Pantry Party!

Howdy Everyone!

I hope you are enjoying your week and are staying cool in this heat. 

Those of you who have visited here before, know that this blog is about my crafty endeavors (although, those endeavors have been very few lately).  But I also have a passion for organizing.  Being organized helps me breathe and brings a sense of peace in my daily living and work life.  BUT I've had a difficult time trying to organize and condense our little abode.  When my husband and I got married, we crammed his 3 bedroom home and my 3 bedroom apartment into a 2-bedroom apartment.  I try not to hyperventilate when he's nearby. ;) 

Anyways, last year I stumbled upon an organizing blog, iheartorganizing, and I was HOOKED. :)  I check it almost daily for the ah-MA-zing inspiration and for the fabulous eye candy.  So when Jen, the author of iheartorganizing, tossed out a challenge (wait-no-more-challenge), I was motivated to participate.
Then life got in the way and time slipped out the door.  
However, I was forced to tackle our pantry in the last days of the challenge due to unexpected and unwanted pesky guests: ants!!!
Now, I must warn you.  First, these pictures were taken with my IPhone, so they may not be the best quality.  Second, I'll be keeping it real.  I'm embarrassed to have company if our home isn't in pristine shape.  So, I'm already sweating about showing these to the WWW.  



Let's begin with a before pic.:
Yep, disaster zone!  No, I don't keep the Ant & Roach spray in the pantry.  That was my temporary holding place.  

These 2 next pictures display what was on the empty shelf above.  

(Again!)

Since my husband was living in the apartment before we got married, I rearranged and organized this area, but it became chaotic again real quick. 

After 6 hours of spraying, wiping, cleaning, scrubbing, and tossing this was the end result:

 LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that I can see all the cans at the same time, which helps with my grocery shopping.

I shopped for containers at the dollar store and Target after analyzing my needs.  And I busted out my loved-yet-neglected label machine. :D  

What a HUGE sigh of relief!  This is my favorite little spot at the moment.  The next day I kept walking in there every 15 minutes to soak it all in.  This has already made a BIG difference in our menu planning and grocery shopping. :)   
Yes, we have quite a bit of spices, thanks to my hubby (And they are alphabetized.  Instructed hubby to keep them that way). The small, blue basket at the top holds doubles of ones already on the shelf. 


This project gave me the motivation to tackle the cabinet under the bathroom sink.  I'll be sharing that later on. ;)
Thank you Jen for the challenge and inspiration.  I have other areas that are on my list now.

Thank you kindly for taking the time to stop by!

Happy Organizing,
Angie