How to organize a mini office space in your pantry

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This past weekend I decided to organize a mini office space out of our poorly utilized pantry.   I like to think of myself as a fairly organized person.  Although, I have to admit, I have a couple of “dumping spots” in our house!  The place where everything ends up because I am either too lazy to put away or don’t exactly know where to put it!

Yeah well, in our house the pantry seems to be MY place to dump stuff!

This is what the pantry looked like before I started to organize my mini office – what a mess!  I dumped everything in there from unfinished projects, to crock pots, vases I never use, oversized cups and water bottles (I despise odd shape cups, oversize mugs and water bottles), Scentsy boxes, large bottles of vinegar, paint supplies……I mean you name it, it was probably in this closet!

I also had a “junk drawer” in the kitchen.  Do you have one of these? All it is is another place to stuff things that I don’t like laying around on the counter!  Mine had bills that weren’t sent electronically, mail I thought I needed to keep and file, a couple of envelopes, pens, tape, glue, batteries and EVERYTHING that will fit in the drawer that I didn’t put in the pantry closet!   I didn’t take a picture – I think you get the idea!

How to organize a mini office space in your pantry…

What I really wanted is an area that I could put mail (bills that need to be paid) and not get lost in the junk drawer, some pens and a folder for that important mail that I need to file.  So I came up with the idea to use a dish strainer to keep it all together.

My pens, pencils and scissors fit perfectly in the silverware container and the divided sections for drying plates work perfectly for holding my bill calendar and file folders.  I even added a row of envelopes and some sticky notes!  Nice, neat and organized! 

In addition to my mini office space, I added a section for cookbooks.  I used to have TONS of cookbooks.  However, with Pinterest and all the great food blogs like SkinnyTaste.com you don’t really need cookbooks these days.  I cleaned out my collection and donated the one’s I wasn’t “in love” with and kept a few favorites.  The old lunch box is my recipe box – I don’t know about you, but even though I can find it online, I still like a hard copy!  So I keep them in here!

The white baskets hold the important “kids” office supplies, crayons, sidewalk chalk, coloring books and bubbles! 

In addition to the dish strainer, the blue baskets hold those “extras” that aren’t so cute on a shelf but need some organization.  You know the stuff – oversized water bottles and mega huge insulated coffee mugs ——-do these things annoy anyone else???  I try to throw them away and Mike brings home more!  GRRRR.  Additional baskets were added for my craft supplies and for things like extension cords, phone cords and power cords. 

Create a command center.

I don’t like to have things hung all over my refrigerator so I created a command center on the inside of the pantry door.  This is a place for those things, kept all neat and tidy and behind closed doors!  I attached the dry erase calendar and the cork board with command strips!  I LOVE THESE THINGS!!!!  And the chalk board is actually black contact paper!  There you have it – a mini office right in my pantry! 
I hope this will give you some good ideas on how to organize your mini office space!