C is for . . . Cupboard de-clutter

Do you have the cupboards in your house? The ones that you open, throw something in and then hope your not the next person to open them?

I do! well I did, until I de cluttered them this weekend! I am so happy with the result.

In our last house we had a glorious walk in pantry, it was pretty much my favourite room in the house! Then when we moved, I got a single door pantry and was faces with a rather large problem. So I squished everything I had into the pantry and just left it. Pushing it to the back of my mind, until of course I had to try and find something in there.
So FebClutterBust came, and I decided this was on my list of much needed de cluttering.

Along with the pantry, I decided to de clutter the plastics cupboard and the linen press. I did them all together because I used all the same hints and tips for the three cupboards.

1. Take everything out of the cupboard and lay it on the bench/table (this kind of de cluttering works best if you can see everything you have)

2. Throw out anything you don't use. As always, Be brutal! If you haven't used it in the last few months, throw it out. Its not needed.

3. Make sense of your items. Place them together in terms of how or when you use them.

4. Utilise all your space!


PANTRY

 This is my favourite of all my cupboards now, I have actually spent quite a bit of time, just staring at it.
It took me at least an hour in total. But it was worth every second. To be able to see everything I have, makes cooking dinner so much easier!

Pantry Tips

1. With the pantry, throw out anything past its used by, and with anything that might be half open, test if its still ok to eat, if not throw it out. If it is, either put it in a container to lengthen its life, or do as I did and create a few dishes with the little bits and pieces, to minimise waste.

2. I bought those super cool pantry shelves from Ikea. They were super cheap but added much needed space to my shelves. I highly recommend them.

3. Sort everything in a logical order. I have the premade food and food for lunches on shelf one, Baking and tea/spreads on shelf two and cooking on shelf three. It makes it so much easier to find things.

4. Use containers! It keeps things more fresh, it keeps the pantry more tidy and it helps with waste.

PLASTICS CUPBOARD

I dont know if anyone else find their plastics cupboard to be a nightmare? I know I do and I also know my family does. Its a shocking cupboard! But really, everything in it is stackable. Its just about making sense of what you have.

Plastics tips

1. Move the things you don't use often, to the back of the cupboard.

2. Use large containers, to put all the lids in. There is no point trying to get all the lids and containers matched up, it takes up way to much room. But as long as they are all in one spot, you will be able to find what your looking for. 

3. Make sense of what you have, plates and bowls together, containers together and so forth.

LINEN PRESS

My linen press wasn't as bad as the other cupboards, but it still needed some attention. So I took everything out, refolded it and placed in the cupboard in a more sensible way. Towels with towels, wraps with wraps.
It makes everything so much easier, now I can see what I have and I can actually find things.

Linen tips.

1. Refold everything, if something is unclean re wash it.

2. Make sure everything in the cupboard is ready to be used, ironed, cleaned and ready to go.

I am so happy with the results of my de-cluttering so far.

Have you started yet?