space time continuum bendies Part 2

Alrighty then, so I already posted about the itty bitty drawer that could have been hiding Hoffa and how this led me to have more faith in my odd abilities.  The particular odd ability with which we are focusing this post on: I apparently can bend the space time continuum and have located the fourth dimention.  Yes, yes, they don't call me Dr. DomesticRocket for nuthin'!

For so long I have bemoaned the shrinky dinkiness of my kitchen ... well my whole house really ... and to discover that I actually could really pack a butt ton of crap into these previously thought of as small spaces ... it was downright emotional for me.  But the problem with my pantry was that even if it happened to hold more than I thought it would, it was still wildly unorganized and downright frightening.  Truly.  Brace yourself, I have pictures.

I usually opened my pantry while it was in this state with one eye closed in case the open one was damaged so I would still have half my sight.  I also had my arms outstretched and one foot back for much the same reason.  It was scary to open because the crapalanche was always at threat level 10 and to add to that I could never find anything.  Seriously, I had no idea how much food was in there, and I was always feeling like a mad woman.  I know I have a can of tomato soup, I am sure I bought one last week, but where is it?!

So I started facing this nightmare by emptying the whole thing out.  I figured my kitchen table would be enough space for all of it ...

Yeah, that was three shelves worth.  Seriously.  At this point I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and also apologizing profusely to the pantry that I have spent the last three years calling various unflattering adjectives like "worthless" and "puny."  It became apparent to me that the problem was much more a ME issue rather than a structural one.  Clearly, I have no organization skills along with the absence of domestic ones.  But on the bright side, I can pack crap into a small space like a seasoned hoarder.

Long story short I got all of it out, cleaned it up, tossed the crap I knew I would never use or had expired (which was pretty shameful once I got to the stuff in the back) and condensed things where I could.  Then I had a marginally less large mess and a full garbage can.

Because I am all about being inspired by blogs I have spent a lot of time reading about the insanely organized Jenn at iheartOrganizing.  May I just say iheartJenn.  Seriously, I love this site and pray that merely reading it will give me better organizational skills via osmosis.  Since that hasn't been working I have decided to try to actually implement some stuff I have read and I gotta say, my inner teacher still wants to label everything.  Seriously, everything. I had some baskets/containers that I already intended to use, but I knew it wasn't going to be enough.  I made a quick run to the dollar store to purchase some containers so I have some uniformity to this beast and that led to this ...

Which meant I had eliminated this many boxes from my pantry.

And because I was having a total OCD spazzy organizing fit I noticed these cute baskets in the dollar section at Target and had another brilliant idea ... but I will save that bit of brilliance for another post.

For temporary labeling I used clear packing tape and wet erase pens.  It wasn't pretty, but it worked and cost me nothing upfront.  However Pintercrack has awakened a severe need for chalkboard coated surfaces because they look so danged cute when I pin 'em!  {I should note that as a teacher I absolutely detested chalk and chalkboards, a fact my husband points out every time I discuss covering any surface with chalkboard paint.} I found a recipe on Pintercrack for chalkboard paint, but I had an Amazon gift card and the contact paper was only $6.87 so I wanted semi-instant gratification.  Once the contact paper arrived (the next day) I busted out my Cricut and cut the shapes I wanted for everything.

That, and the final reveal will be in part three ...