Spring Cleaning Party at SimpleMom.net – Day 4

Today is kitchen cleaning part 1 of 2. I set my alarm for 6 AM and got up to spend 2 hours going through my food stuffs in my pantry, refrigerator, freezer, and stockpile in my storage room. Take a peek at the mess I cleaned out.

I am all for using vertical space, but this cramming job is a little much. And this is what I pulled out of the pantry.

I threw away this….

And I consolidated, ordered, decanted, and after I wiped down my shelves I put everything back like this…

After                                                   Before

Then I went to the refrigerator and freezer, but since I do a re-org each week on trash day I didn’t have that much to throw out.

Then I trooped downstairs to my basement storage stockpile which looked like this. (There is actually more, but I cropped it out.)

I sorted through expiration dates, inventoried what my family could use in the next 6-12 months and separated all that I wanted to donate.

This is my next charity donation.

Don’t for get to check out my Pantry Organizing post that is packed with tips and tricks. Here are some of my favorites:

* Wipe off drips or dust from the outside of bottles and containers.

* Gather together small items and place them in one stackable container

* Take small packets out of large cardboard boxes, write the preparation instructions on the packet, and stack like a book on the shelf. (Recycle the cardboard box or plastic bag.)

And to keep your space organized longer: inform your family, or all users of this space, about your organizational system. You can help family members know where to stock items by labeling your shelves with labels like “baking,” “condiments,” and “breakfast items”.

I am excited that we are able to donate so much to someone else in need especially in the summer time when food pantries run dry after using all the Christmas donations. But, even though I didn’t pay nearly full price for any of this, some was even free, and even though I didn’t go over budget and now am spending about $40/week for a family of 4, I still felt a little, well a lot, wasteful.  Did you feel wasteful today cleaning out your pantries? Do you have any frugal tips for others about how you consume wisely?

I can’t wait to visit others around the blogosphere who are spring cleaning their kitchens today! Don’t forget to visit SimpleMom to find out more about the Spring Cleaning Party! Happy cleaning.