
A resource for those seeking information on organizing and transforming spaces.
How to Clean and Organize Your Pantry
Cleaning and organizing your pantry are some of the simplest ways to prepare meals more quickly and for less money. Making food or a weekly meal plan is simple when you can see the ingredients you have on hand. A tidy pantry prevents you from overspending on items you already have and will also save you from squandering money on things you forget about.
Cleaning and organizing your pantry are some of the simplest ways to prepare meals more quickly and for less money. Making food or a weekly meal plan is simple when you can see the ingredients you have on hand. A tidy pantry prevents you from overspending on items you already have and will also save you from squandering money on things you forget about.
Not only will cleaning and organizing your pantry make mealtimes a lot simpler, but it will also move you closer to a healthier, happier family.
Why Cleaning the Pantry is Important
Some believe that the pantry doesn't require cleaning, but it's a great practice to give it a thorough cleaning at least once a month. By doing so, you'll be able to manage the food in the pantry and cut down on waste. Routine cleaning is also essential to prevent pests like mice and weevils.
How to Clean the Pantry
STEP1. Provide space to hold your pantry stuff.
Emptying your pantry is the first step toward organizing and cleaning it. Therefore, make a spot to hold whatever you've been storing in your pantry. Using your clean kitchen countertop is an option, but if moving items, there will take a lot of walking and slow you down; lay a mat on the floor.
STEP2. Divide food stuff into four piles.
KEEP- Food you and your family enjoy! Food that you have recently eaten up and might see yourself consuming again. All the fresh stuff that you just bought in the grocery.
DONATE- Included in this pile are any foods that are still edible but that you are not planning to eat. Put it here if you have something you bought for a recipe but never used and don't want to use. Put everything in a box and deliver it to the food bank in your area.
TRASH- Expired food items and open containers must be put in this pile. Do not think twice! If it is too old to consider eating, appears off, and has a foul smell, throw it away. If you are not going to consume them now or soon, it is better to dispose of them now.
COMPOST- Any food item that fits the "trash" pile but is compostable and not rotten. Find a compost collection nearby or compost at home. If you can't compost for a while, you can store it in a closed container in the freezer.
STEP3. Dust and sanitize the shelves.
It's time to address the actual space. Put on your best cleaning gloves, grab the all-purpose cleaner and some rags, and start cleaning the shelves where the existing food supply will stay. You only need to wipe them down to remove dust and grime, and it won't even take long.
STEP4. Repackage your dry goods.
It's not just for Instagram; you should store dry goods like pasta, cereals, and other items in clear containers. Protecting your food from home pests, which may multiply and eat down paper and even plastic, is also essential.
To prevent pests from entering your containers, make sure they lock or seal tightly. If you wish to use labels, go with opaque types if you like being able to see what's inside them quickly. Additionally, square, stackable containers are preferable to circular ones if you have a tiny pantry because they take up less room.
STEP5. Make strategic shelving.
You divided the items you regularly use from those you only occasionally use when taking items out of your pantry. It's time to put things that you frequently use in one collection. If you often bake cookies, keeping your baking ingredients close to the sprinkles and chocolate chips will save you a lot of time. Maintain a relative distance between the pasta and canned vegetables if you love to make soups.
A helpful organization tip is to arrange items on the pantry shelves according to how frequently you use them. As an example, consider this:
Top Shelf: Food and other supplies for special occasions or seasons.
Eye-level Shelf: Foods you frequently use, arranged by purpose like baking ingredients near your cookie cutters.
Easy to Reach Shelf: Healthy snack options you want your children to choose, as well as less regularly utilized foods with a long shelf life, such as canned goods.
Bottom Shelf/ Floor: Items that are too risky to put on higher shelves. The bulky and heavy ones must be placed on the lowest part.
Additional Pantry Cleaning and Organizing Tips:
Make a master list to record what you still have in the pantry and what ingredients you need to replenish.
Repel annoying moths by putting up muslin bags with fresh bay leaves, mint, lavender, or cedar.
Keep the food in sealed containers, and be sure to mop up spills or crumbs right away to stop pests like bugs from entering your pantry.
If your pantry has deep shelves, try installing pull-out shelves so it will be easier for you to access the food items at the back.
Maximize your pantry by utilizing its door. Install door shelves to hold small containers or jars like spices and condiments.
5 Organization Projects to Get Done This Summer
The days are getting longer, the weather is gradually improving, and everyone’s allergies are acting up. It can mean only one thing: summer is upon us.
The days are getting longer, the weather is gradually improving, and everyone’s allergies are acting up. It can mean only one thing: summer is upon us.
If you’re a sun worshipper, then summer is the best time of year. You get to spend quality time outside in your garden and can finally have fun outside without having to pack multiple layers of waterproof clothing.
Summer is a great time for fun and relaxation, but it’s also a good time to get on top of organization projects that may have been on the back burner during the long winter months.
Home Improvement Tools
When was the last time you truly reorganized your garage or cleaned your home improvement tools? In reality, most people never take the time to clean, repair, and reorganize the home improvement tools that they keep in storage during the winter.
Failing to organize your home improvement tools can lead to damage and decay, as your clippers, trimmers, and garden forks will likely rust if left in cramped, damp spaces. You can better organize spaces like garages during the summer by:
Adding shelving to raise tools off the floor
Using plastic bins with a seal to prevent condensation
Adding windows like canopy lights and LED lights
Utilizing hardy storage cabinets to reduce clutter and get more from your space
Organizing your home improvement tools is a perfect job for the summer. You won’t have to work with cold hands and can focus on DIY projects from dawn to dusk.
Gardening Supplies
During the pandemic, many folks discovered a deep love for gardening. This is hardly surprising, as gardening gives us all a chance to complete simple-yet-rewarding tasks like sewing crops, deadheading flowers, and watering vegetable patches.
But, as any green thumb knows, gardening requires some serious organization. You need to organize everything from your seeds to your shovels to ensure that your plants are happy throughout the warm growing season.
Building a shed is the best way to organize your garden supplies. You’ll need to choose plans that suit your space and should think of a gardening shed as a workspace and a storage unit. This means you’ll need space to work on things like planting seedlings but should also have deep shelves and a plethora of hooks to keep your tools near at hand.
When building a shed in the summer, look out for potential leaks and cracks before you call it a job well done. It’s easy to forget the heavy rains that come with the winter and spring seasons, but you don’t want to be standing in a puddle while you try to sew seedlings next spring.
Outdoor Sports
Playing outdoor sports like tennis, softball, and badminton is a brilliant way to bond with friends and family during the summer. However, you need to stay organized to avoid disasters like rusted rackets or bent bats from ruining the fun.
You can better organize seasonal sports equipment by utilizing wall and ceiling space that prevents delicate goods like stringed rackets from becoming damaged. While all of your storage should be practical, you can show off your sporty side by hanging your prized possessions like road bikes or surfboards from PVC pipes. Hanging equipment in a safe but prominent location will also help you spot any damage and make repairs before you paddle or peddle out.
Crafts and Games
Some crafts and games like knitting and board games are best for the winter when the days are short and the weather is poor. If you find that your family is no longer interested in these winter activities during the summer, it might be time to donate to charity. This will help reduce clutter, aid your organizational efforts, and give you a little extra cash to reinvest in summer fun.
Some of the best summer games involve things like paddling pools, water fights, and simple games like bocce ball or cornhole. But each of these activities takes some organization on your end as a host — you don’t want to discover that you’re missing a ball or have a puncture in your pool when your family and friends are getting ready to play.
When organizing crafts and games, pay attention to mismatching sets and damaged goods as it’s usually easier to simply replace missing or broken items rather than repair them. Once you have taken stock of your crafts and games, try to keep all the pieces together in the same space by using plastic storage bins that keep everything together and prevent small animals or dampness from ruining the fun.
Pantry
There are few summer activities better than throwing a party for your friends and family during the summer. But, before you can become the Gatsby of your neighborhood, you’ll need to ensure that your pantry is well stocked and organized.
You can organize your pantry this summer by keeping a separate shelf for snacking kids who are enjoying their school-free summer. This will keep little hands from wandering into places they shouldn’t go and free up space in your pantry for cooking ingredients. It’s also worth keeping your stables like pasta and cereals in clear Tupperware, as you’ll go through a surprising amount of day-to-day food supplies when kids and friends are over at your home.
Conclusion
The summer should be a carefree season full of good times and memorable experiences. As your household’s Chief Organizing Officer, you can get on top of projects like shed construction or pantry organization early as this will help prevent mishaps down the road and ensure that everyone has a good time this summer.
How to Make Your Cleaning Routine Faster (and Easier)
Let’s be honest: Life is busy. From work to the kids’ activities, the gym to the grocery store, the list sometimes feels neverending. So where, in all these, do you ever find the time to keep a tidy home? There are only 24 hours in the day, but the chores need to be done too, right?
Let’s be honest: Life is busy. From work to the kids’ activities, the gym to the grocery store, the list sometimes feels neverending. So where, in all these, do you ever find the time to keep a tidy home? There are only 24 hours in the day, but the chores need to be done too, right?
You might think cleaning is a constant, time-consuming job, and you could be right. However, there are ways to keep your house looking and feeling great without slaving away for hours on end. Check out these ideas to get your home clean and organized from House to Home Organizing.
Adopt a Daily (or Nightly) 15-Minute Routine
It may seem like 15 minutes wouldn’t allow for much, but you’d be surprised at what you can get done in that time, especially if you do it every day. Fold a load of laundry, load or unload the dishwasher, wipe down surfaces — take your pick! All of these can be done in a short amount of time, taking at least one item off your to-do list for the day.
Even better: Get the whole family involved! Have the kids pick up their toys or tidy their rooms, get your partner’s help decluttering or vacuuming — the possibilities are endless. When you’re done, you can relax together, and knowing you’ve cut down tomorrow’s chore list will feel great, too!
Get digitally organized
If you don’t have copies of all your digital photos in the cloud yet, you should get on that. A digital picture frame will keep family photos present in your life, instead of hidden on a hard drive. It’s also not a bad idea to archive digital documents by tax category or year with an app or online tool that can easily merge PDF files. Then, you can store these combined files and documents on hard drives or in the cloud.
Prioritize… and Outsource!
The very idea of cleaning the whole house is exhausting and can leave you feeling defeated before you even start. This is where prioritization comes in extremely handy: choosing your most essential 2 or 3 chores and doing those first, leaving the rest for later, if necessary. This way, your home stays clean in the most important places, as well as making your load a little lighter when it comes time to do the less urgent chores.
Whether you prioritize high traffic areas like the living room and kitchen, or the bathroom is your arch-nemesis, it’s a good idea to make a quick 2-3 item list before you start. This can really save you time and mental energy when tackling the parts of the house that matter most.
All that being said, don’t be afraid to enlist a little help. For instance, you won’t know what you're missing until you’ve hired a professional organizer. When you use your space more effectively, you save time and money!
Keep Cleaning Products Handy
Who wants to be running all over the house, looking for that spray or sponge they need when you’re already pressed for time? No one, that’s who! Keeping your cleaning products handy near the spaces they’re used for will save you time and energy when you’re cleaning.
Bathroom products go in the bathroom, kitchen products in the kitchen, and so on. This helps you feel prepared and organized, leaving your brain focused on the actual task at hand: the cleaning! Of course, certain items can’t be stored where they’re needed all the time, but having a dedicated space makes them easier to find when you need to.
Spice Up the Old
Tired of your old, drab couch or that used-to-be cute recliner? Before you spend hours upon hours shopping for new furniture, consider giving them a makeover instead! You’d be amazed at what some brightly colored pillows or a cozy, plush throw can do to bring life to something that’s lost its luster.
The busy life has become the norm, and we all deal with it differently. Whether we sacrifice our serenity for our schedules is up to us, but thankfully it’s not always necessary. Dedicating a little time on a regular basis, along with some prepping and organization, can do wonders for your space and your sanity. Feel free to try these ideas on for size next time you’re cleaning, tidying, or decluttering, and see how they work for you!
Need to get ready for a move? Need help organizing for a parent or senior? House to Home Organizing offers in-person and virtual organizing to help you turn your home into a clutter-free sanctuary in Fairfield, New Haven, and Westchester counties.