A Clean Pantry!

I got to work on my pantry this past weekend!  So far, I've done the office and the pantry in my journey of organization/simplicity.  I basically have 1-2 areas/rooms of the house I am trying to do each week.  It's going to take awhile, but this is the only way I know how to do it when I have so many other responsibilities.  Anyway, I am so excited about my cleaned out pantry!  I have actually half way cleaned and organized it once before, but it just didn't stay that way because I really didn't do a good job.  This time, I am determined to keep it nice and clean and organized.  Even the kids were excited about it:).  I have to say, that I am VERY blessed to have a big pantry.  I love all the room I have in it, which is why it really needed a system.  For the past 2 years, it really had just become a place we stuffed things into.  Anyway, moving on to pics...

BEFORE

DURING

I literally took EVERYTHING out and had it on my counters, table, floors, etc.  I cleaned every shelf and the floor in there really good! 

AFTER!

I put new contact paper/shelf paper on the bottom shelf of the panty.  The existing stuff was so dated and dirty!  It looks much better!

I pulled the paper off the left side shelves (pic below) and if I had more time and patience, I would have painted them a fresh coat of paint...but since I had neither of those on Saturday, I just left it the way it is now (which is a bit stick and peeling...but hey it's WAY better than before)!  The right side shelves (pic above) I just left as is.  I got even more impatient and didn't feel like peeling the paper off.  I might do it another day soon though.

I think the key for me, was getting a lot of the junk and food that was old and should have been thrown away awhile ago.  Also, key for me...is using lots of baskets so everything has it's place.  This also helps Samuel know where he can go in the pantry for a snack since he has a shelf basically devoted to him and his gluten free self:)! 

Yay for organization!!!