My family’s meals were all planned ahead for the week and I was feeling quite organized. I made out the menu, put together the grocery list, and got my shopping all done in one trip. This week we were not going to waste any money on fast food or delivery meals. I was on a roll.

Then I opened my pantry to put my groceries away. Oops. I was staring at items of food that I purchased while they were on sale a couple weeks ago… items I just bought today at full price. I had completely forgotten them when I made out my grocery list. I guess if I would have dug around a little I might have seen them, but it was too late now. I really hate to waste money in such a foolish way.

So, starting today, I’m implementing a plan to organize and itemize my pantry so I never buy duplicates again at full price. To make it work for me, I’m going to set up 4 steps to follow. Here we go.

Step 1: Clear Out Your Pantry. Pick a day, make a cup of coffee, and start cleaning out your pantry or cupboards out of all the dry or canned food items. Take everything out, checking each item for expiration dates or damage. Then wipe your shelves off so you can start fresh with a clean space.

Step 2: Categorizing Your Pantry items. Here’s where your organizational skills come in. Group your pantry items by similarities, like canned vegetables, broth, snacks, dressings, soup, pasta, and so on. Lay your spices out alphabetically so you can easily check for duplications. You’ll be surprised how many times you buy the same spices. Check all the items for expiration dates or damage and throw out anything that seems questionable.

Step 3: Create A Working List Of Basic Items. Writing down what you have in your pantry and keeping track of the items as you buy and use them seems like work. Well, it is, at first, but once you start using it, you’ll save time and money just knowing what you already have in the pantry. Using a column and row type paper, list your most often used items and the number you have in the pantry. Then as you use them, cross one off, and as you buy them add what you buy. This method is very easy once you get the hang of it.

Step 4: Use Your List On Shopping Day. If you’re sitting down with your recipes for the week, you can now grab your pantry list and easily eliminate any unnecessary purchases. You won’t pay full price again for staples in your pantry if you know ahead of time that you already bought those items the other week on sale. Now you will stock up on the basics, like canned tomatoes, rice, or broth, when you find a sale, and not buy at full price when you need it for tonight’s dinner.

I love looking in my pantry and knowing that all my basic items were purchased at a special sale price. That doesn’t happen if I keep buying something at full price because I forgot I already had some on hand. Now that I have all my pantry items identified and accounted for, I can check my basic list before I go to the store and eliminate all those extra full price purchases.

About the Author:
Nicole Dean is the mostly-sane mom behind ShowMomtheMoney.com – a fun and informative resource to help moms achieve success working from home. She invites you to learn more ways to save money in her Frugal Cooking section. Be sure to sign up for her free lessons for work at home moms.

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