The Elephant in the Room

I would like to discuss a very hot topic, the metaphorical elephant in the room, that has been circulating the internet & the  Professional Organizing world with all kinds of comments, likes, & criticisms; I am referring to the latest Kardashian pantry that is #pantrygoals for some people and #cringe for others. If you haven’t seen a pantry like this before, here is one picture for you to check out. This is one section of a much (much, much) larger pantry. 

An organized kitchen pantry - Organized Jill, professional home organizing, Winston Salem North Carolina and surrounding areas.

As a Professional Home Organizer, I love and appreciate a good “glamor” pantry. I appreciate the hours of planning, the aesthetics of the product selection, and the final layout of all the inventory. When I organize a pantry for my clients, whether the homeowner chooses to have me add organizing products or not, the pantry will always end up categorized, decluttered, zoned, organized, labeled when appropriate, and have color coded soda cans (because I’m extra like that). 

But all that inventory…This is where things go awry. I help a LOT of families with lots of children who frequent Costco and the grocery store weekly, and none of them keep this much inventory on hand. This is enough food for a small army. 

I know this is a weird time that we are living in where sometimes our favorite foods aren’t available in the grocery store. But 90 cans of soup is too much soup. That’s enough soup for a very long time. If you can’t eat that much soup before it expires, it is not a “great deal”.

I have removed more dusty forgotten cans of food that expired YEARS ago when cleaning out pantries than I would like to admit. “But, Jill, its canned food… it’s fine”, you might be thinking. Here’s my logic on that; if a can of soup sat in your pantry for several years collecting dust before it expired and you didn’t eat it then, and then sat in the pantry for another few years still uneaten, it is highly unlikely that you are going to eat the 10 year old soup now. 

As much as I love the aesthetics of this pantry, I don’t like the wasteful message that it promotes. (Here’s that elephant in the room again) The hundreds of meticulously aligned cookies, the copious amount of cake stands that would make a bakery blush, and product just for the sake of product.

Friends, there is a lovely area that rests between Pinterest-perfect & practical where the two ideas should meet in harmony. And that is going to look different for every single person reading this email because everyone’s lives are different, their schedules are different, the amount of time they want to spend maintaining a pantry is different. And that is OK. 

Let me know your thoughts ~ I would love to hear what you think about the Kardashian pantry, or chat pantries in general. Because I love all pantries, big or small, and all things organizing pantries. If you need help with your decluttering & organizing journey, we’re here to help! Are you local to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and surrounding areas? Contact Organized Jill to schedule your complimentary consultation.

professional home organizing, professional home decluttering, kitchen organizing tips, pantry organizing tips

Let me know your thoughts ~ I would love to hear what you think about the Kardashian pantry, or chat pantries in general. Because I love all pantries, big or small, and all things organizing pantries. If you need help with your decluttering & organizing journey, we’re here to help! Are you local to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and surrounding areas? Contact Organized Jill to schedule your complimentary consultation.