This post is sponsored by Howards Storage World.
Read on for a fabulous giveaway that I promise will help you to get the problem area of your home organised!
When we recently renovated our kitchen I was excited to add drawers to our pantry, thinking that drawers might be the magical answer to one of my ongoing organisational challenges – the pantry! I have had a long term love-hate relationship with pantries. Or more specifically, keeping them organised. Having tried everything from glass jars to Tupperware, I have just never really found a complete system that worked for me. And those drawers in the new pantry, well they just caused a whole new set of challenges all of their very own!
In desperation I reached out to the team at Howards Storage World and I cannot tell you how appreciative I am of the help of Cathy Player, HSW’s Organisation Expert. Cathy helped me to see that it wasn’t so much about making one system work for the entire pantry, instead it’s more about creating zones within the pantry and finding a system for each of these areas specific to both the contents and the available space.
Cathy talked me through a simple three step process of STOP, SORT, SOLVE.
- STOP: Consider, what is really annoying you? What truly isn’t working?
- SORT: Group contents into like items – for example, baking, snacks, tins, bottles, etc, and prioritise the space available so that what you need to access all of the time is easily to see and easily accessible, right in front of you, at eye level. The next highest and lowest shelves become the zones of next priority and so on.
- SOLVE: What sort of storage will help you to keep the items in each zone organised? And this, of course, is where Howards Storage World can really help you find answers that will work for you.
Now it might not sound like rocket science but the Aha! moment came for me when I realised that instead of prioritising items that I used most frequently to the prime real estate areas, I had instead been choosing the location of each group of items according to what fit where. Which really wasn’t working!
So this is how it used to look…
…and this is how it looks now…
Here’s how we did it…
At the very top, our recipe books are kept organised with Viola A4 file holders. Dad 101’s wine sits snugly in a Cellarstak 15 bottle silver wine rack…and that empty shelf is primed and ready for a second rack… but he might just have to wait until his birthday for that one 😉
Heading down the left hand side of the pantry, you can see that we have replaced the uppermost drawer with a shelf. It might not be obvious from the ‘before’ photo but one of the major problems I was having with the top drawer was that it was just too high and I couldn’t easily see down into it. Exchanging the drawer for a shelf has made that space much more user friendly. It’s now home to our cereals which are so easy to see and access thanks to the fabulous Oxo Pop containers from HSW.
Next drawer down is home to our pasta and grains sorted into these handy baskets with front handles that are actually designed for use in the fridge – three baskets side by side fit perfectly in our drawers.
Then we have various packets sorted into three wide Mimi Separator baskets – two for savoury items and one for sweet.
The next drawer down is home to most of my dry ingredients now beautifully homed in a collection of Rosti Storers. These work so well in our drawers thanks to the windows in the lids.
The last drawer on the left is home to a basket of assorted plasticware and my rolls of cling wrap, baking paper, foil, etc, kept together in a Pull Out Organiser.
On the right hand side, our tins are so much easier to see thanks to an Expand-A-Shelf. Our bottles are kept neatly together in Linus Drawer Organiser.
Next shelf down is home to snack foods, kept sorted and easily accessible (thanks again to the Pull Out Organisers) to make it easy for Immy to help pack her school lunchbox or to get her own snacks.
All manner of baking paraphernalia comes next, including one pull out organiser for bread making supplies.
On the bottom right shelf we have two large pull out drawer baskets for storing items that we don’t use often and duplicate items.
Finally, our wonderful spice storage. Hanging inside the pantry door is a 22 pocket jewellry organiser which is just perfect for packet spices.
Our pantry is still a work in progress, we are constantly re-evaluating what is working well and what needs tweaking. I also need to label our zones and containers, I am hoping to make or source some labels like these. The solution for your pantry organisation, or any other organisational challenge in your home, will be individual to you and your needs but thinking through the STOP, SORT, SOLVE process can help you to make the necessary changes that are just right for you.
You could win your very own personal telephone consultation with HSW’s fabulous organisation expert plus $100 to spend at Howards Storage World.
Entry is simple. This is a game of skill and entries will be judged based on creativity and originality. Leave a comment on this post sharing:
What is your greatest area of organisational challenge and why will a consultation with Howards Storage World make all the difference to your home?
Entries close 8PM AEDST, 29th March 2013.
Giveaway Terms & Conditions:
1. The competition begins at 8AM AEDST, 8th March 2013 and ends at 8PM AEDST, 29th March 2013.
2. The winner will receive a telephone consultation with an employee of Howards Storage World and a $100 Howards Storage World voucher. Prior to the telephone consultation the winner will be required to email a photo of their home’s organisational challenge area to Howards Storage World.
3. Entry is limited to residents with an Australian delivery address.
4. Entry is limited to one comment per household/IP address. Please register a routinely checked email address in the email field of your entry.
5. The winners will be notified via email within 7 days of the competition closing.
6. Should the winner fail to make contact via return email within 72 hours of notification a new winner may be selected.
7. The winner’s contact details will be passed onto a representative of Howards Storage World and the prize organised directly by them.
I received a range of pantry organisation products from Howards Storage World for editorial consideration. Read more in my disclosure statement.
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
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