One of the best ways we save money is by maintaining a stockpile of non-perishable groceries. It lets us buy things at their lowest price and, as a nice bonus, there is always something around to whip up for dinner.
The problem was that our stockpile was spilling over out of the pantry and into the basement and making a big mess.
Initially we had our overflow on a plastic shelf that we had in the attic. It worked well enough for a while, but then we started to overflow the overflow. The little shelf was packed with stuff and had bags and boxes all around. Yuck.
Mr. O really hated it because this area was right next to his desk. It’s not exactly inspiring to be sitting next to boxes of mac and cheese and cans of tomatoes.
Once again, I went hunting for a solution. He wanted a cabinet with doors, I wanted something more extensive. He wanted something used, I wanted something that looked good.
After several months of searching local tag sale groups and Craigslist I contacted The Container Store. We have a small area tucked away in our basement where a spiral staircase used to be that I thought would be a great pantry area. They sent me plans for floor to ceiling shelving – nothing fancy – and reminded me of the end date of the 30% off sale.
In the mean time I changed my search for a cabinet and started looking at garage storage solutions. Eureka!
I found a plastic storage cabinet (very similar to this one) for a decent price. It would hold plenty of food and it would look good in our basement. Perfect. So perfect, in fact, that I bought 2.
We repositioned the new cabinets to be by the door to the garage so that we can just drop the groceries on our way upstairs. It’s extremely convenient and, unlike our old shelves, things get put away quickly and in an organized way.
I love, love, LOVE these new cabinets! They hold an enormous amount of stuff, they are easy to adjust as needed, and there’s a loop for a lock so I can use these cabinets for incoming items from the Easter Bunny or Santa without Miss O being able to find them. They are the absolutely the perfect solution.
What sort of small changes have had an impact on your life? Share in the comments.
