Moving can get boring. It’s not fun easy, or relaxing even a bit. It doesn’t matter if it’s a residential move or an office one, it’s equally as stressful. But there is one satisfying part in it – starting somewhere fresh. You can use the move as a chance to reinvent yourself or try something entirely new. That, of course, is after all the unpacking. So to start fresh as soon as possible, here are a few tips on unpacking pantry items after moving the right way.
Cleaning out your pantry
No, we don’t mean “clean out” as in eating everything from your pantry. We mean actual cleaning. This almost goes without saying, but it is a necessary first step that should never be forgotten. You might have had help with packing from professional packing services VA, but unpacking is all on you. Therefore, before you start unpacking your entire pantry, clean out your kitchen cabinets, tabletops, and shelves.
You might think this is unnecessary, but moving attracts a lot of dirt and bacteria. There are plenty of tutorials that usually involve adding baking soda, lemon, and vinegar to clean and sterilize your kitchen area, but you can also buy detergents if you don’t feel like DIY-ing them. The pantry is where you will keep all your food so it’s important for it to be clean.
Decide where everything goes before unpacking your pantry
If your new place has a similar kitchen and pantry, it is going to be fairly easy for you to decide where everything goes. You can just replicate the way you organized it but in a new area. However, if that’s not the case, you should make a plan where you want your things to go. If you hired movers Manassas VA, while they do the heavy lifting and unloading, you can take time to decide how to unpack. However, what’s important here is to keep things where you need them. What this means is that you should keep items you use for cooking near the stove, as well as your pots and pans. This will make your kitchen and pantry feel organized, and your cooking feels as smooth as possible.
When unpacking you should focus on one thing at a time. This means going shelf by shelf in unpacking, organizing as well as cleaning and storing. Additionally, this means that you shouldn’t try to buy or use different food containers than you already have for food. At this stage, your focus should be on unpacking as efficiently as possible. After unpacking your pantry items fully, you can focus on small details like the way you want your pantry to look and any additional storage product you might want to buy.
Unpacking your pantry after moving in
After you have cleaned your new pantry, you can start opening your boxes. Again, since moving can get messy sometimes, you also want to clean every item before putting it in the right place. If you have hired reliable movers Virginia your items should have arrived safely without anything breaking. Unpacking is as easy as you make it when packing. If you have packed well and labeled everything accordingly it should be easy to know where everything is. When unpacking, you should unpack the essentials first. This means your kitchen should be at the top of your list of rooms to unpack after moving.
How to stay organized
If you can’t decide where you want your unpacked pantry stuff to go, that’s not a problem. You can decide later. But it’s still important not to prolong the unpacking. If this is the case, you might use a “messy corner” or a corner in your pantry where you can keep all your items you’re not sure where to put. Over time, you will find a place to keep things from your messy corner for good. The real question is – how to stay organized? A few important things are – regularly clean out your pantry, use storage boxes and jars and always put items back in their place after using them. In the long term, this will help you avoid making and then cleaning a pantry mess.
Check the dates
If you haven’t checked the date on your containers when packing, now is the time. Your food can go rotten, especially during a long-distance move. This is why you should always hire reliable interstate movers Northern Virginia, so you can make sure everything arrives on time. This way you can calculate if the food will expire before you move in.
After opening your boxes, do a double check to see if anything is expired. Salmonella is no joke, so better safe than sorry. It’s a no-brainer that you should throw out if you find anything that’s expired while unpacking your pantry after moving in. However, what you might not think about is to also sort anything that’s close to the expiration date. For example, if you find a tuna can that’s near its expiration date, you should put it in some easily reachable place, and one where you can easily spot it. This way you remember to use that tuna can (or anything else for that matter) before it goes bad. This system might even help you try new recipes and get creative in the kitchen.
And there you go. A few easy steps to cleaning and unpacking your pantry after moving. Hopefully, it goes as smoothly as possible. You can now enjoy your new kitchen and pantry fully and remember – if you don’t like the arrangement you can change it any time!
