As we get more and more into preparedness we end up with more stuff than we can we have room for. Because of this it’s important to learn about organization and storage ideas for preppers. The more prepared we become, the more challenging finding places to store everything becomes.
It’s not only important to keep everything organized to maintain your sanity, it’s important for managing inventory and expiration dates. As I tell my children, it’s much easier to take 5 minutes a day to straighten up their rooms than it is to wait a month and have a disaster on their hands.
Being unorganized and not using our storage space wisely can lead to complacency and even arguments with the spouse. If we have the closets packed full of prepping supplies and our Prepping food storage, we are less likely to keep the ball rolling. If your husband or wife is not on board with prepping, this could lead them to become resentful about your prepping.
Everything Has a Home
One way I try to stay organized is to give everything a home, and just like us, it goes back home after work. I probably get on Lisa’s nerves sometimes because I am super OCD about the tools and supplies in my truck. I don’t mind her using something, but it needs to go back when she’s done, because that’s where it lives.
It would be very frustrating to break down somewhere and not have my socket set because it’s sitting in the garage. The same holds true for supplies at home. If we know where everything lives, and it’s easily accessible, it will save us time searching for something when we need it.
De-Junking: Finding Usable Storage Space
We recently rented a dumpster to get rid or our unwanted clutter and free up some storage space. We tried getting rid of our old junk with our weekly trash service, but 10 years worth of junk was going to take forever to get rid of. For about $300 we rented an 11′ trash dumpster and packed it to the rim with all of the stuff we “just had to have” over the years.
Doing this not only freed up some storage space, it also made organizing the supplies we already had easier. It’s much easier to find something you need when you don’t have to dig through 3 layers of crap to get to it.
Other Peoples Stuff
As George Carlin once said “your stuff is other peoples junk”. While some of our “stuff” is just trash, some of it might might be useful to someone else. Like they say “One mans trash is another mans treasure”. As we were decluttering and getting rid of our unused stuff, we separated the sellable items from the trash. No only are we getting rid of the junk laying around, we are making a few bucks while we do it.
These days it’s easier than ever to make a few extra dollars for prepping. We can hold a couple yard sales during the summer, or even sell our stuff online at eBay. It never ceases to amaze me how someone is willing to pay me for something I think is complete crap.
SPP204 Organization and Storage Ideas for Preppers
In this weeks show we went over everything I talked about above, as well as some other organization and storage ideas for preppers. We talked about how to identify and utilize and unused storage space, and some ideas about how to use that storage space.
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Extra Storage Ideas
There are some really cool ideas out there like a secret staircase or a pop up bed, but I wanted to make a list of storage ideas that are a little more realistic for the average prepper. We actually use everything on this list…and you can’t even tell we have a “prepper home”.
Movable Shelving Units: Metal shelving units are great because they are durable and can hold quite a bit of weight. I have one of these shelving units that I use to store medical supplies, and a couple that are solid metal shelves in the garage for heavier supplies.
The great thing about these shelves is they come in different shapes and sizes, and adjustable shelves to fit your needs.
Slide Out Storage Tower: We actually have one of these next to our refrigerator, but you can use these anywhere you have a few inches of free space.
There are quite a few options to choose from as far as width, height and material, and even some DIY ideas. I was going to make something like this until Lisa purchased the one we are using now.
Cabinet Door Spice Clips: These come in really handy for keeping everything organized and in your face. While there is plenty of storage inside the cabinet, things can become buried behind everything else.
These also work great for medicine cabinets to keep track of all your different medication.
Under the Bed Storage Slider: I recently cleaned out all the crap from under my bed and it lead me to making this DIY under the bed storage slider. Using the room under a bed is a great storage idea, but getting to it after it’s under there is not so easy.
As easy as this was to make, and how easy it makes accessing the stuff under the bed, this is one of the best projects I have done.
Counter top Extension: I built a hidden storage counter top extension a couple of years ago with the purpose of being able to hide some of our food storage just in case.
With the cover on, it looks like it is part of the existing cabinet space. Without the cover it gives Lisa some space to put books, jars of food or anything she can think of.
Wall Cubes: I have to give credit to Lisa for this one, but these things are great. She basically got tired of all my crap just laying around, so she got me a couple of these wall cubes. the picture is 4 sets of 6 Cubicles Organizers.
The great thing about these is they come in number of different shapes and sizes. You can get 1 cube, 4 cubes and even drawers that fit into the cubes.
Canned Food Dispensers: As preppers we tend to store quite a bit of canned food. As our cabinets get full we can easily lose track of what we have, and if it’s expired.
The idea behind these canned food dispensers is FIFO (first in first out). Rather than going through our canned food storage looking for expired products, we can use the oldest first and not throw anything out.
Peg Board (Garage/Basement): Pegboard is a great way to be able to use your wall storage space. While you might not want to have this hanging in a bedroom, pegboards are great for garages and basements.
There are a number of hooks, bins and other attachments you can put on the pegboard to hold just about anything you can think of.
Furniture With Storage Space: Another great idea(s) is having furniture that not only looks good, but it is functional as well. We have a couple of storage chests we use as end tables, and an ottoman we can store stuff in as well.
On a side note, my next project might be a coffee table like the one pictured above. Looks easy enough to do, but we’ll see!
Stackable Items: Another way to maximize your storage space is purchase items that are stackable and easy to store. Water bricks are the first thing that comes to mind, and even long term food storage products.
We sell Legacy Food Storage Products at the SHTFShop.com which come in easy to store buckets. Legacy also has stackable water storage boxes that I use to store water in my closet.
Small Plastic Bins: There are all sorts of different plastic storage bins and and drawers you could use to store some of your smaller prepping supplies. The great thing about these plastic storage bins is they are inexpensive, and can be used anywhere around the house.
I mentions the under the bed storage slider I made earlier, and if you don’t want to make one of those, these plastic bins work well also.
Large Plastic Storage Totes: Along the same lines as the smaller plastic storage ideas are the larger storage bins. We have quite a few of these storage totes, and they are much better than cardboard boxes. They are water resistant and pest resistant and will last forever.
These are great to keep your supplies organized and separated. They can be used for old cloths, blankets and even different kits. Here is an article and video I did about my lights out kit which I keep in one of these plastic totes.
Other Ideas?
There are quite a few options when it comes to organization and storage ideas for preppers, and you might even have a few. Leave a comment below if you have an idea that I didn’t mention here?
1 Response to "Organization and Storage Ideas for Preppers"
It’s great to know that I can use plastic storage bins in order to organize things inside my house. I’m guessing that I can also use them in a storage unit that I can rent as long as they’re of the right size. I’ve always wanted more space for storing things since my brother told me that he wishes to move in with me, and as of now, I have a lot of things in my house that I should keep but I don’t have any room for.