The New Stockpile Pantry

Since starting my educated couponing I have saved my family atleast $100 a week on groceries.  Not only have I saved my family money but we have more groceries in our pantry then ever before.  I knew that I was working towards a stockpile of groceries but had no idea how quickly I could get it.  I am a mom with a little girl who has had a liver transplant.  In order for her to continue to thrive we have to give her immune suppressant medications so her new liver does not get rejected by her body. In the back of my mind I am always aware that today I could run out to the hospital and not come home for a few hours, a day, or weeks.  I know how much medical expenses can affect a family.  And although you may not have the same story as mine your story is as important.  These are tough financial times for many of us but the silver lining in these times is that we have ways to help each other that we never had before.  The internet allows us to learn from one another.  It allows us to share our stories - our successes and our failures. So, my hope is that through this site you can help your family in learning of great deals and ideas.  If you have a great deal or a way to do something a little better....a little more frugal please feel free to send me an email.  I would love to hear from you!

 

Here is the "Before" picture of our Closet

We have an office in our house.  It is a spare bedroom that we are working into making into an office.   I am sitting in it right now....with my cup of coffee by my side.  Since our pantry is full we decided to make part of this closet into an overflow stockpile pantry.  As you can see the closet is not huge and I still wanted a corner to use as a "Gift closet" and for our spare bedroom i.e. the blow up mattress we keep for our guests (yup...come to my house and you will have the finest air mattress $12 can buy to sleep on!).  I also wanted to keep our jackets in the closet since we seldom use them in Florida.  So the transformation of the pantry/closet begins....

 

A Frugal Tip: Put your wet paintbrush in a plastic bag and the paint will not harden!

We were using the extra paint that we put in the office to paint the closet.  Did you know that Home Depot carries "Oops paint".  It is paint that has been mixed but the customer has changed their mind on the color.  Rather then throw it out Home Depot discounts the gallon to $5 and the sample sizes to $.50...next time you are at Home Depot ask an associate in the paint department where they keep their "Oops paint"...it is a savings of $20+!

Child Labor at its Best!

So why did we have a child?  So she can do all of the work in the house of course! Allowing me to sit with my cup of coffee and eating my bon bons all day! I couldn't resist sharing this picture of my daughter with the dry roller...she "worked" so hard on this project!

  

Ta Dah!  The closet is painted...and now to organize it.

At Home Depot we decided to purchase a shelving unit to place the canned food on, the cost $14.99.  We also decided to replace the light in the closet.  My husband really disliked the light but the timing was perfect because when my husband went to unscrew it shattered into pieces.  It turns out the light was not meant to be hung on the side of the closet as the previous owners of the home had it.

Frugal Tip:  While at Home Depot look for the Yellow Tags!

It pays to wander around the store.  Home Depot normally has a nice clearance section but it typically is not with similar products.  Many times it is a corner in the store.  Ask an associate to point it out to you.  Near the garden center we found this super deal.  A wall sconce originally $36.96 for $5.40!  Sweet deal!

 

Somebody in the house HAS to read the instructions!

 

The "AFTER"

Here it is....my new pantry and closet.  The white units is where we are keeping dry items.  We had these on hand before starting the project...repurposing is the greatest frugal tip!  They are closet organizers that were purchased on clearance at Target for $4.  Fall had come and the color had changed so the new ones went out full price and we snagged these white ones at a bargain price!

Do you have a stockpile?  I would love to see it...send me a picture.