Moving!!

I haven't posted in FOREVER!! That reason is because we are moving so I haven't been stocking up on my food storage. We are trying to eat a lot of the perishable items from my fridge and freezer before we go. We're not just moving across town. We're moving out of state!!
I'm so excited to get out of California and move to a state where I will be able to have more storage for my family. I will most likely have some type of basement where we're going and have some type of storage room with lots of shelves!! I cannot wait to get settled into our new home! I also can't wait to show all my readers all the fun new places I'm going to have to store my stockpile!1 Woo hoo!! So kep checking back because soon I'll be settled in my new home with lots of pictures to share!

Shopping!!!

I spent $99.00 on $323.00 worth of groceries this week. I haven't been shopping in awhile and so I needed quite a few things. My grocery store was having a sale where if you bought 8 participating products you got $4.00 off at check out. You could do this 3 times for a total of $12.00 off at check out. Well, I had my son with me and he took up my usual spot where I organize all my coupons and he was getting so grouchy. I was getting flustered and some how miscounted my items and so I missed one of the $4.00 off!! I was so bummed when I got home and looked at my receipt. I only got $8.00 taken out instead of $12.00.

I usually try not to shop with my kids. I go at night when my husband is home and I can go all by myself. I like getting out of the house by myself. It's my alone time every week. So now I know to wait till my husband gets home to watch the kids while I shop so I don't ever miss out on another good deal like that again. I was only one item off from getting another $4.00 off. Dang it!!

I Got It!!!

In my previous post I mentioned that I had this space that I didn't know what to do with. I knew I wanted it to serve a purpose and not just be a simple decoration or space-sucker-upper.

So here it is......

This is a super old hope chest that was my Great Grandmother's! My Grandma is 92 years old if that gives you an idea of just how stinkin' old this thing is. I thought it was built by my great grandfather but I guess I was getting that confused with another one of my mothers antiques.

Either way I think it's pretty cool that I've ended up with it after having been passed down from my great grandmother to my grandmother to my mom and now to me.

Like I said before I will probably put paper products inside because I don't want any food items leaking into it. I'm looking forward to filling this thing up!

My next item on my list is reorganize my food storage closet as well as my pantry. They have both gotten slightly out of hand the last few months and are in need of a make over!

Hmmm.... What should I put here???

I have this space.....

It's a wall in my living room and it's just a big blank space. I have been wracking my brain about what I should put there for a few months. Because I live in a small space, I need to make every inch count. Almost everything in my home has a purpose. When I buy any furniture or organize a closet, my mind isn't just thinking about how it will look but also how it will benefit me. Will it just be a big waste of space?? Can it serve another purpose?? That sort of thing.

Well.... it dawned on me that my mom has an old trunk that would fit perfectly right in that spot. When I say old.. I mean old. I think my grandfather built it (or maybe it was my great grandfather. either way... it's old!). So, I called up my mom and asked her what she was doing with the old trunk sitting in her garage. She said "Nothing, you want it??" and of course I said "YES!!!!" So as soon as I get it, I'll post some pics for you. I'm really excited. I'm thinking because this thing is so old, that I don't want to store canned goods in there. I don't want to put anything too heavy in there or anything that could possibly spill and get messy. I'm thinking some where along the lines of paper goods. Diapers, toilet paper, paper towels, that sort of thing.

So stay tuned my friends because I'll be posting pics in the next few days with an update and show off my new trunk!

Awesome!

This Week In Food Storage....

So my husband and I decided that we needed to not spend any money for awhile. We own a small nuts and bolts company and with the way the economy is, things have been slow. December and January are always his slowest months of the year. We decided that we wouldn't go grocery shopping for awhile and use our food storage to feed our family. So since January 1st we have not been grocery shopping. So far so good. The only thing we decided we would purchase would be milk and meat (and diapers!!). My deep freeze some how got unplugged back in early December and we lost a lot of our meat. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't even have to buy meat right now! Anyways, I'm hoping to go at least another three or four weeks without grocery shopping. I really do enjoy grocery shopping and using my coupons though so it's going to be tough.

Creative Food Storage Options

I've mentioned before that you have to be creative when you live in a small space.

Luckily I have a very handy husband.

Looks like an ordinary bed right??

But underneath is this....

Our bed sits on top of a giant storage box with seven different compartments. 6 square compartments and on long rectangular section running down the middle. He made it himself and it takes down easily if we ever move so we can take it with us!!

Each square compartment holds 4 five gallon buckets (24 total) or 32 (yep.... 32) #10 cans (192 total). I'm really looking forward to filling this thing up. The center rectangular compartment can also hold quite a bit. I will probably put #10 cans in there as well after the other sections are filled up. I'm estimating the center compartment can hold about 80 #10 cans as well.

Now I just have to make a bedskirt to match my bedding which will hang down and conceal the storage boxes.

I absolutely love my husband for being so creative and helping me to build our food storage!!