Spring Cleaning Series: Organising Your Pantry

Where art thou turmeric, curry powder, cinnamon? Chances are they've probably sloped off behind the tinned tomatoes and the flour but fear not, after implementing these helpful pantry hacks, you'll never have to lose sight of your beloved spice blends or pine kernels again.

Where art thou turmeric, curry powder, cinnamon? Chances are they’ve probably sloped off behind the tinned tomatoes and the flour but fear not, after implementing these helpful pantry hacks, you’ll never have to lose sight of your beloved spice blends or pine kernels again.

With plenty of us working remotely and clawing back those extra hours we’d usually spend commuting to and from work, we have the opportunity, albeit a bittersweet one, to tackle all the little odd jobs we just l-o-v-e to put off. Now’s the time to get our humble abodes looking as neat as a new pin, starting with organising our pantries. Type As, you’re very welcome.

No pantry, no problem! Most of us use that term loosely as a fancy synonym for kitchen cupboards, so clear away the clutter and stow away the long-lasting snacks, it’s time to give your kitchen storage the glow up it deserves.

Decant products into containers

We’ve all swooned over those Pinterest worthy kitchens with their ship-shape open shelving displays and orderly jars complete with retro labels and felt a sudden enthusiasm to ‘tap to tidy’ our own homes. Well, the time has arrived.

Get savvy with your storage and do away with any bulky packaging by transferring dry food items such as pasta and cereals into clear food caddies or kilner jars. Breadcrumbs, seeds and powders such as drinking chocolate can be placed in air-tight containers and stacked to create more space.

If you have pre-packaged crisps and snacks, these can be stowed away in storage baskets or, make like Stacey Solomon and use an adjustable shower curtain pole to hang your snacks from. Because a)it’s a visual feast and b)why the hell not!

Organise products into categories

No one wants to go on a wild goose chase for their fusilli do they – apply some logic to your kitchen cupboards to help you access ingredients easily and make trying a recipe an enjoyable experience rather than a stressful one. From your cooking oils to canned goods, grains and pulses to your breakfast cereals, a food filing system will change your life.

Get in formation

Arrange your tinned food and staples with a long shelf life in front-facing rows. You can also use stair step shelves to make sure you can see the items at the back easily. Our inner Monica Geller is fast approaching a 7 over here. If you know, you know.

Add hooks on the inside of your cupboard

If you’ve got a pantry door or wall space, hanging oven mitts, tea towels, aprons and bulky utensils on hooks can free-up some room in your drawers. A wall-mounted shower caddy can also make a great home for all your vegetables.

Don’t stock up on food

Perhaps an even more important message in the context of what’s going on right now but only buy what you need. Squirrelling away rice and tins of tuna when there’s a deal on may seem economical but by cluttering up your cupboards, you’re unlikely to see what you have in. Cue expiry dates and food waste.

Streamlining your pantry is the easiest way to make sure you can see what you have in the cupboards, use up your food and replenish it when it’s running low. Minimalism is the key to a tidy pantry.

 

The label maker is your best friend

Hello jar containing mysterious grains, identify yourself! It could be couscous, it could be quinoa. Who knows!

Enter the label maker. Not only does it give all your glass Kilner jars a homely vintage vibe, but it’s also hella practical. Now you’ll always be able to distinguish the plain flour from your self-raising. Come through stationery, come through.

Clean your cupboards systematically

Every six months, take everything out and give it a thorough deep clean. Start at the top and work your way down, wiping the shelves and removing any sticky residue from jars. It’s always the Marmite isn’t it?

Use this an opportunity to dispose of any out of date items and note down what you need to restock.

How do you keep your pantry lookin’ sharp? Let us know!

HOW TO SPRING CLEAN YOUR MAKEUP COLLECTION THE RIGHT WAY

Spring is here and while we may be turning to declutter our wardrobe and generally tidying, our makeup collection can be totally overlooked and actually in dire need of a clean out. So I'm here with an easy 6-step guide on how to spring clean your makeup collection effectively without the stress.

Below, find an easy makeup expiration chart to check if all your makeup is fresh, along with some simple tips and clever hacks on how to clean dreaded makeup sponges and more! I really hope this easy guide helps you get into the spirit of cleaning out your makeup collection and shedding a few unwanted or old products.

STEP 1: CHECK EXPIRATION DATES

When tidying out anything that brings you joy or caters to hoarding ways it's hard to emotionally detach! So to ease into your spring clean makeup clear out you first want to focus on the facts - Is your makeup out of date? Simply go through your makeup checking the small jar symbol on each product  and also opening each one to decide if it needs the bin or not. Below I've created a simple makeup expiration chart to guide you through how long you should be keeping products for. But as a rule, if a formula has changed in appearance and feels or smells different the best place for it is in the bin.

STEP 2: GROUP SIMILAR PRODUCTS TOGETHER

Laying out all the makeup products you own on the floor go through and sort them into different piles. Separating and grouping concealer, lip products, blusher and so on will allow you to see exactly what you have and will most likely make you want to pare back on your largest piles. For me, this is always lipsticks and concealers so I would decide which ones I want to give away from these piles - easy. Side note - While it may seem wise to start swatching everything it's easy for this process to slip into makeup 'playtime' finding you have made more mess than before and wasted hours. So unless you really want to swatch everything, keep going and remember, you know what each product looks like because you bought!

STEP 3: WIPE EVERYTHING DOWN USING MAKEUP WIPES

Next, you want to grab either some natural surface wipes (I'm a fan of the E-cover Antibacterial wipes), makeup or baby wipes or a soft damp cloth and swiftly clean every product. Bacteria can quickly build up even on the outside of packaging so giving everything a quick clean is vital for a good spring clean of your makeup collection. Pay extra attention to products that come into direct contact with the skin as these should be kept clean to avoid possible infections and skin breakouts (see my how-to clean eyelash curlers) and set makeup brushes to one side to clean later.

STEP 4: CLEAN OUT YOUR MAKEUP BAG & BATHROOM CABINET

Any material, container or shelf your makeup products come into contact with you want to clean out with an anti-bacterial spray or wipe and leave to dry. For this, I recommend a spray bottle mixed with water and Zoflora as not only will it clean but it will leave a fresh scent behind. Makeup bags with waterproof lining can be wiped out with a cloth or wipe but for material cosmetic bags you will want to place these in the washing machine to remove any stains and general makeup mess.

STEP 5: PLACE EVERYTHING BACK BY CATEGORY & SIZE

Placing everything back where it was is the fun part! By now you should have a clean, pared-down makeup collection thanks to your mini spring clean. So all that is left to do is place it back neatly. For bathroom cabinets place taller items to the back and smaller travel sizes to the front, you may also want to group by category so everything is in easy reach. For items that roll around such as lip products and pencils grab a stationery pot to hold them all. As for your makeup bag, everything will get mixed about anyway so quickly place everything back in it, making sure you aren't overfilling it.

STEP 6: CLEAN YOUR MAKEUP BRUSHES

Lastly, you will most likely need to clean your makeup brushes. I'm not going to lie, this is a bit of a laborious task but you can check out my own easy way to clean makeup brushes that will get the job done faster. As for makeup sponges, you will want to give them a thorough clean as they do harbour bacteria easily, using this easy makeup sponge microwave cleaning hack that really does work a treat!

Let me know if you have any other makeup spring clean tips to add to this list - especially for hard to clean items such as pencil sharpeners and makeup brushes. I'd love to hear them as I'm very much in full spring clean mode right now!