Pantry Organizing {Video} Tips

Do you find it difficult to keep your pantry organized? Today I've got two tips to help you organize your baking ingredients and your kids' snacks. You can apply these tips to other areas of your pantry too.

Plus, for those of you who have wondered what my voice sounds like, you'll get to find out because these tips are shared on video!

1. A little background

Last year I was contacted by one of the producers of the Rachael Ray show. How cool is that?! She'd seen my blog and was looking for people who could share "double-duty" tips for organizing a pantry. These are short video clips that are submitted by people that show how an item can be used in two different ways. The show then airs these clips when they relate to a particular topic.

They were doing a show on organizing pantries and didn't have enough double-duty tips videos submitted so they were looking for people who could send some in quickly.

The producer and I talked for awhile about some of the things I do to keep my pantry organized and decided on a couple of options that I could share.

And then came the scary part. I had to actually have some video me demonstrating my tips! I'm not a fan of being on video. I don't mind speaking in front of people, but I've never liked how my voice sounds on a recording, or how I come across on video.

But this was for Rachael Ray!! The opportunity to be seen on her show was worth it :)

I rearranged a few things in my kitchen because the two things I was sharing were split into different cupboards and one was close to the window which would allow for better light {no high tech video and lighting equipment here!}. And we moved some furniture aside to make room to shoot the videos. And I practiced what I wanted to say. A LOT!

The producer needed the videos in less than 24 hours so my hubby stayed up late taping a bunch of versions of each tip for me.

Here is a picture of the whole process.

The problem was, when I watched them back they were too dark. I got him up early the next morning to shoot a couple retakes in daylight but we were pretty rushed so I was nervous and we didn't get any good videos. I started sweating... what was I going to send to the producers?

I called around to some family members but no one was able to come over to shoot some more videos. So I put out a plea on Facebook for anyone who was available on short notice {what did we ever do before social media?!}. Thankfully, a fellow professional organizer had a cancellation and agreed! Yay Judy!! I'm so thankful she stepped up to help me out!

I was still nervous and made some mistakes, but we were able to get at least one take of each tip that was good enough to submit.

I wish I knew how to edit videos because it would be fun to put together a bloopers reel of all my mistakes.... there were a lot of them!

Once we shot the videos I submitted them to the producer. Sadly, they didn't end up using my videos :(

I'm not sure if I took too long to submit them in the end or if they weren't good enough quality or what. But it was a good experience. Not one I'll likely repeat any time soon, but a good learning opportunity.

I didn't do anything with the videos for a long time because I was disappointed they didn't get used for the show and I was hoping they'd be used at some point for another show and then I could share the actual clips on Rachael Ray instead of just my own unedited versions. Then after awhile I kind of forgot about them.

But a few weeks ago Judy asked about whatever happened with the videos and jogged my memory. I decided that I'd share them with you, even in their unedited state. Because they are helpful tips and my intention was to share them.

There are two videos for each tip... one that shows me speaking and one that shows a close-up of the items I'm demonstrating. What I say is pretty similar in both so you don't have to watch the close-up one unless you want to see more about what I'm talking about. Or to hear what changes I made to what I said (no teleprompter here to keep me in line!).

I hope you find these video tips helpful!

Tip #1: Using Mason Jars for Baking Ingredients

Here's the version showing me demonstrating the tip:

And here's the close-up version:

I use both the large mason jars and pint size mason jars in my pantry {affiliate links}. But you could also use recycled jars from sauces, pickles, etc. The chalk labels are from Martha Stewart's chalk label collection {affiliate link}.

Tip #2: Using Toy Organizer Bins for Kids' Snacks

Here's the version showing me demonstrating the tip:

And here's the close-up version:

We've used these toy organizer bins for years to keep all the kids' smaller toys organized. {affiliate link} The bright colours are great for a playroom but they work well in a pantry too :)

More Pantry Organizing Tips

If you'd like to see more pantry organizing tips, you can see my original blog post here. {It's been updated so it's a bit different than what you saw in the videos, but the same principles are there!}

You can also see how I organized my baking ingredients here. {Also looks a bit different than in the videos because this cabinet is not in a well-lit area of my kitchen so I moved some things around for the videos.}

And for even more pantry organizing tips, check out my Kitchen Organizing board on Pinterest.

So what do you think? Should I pursue a career in front of the camera? Or stick with blogging and organizing? How do you organize your pantry? Any great tips for organizing baking ingredients or school snacks?

Happy organizing!