It’s hard to get you kitchen and pantry organized because it’s one of the places you spend most of your time. I know in my house someone is always in the kitchen and it is in constant flux (I mean, have you met my children and seen their eating habits?!)

Today, I’m sharing 4 practical tips to help you get your pantry organized once and for all. And trust me, these are easy things that you can do (and your entire family) to get these areas organized.

4 Tips for Organizing Your Pantry

Tip #1: Get rid of anything expired. This is an easy one to accomplish, getting rid of everything that is expired will immediately open up space in your pantry and give you an idea of the food staples you and your family are using (and not using!) most.

Bonus tip: Get the kids involved! Let your kids look for expiration dates and sort out what should no longer be kept.

Tip #2: Group like with like. Group all items that go together, together! Grains with grains (rice, pasta, quinoa, etc.) snacks with snacks (pretzels, chips, cookies), cans with cans, and so on. Your families categories are going to be unique to you.

Tip #3: Bins for the win. Take the categories that you’ve created and put them together in a bin in your pantry. Using bins not only allows you to show off your personal style but also helps keep similar items grouped together (so you know where they are!) and allows you to more efficiently use the depth of your shelves. Need more creative storage ideas? Use turntables to store spices, oils, vinegars, and sauces and divided turntables to store a variety of grab and go snacks. Expand-a-Shelves are great to store cans, and you can use command hooks on the backs of doors to store aprons, towels or reusable grocery bags.

Tip #4: Store accordingly. Have cleaning supplies that need to be stored in the pantry but little kids that are always looking for something to eat? Store them at the top where little hands can’t reach. Do you always use the same cooking supplies for weeknight dinners? Put them together on the same shelf for easy access! Make sure that you think about where you are putting everything that your pantry needs to hold and make sure it works for your lifestyle.