Getting our homes organized during January is an annual task for many of us. One of the spots that can become messy over the holidays is my pantry. Once the new year rolls around, I’m ready to tackle the mess and come up with budget friendly small pantry organization solutions.
This post may contain affiliate links. Across the Blvd uses affiliate links (including Amazon). If you make a purchase, I may be compensated at no additional cost to you. Thanks for supporting our blog! Please see our Disclosure Policy for more information.
I would love to have a huge walk in pantry, but I don’t see that happening. Last week, I shared my organization ideas for a small laundry room and I mentioned that for a house that’s over 2,600 sq ft, you would think the builder could have put in a larger laundry room. The same goes for the pantry! Both the pantry and the laundry room are located just off of the kitchen and near the entry door to the garage. Good locations, but it doesn’t give either space enough room.
It’s time for this month’s Pinterest Challenge hosted by Erlene from My Pinterventures. This is always a fun blog hop with tons of great ideas and loads of creativity shared! It’s great to find a pin and give it your own spin. This year, each month will have a theme and January’s theme is organization. Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of the post for lots more Pinterest inspired organization ideas.
Getting Started on Small Pantry Organization
When I decided to tackle the unorganized mess that had taken hold of my pantry, I first searched Pinterest to find some ideas for small pantry organization. There are tons of pins out there for this and most of them use co-coordinating baskets and bins. They look fabulous and I’m sure they are very functional, but they also come with fairly large price tags for those pretty baskets. I wanted to keep my pantry organization budget friendly. I found this pin for Small Pantry Organization on a Budget from Slay at Home Mother and used some of her ideas.
Steps for a Budget Friendly Small Pantry Organization
- Remove all items from the pantry
- Determine what items you want to continue to store in the pantry-only food or food and non food items?
- Discard any food that has expired
- Find other spaces to relocate rarely used items or donate unused items
- Decide on how many bins and baskets you will need
- Purchase plastic bins from a dollar store
- Check out home goods stores for inexpensive items you can use
- Search Amazon for pantry storage items
I purchased an assortment of canvas bins, plastic baskets, and canisters. All in, I spent around $50.00. All of the blue bins and baskets were purchased at Dollar Tree. I purchased the air tight canisters and the tall cylinders from Amazon (affiliate). I found the canvas bins and the large white bins at Walmart. I found a can storage rack at Home Goods for a great price. I had the shelf liner (affiliate) on hand because I had planned on doing this project a while ago, but never got around to it!
Once I had all of the containers I needed, I sorted through some that I already had to determine how they could be used. I cleaned the pantry and lined each shelf. Here’s where I’ll show you just how unorganized my pantry had become. Yikes!
Bottom Shelves
and the top shelves
What a mess that was! In my defense, I have to say that it looked a little better than this before the rush of the holidays. Not much, but a little!
Organizing the Small Pantry
- Use a sturdy shelf liner
- Plan the layout for the bins, baskets, and canisters
- Sort similar items into bins
- Creating labels adds to the overall organization look
I used my Cricut machine to create labels. These bins with handles from the Dollar Tree are good to use on the top shelf for baking items that I don’t use every day.
Using the blue bins added a pop of color to the space.
Getting rid of the the boxes of pasta and using the air tight canisters makes for a much neater look. We always have an assortment of pasta in the pantry and now I don’t have to search around to find the type I want.
I am guilty of having a lot of dishes. All kinds -baking, serving, cooking, plates- I’ve maxed out the storage in the kitchen cabinets and need to use the bottom of the pantry for more. Instead of having the dishes on a shelf, taking up space, or on the pantry floor, I’ve used the canvas bins to hold them.
Two canvas bins are easy to access just behind the trash bag box. On the far left, I stored large roasting pans that only get used a few times a year. The blue tote basket from Dollar Tree works well to hold a bag of potatoes.
As I was organizing the pantry, I wanted to make sure that it was functional and practical. I wanted it neat and organized more than I wanted to make it pretty. I’m all for dressing up spaces to match your decor, even ones like a pantry, but I’m not going to spend a lot of money to get a coastal look that would match my kitchen! Using the blue dollar store bins is about as coastal as I was going to get with this project. And that’s okay!
How to Organize a Small Pantry on a Budget
I’m happy to have this task behind me and I’m looking forward to keeping it this way!
Budget Friendly Small Pantry Organization Solutions #pantryorganization #budgetfriendlypantry #pinterestchallenge2020 Click To Tweet
Pin Me, Please!
Budget Friendly Small Pantry Organization
TO JOIN NEXT MONTH’S #PINTERESTCHALLENGE, CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP ⇒ February Pinterest Challenge
For more Pinterest inspired projects from this month’s Pinterest Challenge hosts, check out the links below ↓
My Pinterventures • Domestic Deadline • Elle Marie Home • Cookies Coffee and Crafts • Across the Boulevard • Slices of Life • Teadoddles • Farm Girl Reformed • Purple Hues and Me • Decorate and More with Tip • Sew Crafty Crochet • Life Beyond Kitchen • Mom Home Guide • Intelligent Domestications • Lulu & Celeste • Love My Little Cottage • Eye Love Knots My Family Thyme • Create with Cynthia • Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After • Christine Faye Repurposed • Coastal Bohemian
Now, let’s see what the other hosts have created ⇓⇓
Terrie Tipler says
I love a clean pantry. Dollar Tree has a lot of nice inexpensive containers to use for sure. Your pantry looks very pretty.
Beverly says
I’m enjoying having it well organized and that it was done on a budget. Thanks, Terrie!
Joanne says
Great minds think alike! I organized our pantry too and am just loving those sturdy shelf liners so much that I have plans to go through and organize all our cabinets in the house!
Beverly says
Right! The shelf liners are a great way to cover those wire racks. I would love to have solid shelves, but I don’t see that happening!
Kristie says
It looks a lot better than it did before. I love that metal Shelf that dispenses your can goOds.
Beverly says
Thanks, Kristie. Yes, it’s better, nothing fancy, but it works well for me.
Lauren | Mom Home Guide says
Good job organizing! I really need to organize my pantry — it has gotten so messy!
Beverly says
Thanks! I think that’s common for most of us after the holidays!
Christina Woodcock says
awesome organizing! I love that it is budget-friendly! and I have the same bread box!
Beverly says
Thanks, Christina! I wanted to keep it as low cost as I could. I’ve had that bread box for years. It’s been a good one!
Jenny says
The pantry looks great! I agree that the pantry doesn’t have to be “fancy” but very functional. I’m inspired to get more baskets for mine.
Beverly says
Thanks, Jenny! The baskets are such an easy way to keep things all sorted.
Lydia from Life Beyond the kitchen says
An organized pantry makes the cooking part of life so Much easier!
Beverly says
I agree! It’s always great to know just where things in the pantry.
Cherryl Ehlenburg says
Every time I see a pantry organization post, it makes me want to redo mine! Our house is about that size, too, and we have never had a pantry. I am using a closet in our hallway, and it is packed to the max! My dream is a huge walk-in pantry…maybe in my next life!
Beverly says
I’d been feeling that way for a while! I was glad that the Pinterest Challenge motivated me to actually get something done with mine!
Leslie Susan Clingan says
Your pantry is very similar to mine and I featured a refurb of my pantry, too! I like you blue bins. They collect everything so attractively. I invested in some can racks and these genius baskets to store under the shelves. Love these link ups where we can get usable ideas to implement in our own houses/pantries!!
Beverly says
Thanks, Leslie! I love those under the shelves baskets. I use them in one of my kitchen cabinets. I loved your over the door storage for your pantry.
T'onna | Sew Crafty Crochet says
Great pantry organizing tips! I really need to organize my pantry. The other day I found a can of soup in there with a best by date in 2017! 😱
Beverly says
Yikes! I found a few items with old use by dates on them, too. Thanks, T’onna!
Erlene says
Your reorganized pantry looks great! I love the basket to hold the potatoes. I need to do that since they’re always rolling around…lol.
Beverly says
That basket is just the right size for a 5 lb bag which is what I most often buy. Thanks, Erlene. There were some great organization ideas shared for the challenge. Thanks for putting it all together.
Gail says
Beverly, You did a fabulous job in organizing your Pantry and actually inspiring me to do something with mine! It’s been on my to-do list for sometime! And would you believe that our pantries look exactly alike (structure and shelving) Only yours is now well organized and mine is not! Lol! Mine is located under our stairs and from the time we moved in, I first asked the builder why he didn’t make it bigger since there is a lot of wasted space under the stairs. Now My goal is to knockout the back wall to create a walk-in pantry! And I think that’s doable! Some day!
Beverly says
Thanks, Gail. It was a task that was long overdue for me! You’d think builders would know that a large pantry is a necessity!
Marilyn Lesniak says
Thank you for sharing at #OverTheMoon. Pinned and shared. Have a lovely week. I hope to see you at next week’s party too!
Beverly says
Thank you! Hope you have a great week!
Marilyn Lesniak says
Congratulations! Your post was my feature pick at #OverTheMoon this week. Each Hostess displays their own features so be sure to visit me on Sunday evening and to see your feature! I invite you to leave more links to be shared and commented upon. Please don’t forget to add your link numbers or post title so we can be sure to visit!
Beverly says
Thanks so much, Marilyn!
Emily says
Your pantry looks great. I’ve been working on getting mine under control also. Great tips
Beverly says
Thanks. It’s always a work in progress!