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Sep 2006 Issue
by Gail Jackson
Have you heard about the woman who always cut four inches off the end of a ham before she cooked it?
Finally, after puzzling over this for 25 years, her husband asked her why. “Because,” she said, “that is what my mother always did.”
Her husband called his mother-in-law and handed the phone to his wife, who then posed the same question to her mother. Baffled by the question, it took a moment for her mom to recollect before responding, “The pan I had was too small to hold the entire ham!”
It has been said that one of the saddest epitaphs of all time is “I have always done it this way.” Years ago, a popular catch phrase was “thinking outside the box.” It simply meant envisioning other ways of doing things.
Mormons are taught to conserve and prepare. That means that over the years we have accumulated boxes and boxes of food storage and other stuff, without acquiring additional room to put them. I have had several dreams, through the years, where I suddenly discovered another room in our home—a huge storage room! Honest.
As our stuff continued to multiply it became imperative that I “think outside” to corral it.
Not literally outside. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option!
In a past column I have shown the way we have cheaply and efficiently corralled canned goods and given our bed a solid, filled 5-gallon bucket, foundation (DSM January 2004, www.desertsaintsmagazine.com).
As part of this week’s Enrichment night, the sisters are going to tour our home for ideas on storing stuff. While I was dusting for the event, it really hit me how many ways we have come up with to subdue and conquer our personal universe.
For both financially strapped newly-weds and compulsive over-accumulators, I share the following ideas for your consideration.
• Use cinder blocks (or purchase official bed risers) and place under the legs of beds to make space for more storage.
• A dust ruffle, quickly made from an old sheet, covers all and cozies up the room.
• If any of your furniture allows for it, utilize the shallow space under it. Our couch has a wood frame that reaches the floor. Ninety-six individually wrapped rolls of toilet paper repose under there.
• Place an entertainment center or bed at an angle in a room and you have not only added visual interest, but created an instant triangle of storage space behind.
• Turn a closet into a pantry. When you think outside the box, you realize it doesn’t even need to be near the kitchen. Our pantry is located in the guest room closet.
• Our freezer also shares guest room space and sports a light-hearted note explaining the two close-at-hand sources for super hungry visitors.
Before I continue with ideas, I need to bring up the absolute IMPORTANCE of marrying storage with LISTS of what is stored and where. Lists may clutter the designated-list-spot but they free up the mind—and, more importantly, the memory.
• Cover cardboard boxes with wood-grain “contact” or sticky-back shelving paper and use them for end tables, TV stands, etc. Top them with a decorative cloth if desired. Stack them to appropriate height in two columns and top with a length of plywood to make a desk, computer or sewing table.
• Place #10 cans or other storage items in the back of deep cupboards or closets, and/or place a layer on their floors.
• Stack your extra supplies of hand soap, tissue, etc. in the back of, or along the sides of, your bathroom cupboards, linen closets, etc. Tape a list of the items on the inside of each cupboard door.
• Decorate #10 cans to match your decor and arrange them above kitchen cabinets, on plant shelves, or on top of the refrigerator.
• Use a dish drainer as a handy and portable “filing cabinet” for often used papers, bills, and postage supplies. I have a file folder for each family member I accumulate things for, including one for the box tops and labels I gather for a grandchild’s school fund-raiser.
• Cut a circle in the side of a gallon milk jug and stuff your plastic grocery bags in them. Since there will be even more uses for plastic bags during hard times, you can cover the hole of a full jug and keep it with your food storage.
• Place empty tissue boxes in a drawer and stuff them with folded bread wrappers, used zip-lock bags, gathered plastic bowl bonnet covers or whatever.
• Use pint and quart canning jars for storing left-overs in the refrigerator. They are easily obtainable (garage sales and thrift stores), take up less room than bowls and the contents are always in sight so there is less chance of waste.
• For years I stored out of season clothes, holiday decorations, etc. in boxes, with what each contained written on the side in black marker. The system became more efficient when I started to just number the boxes and make a list of what each contained, making it simpler to locate the box or alter its contents.
• And finally, like-size boxes make for much more efficient stacking and storing. You can buy “banker’s boxes” at office supply stores to obtain a consistent size–but why? Instead, although it may take a few return trips, become acquainted with your local produce man or someone at a quick copy shop.
Remember, whatever the situation, try thinking outside the box.
