Thank you to QVC for providing me with Honey-Can-Do 3-piece Nesting Banana Leaf baskets. All opinions expressed are my own. 

I have a small pantry that tends to get cluttered over time. Cans and boxes of food get stuffed and shoved behind things – never to be heard from again. So many times, I KNOW I have the {insert recipe ingredient} I need, but cannot find it when I need it. This is one reason why it is a good idea to organize your pantry on a regular basis.

An organized pantry can help you save time in the kitchen and money at the store. You will know where to find things and you won’t buy more of something at the store that you already have at home. It will also help other family members find what they need. Plus, an organized pantry just plain looks better than a messy one.

The good news is that once you get your pantry organized, it will be much easier to keep it that way. So get motivated to get started – and tackle your pantry shelves one by one.

How To Organize Your Pantry in 4 Steps:

1. Clear the shelves. Remove EVERYTHING from your pantry. Keep a trash bin nearby so you can toss out expired foods and anything else that you no longer need on the shelves. Tip: Now is a GREAT time to take a damp cloth and wipe the shelves to get rid of dust and crumbs.
2. Make a plan for where to items should be placed in the pantry. For example, I divide my shelves into sections like: a Baking Zone (for flours, sugar, oil, etc), a Cereal Zone, a Snack Zone, a Canned Foods Zone and a Pasta Zone. I put the cereal and snacks on shelves that are easy for my kids to reach. Items that I do not use very often go on the harder-to-reach upper shelf.
3. Use Organizers to Keep Shelves Clutter-Free. Baskets and jars are my favorite organizing tools for the pantry. Square containers, like these QVC banana leaf baskets, are the most space efficient. Putting items into a container actually ends up opening up more shelf space. You will find that you can fit more items into the same amount of space. If you have a small pantry like mine, you know that every square inch is valuable!
4. Restock the shelves according to your plan in #2. 

Try to go through and reorganize your pantry at least 2-3 times a year. You may even want to schedule a reminder. I use a Calendar app to set email reminders to myself for just about everything.

Two of the Honey-Can-Do Banana Leaf Baskets (available at QVC.com) helped me organize my pantry shelf and created extra space on that shelf in the process.

This 3-piece Honey-Can-Do Three-Piece Nesting Banana Leaf Baskets set (QVC Item #H282745, $32, QVC.com) includes a small, medium and large size basket. Each basket is sturdy and looks very pretty sitting on the pantry shelf. I filled the largest basket with baking supplies, so I can just pull it off the shelf when needed. The medium-sized basket holds numerous containers and bags of snacks like dried fruits and nuts. I like that those are not floating around, getting shoved into corners and lost forever.

The third basket in this set was just the right size to hold all my daily essential toiletries. My bathroom counter looks so tidy now that all my clutter is contained in the basket.

Jill Bauer, QVC’s Home-Savvy Hostess, hosts the network’s popular show, “You’re Home with Jill®” and provides fans with simple solutions for their busy lives through innovative products, a library of stress-free DIY projects, and crowd-pleasing recipes. Fans can connect with Jill on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram @jillbauerqvc.For more simple cleaning and organizing solutions, check out You’re Home with Jill.

When was the last time you organized your pantry? Do you use baskets to help keep your kitchen and pantry organized? Share your thoughts and organization tips with us in the comments below.