Right after Christmas I had this urge to purge…. The panty in my kitchen was a nightmare. I couldn’t find anything. I hated even going in there. My side of the closet in our master bedroom, also a nightmare. Notice I said on “my” side of the closet? The third bedroom in our house is my “home office.” Boy could that area use some work. I have clothes in closets all over the house that I will NEVER wear again. I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Step one, let’s get this pantry organized! I spent a couple of days just going through it. Looking at the items, trying to put them in categories. Then I started looking at the food items. Was anything expired, well yes. I found three gallon sized jugs of apple cider vinegar. Why in the world would we need three gallon sized jugs of apple cider vinegar? I do not know. Two were expired, what a shock. One expires in 2026. I’ll keep that one. When I started pouring the old vinegar down the kitchen sink, the one that expired in 2019 had clumps in it. I may have gagged a bit when I saw that go down the drain.

Then I started looking at small appliances that we had replaced in the kitchen but kept the old ones “just in case.” Goodbye coffee pot and 20-year-old toaster. Now I can come up with a game plan. We have lived in this house for ten years and I just discovered that I could adjust the shelves in the pantry. That was exciting. I adjusted the shelving, and I reorganized all the food items.

My husband is the shopper in this house, and he tends to just go buy stuff before he knows if it is needed. I finally have him checking the sour cream supply in the fridge before he buys any more. Next up, the plastic cups supply. I dug around in the bottom shelf near the floor and there were packages and packages of plastic cups. I pulled them all out, unpacked them and stacked them where he could see his supply. I brought him to the pantry and showed him his supply of plastic cups. He has been instructed to check this area before he goes to Walmart. I’m hopeful. I ordered some organizational stuff that will help contain my husband’s baking items. He is also the dessert maker in the house. Now he can see if he has coconut flakes, nuts, chocolate chips …

I am excited to have finished finish this project. Next up my home office.