Today we have a special guest post from Professional Organizer Jamie Hord! Jamie is the founder of Horderly, a professional home organization company serving the greater New York City area. Horderly specializes in decluttering, organizing, and unpacking.
When we declutter our home and organize our life, it makes healthy living so much easier. I personally find that a clean, organized kitchen is one of the keys to achieving your health goals. Jamie has put together a special post for us today on tips for organizing your fridge and pantry!
First thing you will want to do when organizing your pantry is take everything out. While you are doing this - check all expiration dates and throw out anything that is expired or stale. Consider each item and let go of anything you haven't used in awhile or know that you won't use in the future. Maybe you had a gluten free cracker fad but that didn't last long or your mom stocked you up with crockpot essentials but you never use the crockpot. Be realistic and ruthless when it comes to your editing. Once you have your "keep pile" separated from your "toss pile" now is the time to categorize. Put together "likes with likes" for example, all chips together, all canned goods together, all baking together. Do this is in a way that makes sense to you and your cooking styles. Maybe you want all pasta sauce together with the canned and jarred food OR maybe you want it beside the boxes of pasta. Use bins, baskets and shelf risers to help in your pantry organization. A mixture of each will give your pantry that "magazine" look. Keep "messier looking" items like bags of chips in baskets.
Lazy susans are a lifesaver. Everyone needs a least one of these in their kitchen! No need to pull down that heavy bin every time or create a disaster in your pantry when trying to grab the salt in the back. One little turn of your lazy susan and voila you have all your items right at hand. Our go-to lazy susan.
Some issues I see in kitchens today is that most cabinets are either see through, glass, or open shelving. Although they may be beautiful, sometimes it is hard to keep these areas neat and tidy. We recommend using bins in these areas OR switching it up and using drawers for your pantry. If you go this route, be sure to use drawer dividers to keep your categories separated. Our go-to kitchen drawer dividers
The fridge is sometimes a neglected space, but it is essential to keep it clean and organized to avoid things like accidental food poisoning. On a weekly basis you should be checking your fridge for expired or spoiled food. Stay away from lost leftovers, scary condiments and rotting veggies! To organize your fridge, you will want to start out just like you did the pantry and take everything out, wipe everything down and use clear bins to containerize food. You will especially want to containerize any meats and keep this category as low in the fridge as possible. Don't be afraid to take things out of boxes (like yogurt for example) to save you space! Our go-to fridge bins.
Thanks Jamie for the awesome post! You can learn more about Jamie and her professional organizing business at her website www.horderly.com. Check our her social media pages as well (her instagram is my favorite)!
Xoxo,
Stef