How many times has this happened to you? You go looking for something in your pantry but you can’t find it and head to the store to buy that item. A few days later you’re looking for something else and you find the first item. Hopefully, you can use both packages, jars, whatever before their sale by date. Yes, I’d love a professional organizer to stop by my house once a month to sort through everything and put cans and jars in perfect order. But until then here are some tips I’ve found that have kept me on track to having an organized kitchen.

When Do I Use It?
Look at each item in your kitchen and think about how often you use it. I used to keep my food processor on the countertop, but realized I was only using it maybe a couple of times a month so it got moved to a cupboard. Items that I use for just the holidays, like the carving board for the turkey, is now stored in a cupboard above the fridge that also stores other items that I don’t use that often.

Should You Toss It?
I know most professional organizers tell you to throw away items you haven’t used for six months to a year, but call me sentimental, but some items I just can’t even consider giving away. I have a whole selection of different shaped nozzles used for icing cakes. I haven’t done anything fancy like that for years, but I just can’t seem to part with them. I decided to compromise and bought a storage box just for them and placed it in a drawer. Now they’re not taking up valuable space, but should I ever want to do some fancy cake decorating again, I know I have them.

Set Aside a Day
Another tip that works for me is setting aside a specific day and time for organizing certain items in the kitchen. For example, at the end of each month I make sure I sort through the fridge and pantry and use up items that are getting close to their sale by date.

Use Jars
I’ve found I keep my pantry more organized if I put items into jars rather than keeping them in their original packages. It also extends their shelf life, so it’s a money saver too. You don’t need to use anything expensive. Many companies use Mason jars for their pasta sauces, so I just remove the label, put them in the dishwasher and they’re good to go. You can be as creative as you like, I recently bought some orange juice in a bottle that was so attractive I’m now using it to store split peas. And I keep packages of gravy and taco mix in containers from an old refrigerator.