storage question

[NelliesMom]

Hello Everyone!

I'm new here and new to couponing too! I'm married and we have one son (23) who lives with us. We also have our cat Nellie who is very spoiled! Anyway I'm hoping to save a lot of money by doing this. We spend way too much money on groceries...

My biggest problem is space. I am limited to a pantry...not a walk-in...but it has deep shelves. And a shed that is attached to the house. This shed is not air conditioned so I wonder if it's possible to store any kind of food out there?? I'm wondering what other people do who are limited with space???

and I'm glad you all are here!!

[VivaciousJewelz]

Hello Everyone!

I'm new here and new to couponing too! I'm married and we have one son (23) who lives with us. We also have our cat Nellie who is very spoiled! Anyway I'm hoping to save a lot of money by doing this. We spend way too much money on groceries...

My biggest problem is space. I am limited to a pantry...not a walk-in...but it has deep shelves. And a shed that is attached to the house. This shed is not air conditioned so I wonder if it's possible to store any kind of food out there?? I'm wondering what other people do who are limited with space???

and I'm glad you all are here!!

Welcome to HCW!

I wouldn't store any food in the shed, but maybe you can stockpile things like paper products and soap and have some of that in the shed as well, that way you can save your pantry for food items.

However, while stockpiling is a goal for a lot of people, if you are consistently using coupons and buying what is on sale from week-to-week, you can still save money, even if you don't stockpile b/c you don't have room, or don't want to, or whatever. People stockpile so they can have the things they want even if they aren't on sale, but if you're flexible on what you eat/use, then you can still save money.

[Chrysalis101]

Don't forget about under your beds (guest rooms are great for this too). or the bottom of your coat closet (what we do). My biggest suggestion/help is to be increadibly organized with everything. The more organized you are, the neater your home, the more room you suddenly have.

As for storing things in your shed, you can get big plastic totes and store dry goods in those. We often have problems with mice, so even though we store the bulk of our stockpile in the basement, we still used those totes. Pasta in one, cereal in two others (we eat lots of cereal), snack foods in another. I would suggest the totes even if you're just putting paper products outside (mice like to make nests out of TP).

If you're going to store anything liquid outside, make sure to use some of it first. Remember, liquid expands when it freezes. So use a little shampoo before putting it out there in the cold. Also test stuff first, put a little shampoo in a bottle and then in your freezer, just to make sure that it comes back to normal after being frozen.

[belinda2]

It may be to hot where your located to store outside. I don't store anything outside. But take another look at the very top of your cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms, under sinks, top and bottom of closets. Try and rearrange drawers and throw out. You probably have things you haven't used in years which can go. I'm using a shoe caddy hanging from the back of my pantry door for packets of gravy, etc. You don't have to do everything at once. One location at a time. Today I bought 10 boxes of foil and I'm thinking what lucky corner of my home gets these?

[Gertie2u]

I went through my home looking for storage spaces and found I had a lot more than I thought. I was able to cut down a large cardboard box obtained from Home Depot's appliance section to make a tray that just fits underneath my sofa. Filled that one up with school and office supplies, bar soap, toothpaste. Things that shouldn't spoil or attract critters, and aren't very tall.

Decided to get rid of my coffee table. Since all we ever did was put our feet on it, I went out and bought an ottoman that opens up to store things inside. They showed it with a throw inside on the ad, but we like ours over the arm of the sofa. That one ended up full of shampoo. Liked it so much, I bought three more just like it. They can sit together in the area the coffee table used to fill. One is full of disposable razors I got for pennies. Another one is full of Bayer Advanced and Advil I got for free with coupons and MIR. I haven't decided what to put in the third yet.

I put under bed boxes under my daughter's bed with extra canned goods. New stuff goes in on the left, remove from the right so I'm always using the oldest.