Our pantry is located near our front hall closet.  It is in a horrible location, especially since we have baby gates that block it off to use easily.  Things are hard to get and we are just not using the space the best, so today for the organize back to school challenge, we are focusing on organizing a pantry.  There are some amazing ways to organize and decorate a pantry and I’m sharing some of those on my Pinterest page, so go check it out!

I have shared a few of my pantry organizational tips here and here.  Some easy ways I have organized my pantry and helped clients organize their pantry, is to keep all like foods in a bin or container on the same shelf.  By keeping all canned goods on one shelf, a shelf for baking, a kids snacks shelf, a spice shelf, and a pasta shelf, you are able to locate foods quickly, and can meal plan easily.

But, if your pantry is anything like mine, it is not as functional as one would want.  If my organizing tips didn’t work for you, then what if you change how you think of a pantry.  I’m talking about putting all cooking equipment, cooking gadgets, and glass baking dishes into the pantry and moving all the food into the kitchen!

By putting all of your cooking and baking dishes in the pantry instead of food, you are able to space out your dishes so you can actually see what you have.  You are also able to keep the food in your kitchen, which is where it should be!

To accomplish this, I took out everything in all the cabinets and pantry and set it in the dining room.  Then I sorted through everything and threw away anything that had expired.  Then I took all the baking and cooking dishes and put them near the pantry.  I sorted everything out and spaced it out on the shelves.  I wanted to space it out so I could find things easily.

Now it’s your turn.  Get to work on organizing your kitchen!  And don’t forget to follow along on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ for more pictures and tips!  And share your progress using the #organizeback2school!