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professional organizer

Lifestyle

Getting Organized Again! Pantry Refresh Edition

by Courtney El-Ghoul

I get so happy when I am freshly organized, like for real, legit giddy! Who feels me on this!?

I know I have already talked to you guys a lot about the rooms that I have had professionally organized in our home, ( Thank you Evergreenmethod!!!), but today I want to give a little update! I am soooo obsessed with how they all turned out and for the most part, I have been really good about maintaining them. Then COVID came, and well, let’s just say I went a little overboard on buying bulk food. In general, just being in the house every day, all day, with the kids for six months definitely took a toll on my pantry. Cooking every meal and all the snacks, with two five-year-old assistants… really tested the system we had in place. Which was more about efficiency, because we were packing lunches daily, and constantly on the go. That changed, ha. It needed a little makeover for sure. Now because it already had a facelift, this was pretty simple:) 

I will dive right in…

How We Keep Our Pantry Organized

Once you have the storage materials even if you let things go, it is much easier to get back on track where you left off. I know we have talked in the past about how overwhelming the container store can be so I will share with you guys the products that I really love and have helped keep our pantry in check.

Organization Products:

These bins are my favorite!! They are aesthetically pleasing, and they hold all our larger snacks, bakery items, plus they are super durable. I have had them for a couple of years and they still look like new.

If you are a cereal family and are so tired of all those bulky boxes these oxo containers are a gem! They keep the cereal fresh, I can find what I want easily, and my pantry looks so much cleaner without having all the boxes to sort through. You could use them for pasta storage as well.

Lazy Susan’s are also the deal!! Okay, I really love these. They are a total must-have for the pantry. I store all my pasta sauces, peanut butter, any random condiments on mine. They are also perfect for your spice cabinet. 

Lastly, this expand-a-shelf is perfect for storing canned goods. I hate not being able to see things, so these are great, all my canned goods are lined up, easy to grab, and find what I am looking for. I also have a ton of these oxo containers for the kids’ snacks, my chocolates, you could also use them for pasta, really anything. I love them! As I type I am thinking of more things! Ha, these stacking pantry bins are also great to have! I store kids applesauce, mac & cheese packets, and all the pre=portioned things, they are great to have in the pantry.

So, there you have it! Those are like my must-have storage products that have been efficient, and helpful. I would also recommend having the food you use the most in the front so that it’s easy to grab and you aren’t rummaging through everything. Oh, and labeling!! I love having labels, they look uniform, and they let me know where things go when I am unloading groceries or in general have let things slide and need to get back on track.

I hope this was helpful! I love sharing these parts of my life as I feel like we can all relate to how chaotic your home can get with all the stuff we accumulate, especially in these current times when we are spending so much time in our homes!!

Next on my agenda is our garage!! I am working with Carly as we speak so I will for sure share that journey with you guys:)

Tell me all your organizational secrets???

XO

Courtney

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getting organized
Lifestyle

Getting Organized

by Courtney El-Ghoul

Today I want to talk about getting organized! AHHHH isn’t it the best feeling in the world!? I mean I feel like we all love the idea. Getting there can feel so daunting. But, if we are being honest, the hard part is maintaining it. I like to consider myself a pretty organized person, in general. However, when I start looking around my kitchen and the “junk drawer” looks like a bomb went off… I am like, okay, I have a problem! Haha. Truthfully, I am not that bad. But, ever since I had the twins I feel like things have gotten a little out of hand. Kids accumulate so much stuff! Then when I see things getting a little haywire, it’s easy for me to use the excuse that I am so busy with them that I just don’t have time to get organized. Which is entirely untrue – but it is not a great excuse.

Before
After

True story, when we moved into our new house about a year ago I told Khalil “we are decluttering and we are going to be on point with our organization!” I swear I lived at the darn container store. The problem is, which I am sure you can relate to if you have been there, is how crazy overwhelming that place is! I was like a kid in a candy store! Everything just looks so great. It was all – “Oh, I can totally use this, yes!” or “I have to have that!” Oh man, not even kidding I spent an embarrassing amount of money in there. But, of course, it got out of hand again. Some of it is AMAZING, but then a lot of it either isn’t practical or maybe I am just using it in the wrong way. I really tried. I got all the labels and cereal/food containers. Somehow, it still looks nothing like Khloe Kardashian’s pantry! ha! At first, it was nice… like, the day I did it all. it is just SO HARD to maintain. This is JUST the pantry. Never mind the whole house. 

Before
After

I won’t bore you with the details, but it’s pretty much the same story for the other rooms in our home I tried to organize. But, recently I had to come to terms with the fact that I just didn’t have the time or energy to do it the right way. So, we decided to have a professional come in and help make my organized home dreams come true! Since I’d already purchased half the darn store when I attempted to do this myself… we asked her to try and use the products I already had, to save some money.

Before
After

Getting Started With The Organization Process

Khalil and I agreed that our closet was the number one priority to start on. We desperately needed some help. Neither of us could ever find half our things. This is the one area that we never even came close to getting right, from the time we moved. But then, Carly, at theevergreenmethod.com , made our closet dreams come true! Guys – it is SO GOOD. (Fun fact: Khalil went to college with her brother, but we had never met Carly before.) Immediately when she came to our home to meet us, and take a look at the project I knew I loved her. She was so warm and I felt like she truly got my vision. She even made me a Pinterest board for inspirational ideas of what we had discussed. We decided to start with the master closet, and then move on to other rooms in the house that needed attention.

After
After

Well, she got our closet done in 1 day! AMAZING! I am so in love with it. She knocked it out of the park. I found clothing, jewelry, even shoes I totally forgot about – BONUS! Don’t even get me started on Khalil’s side, ha, oh my gosh like one billion times better. You guys can see the before/after pictures I included. If you are local to the DC area and require some organization in your life, hit her up. She Rocks!

For all of you on the fence about hiring someone, my advice is YES! I am so glad we finally did it and can’t wait for our next project. Stay tuned for more spaces we are decluttering in a future post.

XO

Courtney

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