Ok! We are down to the nitty gritty of Taming the Stockpile now. I have been eating from the stockpile, and I even defrosted my freezer last weekend! Today, I want to talk about organizing your stockpile. (Insert hubby’s laughter here.) Remember, I am working on things right along with you. I am not perfect, and most of the time, I am not organized!
First, let me show you want I really want but can’t pay for right now…a storage unit for can rotation!
I contacted the company for a review and giveaway, but I didn’t hear back. I really wanted one and wanted one of you to have one too. This can device makes it easy to see and rotate your stock. Something I often have trouble with! If you can afford it, this would be an excellent addition to organize your stockpile!
My second tip is utilize what space you have! I try to use every space available to store and organize my stockpile. What you see below is my pantry door and an over-the-door hanger.
Next, I am going to recommend something I don’t do very well. I am planning to implement this. Like now. When you come into the house with items for the stockpile, you should put them away right away. Move the old stock forward on your shelf or in your cabinet, and put the new stock behind it. Immediately. I have to admit as I am telling you this, I have 3 bags of groceries from my shopping trip this week sitting in front of my stockpile shelf. We all have room to improve right?
I decided to share the before and after with you via vlog. Remember, this is my second You Tube video ever, and the first one I had to edit together, so please be kind! If you can’t see it in this post, you can go directly to You Tube to view it.
Finally, while you are organizing, take either a mental or written inventory. I made a simple written stockpile inventory for you. If you can do this once a month, it will make a big difference in keeping your stockpile organized and full!
What is your stockpile organization nemesis?
I disclose : There may be affiliate links in this post.
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Love it! I envy your food stockpile. Every time I see you post one of your Harris Teeter trips I am so jealous! Food deals are few and far between here because we only have one store that doubles coupons, and they are way overpriced. But I do get some good food deals at the drugstores, so I can’t complain too much. One of my projects for the month is to organize my stockpile. Fortunately mine was fairly organized to begin with, I just had it on shelves that took up too much room, and since most of my stockpile is in my craft room, I needed to fix that. I went to Lowe’s and bought a cheap shelving system about once every week or so, and now its almost done! I am hoping to finish it up this weekend. Doesn’t it feel good getting things accomplished?! Have a great day!
Harris Teeter is a great store, and mine is one of the pickier ones. If they were one of the less pickier ones, it would be even better!
Wow! Great job on the video and taking back your space. I always find it cathartic to go in and clean up my stockpile (unfortunately right now mine is depleted).
I do feel a lot better, but I am almost afraid to go shop and mess it up again…
Thanks for sharing your video! I would really like a can rotation system also. Hopefully they will contact you so you can get one for your personal use and have one to give away. I have always told my family when they help me put away the grocery, etc to put like things together just like it is at the grocery store…. I guess I am a “visual Person” and when it is cluttered I can’t find anything and end up going back to the store to purchase what we already have. Thanks for ALL You Do!!
Would that can storage be wonderful? I can dream can’t I? Thanks for the great feedback Jennie!
Looks great Shelly!! And now that you have it organized, it will be easier to keep organized! Thanks for sharing your before and after with us!
The before was embarassing, but hey, I teach full time and blog part time, something has to give! Thanks for the encouragement Heather!
You’re inspiring me to tame my stockpile too. Love the video!
Thanks Sarah…I didn’t take too long, I am not sure why I put it off so long.
I started one today and then realized I’m going to have to film when the boys are sleeping :) Hopefully I’ll be revealing my 1st vlog soon.
Such a change for the better! Maybe you can remind us when you go through to update your inventory, and we can, too. I love the idea of a cansolidator – maybe that will go on my wish list of things to buy one day.
LisaCarol,
I will try to remember to do that, great idea!
That is a great idea to put door shoe caddy on the pantry door! I am taking up too much space in my pantry with sandwich, freezer, and storage bags boxes – also, aluminum foil! Thank you for the videos and great stockpile tips! Hope you enjoyed your SNOW VACATION!
I am thinking of it as my early spring break…ha! I love the shoe caddy, it helps me stay more organized!
I let my stockpile take over our guest bedroom waaaay too often. It is so easy to come home after a trip, take pictures, and just sit the items in the room out of the way. Taming my stockpile is on my list of things to do next week.
Thanks for the motivation!
I am so glad I am not the only one! You can do it!!
My nemesis is my son!!! I will have it all nice, clean and organized and he’ll go in and terrorize it. I have a video of him stacking my cans and getting mad because they fell over. But you know what I played with cans as a child, so he can too.
Plus he finds cans I forgot how many I had of. So its all fair.
You made me chuckle Kara!
You are doing a great job! I am VERY impressed!!!
Don’t know if you’ve seen my most recent post, but I am very proud of my new shelves hubby built me over the weekend! Clean, organized and lots of room to fill up with MORE stockpile!!! I want to show the world!
http://itscrazycheap.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-nicely-organized-stockpile-pictures.html
I stopped by to see your stockpile, it is looking great too. So glad you joined me this month!
Oh goodness I checked out the ‘good things in store’ wenbsite and have found what I have been looking for! Thanks so much for the great ideas! My stockpile is really coming together. My family loves always having things on hand and it came in helpful this month with my dh being hurt and off work.
I know you can’t afford the Shelf Reliance pantry organizer but maybe you can afford this until then http://www.thecanorganizer.com/ You did a great job organizing your stock pile.
Thanks Kim! I haven’t ever seen that company before!
I am so interested in the couponing phenomenon. Thanks for sharing your ideas. I want to learn more. I saw it on A&E and the lady paid fifteen dollars for over a thousand dollars worth of food. I also saw another lady digging in the paper recycle bins for lots of coupons. You dont seem so extreme. Please tell me how you got started. And give me any helpful hints to get me started. Where do you get most of your coupons? I dont have a printer, do you print most of them on your computer, or do you get them from the news paper? Do you know what stores double coupons? Thanks for sharing..
freeganmomma@blogspot.com
check out my blog to see how to get lots of free meat. I noticed you were running low..
I have a Savvy Shopper course that will help you get started. I get about 2/3 of my coupons from the Sunday paper, and I am definitely not as extreme as the folks on TV! ;)
http://www.mycouponteacher.com/savvy-shopper-course/
The video was so helpful–I am working on a stockpile of the food items we use more of.
My HBA stockpile is somewhat lopsided and needs work. I have tons of Herbal Essence from the last deal w/ b1g1′s. :)
I am just really beginning to stock up so I am using your ideas to try to stay neat and organized. I must give my husband credit for lots of help. He is tall and helps me organize the pantry. He knows where the stockpile is better than I do. He can even see it up there.
I have a similar can thingee and that does help to free up some space. And defrosting the frig is a great way to make space-it took me almost 6 full hours to do mine one Saturday several weeks ago. It’d been YEARS since I’d done it but well worth the time to review what was in it and throw away some things.
I’m glad our home has built in shelves in almost every room. The deal at my house is… if I do the shopping my husband puts it away and he knows everything has a place, if not, then he asks before he puts it there. I just had a daughter move out and now her closet will be turned into a closed up stockpile room. I don’t yet how to save a lot on foods, so I’ve been stockpiling non foods items. Now if I can just get the food savings down pat, I’ll be a happy camper. Hubby’s been out of work for over 2 years and any savings help out a lot !
Your stockpile looked pretty good before the reorg. I need to fix the organization of pantry and setup new shelves in the basement as the stockpile grows.
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