It really does not matter how large or small your pantry; to make the most of the space you have, your pantry needs to be effectively organised. You need to be quite ruthless in determining what stays and what goes, and take advantage of storage solutions outside of your home (such as storage at a Fort Knox Storage facility), for items that are used infrequently or really do not belong in your pantry. Here are some great tips how saving space can be quick, easy and budget friendly.

Getting started…

Pull everything out of your pantry

To get really organised, you need to remove the entire contents of the pantry and commit to disposing of everything with an expired use by date. Items that are not out-of-date, but are open and look to be past their best, should go too.

Clean while the pantry is empty

With a completely empty pantry, you have the perfect opportunity to give the space a thorough clean. If drawers are a feature of your pantry, start by vacuuming them out, and then give all surfaces a complete wipe down.

Logically sort and group pantry items

With items still outside of your pantry, sort them into logical groupings, such as flour and baking items, tinned food, pastas, sauces and cereals. Before you return these items to the pantry, think carefully about how they can be best positioned and arranged.

Keep heavy appliances on trays

A great tip that has been practiced for decades, is to sit heavy appliances like food processors and blenders on trays. Doing so makes it easy to slide the appliance from the back of the shelf to the front where it can be more easily lifted out.

Saving space with tins and bottles

In most pantries, tins and bottles can be difficult to store, because of their bulky size and shape. It is now possible to purchase expanding racks for the pantry which are attached under the shelf. You will be adding extra storage and creating a space where all tins are visible and neatly organised.

Use containers for your dry goods

Stop the chaos and loss of space that results from opened boxes and packets falling over in your pantry. It’s far better to empty your dry goods into containers and containers that are clear glass or plastic are preferable, as they make it easier to find particular products.

To optimise space, use square or rectangular containers, rather than round ones which do not fit beside each other quite so well. Use labels for the easy identification of products and ensure that all containers have airtight lids.

Make the most of baskets

Baskets are an invaluable resource in a pantry as they provide a place for all manner of items, from cake sprinkles and food colouring, to garbage bags and aluminium foil. Save space and stay organised with baskets that are clearly labelled and logically arranged.

Generally speaking, space is at a premium in most people’s pantries. It really doesn’t matter how large or small your pantry is, it can be well-organised so that space is maximised and all items can be easily located and used. What are your tips to saving space in the pantry?

Disclosure: This is a sponsored guest post.

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Moving is one of the most stressful experiences in the human condition. It involves moving a huge amount of stuff a long distance over a protracted period of time. If you plan to move with someone it’s also a sure fire source of conflict and annoyance. It costs you money, it takes time and it is endlessly frustrating. Here are some easy ways to make moving safe easy and relatively relaxed. Once the job is done you can get back to a good relaxed life in your new home.

Plan Everything

The best way to cut down on the little troubles is to have a plan. Know where everything is going to go, measure your old place and your new one for size. Know the right way to get everything important interstate without risking destruction or damage. Do your research on moving vans and companies. You should only proceed when you have a really good idea of how you’re going to manage the move. This won’t solve all of the problems you will inevitably have, no plan is perfect, but it should help plan it out.

Be Cut-throat with Disposals

Sadly when you’re disposing of things when moving house you have to be colder than you’ll like being. You’ll have to get past the sentimentality that leads to people wanting to keep everything no matter what happens. No matter how much you may want to, bringing everything makes the experience so much more frustrating. So decide what you want to keep and what you need to throw out. You may not want to lose the old memories but you have them anyway. If you don’t have any particular sentimental attachment to something and you haven’t used it in a year it might be time to throw it out.

Seek Help if you can

No one likes to do anything alone and moving is basically impossible. Call in every favour you can get, in the old state and the new one. Every strong back to lift a couch, organised mind to load up the truck and friendly face to raise your spirits is one job you don’t have to do. You have friends for a reason, use them if you need them. While there may be some tensions between you and them during the process it will be a better experience over all.

Take it in Stages

Doing things in steps is a good idea, a big job is made up of a lot of smaller jobs. If you have to be out right away feel free to load your possession into a truck and move it to a temporary storage facility. Doing this will give you time to make a few trips and prevent mad rushes of moving back and forth just to get all of your stuff to the new place. Visit www.fortknoxstorage.com.au for more information.

Moving need not be horrible. Just take your time, think of s plan, don’t be afraid to ask for help and be realistic with yourself about what you really need.

The post Helpful Tips for Your Interstate Move appeared first on All Mum Said.

Guest Post written by Mick Cutcliffe.

Bio paragraph: Mick Cutcliffe leads a very busy life, a single father of 3 boys, working through the day and writing through the night. Cutcliffe is an avid writer for Fort Knox business storage.

A garage can be a really useful space for storing things and depending on how well you organise the space you can usually have room for storing the car and some of your stuff. One important thing to do to ensure that you are making the best use of the space is to declutter, and only keep things that you really need to in the garage. Here are 5 tips to decluttering your garage.

Have a Chuck Out

First things first, before you can really utilise the space you will need to have a chuck out, and get rid of everything that you no longer need. Often the garage space can be a place where we dump anything that we don’t have a place for, and it builds up in piles and becomes a really untidy space. Getting rid of the things that you don’t need will free up your space, both physically and energetically, and your home will feel a lot clearer.

Store What You Don’t Need Now

If there are things in your garage that you need to keep, but don’t need to use on a day to day basis then an option that might work for you is to put them into storage. Often we may need to store papers and other things related to business etc, and only need to access them once a year, or once every few years. Business storage would be a good investment for you, but make sure you keep your storage facility in a place where they will be kept safe and sound for future needs.

Define the Space

One great way to utilise the space as well as it can be used is to work out what you want to use it for, and plan accordingly. If you are using it to store your car then you will want to organise the remaining space accordingly so that you can make the most of it. If you decide to use it as a studio or work space then shelves, benches and cupboards will be of great assistance to keep the place clear and uncluttered.

Overhead Shelf

If you are using the space to store your car but still have a lot of stuff to keep in the garage then you might want to think about installing some overhead shelving above the car. This way you can use that space that would usually be left unused. There are some really interesting designs for this that can be made easily and attached to the roof to make this shelving unit.

Tool Board

An interesting way of storing tools is to create a tool board with hooks where you can have your tools hanging on display so you know where they are and can easily grab them when you need them. The display board can be used for storing other things in your garage according to what purpose you are using the area for.

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