Arch Nemisis Conquered!

This is my Frugal Friday (even though I did it on Thursday) for the Shabby Nest 

Do you have that room that whenever you walk in it you hear a scream, the kind you heard on Ren & Stimpy when something gross or disturbing came out.  Well I have a few places like that in my house that I just keep the door closed and don't look in there very often.  My biggest area that has been bothering me for a while is my pantry.  Exciting, I know, but the other day I opened the door to put stuff away and I heard that scream, then I realized it was me!  So today I rolled up my sleeves and went to work.

Now this is a very rare look for you all.  I normally would freak out if someone (especially my mother-in-law!) saw these pictures.  This is my pantry as it was this morning.  I was angry and shocked at how bad I had let it get!  

Before:

After:

One of the things that was taking up room were 4 big cannery cans that had stuff in them that had expired years before and/or had just barely enough to make one little thing with.  So I dumped them out, took the labels off (soak them in warm, soapy water and take a Brillo pad to it, great way to get out some aggression!).  Then I let them dry in the sun for a few minutes and spray painted them red (my favorite!)  Then I took chalkboard paint and painted on a label so I can change out the contents if I need to and not have to change the label.

Now I put mixes such as Lipton Onion Dip mix, fajita mix, gravy mix, and Jello in this so if I need something, I just look in the can first.

I kept the lids to a couple of them and it came in handy because I just dumped my noodles that I had in there.  I actually found 4 half full bags that had been baried, I hate that!!  I am wanting to get a glass jar for these and then I can add more (we get lots of things from Costco, so we have lots of bulk things, but it works great for now!)

If you are like me, you have way more cooling racks than you know what to do with!  I think we got 5 for our wedding almost 6 years ago and I have never used all of them at the same time.  So I pulled one out and put all our spices... well not all of them, but most of them on here and then I put the yeast, food coloring and muffin papers under it, saved on space and it didn't cost me a dime!

It died an organized and somewhat cute death!  And the best part was that it didn't cost me anything!  Just some elbow grease, spray paint I already had and chalkboard paint that I am borrowing for another project.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog where I transform a door into a chalkboard for added organization and keeping the critters occupied while I cook and clean!