Did you know according to some historians, spring cleaning originated as an ancient Jewish tradition? Later, it became a practice necessary for cleaning all the soot inside after long winters of fires and burning oil lamps.

We’ve come a long way since the origins of spring cleaning with millions of search results for spring cleaning tips and home organisation.

But why is organising and spring cleaning so popular its even going viral on Tik Tok? Because it feels good to deep clean and organise the parts of your home that have been ignored such as your pantry.

Everyone knows spring cleaning can be a fresh start, a motivating opportunity to act on how you can declutter and get organised.

However, one thing stands out in all the home organising storage solutions is how much plastic is used. But many of these plastic trays and containers can be replaced with a more eco-friendly, wooden alternative.

Organise your pantry with wooden trays

Buying the best storage to make your pantry functional as well as stylish is a big task. But the easiest spring-cleaning tip for organising your pantry is to start by sorting your food into categories before buying storage containers, jars, and trays.

Categories for organising your pantry could include:

  • Kids’ lunchbox snacks
  • Stuff for baking (including any specific baking utensils like piping bags and cookie cutters)
  • Nuts, seeds and dried fruit
  • Breakfast foods (including spreads that don’t belong in the fridge)
  • Vegetables that need to be stored in cool, dark, dry conditions (potatoes, onions, garlic)
  • Spices & stock
  • Dinner foods such as pasta, rice, pulses and lentils

Once you have categorised your pantry, you’ll have a better picture of what high quality wooden trays, glass jars and containers you need to invest in. Don’t forget to buy enough storage for when your pantry is full. It’s better to overestimate what you need rather than find yourself with a half-organised pantry.

Using wooden storage crates or trays in your pantry as a quick fix to tidying up loose packets and utensils. Not only does it make your pantry tidier, but it also ensures you are using the entire depth of the shelf while making your food easier to access.

Our medium rustic crate is the perfect size for organising lunchbox snacks or individually packaged food as its shallow design keeps loose packets tidy while also allowing you to see the contents. Plus, the handles let you to easily lift or pull out the crate just like a drawer.

The oil and vinegar or salt and pepper crates are perfect for storing oil, sauce bottles or salt and pepper in one place either on the bench or hidden in the pantry. Having a crate for your condiments prevents spills or crumbs from scattering over your benchtop or pantry shelves. Plus, these crates also feature handles so you can conveniently bring condiments from pantry to table.

The best part of organising your pantry and kitchen is finding as many purposes for the same item as possible. For example, the oil and vinegar tray is also the perfect size for small generic jars of herbs and spices because you can still see the label. And with the handles, it’s easy to bring your spices out of storage and onto your bench while you cook!

Decorate your living room with a wooden tray

One of the biggest interior design trends of 2021 is decorating with natural materials such as wood. It has become appealing not only for inviting nature indoors but as a way of becoming more eco-friendly. On top of this, interior design and decorating that is multifunctional is one of the key trends coming out of spending more time at home during the pandemic.

So, what is an easy way to organise your living room while also making it multifunctional? Simply by adding a tray on top of your ottoman or coffee table.

An ottoman tray is useful for homes or apartments with small living spaces where multipurpose furniture is an advantage. Your storage ottoman or footrest doubles as a table when you use a tray, plus it protects the fabric.

Or you can ditch the pile of coasters and opt for a tray on your coffee table. It’ll protect the surface from ring marks without compromising on style or convenience. Not to mention that it’s also an easy-to-remember spot for all your remote controls that go missing.

The stylish and sturdy design of our large wooden tray (link) makes it a perfect ottoman or coffee table tray. Not only that, but it can be styled with a vase, indoor plant, pile of books or candle to add warmth and texture to your living room.

Declutter your home with a wooden document tray

Anyone who has a family will tell that every busy home has a pile of unsorted papers sitting around. It’s grows daily with school notices, bills and junk mail just waiting to be sorted.

The fastest way to tidy up a pile of paper is to buy a document tray. But often these are made of plastic which means they don’t last the test of time for quality or style.

Replacing a dated plastic document tray with one of our large rustic trays is a quick and easy way of tidying up unsorted paper on your desk or countertop. It fits documents up to approximately A3 size. So, you’ll have peace of mind knowing everything from your kids’ artworks to your bills will fit and clutter will look instantly neater.

Using a wooden paper tray will not only make your home office look tidier but it won’t look cheap or out of place if you use it as a document tray on your kitchen countertop.

It’s a fact of life that we ignore the job of sorting out the pile of papers for as long as we can. But at least with a wooden document tray you can rest easy knowing that the pile looks neat in the meantime.