With the exception of those unique individuals who were just born to organize, keeping things from getting cluttered and in disarray is a challenge! If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to open a cabinet without fear of things falling on your head, or having lids that match containers, you’re not alone.
While we don’t pretend to approach the Marie Kondo level of organization, we can offer some very basic steps to get started organizing and decluttering your tea pantry and kitchen, along with some help from Harney tins! We know it can feel like an overwhelming task, so here are some basics to help you get started on your way to opening a cabinet door without fear again.
Take an honest look at your kitchen cabinets and pantry – do you have plastic containers with no lids? Stacks of plastic cups from various sporting events, fundraisers, amusement parks? A shelf full of cat-themed mugs? Five pie pans you’ve received over the years? Three partial boxes of oatmeal? Half-empty bags of chocolate chips and nuts? A partridge in a pear tree?
Throwing out, repurposing or donating items in your pantry and cabinets is the first step toward seeing the light at the back of the cabinet. Those pie pans, cat mugs, holiday cookie tins and other things you’ve accumulated but never use could be put to good use by someone else, or perhaps used for storage instead of just haphazardly stored and uselessly taking up space. And those chocolates and nuts really can go bad. Why you didn’t just eat them in the first place is a question that begs to be answered – I mean, it’s chocolate and nuts – but if they’ve been hanging out for a few months, they may be no good.
It may feel overwhelming at first, but just take it mug by mug. Decide what gets tossed, what gets repurposed as practical storage, like those cookie tins, and what gets donated. You’ll start to feel better faster than you can say, “Where the heck is the lid to this container??”
While you can make a trip to places like The Container Store, Target or Walmart to stock up on clear storage containers and organizational units – and doing some of that while not having to go completely overboard can be a really good idea – you can also start to look what you have on hand that would be useful in storing and organizing your pantry.
Our Harney tins make great little compact and stackable storage units! Here’s two ideas to get you started:
Just label the tins with the contents and stack ‘em up. What was random chaos is now orderly and easy to find.
Be strategic but creative with how you think about storing things. If thinking about color coding and feng shui is too much for you, that’s fine! Don’t let over-the-top methods get in your way if you find them overwhelming. Simple things can make a huge difference.
If you’ve been looking for pantry love in all the wrong places, now that you’ve gotten rid of things you can’t or don’t use – think of it as the kitchen equivalent of dumping a loser boyfriend – and you’ve tidied up how you organize and store things, it’s time for a fresh start!
The most important thing about decluttering your pantry and cabinets, whether it’s just your tea pantry or all of them, is to get started! Don’t let those stacks of plastic and sea of “World’s Greatest Fisherman” mugs put you off. Just put the kettle on, make a cuppa of your favorite Harney tea and get started. Then, when you’re finished, make another cuppa to have while you sit back and enjoy your newly organized kitchen. You deserve it.
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Jax
February 24, 2022
I smiled at the tip to use your tins for storing other small items. I’ve been doing this for teas that I can either no longer get or didn’t like enough to buy again (not very many of those!) I have a ton of art supplies and the tins are just the right size for storing erasers, blending stumps, stubby pencils, dip pen nibs, etc.