I’m about to air my dirty pantry on the Internet for the world to see--and it's a little scary. Friday’s Project today is not quite a craft, but it is certainly a Dwell Well (or at least better) project.

When I get busy (which is always) I tend to ignore the order of my surroundings: the dining room table fills with craft projects, and my desk becomes covered in papers and books for school. I put things where there is open space, rather than where they actually belong. This is a habit I’m working on breaking.

This week’s Friday’s Project is to find one closet, shelf, or table and make it more useful for you. Starting with a goal to organize the whole house is overwhelming, so let’s start small. My goals for the pantry were to minimize the space used and organize the items a bit, making everything easier for me to see and replace after use.

In the process, I also reduced household waste. Items I can buy in bulk found homes in glass jars that I can take to the store and fill (like the sugars, oatmeal, and dried fruits you see in the photo above). I also cleaned out expired products (I won’t mention the age of the two expired cans of V-8 I found…I’ll just say they weren’t quite as old as my 10-year-old nephew—ack!). There is also now a paper grocery bag full of good items I simply don’t or won't use by the front door, ready to go to a food bank--a much better use then letting them go bad on a shelf.

There is still plenty of stuff in my pantry, but now I know what and where it all is. I also labeled the shelves lest I forget where to put the olive oil.

From now on, my pantry and I shall both dwell much more peacefully.
 

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