As a professional organizer who has worked with dozens of families in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, the pantry is one of my favorite spaces to tackle. The transformation is fast, the results are immediately useful, and the systems I help people put in place are ones they can actually maintain. Here’s my step-by-step process.

Step 1: Take Everything Out

I mean everything. Pull every single item out of your pantry and set it on your kitchen counter or table. This step feels dramatic — and your kitchen will look like a disaster for about an hour — but it’s essential. You cannot organize around items that shouldn’t be there in the first place.

As you pull things out, you’ll likely find:

• Expired food (sometimes by years)
• Duplicates of things you didn’t know you had
• Items that don’t belong in the pantry at all
• Things you bought with good intentions but have never used

All of that goes. Be honest and be ruthless. A smaller pantry of things you actually use is infinitely more functional than a full pantry of things you’re not sure about.

Step 2: Clean the Space

With the pantry empty, take a few minutes to wipe down the shelves, sweep the floor, and address any sticky spots or crumbs that have accumulated. It’s much easier to do this now than once everything is back in. You’re essentially starting fresh — treat the space that way.

Step 3: Group Everything Into Categories

Before anything goes back in, sort what you’re keeping into logical categories. These will become the zones of your pantry. Common categories include:

• Baking supplies (flour, sugar, baking soda, vanilla, chocolate chips)
• Canned goods (soups, beans, tomatoes, vegetables)
• Pasta, rice, and grains
• Snacks and on-the-go items
• Breakfast items (cereals, oatmeal, pancake mix)
• Condiments and sauces (that don’t live in the fridge)
• Kids’ snacks (if you want these accessible on a lower shelf)
• Spices and seasonings (though many people prefer a dedicated spice drawer or rack)

Your categories should reflect how your family actually shops and cooks. There’s no single right answer — the goal is a system that makes intuitive sense to everyone in your household.

Step 4: Decide on Your Zones

Now, assign each category to a specific area of your pantry with zone placement in mind:

• Eye level is prime real estate. Put your most-used everyday items here — the things you reach for multiple times a week.
• Upper shelves are great for items you use less frequently: bulk backstock, holiday baking supplies, specialty ingredients.
• Lower shelves work well for heavier items (canned goods, large containers) and for kids’ accessible snacks if you want them to be able to grab things independently.
• The door (if your pantry has one) is perfect for spices, small condiments, or frequently grabbed snacks.

Step 5: Contain and Organize Within Each Zone

This is the part most people jump to first — but notice it’s step five, not step one. Once your categories are defined and your zones are mapped out, now you can think about containers.

My go-to pantry organizing tools:

• Clear bins for grouping like items together (all your snack bags in one bin, all your baking supplies in another)
• Lazy Susans for corners and deep shelves where things get lost in the back
• Tiered shelf risers for canned goods so you can see what’s behind the front row
• Decanted containers for staples like pasta, rice, flour, and sugar — they stack neatly, look clean, and let you see at a glance when you’re running low
• A basket or bin for “use first” items — things close to their expiration date that you want to consume before they go to waste

Resist the urge to buy a cart full of matching containers before you’ve done steps one through four. Once you know exactly what you’re storing and where, you can buy specifically and precisely — and you’ll likely spend less.

Step 6: Label Everything

Labels are the difference between a pantry that stays organized and one that slides back into chaos within a month. Every bin, basket, and section of your pantry should have a label that tells anyone in your family exactly what goes there.

This is especially important for kids. When a seven-year-old can read “SNACKS” on a bin and knows that’s where the granola bars live and where they go back after snack time, your system runs itself.

Step 7: Maintain It with a Monthly Check-In

An organized pantry doesn’t stay that way on its own — but maintaining it is much easier than the initial overhaul. I recommend a quick monthly check-in: scan for expired items, notice if any categories are creeping out of their zones, and adjust as needed. This takes 15 minutes, not four hours.

Also, make it a habit to rotate stock when you bring groceries home — new items go in the back, older items come to the front. It prevents waste and means you’re never surprised by something that expired six months ago.

A Pantry That Actually Works for Your Family

The best pantry organization system is the one that works for how your specific family actually lives and cooks. What I’ve outlined above is a framework — but the details depend on your space, your shelves, your household, and your habits.

If you’re in the Minneapolis or St. Paul area and you’d love a professional hand turning your pantry (or your whole kitchen) into a space that genuinely works, I’d love to help. A single session can make a remarkable difference.

Reach out here to get started, or browse the Packages page to find the right fit for your project.

— LaRae, Aligning Spaces

The post How to Organize Your Kitchen Pantry: A Step-by-Step Guide first appeared on Aligning Spaces.

The post Maximizing Efficiency: A Guide to Keeping Your Garage Organized first appeared on Aligning Spaces.

The truth is, getting organized isn’t about willpower or finding the perfect storage system on Pinterest. It’s about having the right approach. Here are my top tips for getting started — and making it actually last.

1. Declutter Before You Organize

This is the most important rule in home organization, and the one most people skip. It’s tempting to run out and buy bins and baskets and start building beautiful systems — but if you haven’t first decided what genuinely belongs in your home, you’ll just end up with organized clutter.

Go through each room and ask yourself honestly: Do I use this? Do I love this? Does this belong in my life right now? The things that don’t make the cut can be donated, sold, or thrown away. The less you have, the easier it is to organize and maintain.

2. Make a Room-by-Room Plan

Trying to organize your entire home in one weekend is a recipe for burnout and half-finished projects. Instead, take it one room — or even one zone within a room — at a time.

Walk through your home and make a list of every area that needs attention. Then prioritize: Which spaces cause you the most daily frustration? Which areas would make the biggest difference in your life if they were finally under control? Start there, and give yourself permission to fully finish one space before moving to the next.

Completion builds momentum. Finishing your pantry gives you the energy and confidence to tackle the kitchen cabinets next.

3. Invest in the Right Storage — After You Declutter

Once you know what you’re keeping and where it needs to live, then it’s time to think about storage. Good containers — bins, baskets, boxes, drawer organizers — can make a huge difference in how functional and tidy a space feels day-to-day.

A few principles I follow with every client:

• Measure before you buy. Too many people purchase bins that don’t fit the shelf or drawer they’re meant for. Measure twice, buy once.
• Choose clear containers for frequently accessed items so you can see what’s inside without digging.
• Use uniform containers where possible — matching bins create visual calm and make a space look intentional rather than chaotic.
• Don’t over-buy. You don’t need to fill every shelf with a container. Empty space is okay — and it leaves room for things to breathe.

4. Label Everything

Labels are one of the most underrated organizing tools there is. When every member of your household knows exactly where things live — and where they go back — systems maintain themselves much more easily.

They don’t have to be fancy. A simple label maker or handwritten labels on masking tape work just as well as any decorative set. The important thing is clarity: anyone in your home should be able to find something and put it back without asking you first.

5. Build Simple Maintenance Habits

Even the most beautifully organized home will fall apart without maintenance habits. The key is making those habits small enough that they don’t feel like a chore.

• Spend 10–15 minutes each evening doing a “reset” — returning things to their homes before bed
• Designate a specific time each week for a light tidy of the main living areas
• Do a seasonal declutter of closets, the pantry, and storage areas at least twice a year

Small, consistent habits beat intensive occasional purges every single time.

6. Use Your Vertical Space

One of the biggest untapped storage opportunities in most homes is the walls. Floor-to-ceiling shelving, wall-mounted hooks, and over-door organizers can dramatically expand your usable storage without taking up any floor space at all.

This is especially valuable in older Minneapolis homes and Twin Cities condos where closets are small and square footage is limited. Think up, not out.

7. Start Where the Pain Is Worst

When everything feels like a mess, it’s hard to know where to begin. My advice: start with the space that causes you the most daily frustration or slows your morning down the most.

For most families, that’s the kitchen, the master closet, or the entryway. Organizing these high-traffic areas first gives you an immediate quality-of-life improvement — and the motivation to keep going.

8. Make It a Family Effort

Organizing your home is a team project. If the people you live with don’t know where things belong or feel invested in the systems you’ve created, those systems won’t stick.

Involve your kids at an age-appropriate level. Assign clear zones. Make sure storage solutions are accessible enough that everyone can actually use them independently. When organizing is a shared effort, it becomes a shared habit — and that’s when it really changes how your home feels.

Ready to Get Started — With Some Help?

If you’ve tried to get organized on your own and it keeps not quite working, you’re not failing. You may just need a personalized approach and someone to work through it with you.

I work with homeowners and families across the Minneapolis–St. Paul metro to create organizing systems that fit their real, actual lives. Every project is different, and every solution is built specifically for you.

Let’s talk about your space. I’d love to help.

— LaRae, Aligning Spaces

The post Home Organization Tips first appeared on Aligning Spaces.

The post Getting Your Family Onboard With Organizing first appeared on Aligning Spaces.

As a professional organizer serving families and homeowners in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, I’ve helped transform hundreds of living rooms from overwhelming to open. Here are five of my most effective strategies.

1. Start by Removing What Doesn’t Belong

Before rearranging a single thing, do a sweep of your living room and remove every item that doesn’t genuinely belong there. Old magazines, kids’ toys that have migrated from bedrooms, random mail, decorative items you no longer love — all of it should go.

This step is surprising in how much space it instantly creates. Most living rooms are crowded not because they lack square footage, but because they’ve become catch-all spaces for things without a real home elsewhere. Once you’ve cleared what doesn’t belong, the room has room to breathe again.

Pro tip: As you remove items, resist the urge to just move them to another room temporarily. Commit to deciding where they actually live — or whether they should leave your home entirely.

2. Rethink Your Furniture Arrangement

Most of us arrange furniture the way it was set up when we moved in, and then never question it again. But the layout that made sense five years ago might not be the one that works best for how you actually use the space today.

A few simple moves that often open a room up:

• Pull furniture slightly away from walls. It seems counterintuitive, but floating furniture away from walls creates visual depth and often makes a room feel larger.
• Remove a piece. If there’s a chair nobody sits in, an end table that just collects clutter, or a second sofa that crowds the space — consider removing it entirely. Less is almost always more.
• Clear the traffic paths. Make sure there are clear, open pathways through the room. When people have to navigate around furniture, the room instantly feels smaller than it is.

3. Choose Multi-Functional Furniture

Every piece of furniture in your living room should earn its place. Multi-functional furniture lets you get the storage and utility you need without adding more pieces to the room.

Some of my favorites:

• Storage ottomans that serve as a footrest, extra seating, and a hidden compartment — perfect for blankets, games, or kids’ toys
• Coffee tables with drawers or lower shelves for corralling remote controls, books, and everyday items
• Media consoles with closed cabinet doors so cables, gaming equipment, and electronics disappear from view
• Nesting side tables that spread out when you need them and tuck away when you don’t

When you’re shopping for furniture, ask yourself: does this piece do one thing, or can it do two or three? The more each piece pulls its weight, the fewer pieces you need overall.

4. Use Your Walls

Floor space is precious in a living room. Wall space is almost always underused. Shifting storage vertically — up off the floor — immediately makes a room feel more open and intentional.

Ideas that work especially well in living rooms:

• Floating shelves for books, plants, and meaningful objects
• A wall-mounted TV to eliminate the media stand entirely (or downsize it significantly)
• Built-in or wall-mounted shelving flanking a fireplace or along a blank wall
• Hooks near the entryway for bags, jackets, and everyday carry items that otherwise end up draped over chairs and couches

When items are at eye level or above, they read as intentional decor rather than clutter — even when they’re doing functional work.

5. Add a Mirror

This is one of the simplest and most impactful changes you can make in a tight living room. Mirrors reflect light and create the visual impression of more depth and space throughout the room.

For maximum effect, hang a large mirror on the wall opposite your main window so it bounces natural light back into the room. Even on gray Minnesota winter days, this trick makes a noticeable difference. Glass-top coffee tables and mirrored accent furniture work the same way — keeping the space feeling light and airy rather than heavy and closed-in.

Keep in mind that mirrors reflect everything, including clutter — so pair this tip with the decluttering steps above for the full effect.

Ready for a Living Room That Feels Like a Retreat?

These five strategies are a powerful starting point. But sometimes a living room needs a more hands-on, personalized approach — because every home is different, and the system that works beautifully for one family won’t necessarily work for another.

If you’re in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area and you’re ready for a living room that finally feels calm, spacious, and easy to maintain, I’d love to help. Reach out here to start a conversation, or explore how we work together on the Packages page.

Your space is worth it — and so is your peace of mind.

— LaRae, Aligning Spaces

The post 5 Way to Make Space in your Living Room first appeared on Aligning Spaces.

Project 1: Declutter and Organize Your Closet

Your closet is one of those spaces that can silently drain your energy every single morning. When you can’t find what you’re looking for, when you’re pulling things off a pile instead of a hanger, when half of what’s in there doesn’t even fit or belong to a version of you from five years ago — it costs you time and mental energy you don’t have to spare.

Here’s how to tackle it in an afternoon:

1. Pull everything out. Yes, everything. Lay it on your bed so you can actually see what you have.
2. Sort into three piles: Keep, Donate/Sell, Toss. Be honest. If you haven’t worn it in a year, if it doesn’t fit, if you don’t feel good in it — let it go.
3. Before putting things back, wipe down the shelves and hanging rod, and assess your storage: do you need more hangers? A shelf divider? A shoe rack?
4. Put items back intentionally — group by type (all shirts together, all pants together) and by how frequently you wear them. Most-worn pieces go at the easiest reach.
5. Box up the donations immediately and put them in your car so they actually leave the house.

What you’ll gain: a morning routine that takes minutes instead of the frustrated search it is right now.

Project 2: Organize Your Kitchen Cabinets

Kitchen cabinets are where good intentions go to die. We shove things in, close the door, and hope for the best — until an avalanche of Tupperware greets us every time we open the cabinet.

This one is especially satisfying because it affects your life multiple times a day, every day.

1. Choose one area to start: a single cabinet, the pantry, the junk drawer, or the cabinet under the sink. Don’t try to do the whole kitchen at once.
2. Remove everything and check expiration dates on food items. Toss anything expired, stale, or that your family genuinely won’t eat.
3. Declutter duplicates: How many spatulas do you actually need? How many coffee mugs? Pare down to what you use.
4. Organize what remains by how you use it — everyday dishes at accessible height, rarely used items up high, heavy items low.
5. Contain loose items: A simple bin or basket corrals snack bags, keeps spices from tipping over, and groups like items so they’re easy to find.

Bonus: once one cabinet is done, you’ll want to do the next one. That’s exactly the momentum you need.

Project 3: Tackle Your Email Inbox

Digital clutter is real clutter — and an overflowing email inbox creates the same low-grade stress as a cluttered counter. This one you can do from your couch with a cup of coffee.

1. Start by unsubscribing. Use a service like Unroll.me or just manually unsubscribe from every promotional email you haven’t intentionally opened in the last month. This is the most valuable 30 minutes you can spend on your inbox.
2. Create 3–5 folders for emails that genuinely need to be saved: things like Receipts, Travel, Kids/School, Work Projects, and Important Documents.
3. Archive aggressively. Anything older than 6 months that you haven’t needed? Archive it. It’s searchable if you ever do need it.
4. Process what remains using the two-minute rule: if you can respond, file, or delete an email in under two minutes, do it now.
5. Set a goal for inbox zero — or at least inbox under 20. Then protect it with a daily 5-minute email processing habit.

You’ll be surprised how much calmer you feel with a clean inbox. Digital organization is real organization.

What’s Next After the Quick Wins?

These three projects are a fantastic way to build momentum and experience what it feels like to have a space that’s actually under control. Once you’ve got that feeling, it’s hard to stop.

If you’re in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area and you’re ready to take on bigger projects — a whole-home declutter, a garage overhaul, or a move — I’d love to help you get there. Reach out here to start a conversation, or visit the Packages page to find the right fit.

— LaRae, Aligning Spaces

The post 3 Quick Weekend Home Organizing Projects (You Can Finish in an Afternoon) first appeared on Aligning Spaces.