After hours and hours of work, plus a back ache and a lot of dirty grime on my clothes, the food storage part of our storage room is now ORGANIZED!!! You can walk in and not trip or get scared or feel depressed. I’m not sure why I waited so long to get this done, but I do need to say thank you for making me do this! If I hadn’t had the motivation from you all, that room would still be messy. There’s a little something to this “tell your blog readers what you need to do” that holds you accountable to getting something done. :)
Here’s one more look at the mess, just so that the pictures to follow make you say a louder “ooooohhh…..ahhhh…”
And nowwwwwww………
Everyone together now, “Ooohhh…Ahhhhh….”
Here’s a different angle of that area, so that you can see that the ugly refrigerator looks even worse now that it’s in a clean room. And also so that you can see my two big blue Rubbermaid tubs which I am using to store cereal, corn chips, raisins, whole wheat pasta and a few other random dried foods that don’t fit well in other containers.
If you look real close at the wooden shelves, you’ll see that they are incredibly crooked. So, don’t look too close. Those were a project the boys and I tackled a few years ago when Matt was out of town and I desperately wanted shelves. They are pretty much pitiful, but they work. And they remind me of the day when my boys were all little and I was trying to have them help me with this manly project, allthewhile working to keep the babies from eating nails. Ah, the good ol’ days.
My big (free) buckets fit nicely between the shelves. Most of those are filled with my year’s supply of wheat, but some of them contain a huge amount of Sea Salt, or Millet. If you haven’t read about how I acquire free or almost free buckets with lids, hasten to click here and read. (That may be the first time I’ve ever used the word “hasten” on my blog. Or ever.)
Here are some specifics of what is on each shelf because I’m sure you want to know about every square inch of my storage room. (In that case I will hasten to tell you.) In a lovely see-through Rubbermaid container, I put all my nuts that just came in from Braga Farm. I believe there are a few packs of dried fruit in there too. I went to a lot of trouble to scribble the word “Nuts” on a label, even though you can see right through the container because shucks, labels are cute.
Under the nuts are my buckets of palm shortening, expeller pressed coconut oil and shredded coconut from Tropical Traditions. The buckets under those buckets are actually not what they say they are. I have my bulk cocoa and I can’t remember what else in those buckets…but it’s okay that I can’t remember…I have labels on the top for those too.
Then on the bottom shelf I have some boxes of Natural Value plastic wrap and baggies. I bought a case of each of those about five years ago, I kid you not. That’s what I still have left. I guess now you know how quickly we go through plastic wrap and baggies.
Moving over to the corner shelves that I swiped from my kids’ lego room (without asking)…
Top shelf is tomato paste, organic ketchup, coconut chips, Larabars and tuna. It’s a random assortment, but it works. The next shelf is my bulk popcorn and some rye grain. The next shelf is my bulk Sucanat divided into containers, some oats and my new maple syrup. The bottom shelf is my Ecover dish washing liquid and Ecover dishwasher powder. LOVE that stuff.
To the left of that shelf is one of the pitiful shelves. On top is all the excess canned tomato sauce and applesauce that won’t fit into my pantry in the kitchen. Under that is coconut oil and my mom’s salsa. I’ve had it on my list to tell you the story of my mom’s salsa and I’ve just GOT to get around to doing that. It’s such a wonderful story {sniff}.
The bottom two shelves are random spices and citric acid for making cheese. The spices are not for making cheese, just the citric acid…just in case that wasn’t clear, because spices in cheese, yuck.
Moving over to the pegboard wall and the shelf with jars…JOY! I took your advice and put all my canning rings on the wall. If that wasn’t fun, I don’t know what was. And there on the shelf are some of my empty canning jars waiting for harvest time in the fall.
Oh look, a different view of this area. There are more coconut products from Tropical Traditions. I think we are all aware that I love Tropical Traditions. In a basket on top of the coconut products are some boxes of unbleached muffin liners. Not sure why they ended up there, but I liked propping the basket like that.
And now the other side of the room. Again, let’s see the before picture, shall we?
Yikes, and now the after picture:
It’s much better, but not as impressive perhaps as the other side. I was at least able to clean out and organize my storage containers, as well as put together a shelf of containers I use for taking meals to others. Our window air conditioner is on the floor back there and will stay there until July. And that table right there in front needs to be dusted. Eh, I’ll get to it eventually.
Shew, so there you go. I am not so much in a state of chaos anymore, thankyouverymuch. Unless you count some of the other areas of our home that kind of fell apart while I was cleaning the storage room this week.
Total money spent on this project: $0. I had everything I needed on hand for this, including pitiful, crooked shelves and plenty of rubbermaid tubs.
And can I get three cheers for my beautiful red carpet? Yes, I’m sure you’ve been admiring that. And if you’ve been wondering if I’m going to vacuum in there, I’m gonna have say…um no. It’s a storage room and it is overall just a nasty room. I’ll save my housecleaning efforts for the rooms that matter.
Okay, so what have you been working on this week? Show us what you’ve done or share about it in the comments!
Very nice!! Saturday I am attacking my kitchen, but I will post before and after pics on my blog! I started a new job this week to help out with bills and my kitchen has taken the beating of that. Plus my Mother in law is taking my daughter for the weekend (until Sunday!) so I will have a bunch of time to clean and organize and bake! =] Thanks for the motivation!
I for one Love your shelves that you made with your sons! That is awesome, hon. That’s a project i havent’ even begun to tackle yet and I’m not so sure I’d know where to start. As far as tackling a big messy room, we’ve been working on cleaning the kitchen and J’s room. Still plenty to do.
Great idea for the canning rings! How did you get them up like that? Maybe it’s just my house, but I store my empty jars upside down so they don’t get full of dead bugs. Just another idea for you.
Nope, it’s not just your house! That’s the first thing I thought of when I saw the jars, too.
What an awesome idea! I would have never thought of that:)THANKS!!!
too funny thats what I do also, and keep them in platic totes, but when the totes are full they are upside down on the shelves
I’ve also stored mine upside down in boxes in the past, but that storage room gets everything dusty and nasty no matter what, so I always have to rewash them regardless. I guess because of that, I got out of the habit of storing them upsidedown!
WOW! that is some SERIOUS organizing! You must feel such a huge sense of relief! I just love getting major reorganizing done like that! I just LOVE your storage area with all the canned food! That is amazing. Hope you and your family have a very blessed Easter! :) Kelly
Here’s a link to my blog entry today. I wrote about and shared photos of my food storage room. I did not take before photos, but they def. would have been embarrassing! Just as my kitchen pantry is about right now. I guess that’s my next project!
http://plumnearly.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/food-storage-photos/
I use to have an ugly brown refrigerator that I covered with pretty picture and sayings that I found! It was quite the conversation peice! :-)
One word for the “ugly” fridge: Decoupage!
Every Bible verse you’ve ever loved, every picture of the kids, of food you’ve found in a magazine, of ANYTHING- get some podge podge and glue it on! The boys and you would have a blast! And it woudl give you something personal and pelaseing to look at when you enter your new, clean and freshly organized storage room!
Pretty amazing accomplishment! Congratulations! One thing about the nuts–I don’t know how quickly you go thru them, but I think it’s best to freeze them to keep them from going rancid. How long do you think your family could eat just with what you have in storage? Great project-thanks for sharing.
When we were touring Braga Farms a few months ago I asked about that. He said they won’t go rancid for 6 months (or did he say one year??? I can’t remember!). We’ll eat them before that, otherwise I’ll throw them in the freezer!
job well done!
I love the shelf you guys made! You should see my squirrel netting around some of my garden- oh boy, I bet my next door neighbor gets in his daily laughs everytime he leaves his house. oh boy! i used to think (daydream?) that I was handy. now I just call my dad :) (sadly hubby isn’t super handy- or maybe he doesn’t want me to know that he is handy? hmmmm).
I don’t think my husband wants me to look at this page- he’ll be afraid of what I do to the basement. :)
This week I moved the crib downstairs and made the room into a playroom for my kids. Yay- no more toys scattered all over the house, or cars in the kitchen that almost make me fall and break my neck.
Will you post about your garden this year? I’d love to see it! I’m a newbie gardener feeling my way (somewhat blindly) around…
Yes, I’ll hopefully be posting about gardening soon!
Wow! Love it. My “spring” cleaning is actually scheduled to begin the end of May…cause that’s when homeschooling will be over for the most part and who has time to spring clean while trying desperately to finish language and math books?
And the next time my extended family and friends thinks I’m crazy for having 50lbs. of spelt or 6 jars of coconut oil, I will take them to these pictures. Bulk food is great!
Wow! I love the big storage room. The rings on the wall are a great idea. I agree with the “decorate the ugly refrigerator” comments. Sounds like a great rainy day project. Can you come to my house now?
I had an ugly freezer that looked like your refrigerator. After a quick sanding a can of white rust covering spray paint covered most of the rust that remained. It wasn’t perfect but it looked much better comparatively. The change was more for me than anyone else so I didn’t have to look at it everytime I entered that room :).
Awesome job!! I agree with decorating the front of the frig or sanding it down and painting it…a spray can of appliance enamel is only about $5-6 at Lowe’s/Home Depot. Can’t wait to see what you tackle next!
Hip, hip, hooray!! It looks wonderful! Now you have time to fix tea and scones for all of us to come over and celebrate with you!!!!
I can give you my address if you are interested. HA HA!!! I hope to get more organized when I retire in 26 days. But who is counting?? ME!!!!
WOW!! What a transformation. Loved the canning jar lids spot.
Do you have any suggestions for rusty canning rings?
I pitch them since you can’t use them again for canning.
I actually keep about 1/2 dozen of each size for jars that are just for storage and not for canning. That way, I’ve always got pretty, clean ones for canning purposes.
I always recycle the rusty ones. I always have plenty of decent ones on hand for storage, too. Rings seem to be one of those easy things to get more of really cheaply. Always find some at yard sales, thrift stores. I just don’t keep the rusty ones. They frustrate me.
Wow! Great job, Laura. I didn’t actively participate in this, not because I have no messes or that I am unwilling to reveal them, but because I had no intention of cleaning them up at this time. :D
AWESOME! CONGRATULATIONS! It looks wonderful… even the crooked shelves!! The canning rings on the peg wall is a great idea, and if you store the jars **Upside Down, they won’t collect dust and will save you from rewashing later!!
And while you may not truly care about the fridge front being ugly, and you shouldn’t, there are practical ways to cover it. There’s a variety of fun paints available now including chalkboard and magnetic. Make that fridge even more useful by turning it into an area for a shopping list, reminder, calendar, notes, etc! Or let the kids create a mural on it, art they want to do for you. Perhaps you could tell Matt about that idea, and he could do it with the boys, and it would be a semi-surprise!
Great job Laura. I remember your Mom’s salsa. She gave me a jar once and I loved it. I am amazed you still have some! brings back wonderful memories, a gift from God. We need more Mama’s like she was. Oh wait, you are!
Love you,
Jill
Laura,
Terrific job. But…you might want to reconsidering leaving that floor dirty when you realize that you’re “tracking” stuff onto clean floors every time you come out of that room and into the rest of the house.
I think you should let your kids paint the door of the refrigerator.. sounds like a fun project :)
Next time your boys are bored have them paint your fridge with chalkboard paint. Then you can write what you have in the fridge on the fridge and always know what’s there.
GREAT idea!!
Very inspirational! I love it…and the ‘memory’ shelves.
Tea and Oranges!! Totally my husband all the way! ha
This is a thing of beauty. I NEED one of these here rooms!
Good work! Wow, that’s a right smart lookin’ room you have there. Love the comment about chalkboard paint on the fridge. Then, you could write your “Bulk orders” list on it, notes regarding things you need to pick up somewhere(like more canning jar rings…. just kidding!), etc.
I am duly inspired and encouraged. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Wow I thought I was the only one with a million canning jars, its nice to see I am not alone, as one other poster said turing them upside down keeps things out or plastic totes but they get very heavy so have them where you want them, when you fill them up.
Good job on the organizing
Room looks great! Love the idea of using the peg board for canning rings!
If you really wanted to spruce up the look of ugly refrigerator door, you could find a spray paint that would adhere to the the door finish.
Love the peg board ring solution, think I may see if I can put one up in my storage bus:)
Looks wonderful! How did you collect all the large quantities of coconut oil and stuff ? it seems so expensive to buy all at once;Im looking for ideas for stockpiling w/o spending too much up front :) I love your room!
Several others are asking for me to share more about how I afford to buy in bulk…it’s on my “new blog posts list”. :)
You totally inspired me to get more organized! I should have gone out and organized my garage before it got to be 90-something during the daytimes down here in Georgia. But I’m newly motivated to organize our office and my pantry:) Thanks!!!
I was wondering – I’m sure you’ve mentioned this in other posts, but I’m only a recent follower and haven’t had time to go back through your posts as far as I would like to have. I struggle with this problem: As much as I would like to feed my husband and I healthy, organic food as much as possible, it is truly cost prohibitive. We simply cannot afford it, when we can get twice the amount of nonorganic food at the commissary for much cheaper. Do you have any tips for getting organic food affordably, so I could basically fill a cart up with the same amount of food, only the organic or healthier version, for the same amount of money? I know our health should come first, but at the end of the day, paying $100 for food to last us a month is just more necessary right now than paying $100 for food to last us a week, and we have to buy what we can afford. Any tips?
You may find answers to some of your questions in this “Feeding the Family” series I wrote (and keep writing!). https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/category/feeding-the-family You’ll want to scroll down to start at the beginning of that series of posts!
Thanks for steering me to the right place, Laura! Your site is a wealth of information, and I’ve already started tonight going through the “Feeding the Family” series, and am finding it very helpful:)
If it were me, I would first concentrate on getting rid of anything genetically modified in my diet before worrying about organic everything. Then I would simply just shop the sales of organic items and look for local farmers that sell GMO and pesticide free produce. THey don’t have to be certified organic. Just know what they do and where your food is coming from, you know?
Currently, fruits are not genetically modified. So we may buy non-organic fruit from the store and I wash with a solution of grapefruit seed extract and water to remove any pesiticde residue.
Wow!! What a great job you did!! You have every right to feel proud! :-)
As to the ‘ugly’ fridge: options…
1 – let the boys paint pretty pictures on it for you!
2 – decoupage lovely pictures you cut out of magazines (ask friends for old ones, or try a place like ‘Half Price books’ or a library sale for some super-flowery mags like Victoria, or Home-and-Garden-types for some gorgeous flowers to cut out)
3 – hot glue a big bulletin board, a big whiteboard, or a big chalkboard!
Thanks for inspiring us all to organize! You are awesome!
I spotted that salsa right away!! So fun to see it on your shelves. =)
Congrats Laura! This looks FANTASTIC! And thank you, thank you for going through the content on each of the shelves — I TOTALLY wanted to know ;) Love the tip on storing canning rings! Think other’s suggestions about some kind of writing surface on the fridge for keeping up with bulk lists etc. was a great one – but you feel free to just enjoy a job well done! Can’t wait to hear about Mom’s Salsa. I’m intrigued by your Ecover dishwasher soaps… I’ve really wanted to find a healthier product that worked well. I looked at Amazon and even on sale these seem SOOOO expensive for such small bottles. Am I doing the math wrong? Does it really work well and can you share why you think they are work the price? thanks!
I know, it is so much more than regular dish soap! But, I LOVE the stuff and just use a tiny bit each time to make it last a little longer. I love that it is non-toxic.
How wonderful to have food to store! And, I just have to say that while it might be a “nasty” (as you put it!) storage room, it might feel just a little LESS nasty if you DID vacuum the carpet. Actually, I’d pay a kid to do it! :D
Nice job! Your boys have a lego room, I’d love to see that ; )
I see from the photo a box, that shows a cast iron dutch oven, what brand is it? do you like it/recommend it?
Very Nice! I was doing the ooooh aaahhh thing in my head before you told me to :) I remembered the before picture post. Very impressive!
Brava! Brava! Brava!
Now that I know where you keep your mom’s salsa, you’d better keep it under lock and key b/c you never know when I might sneak over in the middle of the night and “borrow” some :-P