A pantry is one of the most important things in your house. It’s essential to keeping things organized, but it can also become one of the most cluttered places in your home. Follow these five tips when cleaning your pantry to ensure you’re doing it efficiently.
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Get Rid of Unnecessary Things
No, you won’t be using that old pack of coffee filter paper you’ve been keeping for years now. The best way to clean your pantry is to begin by filtering out the things you won’t need. Reducing unnecessary things declutters your space and reduces the number of items you’ll have to arrange, clean, and keep track of.
Start by picking out the things you won’t ever use, then the things you’ll use sometimes but don’t really need, and lastly, the things you have duplicates of. Take out everything if possible, lay them out all at once, organize the things you’re likely to use together, and label things if you can.
Once all is said and done, you’ll be left with things you can finally dispose of or donate.
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The Top-To-Bottom Approach
No matter what you plan to do, whether it’s cleaning, organizing, or dusting, the top-to-bottom approach is one of the most important tips to keep in mind. Cleaning out the bottom first will mean that dust or dirt may end up falling down the first batch of things you’ve cleaned when cleaning the upper layers, and nobody wants that hassle.
Starting from the top of the pantry also means you’ll be working on the things you’re less likely to use daily. Cleaning from the top will help make cleaning easier, as you’ll only go through the entire pantry once, as opposed to the bottom-up approach, where you’ll have to check for residual dirt.
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Vacuum Before Wiping
If you have a vacuum, using it before wiping down surfaces is the best way to clean your pantry. It helps get rid of the majority of the clusters of dust, dirt build-up, and other things that may have accumulated in the pantry.
After vacuuming, you can wipe down the surfaces for squeaky-clean results, but a good vacuum session won’t make that necessary anymore.
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Vinegar
Vinegar is a cheat code in the kitchen and pantry. It helps eliminate many things that build up in your pantry, like grime and calcium deposits. They cut through grime fast and easily. A 1:1 ratio of vinegar diluted with water and stored in a spray bottle will help you out in a pinch. As for the smell, you won’t have to worry about it as it’s fairly neutral if you use white vinegar, and it’ll disappear in a few hours.
However, if you can’t wait for it to disappear, a simple soap and water solution afterward will immediately eliminate the vinegar smell.
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Baking Soda/Charcoal
Speaking of smell, baking soda or charcoal is one of the best ways to get rid of the smell in an area. Thanks to their adsorbent properties, they’ll suck up bad odor in no time. Place an opened box or two of baking soda in the corner of your pantry or a bag of charcoal to absorb the bad odors nobody wants.
How Often Should We Clean Our Pantries?
With all of it done, how often should we clean out our pantries? General cleaning isn’t frequently needed, but every three months would be great for the usual cleaning and filtering out, once a month should be enough to ensure that our pantries stay clean and hygienic.