The one simple thing that has organised my pantry, FOR GOOD!

As a professional organiser I am always on the look out for the latest organising tool that I can use in my home and recommend to my clients to make their lives easier.

I am often disappointed to find many are over priced, overly complicated, overly plastic, waste of space items that flood the market and don’t help to make things decluttered or organised.

Like many of my clients I was struggling with limited pantry space and needed to maximise functionality without costing a fortune.

We are family of condiment lovers – we use sauce, spread or flavour on just about everything and we all like different things. I needed a solution to keep our condiments contained as I was beginning to feel our condiment clutter was out of control.

Problem: Getting to your sauces easily and quickly without knocking over and spilling others or feeling the need to rearrange the whole shelf each time.

Solution: The humble Lazy Susan -price range $5-35.

I rediscovered the Lazy Susan! I had fond memories of the Lazy Susan at our local Chinese restaurant in the 80’s. I always loved its simplicity and how cleverly it delivered the plate I wanted right in front of me without the need to pass a hundred plates around or knock things over on the way.

Firstly I tried one in the pantry for all our toast related spreads as they were used most often. It was a simple fix that made breakfast time almost fun. Spinning the wheel to our favourite topping without having to wrestle through the jars and bottles that may be in the way. This is a winner!

I then extended that idea to the little cupboard above the cooktop for my spices and oils, and also put one in the fridge for marinades, jams and more. I have different sizes according the space it needs to fit in and the number of items it needs to hold. The Lazy Susan has helped to create a physical limit to the number of sauces we have open at one time. We are also no longer surprised with those “lost” bottles at the back of the fridge that have passed their expiry.

As a vertically challenged person it has completely eased the difficulties of struggling to reach that bottle at the back of shelf. The kids and I can easily spin the wheel to find our favourites. Lazy Susan’s have also greatly reduced the need to clean up spills from those fallen bottles that the kids used to knock over and seemed incapable of picking up in their attempts to get to the bottle they wanted.

So if you would like to clean less, find things easily, have limits and enjoy your kitchen more – stop feeling overwhelmed by your condiment clutter and get a Lazy Susan and put a ‘positive spin’ in your pantry or fridge.

Do you have a organisation tip for the pantry? Please SHARE in the comments below.

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29 Comments

- - Threelos said
  - 12 Apr 2016
    8:27 pm
I love this idea. Especially for our spice cupboard. I hate having to pull everything out to find something towards the back!

- - june11 said
  - 28 Mar 2016
    5:20 pm
If you use a lazy susan in your cupboards how do you utilize the space behind it in the corners of cupboard ? Any use or wasted space ?
- june11 replied
  
  02 Jul 2016 , 9:00 pm
  Still no suggestions?? I think I will stick to the oblong containers I stack them in.
- - Mum to one said
  - 13 Mar 2016
    9:30 am
Haha I had forgotten all about the lazy Susan! Good suggestion!

- - mom81879 said
  - 04 Mar 2016
    10:03 am
You need some dedication, and no kids helps, when keeping your pantry organised. I keep similar things in same areas. Eg cereal boxes together, sauces together, tinned products together etc. And I put the bigger things at the back

- - mom160421 said
  - 02 Mar 2016
    5:57 pm
This is probably a little OCD, but I keep all my spice jars on a shelf in alphabetical order so that it’s easy to find what I’m after.

- - jodiev1980 said
  - 28 Feb 2016
    7:07 pm
I just think it would take up too much precious space in the pantry though

- - KrysGrace said
  - 24 Feb 2016
    6:07 pm
Handy tip

I find by using space in the pantry for cleaning products (top shelf) or various kitchen appliances I have less room too store products meaning I am more likely to use what I have before buying more.

- - BellaB said
  - 23 Feb 2016
    4:48 pm
We use a lazy Susan to turn our scrabble board during games…
- declutteringdiva replied
  
  23 Feb 2016 , 9:06 pm
  Ooh that’s a great idea!!!!
- - serotonin said
  - 20 Feb 2016
    10:04 pm
I need one of these for sure! Brilliant idea, now to declutter my pantry and invite Susan!

- - rovermum said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    5:45 pm
Wow, great idea. I try and keep similar things together eg. bottles/sauces/oils etc. vs canned food vs school snacks vs bakery etc. However, when the males in my house get into the pantry, things go a bit awry. I have any number of storage containers etc. but it’s definitely a work in progress.
- declutteringdiva replied
  
  23 Feb 2016 , 9:09 pm
  While you’re in training mode ( ie teaching the boys how your system works), use labels.
- - ella12 said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    11:33 am
I like that idea, I have thought about that for other uses too before.

- - Lizbef said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    9:32 am
Great idea. I’ll have to get one for my pantry

- - Lori-Anne said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    9:18 am
Thankyou for the tips. This is a great idea. I might just have to try this in our home.

- - mom134803 said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    7:18 am
Lol, as a Dutchie I didn’t know they were named Lazy Susan ! But they’re sure handy

- - mom101628 said
  - 16 Feb 2016
    8:22 pm
Like the idea, especially of different sized ones. But where do you buy them? I haven’t seen these things for years.
- declutteringdiva replied
  
  17 Feb 2016 , 6:43 pm
  I regularly use a $5 one from Kmart. You can also find them in other store like Howards Storage World, IKEA and $2 stores.
- - mom103920 said
  - 15 Feb 2016
    12:41 pm
I use Lazy Susans all the time in cake decorating, and for storing my spices. I used to have one on my kitchen table until a friend let her little boy spin it faster and faster to see how far he could propel my salt shaker and his drink cup. My son decided it might be a good game to play every time I left the room after that, so its back away for now.

- - rachelvk said
  - 13 Feb 2016
    5:29 pm
I do love this idea but we have very limited pantry space and I wonder if it would work… might be worth a try.

- - mom105503 said
  - 13 Feb 2016
    9:54 am
I so love this idea we gat do a beautiful glass one mm our dining table to help with meal time, but I hadn’t thought of the fridge or pantry.

- - mom112217 said
  - 12 Feb 2016
    3:32 pm
A great idea,too many bottles,spices etc in the cupboard and you do tend to knock things over!
- june11 replied
  
  15 Feb 2016 , 9:26 pm
  Are you going to going to put your spices on a lazy susan in your pantry cupboard? According to several articles I have read, herbs and spices are not supposed to be exposed to the light more than necessary as they deteriorate.
- - mom90758 said
  - 12 Feb 2016
    2:32 pm
I’ve got a Lazy Susan that we just use at the table, for example while eating tacos. I love your idea! It surely helps a lot in organizing the pantry!!
I’ve got a couple of these storage baskets that I use for example for all the vitamins or for small bags of food. I find them very handy!