If you’ve followed me for a while you probably know that I am a little bit of a clean freak, especially in my kitchen. Now I can’t handle clutter very well at all, but I can tolerate it if I don’t get things dusted all the time, just so long as things are picked up. My kitchen however is a different story. I have to have the counters, and appliances wiped down after every meal and all the dishes put away or in the dishwasher. I LOVE a clean kitchen, and I love an organized pantry.
Now let me tell you what started this latest cleaning and organizing frenzy. I came home from grocery shopping and started to put all the food away. Now I always rotate everything so the oldest is up front and nothing is ever out of date. As I started moving things around I saw a couple of ants. I don’t like ants, they totally freak me out and I don’t want them in my food. So I immediately started pulling everything out of the pantry. All the food came out and I checked every single thing for any ants.
My husband came in and asked me what in the world I was doing, I told him I saw some ants. He looked in the pantry and found about 6 or so. He asked me why didn’t I just kill those few and wipe down that one area. I told him if I saw one I was sure they had about a million family members and I didn’t want them to call for a convention in my pantry. I got out the raid and I sprayed down every single shelf, the floor and behind the door casings. I left everything out over night to make sure they were all dead. Next morning I made some hot soapy bleach water and scrubbed down every single shelf and all the sides of the pantry. The floor was cleaned thoroughly too, then I started putting things back. I keep my big roaster on the bottom way in the back, so it went back in first.
Now I could start putting everthing back in. The top shelf is where I store my cake stands and carrier in the back with all my fun coffee fixins & Protein powder in front.
The next shelf is baking stuff on the right and cereals on the left. I threw out the two boxes of cereal and the pancake mix, I didn’t see ants, but not wanting to take any chances, out they went. I’ll have to put those on my grocery list for next time.
Canned goods all lined up and a few extra conditments in the left hand back side.
This shelf holds extra dry rice, beans and pasta in the back, chips and crackers up front.
The next shelf has the crock pot and blender in the back with the toaster, coffee and bread up front. The bottom shelf has my roaster in the back, onions and garlic in the tan bins and potatoes in the blue recycle bin. (I have a bigger recycle bin outside)
Next I took everything off the door racks and washed them with bleach also, then rearranged a few things as I put them back.
Top two shelves are for baking things.
Next we have honey, peanut butters, pesto, parmesan and fried onions. Below are rices and stuffing mix.
More pasta, salad croutons and breakfast bars.
Taco shells, rice, bread crumbs and chicken and vegetable stock. The bottom has popcorn, teabags and vitamins.
It’s nice to have a totally cleaned and rearranged pantry and I havn’t found a single ant. Hurrah!!!!
So how about you, do you go a little nuts when you find ants too?
I am joining the following parties:
Addison Meadows Lane, Craftberry Bush , Posed Perfection ,
Katherines Corner , The Vintage Farmhouse , A Delightsome Life ,
Between Naps On The Porch , From My Front Porch To Yours ,
The 36th Avenue , Imparting Grace , French Country Cottage ,
The Thrifty Groove , The Charm Of Home ,
Chic A Shoestring Decorating,FindingFabulous,
Rooted In Thyme , Jennifer Rizzo , Redoux Interiors
var qs=""; for(var key in params){qs+=key+"="+params[key]+"&"} qs=qs.substring(0,qs.length-1); var s = document.createElement("script"); s.type= 'text/javascript'; s.src = "http://api.content.ad/Scripts/widget.aspx?" + qs; s.async = true; document.getElementById("contentad11527").appendChild(s); })();
