Organise Your Pantry and Save $$$

As part of my Sort Your Life Out in 12 months series, I am currently focusing on organising my kitchen. I set myself a few goals (to say the least). Feel free to follow along and share pics! 

I have a gazillion Tupperware containers to help organise my pantry. I've even utilised an old lazy Susan to make all of our condiments easily accessible. But each time I go to the shops and there isn't enough time to put everything away neatly it ends up looking a little something like this:

My main tip for you when organising any area is to empty all the clutter out, clean said area, then only place back the things that you will use or that are functional in the space.

So when I reorganised my pantry that is exactly what I did.

First I filled a large container with warm soapy water (I used Nutrimetics OLC), emptied the cabinets onto my kitchen bench and wiped down the shelving with the soapy water and a microfibre cloth. 
Any items that are out of date or you won't use, get rid of them! Chuck expired products and donate the ones that were bought on a whim.

Once the shelves were clear and cleaned I could get to work on organising all of my dry goods in there. 

The top shelf consists of extras, like items I buy in bulk. I store them up the top and out of the way because I can only access the top shelf via some form of step ladder or standing on a chair (being vertically challenged and all that) so there is no point putting things I use regularly up there! Right? I also put enchilada and taco kits up there because we generally only use these once a fortnight when my two younger step children are with us.

The next shelf has all of my baking goods (and cake decorating items at the back of the shelf). I keep the baking goods in clear Tupperware containers that are labelled so I know exactly what is what. Nothing like using baking soda as icing sugar... mmmmm... 

The third shelf has dinner makings. Jar sauces, pesto, pasta, noodles, rice, Continental packets of rice and pasta for side dishes. I bought these small baskets from Kmart to organise my jars in. I admit they do take up some extra room, but not only does it look a tonne neater, it also organises the jars and packets of noodles so that when making a meal I can grab one basket and it already has all the pantry items I need to make the meal. That, my friends, is called time management.

The bottom shelf holds condiments and a Tupperware Veg Out container with potatoes in it. This shelf wastes a fair bit of space at the back, but it is so functional that it is just worth it. Method in the madness, and all that jazz.

The main idea behind keeping your pantry organised is that you will save money. If you can see what you have in there, you won't be buying doubles of an item you don't need. You also won't be wasting food by letting it expire at the back of your shelves. At the end of the day, you aren't wasting your PRECIOUS TIME searching high and low for things. If that doesn't justify that organising is priceless, I really don't know what could.

Do you have an organising system that may seem mental but just works?

Thanks for stopping by! Check out these Blog Hops and Linky Parties I'm getting involved with

p.s. There are a  few things I'd LOVE to spend some money on to help me organise my cupboards (those Kmart containers in my pantry now came to a whopping total of  $5! lol). I am going to share those with you on Friday