Below are just 2 of the many emails I get asking me where I store all my thrifty deals,
Here’s my purpose for writing – I live in a pretty average sized home – with a pretty average sized kitchen, pantry, garage, etc. We have an average refrigerator/freezer and we have another freezer in the garage. I’m curious where people stash all the stuff they accumulate. We have a linen closet full of toilet paper, paper towels, sunblocks, mosquito repellent, deodorant, soap, toothpaste, etc. And my pantry is just about dangerous to open for fear of being attacked by falling food. I’m really curious where else people go with all this stuff. I get more than we consume right now and I’m good with that right now because I’d like to continue to have a little more of a buffer in this economy for my little family, but barring finding a box of cereal when I open my glove compartment, I’m looking for creativity!
I’ve been struggling with storing all my ‘thrifty’ deals. I remember reading a while back that you lived in a smaller home, so where are you keeping everything? Would you mind blogging with pictures of how you are storing and where you are keeping everything. My friend and I are contemplating on buying storage drawers or baskets to keep everything but would like to avoid that cost if possible.
First I have to say I can not believe I am showing you this photo…. Ahhhhhh. It is not all neat and perfect like I wish it was. But once again I am going to swallow my pride, and show you the not so pretty parts of my life, in order to try and help you!
I get asked questions like this daily, and yes I live in a very small 900 sq ft house, so space is a huge issue. I have one tiny pantry that fits a small amount of food in it but one shopping trip will fill it up. We went ahead and bought a large stand up freezer and have it in our garage. We also bought 2 large sturdy shelving units from Home Depot. ( I say sturdy because we made the mistake of buying cheap ones first and the weight of the food made them fall apart) We have the 2 storage shelves set up in our garage. But here is the thing, you have make sure your garage is insulated and will stay cool or the heat will make your food go bad.
I keep all the personal care products in my walk in closet, and laundry room. Some day I DREAM of getting a larger home with a huge storage room. Where I can store all the food my little heart desires and have it perfect and in order. But till that day my garage works just fine. I do have to say, only store what your family will be able to use. I have made the mistake of going over board and buying so much of something just because it was a good deals, that it goes bad before my family can eat it all. I now have a certain spot for each item, so when the “granola bar spot” is full, I know that I can’t buy any more because I will have no were to store them. This helps me stock up on the items my family will eat and use. So watch those dates, rotate your food, and keep in it a cool, dry place.
What tips so you have for storing food? I would love to hear from you all!
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My house was sbuilt in 1946 when storage was built in to the max. We have fantastic shelves in many spots of our house. We also have an unfinished half basement where all of the storage goes. The old kitchen cabinets were installed down there and a large shelf was left from the previous owners. One day I would really like a shelf reliance shelf to help me rotate my food. That is probably the hardest part for me.
I have a very small galley style kitchen. When we looked at our house before buying it the lady had this flat pack armoire in the kitchen in which she had all her small kitchen appliances and the microwave. I expanded on the idea and got a nice cherry one. I still store small appliances and the micro but I also have room for canisters of staples, my baggies and such and in the drawers below more odds and ends kitchen gadgets and onions, potatoes and doggie treats. On the top of it I display my larger bowels, baskets, and a platter that won’t fit in my cupboards.
I use the space above my coat closet for paper towels, dishwasher detergent and stuff like that. Under the guest bath is excess toilet paper, tissues, and such.
I have put up an etegere (behind the toilet shelving unit) In the master bath to hold shampoos, soaps, etc.
In another life I lived in a 10×40 trailer. Storage was a premium. I learned to “store” my out of season clothing by getting 3 galvanized trash cans and had wood “lids” made to fit them. I would wash and fold my winter stuff, put them in trash bags and store them in the cans. I used table cloths to hide the fact that they were cans… and used them as end tables in my living room and bedroom. There is no reason this idea wouldn’t make a nice hall table in which to store pet food, or extra dry goods or the dog’s extra bags of kibble.
Under bed containers work well for non perishable stuff like extra shampoo, toothpaste, tissue, soaps, etc. OR you could use them to store winter boots and free up space in your closet.
If you install two small book cases in your coat closet one on either side, you can store extra canned goods. Coats still fit just fine. Also an extra shelf above the regular one can maximize space as well. I mean how often do you really need the 2.5 feet above your coats to store something?
Bath towels normally stored in a linen closet can be rolled up and displayed in a nice basket in the bath. Bed sheets and linens can be folded but not thickly and “stored” under your mattress.
If you have a doubt go up! A well hidden shelf integrated into a window cornice can be a nice hidden shelf for spare batteries, candles, and what not, depending on where the cornice resides.
I too want to know how you regulate the temperature in your garage. My garage is sheetrocked (not sure if that’s how you spell it), but it still gets pretty warm in there … especially in our desert heat. There is a small a/c unit in there as well, but I’m not sure it’s worth running all the time just to protect the food? I have a decent sized home, but it is full of 5 children and all their things. I have used under the bed space and closets, but storing for a family of 7 sure fills things up quickly! So, once again, how do you regulate the temperature in your garage and what temperature is ideal? Thanks.
Well it does get warm. but we dont put things out there that are affected too much by the heat. If you think about it most self products are shipped in trucks, these trucks are not well insulated either. So 80-85 degrees feels warm but in shipping standards it is normal temps. Plus our garage faces north, so it isnt hit by the sun light and is probably alot cooler then garages that face south.
My hubby just added two sets of shelves to our storage room. He put them in the middle of the room like it’s a store the food goes in on one side and out on the other so we keep it rotated. Plus he attached the shelving units to the ceiling to avoid them falling on the kids.
Yeah, the shelfreliance system works if you don’t have kids who keep rotating the cans. Before we moved, I had a shelfreliance in our laundry room and they played with the cans as entertainment. I gave up on trying to keep them in order from when I purchased them first. LOL
I like it when you buy to much. It gets old and you give it to me and dad. We’re old too so it still taste pretty good to us. Ha Ha
Ahh mom I love it….You always make me laugh, I am glad you don’t mind my old food
If using an old freezer or frig make sure the door cannot lock. Many chidren have suffocated in them just crawling in to hide.
You can store an amazing amount by raising your bed on blocks of some kind and cutting cardboard boxes down to fit like drawers on either side. (You can also purchase the plastic bins) Label and date what is in each box. Go to Savers on Monday mornings and get a bed skirt for 99cents to cover things up. Keeps dust bunnies away too!
We bought a used chest freezer really cheap. that goes in our garage-most food goes in our pantry-I can fit 50 boxes of cereal on the top shelf so it isn’t a walk in pantry either-just a tall pantry. Our walk incloset is going to be my overflow-when i can find a good price on shelves. Until then-I just buy what I can fit. Underneath beds is a great storage. One day I will make furniture out of my food storage-but not yet that Krazy.
I have some shelving from http://www.shelfreliance.com and I think it is worth every penny! I am amazed at what can fit on one of these shelves!
We had a upright freezer go out on us in the spring. We had to purchase a new one on the spot. I kept looking at that old freezer. Then it came to me that I could use it for storage. The shelves hold a great deal of weight and everything is pretty easy to get to. I keep lighter things in the door shelves. I have another shelf in another room that holds box and bag items. It’s a little funny when you tell someone to get something out of the freezer/storage unit.
um, do you think I could take my shopping cart and go shopping in your garage. I think the aisle is big enough to push one through. =)
Great storage and arrangement. I am officially jealous! =)
I just ran across this post that has several ideas o storage… http://allthingsfrugal4-u.blogspot.com/2009/07/storing-your-stockpile-how-to-do-it_07.html
Thanks for the picture. It looks pretty much like my setup. I love the mini shelves within the shelf. I’ve got to do that!!
We are renting a townhome with very little storage space in the kitchen. We don’t have a laundry room, but a laundry closet. We have a 2 stall garage, but if it were any smaller it would only fit one car. We bought some cheap shelves from Menards (like Home Depot if you don’t have that store) for $2 and some brackets. We put them in the garage. They are only 12″ deep, so big enough to store extra items, but not so big that I can’t fit the car in the garage.
I have an average size home,but I am lucky in that my walk-in closet is fairly large. I have a $25.00 bookshelf in my closet for my storage, and I store the heaviest items on the bottom shelves. I also have stuff stored under my bed, in my daughters closet, etc.
I am like Rhonda, I have teens that will eat any and all junk food if they know it exists, so I have to try to keep it well hid.
My family like to tease me about all the extras I have, but I look at it like this- in November, DEcember, etc.. There won’t be things like bar-b-q sauce on sale. If I buy it now, hopefully I’ll still have some when it’s back to full price!
Home Depot stores often give their display model kitchens to local charities to sell. Check w/ your local manager to see if they do this. We were able to get 2 white extra deep floor to ceiling pantry cabinets w/ sliding basket shelves for 1/3 of the original store price and helped out a local charity also. Put them in the laundry room and the best part is they have doors so if it is messy no one knows but me.
We have benches at our kitchen table that open up for storage. I have also seen people take the round buckets (which you can go to the bakery at Wal-Mart and sometimes they will just give you or ask you to donate $1 to the Miracle Network- anyway I have seen people make little chairs for their kids by covering it with material around the bucket and then covering the lid top with a circle stool padded seat-cover.) You can store items in here also. Or I have seen people make their “entertainment center” our of a large piece of block wood (which can be decorate on the out side any way you wish) and put storage items in side.
After a bit of trial and error, I’ve determined that I can easily store 12 of any given item in my pantry (non-perishable food items) and on a shelf above the washing machine (non-food). There are only 4 of us (2 adults, 2 teen boys) and none of us are huge eaters EXCEPT we have little to no self control when it comes to junk food/empty calories. If there are 6 bags of cookies in the pantry, we will eat them. So, I stopped stockpiling treats altogether. They are purchased purposefully to be consumed sparingly. Anybody who wants more can buy it with their allowance/spending money (this has not happened once in 2 years…they prefer home-baked items). One recent exception was a Kool-Aid purchase to get free sugar for baking (and whatever doesn’t get consumed by summer’s end will go to the homeless shelter).
I still pick up free grocery/health care items in excess of my self-imposed storage limit, but I automatically donate it versus store it.
What did you do to insulate your garage? We have our food storage in our garage, too, but it’s not especially temperature regulated. We live in a Corey Barton house, with all the normal basic amenities.
lol! Just yesterday I was *this* close to posting a comment requesting pictures of how you store your grocery finds! Thanks for sharing!
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