Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Stockpile Cleaning can be Hazardous to Your Health

So after almost 2 weeks of doctoring, my shoulder is finely feeling back to normal.  I guess it was a bout of bursitis like the doc suspected.  I hope to heck I never have bursitis again!!
Not.
Fun.

And I hear you asking, just what did I do to bring on this painful malady?
I'll tell you.
It all started while I was decluttering and working on the stockpile in the garage.
Yes dear friends, couponing can be hazardous to your health! ;-)

With the assistance of hubby and surly teens(well, not so much their help!), I have made some headway on both projects using only my left arm.

Here are some things I have pulled from the stockpiles and am sending from my house either via freecycle &/or food bank donation....
There is another couple of boxes of food in the trunk I have to get photos of as well before I drop them off.

I didn't take but 1 before photo in the garage.....
Now, after 2 weeks, here is what this area looks like with everything put away and some things pulled out to donate......

And the shelf next to it.....

I moved all the pasta from the top of the shelf into the pantry in the kitchen onto the top shelf there.  I had been storing condiments/marinades/spices/and other small jarred items up there but with it being so out of sight, it was hard to find these small items up there if they weren't right in front.  That space is much better stoarge for large boxes of noodles....

The Wacky Mac, Egg Noodles and Ramen are still all out in the garage stockpile since there isn't enough room in the pantry if I want that noodle shelf organized.  I could jam it all up there but then I'd have "can't find it" syndrome again.

I got the soap/cleaners closet in the garage some what organized now too....

And the Big shelves are looking a tad less disheveled....
Top Shelf--Crackers, Cold Cereal, Rice
3rd Shelf--Sauces/Marinades, Ramen/Wacky mac, Bread Crumbs, Stock/Broth, Canned Beans, Canned Pasta, Popcorn, Pudding


2nd Shelf--Pasta Sauce, Fruit, Tomato products, Chili, Hash, Jelly, Peanut Butter
1st Shelf--Salad Dressings, more Fruit, Mustard, Ketchup, Mayo, Oils
Bottom Shelf--juice boxes, Seltzer Water, Vitamin Water, Juice bottles
In front is some overflow of Pasta Sauce, Ketchup and Applesauce.  I don't know why a bottle of Olive Oil is down there.....the kids doing probably!lol

And here is another set of shelves with lightweight items....

Top Shelf--more Cold Cereal
3rd Shelf--beverage central(tea bags, coffee, and some jello overflow)

2nd Shelf--Hot Cocoa, Oatmeals, biscuit mix, Jello, taco shells & 1 can of beer(DH didn't want-will use for fondue or rarebit)
1st Shelf--Bisquick, boxed potatoes, Nutri-Grain Bars, cracker overflow

I still have a second massive shelving unit to work on after I go through and purge more items for donation.  I'm hoping to get that done sometime this week.
Here's a tiny preview of that mess.....
It was neat and tidy at one time but then we just started piling stuff on top.
Ugh.

So now can you understand why I haven't been to the grocery store in 2 weeks and why I am in no hurry to make a trip there still??

Sluggy

15 comments:

  1. As Shane would say, "Hory Mory"!! What a huge stockpile you have!

    Unfortunately, our garage looks the same, only most of it is NOT edible...just a bunch of Shane's junk. I shouldn't complain (but I do) because his rat-holed stuff has saved us a ton of money over the years because we either already have something we need or can improvise. But geez!...the space it takes up.

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  2. I'm going to be more explicit....

    Holy Shit on a Shingle!!

    or

    Christ in a Sidecar!!

    Makes my 3 shelves in the back room look so lost and pathetic - LOL! You are amazing!!!!

    And your surly teens didn't want to help you with all this? Huh... ;)

    Glad your shoulder's feeling better!

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  3. OH MY GOSH!! I am in awe of your stockpile. I so need to get in my pantry and rearrange and clean out. I was whining because I have to go through my laundry room to get to my pantry. I don't have anything stored in my garage so I shouldn't whine!! I am amazed.

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  4. Now stop it guys....you are making me feel like a freak of nature.lol I didn't think my stockpile was THAT big. Doesn't everyone have one just like it?

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  5. I have 12 1-lb. boxes of loose tea leaves. About 15 bottles of shampoo. Literally hundreds of those little packets of Taco Bell Green Sauce that we got by the case a couple of years ago somewhere (I love green sauce). 8-10 deodorants and 8-10 toothpastes. Other than that, I probably don't have more than a couple months worth of anything.

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  6. Wowsa! You could open a grocery store there! lol! Mine is just my cupboards and lazy Susans. I need to get going on couponing and doing my own stock pile... but where would I put things?

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  7. Annie J--oh, you don't want me to show you my toiletries or paper products stockpile...it makes the foodpile look downright puny.lol I saved 2 yrs. of toiletries last yr. and sold the rest at the flea market. I need to go through and replenish some of it so I can continue to have a 2 yr. supply. Then any leftovers are going to the flea market again next month when the weather improves.
    You may have me beat on the toothpaste count there.lol

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  8. McVal--the garage IS a store.lol I go shopping in there every week. Last month the BIL shopped 4 big bags worth and when the Sis-IL was here in Jan. I sent a couple of boxes of stuff home with her.
    As for where to stash the stockpile...I like to keep the toiletries upstairs in the hallway linen closet and stuff for DH & I personally in our bathroom closet. I've got some tp storage in the hallway closet as well. My laundry room has laundry detergent stored in a box and I'm hoping to make some room on the shelving overhead so I can get that off the floor. The rest of the laundry and dishwasher soap is on the bottom shelf of that messy set of shelves I haven't tackled yet. I've got some tp stored above DH's workbench & cabinets in the garage also. I doubt if we'll ever put a car in the garage at this rate.lol
    Stockpiles can be squeezed in lots of places, anywhere you have some room. Lots of apt. dwellers put stuff under the beds. If you get a set of bedrisers and raise the bed some, you can fit even more.lol If you are serious about figuring out places, take a peek on hotcouponworld or afullcup messages boards. People post photos of their stockpiles there often and share places and systems they have used to store their piles.

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  9. How do you use all this stuff before the expiration? I've tried micro-stockpiling and usually end up throwing to much away do to it becoming expired. Enjoying your blog I just recently came across. :)

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  10. Can I go shopping at your house? I would love to live near you!!!!
    Thank you for sharing the pictures. You did a lot of work. Now would you please come work on our garage? Den is a collector(not the word I use when we are fighting over it) and he needs some organization help. You are an expert!
    What is in the storage unit? Is it food or household stuff?

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  11. Laugh at I'm so pretty's comment!!!!!

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  12. SonyaAnn--The storage unit is for my eBay goods that I sell. Last year, since I had so much vacant room in it(from selling stuff and not replacing it with more stuff to sell)I started filling it up with all the tp I bought for cheap. It's difficult to stockpile lots of tp since it takes up alot of room but it's something that, unless you get it wet, it stays good for years and years.
    Since I am closing out doing eBay at the end of this year(hopefully!)I need to find a place for all that tp now. I am trying to think outside the roll now and come up with places to squeeze in the tp overload.

    I hear ya about garage DH junk. Mine has tools(tho he doesn't actually use them!lol) taking up space but most of the stuff is mine in there.
    Besides the stockpile, I have more eBay stuff, empty boxes for shipping eBay stuff and my hoard of fabric. We had a Staycation 4 yrs. ago(before they became fashionable) when all the kids were at camp and spent 1 full week cleaning/clearing out the garage. Now, it looks as bad as it did before!lol I think we need to spend another week in there this summer.

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  13. Kim--First off, thanks for stopping by and I hope you find more things to enjoy here. I'm going to address your question in a blog post in the future so check back, ok?
    Thanks again.... ;-)

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  14. Slugmama, so glad your shoulder is better.

    I think we are related! We are apartment dwellers and after the last kids moved out, we downsized to a two bedroom apartment so we would have room for my stockpile. LOL!

    Hubby sells on ebay, so he also has ebay stuff in there, but the bathroom cabinet if full of HBA and household cleaners. (And it has a lot of cabinet space.)We have several shelving units and a full sized freezer.

    Prior to this apartment, we lived with a freezer in our bedroom and my stockpile stuck into whatever space I could find for it.

    I do not think your stockpile is unusual, after all, mine has its own room!

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  15. Well thank you for speaking up Frances....we can be freaks together.lol

    My stockpile has it's own garage but knowing yours have it's own room makes me feel just a bit less weird.hehehe

    I spent this morning catching up on your blog while you were catching up on mine....too funny!
    Maybe instead of SonyaAnn and me being twins separated at birth, all 3 of us are triplets separated at birth.lolol

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