Thrifty Tuesday: DIY Pantry and Where Our Food Goes

I do not have a pantry but I do have a shoe organizer hanging up in laundry nook. I have raved about this pinterest idea before but I really can’t say enough about the genius who thought of this. I use another shoe organizer for K’s Barbies in her room too.

I store all my mixes and our go to snacks in this thing. This way I don’t have a bunch of granola bar boxes or apple sauce pouches crowding up my limited food cabinet space!

Just for fun, and because I like to be nosy and see how people organize their crap too… here is a look at where we put our food.

I LOVE my fridge!

I love having 3 compartments.

The middle drawer is great for produce, water bottles, or a sheet cake when you’re about to throw a party! Ha!

Food Cabinets

It ain’t pretty but here it is…

And canned goods are somewhere behind the chips and cereal boxes. I curse every time I open this thing and crap falls out. Whatever. Ha!

Pantry Organization

I don’t have a pantry (sad face) but I do have designated food cabinets. Since my food storage is limited I HATE how little things never seem to have a place.

When I saw this idea on PINTEREST I knew I wanted to do it on one of our laundry closet doors.

via

I LOVE how it turned out!

Now all of Kendall snacks, popcorn, muffin mix and anything else small and random have a home. Best of all it’s visible! No more digging through containers looking for a taco seasoning mix!

Household Notebook

Sometime last year it seemed like everyone was going crazy over household notebook and Erin Condren life planners. I am too cheap to spend $25-$50 on a planner… especially when I use the calendar on my Iphone. However, the idea of a household notebook intrigued me.

I’ve always kept a “financial folder”. You know the folder where you stash all your bills for the month, budget and password. The idea of a household notebook got me thinking about how I could stay more organized with lots more things in our household.

(At the end of this post I will provide links to blogs with lots of free pintables and more ideas for a household notebook.)

Without further adieu I present you our household notebook…

Cover

        

Inside Pouch ( where I stuff crap I need to do something with… like new insurance card that needs to go in my car, pampers rewards to be entered online, chris’s new medical card I need to slide in his wallet… you know that stuff.)

I have 5 categories for our binder. Some people use lots more and I may add some if I feel the need down the road as I see fit. In the future I would also like to get a cuter binder and dividers but everything I used were items I already had. If it’s FREE it’s for ME!

1. Family Planning

This is where I keep my “to do lists”,  weekly menu planning worksheets and blank pages so I can write random notes. I just created this area in the notebook a few days ago so I’m not sure how it’s all going to go down. I’d really like to get back into meal planning.

2. Family Calendar

I printed blank calendars for the next 4 months from Microsoft office publisher and printed off Chris’s school calendar. I’m not the best at using a paper calendar but if I can just transfer important dates from my iphone to this calendar I will be happy.

3. Family Financials

I make a “bills sheet” every month that includes the “bill, due date, amount due, amount paid, balance and a column to check that it’s been paid”. It’s nothing special… just an excel spreadsheet but if you want one let me know and I will email it to you. So that bill sheet goes in there as well as all our account info for things I pay online.

I printed a monthly budget paper I’m hoping to start using. I’d really like to get some credit card debt paid off so I’m hoping a budget will help.

4. Work in Progress

This is the area where I put more crap I need to work on or that needs action. For example Chris received something in the mail regarding something with work he needs to handle so he wrote on the envelope “Shelli Don’t Throw Away!” so that goes in this section. I also keep my EOB’s (explanation of benefits) for our insurance so when the bills arrive they are all in one place.

I also keep a list of blog ideas in this section and plan on printing some blog info and keeping it in this spot.

5. Important Info

This section is blank at the moment but I have big plans for it. Here are some ideas I’m thinking: Vehicle maintenance logs, pet information, bank and credit card phone numbers (ya know in case one of us loses our wallets) and important phone numbers like the dentist, HVAC guy etc.

So there you have it…. my attempt to be a more organized female head of household.

Blogs to check out with lots of household notebook ideas and printables.

Iheartorganizing

A bowl full of lemons

Planning makes perfect