See How This Pantry Goes from “Pure Chaos” to Totally Calm in a Week

It’s funny what finally makes you take on an organizing project you’ve been putting off for too long. Maybe an upcoming vacation is an impetus for you to finally clean out your bedroom closet so you can find your clothes and pack them. Or maybe one of your parents is coming for a visit and you want the pantry orderly so you two can enjoy baking together without digging for the brown sugar. 

The thing that led Rachel Byrne (@raysmoneypit) to tackle her pantry was a gift from a friend. “My friend Kate from @carlowpainthub gifted me the paint to get me started on my project that I had been putting off for far too long,” she shares.

Rachel was inspired to make a change to her pantry when her daughter began a new, “life-changing” medication, which meant that her old medication wasn’t getting used as much. “The pantry was used for my daughter’s daily medical supplies and for storing food and cereals, etc. It was in constant use throughout the day and honestly, it was totally disorganized, just pure chaos,” says Rachel. “Things constantly fell out and on top of us when we opened the door. I was overwhelmed with it and had no clue where to start.”

The goal of the project was to “have everything in easy reach” and to not have Rachel feel “overwhelmed but to smile when I opened the pantry door.” She wanted it to be organized in a way that she could “keep it like that effortlessly because everything had a home and it was easy to see.” This way, it wouldn’t be difficult to take stock of what she had and be able to order what she needed swiftly.

With a budget of under 200 euros (about $220) and in less than a week, Rachel achieved her vision.

To do it, she first emptied everything in the pantry. She put everything into different piles: keep, medication, donations, and expired items. Next, she cleaned and sanded the pantry’s interior and filled in any holes. She primed and painted. After that, she purchased storage containers, including some options at IKEA. 

“The hardest part was organizing the medication boxes and sorting that all out. There was just so much,” says Rachel. On the other hand, “The easiest part was getting the glass containers and filling them. I actually enjoy restocking them. It’s like visual and auditory ASMR for me every two to three weeks.”

To anyone who wants to reorganize their pantry, Rachel suggests labeling everything and that at the end of the day, “it’s not just about things looking pretty. It has to be easy to find.”

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