..)

Your closets, drawers, cabinets, and other storage areas are at least 25% empty.

The emptiness not only creates ease of accessibility, but it also allows the air to flow properly through your house. Proper air flow equals less dust. If your storage areas are always jammed full, then you’ve simply got to ask yourself if all the items within them passed the first test. If they did and you’re still overflowing, then you might be one of the VERY few people in the world who NEED more space. Just a warning, parenting during the infant stage will create a very FULL home. There are a TON of things you need for such a small person, that the hoard is almost laughable. But take heart --- you won’t need all these things for more than each little person’s first year of life. You might feel the need to store and reuse for the next child (thus “breaking” the Twelve Month Use Rule), and that’s normal. Choose an area that is out of the way and not easily accessible like an attic, basement, or someone else’s extra storage space during the “waiting for baby” period.

Ready to find out if you have enough already? I bet you are and I bet you do. When you follow these three guidelines, the items that are more than enough can be released to make way for space, freedom, and even newer/more useful things. Some clients realize at the end of their edits that there are items missing; items not previously owned but needed. Clothing staples and capsule wardrobes provide great examples of how to purchase more after eliminating the excess. 

Share your experience below!!!

It starts small with a night stand or an entry way table. Eventually, clutter crowds out kitchen counters, cabinet shelves, table tops, and closet floors. Clutter can even take over beds, chairs, sofas, and floors if you're not on the lookout. 

​If that's true, then up to 80% of the clothes in your closet, dresser, and, dare I say, on the floors might be CLUTTER.

So should we just grab some trash bags and start filling donation boxes? No. No, please, for the love of organization, don't do that!
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​Instead, let's analyze your possessions and your space. Let's go on a treasure hunt as we sort and identify all the things you need, use, and love. Let's set up organizational and storage systems so that you can efficiently access (and return) those treasured items. Then we'll consider what's left. If you've got room for the things you MIGHT need one day and REALLY want to hold on to and POSSIBLY will serve their intended purpose two decades from now, then we'll find an appropriate way to access those items as well.