John Havener December 14th, 2008
Organizing Your Stored Items, Part I – Justine
Several months ago, I began storing items, using the Mormon 52 Week List as my basic information guide.
(I liked its orderliness and unwieldy plan, because I did not know where to even begin such a huge task.)
It did not take me long to recognize 2 basic problems:
1. It looked like I would need a barn to store all the “stuff” in.
2. I needed a workable, simple PLAN to find what I had stored!!!!!!!
The barn was just not doable…so I had to work out an alternative.
This is the point where every person with whom I have ever discussed storing has said…”Oh, I could not do that…I don’t have enough room.” It DOES take a different mindset, but you do have lots more room in your house than you think or need.
PLEASE think through how you are going to do this before you start, and you will not be overwhelmed by week after week of storing items coming in to the house with your regular groceries. If you don’t plan, I guarantee you will just begin to put them with your regular pantry items and within a month will be looking for help…so will start putting stuff anywhere it will fit and, yikes, what do you have and where is it will be your lament! I just found my peaches and pears this week behind my gift wrap!
Here is what I did for increasing my household storing space – for stored items I would really care if varmints of any size got at or into:
I measured all of my closets and found on both ends on the floor that I had dead space that would just perfectly accommodate a 4 shelf bookcase…found at Target for around $20. each -sturdy, painted wire. This was basic. Note, I am not advertising for Target…but if you watch they will have these units on sale several times a year – esp. around “off to clg” time for the small ones…then within 2-3 weeks will have the large ones on sale.
Second Note, this dead space may be hard to get to – so, for mine, I bought 3 baskets packs with green handles at WalMart for $6. and filled them with items that fell off the shelves or couldn’t be easily reached…the baskets were just right.
Then I noticed that my AC/heater closet would hold a 6 foot high shelving unit – bought a plastic one which I could install IN the closet (Lowe’s, Home Depot, Target) – BUT soon found out it needed dowels in the middle of each shelf for bracing against the weight of each shelf’s contents – canned goods.
I looked at the contents of my closet shelves and decided to store more bedding and unused “stuff” in our unheated/unair-conditioned attic. This is not stuff that will be harmed by that environment – used roach stuff and cedar to fend off varmints…used covered plastic containers with clips on the ends to keep them from slipping open.
I looked under the beds and found lots of space there for things not able to go into the attic, but not needed in the closets. I use covered containers there.
All of my closets could accommodate one more shelf at the top. None of what I stored used all the space to the ceiling…so, most home building supply stores have that type of shelving – use the same spacing for the clips as the shelves below it and you should hit the same wood as the other shelves for your screws.
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AND,finally, I bought a large, heavy duty, metal shelving unit for our shed…about $80.at Target, on sale. There are a lot of things I can store there, such as detergent, fabric softener, dish detergent, cleaning supplies, and more.
Next part, I will explain my plan for knowing what items you bought, where it is stored, how many you bought and what each item’s expiration date is.
Happy planning!
Organizing Your Stored Items – Part 2- Justine
I began to purchase items using the Mormon 52 Week List…BUT, because I was compressing time and purchasing all over the List things got crazy quickly – where did I put the last items like these, have I purchased many of these items yet, where should I put these new purchases?
First, I stored in my existing pantry, then stacked stuff on the floor, anywhere I had floor space, FINALLY I bought shelving for the closets…please see Part 1.
Once the closets and other storage places were in place, I used 3×5 cards for items and amounts and location- those cards became another nightmare - cards lost, misfiled, dropped while using…thus evolved THE BOOK!
I had a hard-bound, 5×8″, ”CASH” book which is set up as a ledger – perfect for my needs.
This book is a HUGE blessing, especially since I would rather use my memory for other things, and because other members of the family can use the book and find stored items without needing me.
I counted off 2 pages for each division(actually 4 sides)…first cover page to be a Master List of Locations, then each letter of the alphabet. (Use 3 pages for B,C, M and T – more later).
My Master List of Locations looks like this: ( what’s really located there examples in parenthesis - my partial list)
AT Attic (toilet paper, paper towels, bedding, off season clothes, decorations)
AC AC Closet (canned everything – meats, popcorn, veggies, beef stew,tins -chicken, corned bf)
CC C’s Closet (all med related items, coffee,salt,sugar,toiletries)
JC J’s Closet (cnd milk, dry milk,coffee mate, ziploc bags, all food wraps)
JBC J’s Bath Closet
JUB J-Under Bed (odd bath items – ace bandages, travel items, precious hand work,guest sheets)
OC Office Closet (lard, cnd pet meat, batteries, hand soap,candles)
S Shed (laundry and dish detergent, fabric softener, bleach, fabric aids, pest sprays, etc)
USK Under Sink-Kitchen
OS Over Stove (salt, unopened spices)
P Pantry (along with regular foodstuffs – beans, pasta, oddball condiments, puddings)
Use a pen or pencil for entries – BUT – use a pencil for amounts/numbers - you will add to and remove items over time. RULE FOR EVERYONE - CORRECT THE BOOK IF YOU REMOVE AN ITEM FROM STORAGE- and add it to the grocery list for replenishing.
Enter items alphabetically using the most important word to identify the item ..i.e., on the B page I entered “OC(location) – Batteries – with a separate line for each size and use a column for the number purchased/stored…the date of expiration. Ex. B page. Batteries item – C size - pkgs of 8 amount – 6 pkgs - 2016 exp date.
Date of expiration is a MUST – you will be crushed to find cans that have swollen that you should have used – very wasteful, too. When purchasing, watch for the longest exp dates – some will be short by pkging method -ex. coffee – cans store longer, so are best. Date spice using a magic marker on the bottom of spice container- when you first open it.
Where you actually store items is up to you. The above master list is a sample, and incomplete.
I store my most often used items closest to the kitchen – canned goods – I use them and replenish them frequently.
I also, found the over-the-door shoe bags(clear, if possible – WalMart) perfect for the ones or 2’s odd ball items, like steak sauces, conc. lemon juice, tapioca, mustard, etc. It fits on the back of my pantry door, and bathroom closet and doors.
The reason I told you to leave extra pages for B,C,M,T is because I grouped items that take up a lot of space, i.e. Toiletries on the T page, Bean types on the B page, Condiments on the C page, and Meds & Related items on the M page(with a note on T and M pages to cross-check for an item).
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I do watch for sales…I do use coupons… and I initially bought 3 or 4x my normal purchase. This is expensive to start, because I did not want to wait 52 weeks to do the whole sequence…but now that I have a good grasp of the process, I can add or plug in to the list as the market allows. I do try to at least buy double items like over the counter meds…esp with coupons when they are on sale!
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I have a small garden. Have bought seeds in advance of the season at my local feed and farm supply store. I plan to do even more intense gardening this season…and hope to can veggies and relishes(for gifting). I don’t have freezer space and am suspicious of energy supplies in the future.
Do add your suggestions to this info – and do ask questions. Be blessed. J
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