Hi, I'm Paige Killian and I'm passionate about helping busy moms of littles organize and style their life in three simple steps. Living this mom life is incredible and sometimes completely overwhelming. Is stressing about overstuffed drawers, never-ending mail piles a mountain of Legos and our kids' artwork.

Really what got intended? No way. Getting organized has been a game changer for me and also my clients, but it has to be simple or it just won't get done. So let's simplify the process and clear the clutter to see the blessings God has for us. I know your time is. So thanks for joining me each week for a healthy dose of organization and a whole lot of motivation.

Hello. Hello my friends. Thank you so much for joining me today. If you're listening in real time, it is still January, and hopefully you guys feel like you've started off this year on the right foot. I'm feeling pretty good about it. You know, we had some things come up, we had some big rains, and we're actually dealing with some renovation type stuff that's happening as we speak in our living room.

But I am super thrilled to be able to have some wonderful friends and family who recommended great people to take care of that. So we're just trying to power. And hope that maybe this is one of those things that we can invest in now that's gonna pay off for years to come. Yay. Crossing my fingers. Uh, and on that note, talking about doing some things right now that will pay off in the future as well.

I wanted to go back to one of my original episodes that I recorded. Forever ago now. Whenever I first started recording the podcast in 2020, I talked about getting our pantry organized and really making sure that that was working well for you, for your family, and especially in the month of January when a lot of people are making sure that they are putting their health and wellness back at the top of their to-do list as we all should.

I wanted to circle back to. And a lot of times whenever the holidays are upon us, we can perhaps fall victim to some of those massively, amazingly delicious, but also maybe not super healthy foods around the holiday times. And also a lot of times we're entertaining. Uh, you know, now that we're all able to get together again.

For the most part, a lot of us are entertaining and we have an abundance perhaps, of food and things that we don't always have year round in our. And so I just thought this would be a great time to talk about going back and kind of resetting that space and making sure that it's working well for you. So one of the things that I mentioned on the very first episode where I talked about your pantry, and I'll make sure by the way to link that might be kind of fun to go back and listen to that as well.

Uh, I'll link that in show notes. But one of the things that I remember talking about that I actually had some moms come back to me later after they listened. They're like you said this thing about our kids being more independent, uh, and confident and helpful in the kitchen if we have a more organized pantry.

And they were kind of like, that was surprising to me. I wasn't even thinking about that. You know, like you might make the effort to organize your pantry because that will help you when meal planning. For the week, or just dinner planning for that night, or making sure that you can see what you have at a glance and stuff's not getting left behind or lost in the back.

Perhaps you don't even have a pantry, but you have maybe a cabinet space that you've turned into, an area that you keep some of your dry goods in. That's okay too. It doesn't matter what space you are allot. In your kitchen, or even if you have sort of a separate room, maybe you've got like a nearby laundry room and in some of those cabinets you're having to keep some of your dry foods there.

Or perhaps you've got like an in-between, almost like a desk area or something without a designated pantry space. It's okay if that is an area that you've decided you're gonna keep some things. Maybe you have a teeny tan little kitchen and your pantry happens to just be on top of your counters. So that is also.

All right, and we're gonna talk about how important it is regardless of what space you have for your pantry, to make sure that it is organized so that not only you are able to do all those things I just mentioned and feel like it's a decluttered space and you only have what you need when you need it.

But truly so that it works for everybody in the family. Even your little littles who maybe want to be helpful. Whenever you come in from the grocery store and you say, can you help me put some of these things away? That can actually be really fun for them, and they can take ownership of that space so that it does, believe it or not, actually add to a more independent and confident kid.

One of the things I talk about in my book in the very beginning is when Duke was just two years old and I came home with those grocery bags and I just happened to set a couple of them down on the floor as I had my others on the countertop and I was putting things away in their spots, and he hobbled over in his two year old style looking so totally adorable with those.

Ugh. If you know, you know the cheeks, the cheeks will get you. So he goes over with his cute little cheeks and he starts sorting through or looking through my bag, and he finds the coffee pods. And because he has seen me time after time come in and put those away in a designated space in the kitchen, he decided he was gonna do that.

And I talk about that in chapter one of the book where he says, I'm organizing. And he was so excited because at age two, He was able to contribute to the functionality of our kitchen space. I mean, if that's not incredible, I don't know what is. The whole goal of us being moms is to raise these kids to be independent because one day when we're not around to help.

Them. They need to have these tools that we've taught them in order to do life on their own. And yes, certainly there are things that they're gonna have to learn on their own. But isn't it great when we can go ahead and contribute to some of these, you know, life lessons they need to learn early enough and they'll have plenty more things that they need to figure out on their own later too, right?

So one of the things that I suggest is making sure when you are reorganizing or perhaps organizing for the first time and resetting your space in your pantry is that you do make it kind of a family affair. So you wanna think about, first of all, The purge. This is the essential. By the way, if you have never heard this podcast before, I love doing things in threes, and I started something many years ago when I was an elementary school teacher, where I would give my kids in my class three simple steps to get from, basically point A to point B, whatever we were doing during transitions and things like that.

Later when I became a professional organizer, I decided to give it a name because it turns out even. Can really benefit from doing things in three simple steps too, because we have a million things going on in our lives. So if we can simplify something, let's do it. That's called my three E's philosophy, and it consists of the essentials enhancements.

And extras. So your essential is the must have, must do whatever that is, whether it's on your to-do list or the beginning part of a project. Your enhancement is something that's gonna add style or value to that first step. And the extra is really sort of that finishing touch. That's the cherry on tap that's taking whatever this thing is that you're wanting to do to the next level.

So it's really. Really working best for you. So in this particular case, if we apply the three East's philosophy to the pantry, I believe that the essential is first the purge. So it might be a pain at first, but I promise it's gonna pay off whatever area you have that you have designated as your pantry space.

Take everything. Take a look at it. Uh, do a good wipe down before you put things back in. By the way, that's always a good idea. Check things that maybe have expired and get rid of those. If there's anything that you're not using and you don't want to go back in your pantry, this is where I like to say the enhanced.

The second step is to donate or sell any of your items that you're not using. In this case, when we talk about things with your pantry, this might be a perfect opportunity to drop something you're not using off to a local food bank, or if you've got family members that you think might enjoy a product that perhaps you bought that either you weren't loving or you just found that you got too much of it, or you don't need, whatever that excuse is for why something's still in your pantry and you're not using.

As long as it's not expired, you might just wanna give it to them as well. I suppose if in your pantry maybe you also have some appliances or something else in there that is sellable, absolutely. Go ahead and do that. So you've got your essential purge, the enhancement of the. Donation or sale of whatever you're not going to be using anymore.

And then finally, your extra is going to be the style of that space. So this is where I like to bring in the proper containers to organize whatever it is that you're putting back in your pantry. So the reason I'm calling this your New Year's Pantry reset is because a lot of times we have gotten a lot of extra food, whether it's because we're entertaining and we have more people in the house.

Usual, or perhaps you just are really stocked up on a lot of stuff that you're not using year round because perhaps it's the extra sweets. Maybe Santa brought some stuff in the stockings that you don't typically have in the house. Maybe it's time for you to have a sweets basket. And when we're talking about that third step, that extra of putting in the proper containers, I always recommend putting the sweet stuff, stuff that you're really not wanting for you or the kiddos.

Perhaps your spouse, to reach for as often, put it in a container and put it up as high as possible so that way it's just not as easily accessible. Okay. So we have our sweetss basket all the way on the top shelf . It's just one of those things where it reminds us we have to do a little extra work getting up there and pulling it down.

And it's not gonna be something that we need to be reaching for all the time. Just Lynn, you know, you gotta throw marshmallow into a hot chocolate, or perhaps you need to get out a candy cane from Christmas in January or February because you want a peppermint taste, whatever. Totally fine. But it's one of those things that you might consider placing up a little bit higher on your shelf.

So, . With that in mind, what do you need to make easily accessible for you? These are the things that you wanna make sure are at eye level. You wanna make sure that things that are not going to be breakable or pose any hazard to your little ones. Getting those things can be down on the bottom. So a lot of times I'll say, if you have larger appliances that you need to grab every now and then, but you're not using every day, you might wanna have those on a lower.

If your kiddo is not going to get hurt by them, if you've got something that maybe is like a heavy duty item that could also be breakable, perhaps you choose to put that up higher. If you've got a little one, especially if you've got some climbers, you wanna be very careful with not having something. In an area where they can pull out and bring down on them.

But you also wanna consider having it easily accessible. So if it's super heavy, you don't wanna be grabbing it from over the top of you and risk dropping it and breaking it. So just be mindful and figure out what season of life you are in, your kiddos are in, and make sure that you're putting in those things.

A place that is appropriate and obviously easily accessible for however often you're gonna be using it. I do love putting paper towels either down low so that when your littles are wanting to help, that can be a fun and easy, safe job for them. If you get those paper towels out and say, Hey bud, can you go put these in the pantry?

Maybe that little one can carefully grab those and go put them away down on a lower. Now if for you it makes more sense to have other things on a lower shelf that you need to get to more, maybe you've got like some cans or some heavier drinks or things, some back stock of that kind of stuff, and you want that to be down lower.

You're not concerned about kiddos getting into that. Maybe that makes more sense to put it there. And then you wanna put paper towels up higher where you can just reach those whenever you need to pick 'em up. Either way, make sure it is just working for you. Make sure that it is working in a way that you're gonna open your pantry and be like, gosh, this is so much more helpful than the way I had it in the past.

Or, this is such a great idea that now I have these things easily grabbable easily. Seeable when I open this up so I know what I have for dinner tonight to make it, or I'm getting ready to go to the grocery store and add a glance, I can just take a quick look. Because of this pantry reset that we did, it's so much easier to see the products that I have.

So we talked a little bit about how the kids can be helpful. I wanted to mention a couple of my favorite. Containers that I like putting in pantries. So first of all, you wanna just take a look at, you know, Pinterest, or maybe it's your friend's pantry and see how they're doing it. Or maybe you wanna look at the container store for inspiration for pantries.

Any of those places are great if you haven't really decided what your style is, what your aesthetic is. It's always fun to take a look at how other people are doing things to get inspiration and see. Sometimes you look at that and be like, That is really pretty, but there's no way I'm gonna be able to keep up with that.

So first of all, I just wanna say if you are looking at beautiful items, decanted in people's pantries and you're thinking, that's so lovely, but that seems like a headache and I don't wanna do it. Listen, do you not feel the pressure to do that? It's okay. There may be another part of your life when you're like, I really think now I'm ready for decanting my products and making them look really beautiful in my pantry and sealed fresh so that I don't have open bags.

You know, if like chip clips are not a thing that you wanna have, that's okay. So just don't beat yourself up over how you've decided to design your pantry. Try things. If they work, great. If they don't, that's what return and exchange policies are for. So no pressure. Okay? So in some areas I really do love to get containers where you can decant things.

So in our pantry we do have some, you may choose to do the plastic ones, you may choose to do the glass ones. You may. To do some other kind like that. Whatever you want. Great. I do recommend doing them in clear containers because again, it's just easier to see them. I also recommend on some things if they are, like, for example for if you have lentils, beans, perhaps, um, different types of pasta.

And you want to keep those differentiated, then you might wanna get a chalk pen, a chalk label, and uh, right on the front of that so that you know what's in that particular one. If you're able to look at it and know what it is right away, a label is only necessary if you decide that you wanna do it because it looks.

Beautiful. Uh, if you are making it user-friendly for anyone else who's using the pantry and you think it is a good idea to have a label on them, there are so many awesome labels that you can use to put on your containers to make them look beautiful and also to make it super convenient so you know what it is.

Um, I will actually pop a link in show notes to another episode I did called Label Your Stuff. Uh, I'll go ahead and put the one in also. Choose the right containers because I share some of my favorites to put in a pantry as well. There. On that note, I will say if you don't feel like decanting things, but you do wanna contain things, I always wanna group like categories together.

So grab a basket that suits whatever. Style is represented in your home or something that you really have loved, that you've gotten inspiration from, and put it all in a basket together. So like chips, crackers, you can even have a chips and cracker basket, which we have because we have a larger basket. We use the kivas.

Storage containers. They're, um, baskets that have a liner built in. And the ones that I have, they look really just silvery gray. But if I'm not mistaken, I think the color is called sage and silver. Sage almost rec, like that just makes me think of like a green color, but. It's not green, it's silvery gray.

Uh, and I've used that for a lot of my clients as well too. So those are fantastic. Kiva, K i v A are the baskets that I use in my pantry. Those are fantastic because some things I wanted decant, but then other things I have. Kind of in bulk, and I want to either use some chip clips on those and put them in one, or I just wanna have some extra ones and put them in a basket.

And then they just have a simple clip label in the front. I used a Sharpie to write on a piece of paper that says Chips and crackers, sos. Super simple. You can do that. I did the same thing with the sweets basket. I also have a basket way up high in my pantry. Um, it's the exact same basket, exact same clip label, and it says lighters on it and it has like birthday candles, other kind of like tea light candles.

It has our lighters and has matches, and I per. Purposely just wanted to keep that way up high away from the kids, but also it doesn't need to be something I'm pulling out all the time, and so living up high on the shelf with the sweets basket made a lot of sense for my pantry. Hey there. Quick reminder that now there are four ways to get my book.

If you head over to Amazon, you can search up. I've got you a girlfriend. Why? Getting organized and living this mom life is not a solo mission. You can now get it. On the Kendall app, paperback hard cover, and the audiobook is finally here. So if you've been enjoying this podcast episode, I have a feeling you might love the audiobook.

Thanks so much for making it a best seller. And now back to the show.

Another thing I love. Are cereal containers, and I highly recommend if you're going to get cereal containers that you take a look at how many cereals you feel like you typically have in your home, and then really just stick to that number. Okay? So for example, we, I chose three probably because I love things in three, so, Wide depart from it at this point.

It is funny though, because that's an odd number and I usually really love to have even numbers, but the three canisters really work well. I usually will have some sort of a like sugary cereal that we typically don't eat from a lot, but at this time, lucky Charms, you know, they're magically delicious.

Okay, so those are in my pantry at the moment. Occasionally you need to have a bowl of Lucky Charms. Maybe not all the time, but occasionally I think it's okay. Another cereal I have tends to be on the granola side. My husband and my daughter really love granola, so whether they're eating it in cereal form, like my husband likes to do, or my daughter has it to sprinkle over her yogurt and her beautiful, lovely parfaits she loves to make with fruit and maybe a little honey or garve.

That's something that she likes to pull from. So I realized I needed to have kind of like a granola themed cereal container. And then finally, I love Basic four cereal or some other bit of a healthier option cereal. And so three cereal containers worked best for us. . And the reason I said you wanna think about that is because if you decide to get three or whatever your number is, maybe you really only need like two, or maybe you guys are huge cereal lovers and that is your jam.

And maybe you have like a whole shelf that's devoted to different types of cereals. Okay? You do you, and that is just fine. Maybe you wanna have four or five of them. What I do suggest is that you're being mindful, and this is, the kids know this. This is. How it's always been with us. Be mindful that if you're bringing home a fourth type of cereal, for example, you're not gonna have a place to put it.

You're going to have a one-off box up there. If that doesn't bother you, not a problem. Live your life, that's fine. Maybe you wanna stick it back in the back behind those canisters and you'll know, okay, this is the next cereal that we're going to. If you typically just get the same cereals all the time, go ahead and just wait until it tends to be close to the bottom and then when you're out, go grab that cereal so that way you can pour it directly in when you're decanting things, when you get home and you don't have this one-off box that might end up.

Getting left behind or might end up frustrating you aesthetically if you're looking at it and it bugs you. So, I know it might sound silly, but it's just one of those sort of boundaries, organization, boundaries you can set. That way it's less waste because a lot of times if you've got one that doesn't fit in, especially if you're anything like me, when you wanna make it fit.

Then you might be like, you know what? I'm just gonna toss this other cereal cuz I need to put this other one in. I don't wanna look at this box. Whatever is coming up for you in the moment as you're thinking about this, or if you find that your kids are constantly asking you for new things over and over and they're not finishing what they have before, this is kind of one of those life lesson moments in a way that you can have your kids take responsibility for choices they're making.

Starting out with the pantry stuff and just say, you know, you've already gotten this. We made this decision for this week. Let's finish this and then we'll go get a new one. So just an idea, something to consider. I think I have thoroughly checked cereal containers off the list. The next thing I wanna talk about is the divided turntable.

Now some people call this a lazy Susan. I feel like that's not very nice to Susan. I have an Aunt Susan, and I love her so much, so we're not gonna call her lazy ever, and I love them. All right. These things are great for putting in perhaps bars, uh, granola bars, cereal bars. Maybe you wanna have some little individually wrapped things that go in your kids' lunches.

Maybe you are living that squeezy pack life. That's, we call 'em a squeezy pack, and you have constantly gotten. Apple sauces or any of those little pouches that the kids love to gu down, those are perfect in the divided turntable. These are just different things that you might have really small portions of and it's a great way to keep it organized in your pantry and also have it just be really convenient for on the go grabbing.

So these are great for little snacks. I really like that. Uh, let's see. What have I not talked about? I might actually just leave it at that because I think you get the point, which is. You decide this year we're going to be very intentional with what you want to go in your pantry and what maybe you don't want.

So maybe you finish up eating it. Or like I said, you do that enhancement of getting it in the hands of somebody else who could use it so you're not being wasteful and then you really start fresh. Oh, guess what? I just remembered something else I was gonna mention. If you have got canned. I'll tell you my, the way my brain worked.

Do you know when I'm saying this now? Do you know how my brain worked? My mom's listening. I'm sure she probably does. I started talking about donating it, which made me think of canned foods, which made me think I didn't mention the way that you can organize canned foods in your pantry. There are obviously different ways you can do this.

There are some things if you've got a smaller, tighter space, uh, and you can organize them vertically. There are those little decanters that you can pop them in. Decanter is the word, the little containers. You can pop the canned in laying on its side and it can kind of roll down and it will like dispense one at a time.

By the way, if you could see this on video. See, I'm like doing hand motions to show you how I'm talking about this. Can you see it? Am I painting it visually in your mind? Uh, but the only problem with that is unless you've got the exact same canned foods that are being dispensed, and you just need that one in the front.

Then you kinda have to like pull out every single one to get to that can of beans or can of corn or can of green beans or whatever it is we're trying to get to. You have to pull 'em all out in order to get to that one. So it's an option, but if that's the way to go and you're going vertically, I do recommend either just stacking one or two on top of each other, um, and grouping them as closely together in like categories as possible.

Or I'd really like to have, there's a two-tiered mesh container that you can slide out and you can reach in, grab the container of, you know, beans or corner green beans, I guess is what we're going for. Oh, I should say a black eyed peas. That's what you're supposed to have in the new year. Black eyed peas for good luck.

So whatever can you're grabbing, you can see it a little bit better if you have it in two separate vertical, uh, stacked baskets. So you can pull it out, grab what you need from that particular drawer, slide the drawer back in. , easy peasy. They make them in these metal mash ones at container store. You could get them in a clear acrylic container that's like a little drawer that you can pull out.

That definitely is great for maximizing that vertical space. If you've got a narrower spot, um, you might wanna put it on a two-tiered turntable where you can spin it around and grab the one that you need from the shelf. By the way, I didn't mention this, but I should that if you have a corner in your pantry.

And you're trying to figure out how to sort of style that with the proper containers. Lazy Susans or turntables are perfect for corners because you can maximize that space by having several different things in there, but they won't get lost in the back corner if you've got the turntable that you can spin around and basically bring to the front whatever it is that you need to reach for.

So those are fantastic for cans as well. And then the last thing I'll suggest is something that I have in my pantry, which is, Kind of like little steps. And I have one that's got three little steps up. And the nice thing about that is that I can group them in categories. So on each step or in each section, I can have the different types of canned foods.

And then they're elevated a little bit in each, uh, on each level that you can glance. And you can be like, oh, okay, I don't have any more marinara sauce or tomato sauce, pasta sauce, whatever. I don't have anymore. Ranch dip. You know, , we got, I'm a Tennessee girl, you know, we're gonna have ranch dressing. And so maybe you see, oh, I don't have any more of those condiments or things on that shelf where that typically is.

Maybe your thing is syrups. Maybe you'll love a good maple syrup. And so you have a section that's just of your maple syrups. Little. If that's missing, then you know, okay, next time I go to the grocery store, I need to pick up. Some more syrup. So whatever it is that you're placing in those areas, it's just nice if you've got that sort of stair step elevated looks that way you can kind of see what you got back behind it and it's not getting lost into the abyss of the shelf space in your pantry.

You definitely wanna make sure that you're kind of doing that constant. Reset and going back and looking through and making sure, am I actually using these products? Can I see what I've got back here? Is it getting lost back here? Maybe it's time for me to put in some other sort of organizer or container so I can see those things.

So hopefully some of these ideas will just get your mind working on what would be a good idea for. To keep upfront and in a convenient location, or not only meet, just see at a glance, but also for my kids to be super helpful and independent in getting what they need when they need it. Maybe this is the time that your kiddos are starting to make their own lunches.

Uh, I make sure that my kids snacks and lunch bags are down on the bottom, so sometimes if I'm not able to prep theirs for the week, as I always do, I can say, Hey Isabel, can you go in there and grab your lunch bags? And you guys put some of the stuff that we normally put in there. Will you go ahead and get that set for tomorrow?

She can easily go grab what she needs. She knows the types of things that we put in. And to be perfectly honest, my Duke can do that too. They both are at the place where we've done this for so long now and it's just sort of old hat. We'll bring in some new items here and there. Oh, by the way, are you guys into the Trader Joe's hockey?

They're not Takis, but they're like the, their version of these rolled up and that kind of reminds me of a Dorito, but my kids love these things. This is like the IT snack right now and you people are like hoarding these and does feel like we're going back to the days of 2021, people were buying multiple bags of things off of the shelves.

Trader Joe's cannot seem to keep those in stock. We are constantly going in and buying the. Non talkie talkies and they love them. So whatever it is that you're adding to your pantry, just being intentional of how you're organizing that space will definitely be helpful, not only for you, but also for everyone in your family.

So cheers to a new year and your New Year's Pantry. Reset. Hopefully this was helpful. If it was, please share it with a friend. We all gotta stick together in this mom life and we need all these helpful hints, right? All right. By the way, I love a before and after photo, so you gotta send me pictures if you decide to reorganize your pantry this year.

Sending you best wishes and pantry dreams. , I hope that your January is going well so far, and I will talk to you next week for some more organization motivation. Bye. Thanks for listening to another episode of the Mom's Organization Motivation Podcast. For more resources to organize and style your busy life, head over to everything with style.com and connect with me on Instagram at Everything with Style.

Mom, if this episode was helpful for you, please share it with your friends rate and review it on it. That's Apple Podcast now and let me know what you'd like to hear about next. Thanks again for listening and happy organizing.