a project that took far too long

My house is often a mess ~ I'll admit it. People ask me how I have time to do so many crafts. I laugh and tell them I don't clean house. Now that my slaves children are getting older, I'm enlisting their help & the house stays cleaner.

I have a thing about closets, cupboards, and drawers, though. They need to be neat. I like neat stacks, rows, baskets, etc. But even these can sometimes get out of control ~ especially when little people are in charge of putting things away.

Case in point ~ the pantry. Oh my word! It has really gotten out of control. We went to Costco this weekend for the first time since before Christmas. The grocery store was also having a case sale. Time to stock up. Time to make more room. Time for a little reorganization.

Before:

See? They just shove their cereal, Valentine's bags full of candy, and whatever else in the pantry.


I like everything ordered by type, sorta like a grocery store. Who put the beans with the diced tomatoes? Maybe that was me.


Just awful. I'm feeling a little embarrassed to be showing these pictures.


But what good is an after picture, if you don't have those hideous before pictures?

So, Sunday after church I pulled everything out of the pantry. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G! I scrubbed the shelves and floor. Then I started thinking. Our pantry has these wings that make it difficult to reach the left and right sides. So I thought about how I wanted it reorganized. Now that we've lived here for so long, what will make the most sense?

I had to walk away a few times because I got overwhelmed. Plus, I needed to watch an episode of TiVo'd Grey's Anatomy. I'm pretty certain I have adult-onset ADHD. I swear!

I dawdled so much on Sunday, that I was going to have to finish on Monday. I was moderately raring to go on this project at about 10 a.m. I got distracted here and there, and here again. Then Suzanne came over for a little bit. But other than that I was totally focused. That is, until I dropped a tiny 4 ounce can of tomato sauce on my middle toe from a height of only about 6 inches. I calmly said hollered some creative words. I think I broke my toe.

Seriously.

It's bruised, a little swollen, and I can't move the first joint when I curl my toes. Nice.

I was pretty much done with this stupid project for Monday. At this point I began wishing I hadn't started in the first place. Greg asked if this project was going to take all of spring break. Shut up!

Today, I soldiered through the sore toe and finished the project.

After:


Look at that! Nice straight rows of like items.


I used more baskets than I had in the past. Bags of pasta don't stack so well. Put it in a big basket! I'd like to get another basket for the chips.


So pretty!


I "merchandized" my shelves quite well, if I do say so myself.


There's even some room on the floor for extra items should we need the space.

While I was at it, I reorganized the spice/baking cabinet. I know, I totally rock...today.

Before:


Not quite as bad as the pantry, but there's still a fair amount of shoving and lost items in there.


Again, I pulled everything out. That's when I realized I have eight bags of chocolate/peanut butter/butterscotch/chocolate mint chips. Uh, that doesn't include the other four I bought this weekend because they were on sale. Look in the before picture. Can you even see a single bag of baking chips? Me either. No wonder I keep buying more. I better get baking.

After:


Ahhh, that's better! Now I can see those baking chips.

What other cabinets can I reorganize?