In reading Mike's post about an inventory, I noted that he uses his basement for storage. Basements just aren't done in Texas (and other southern states), so I was wondering where those of us without basements are storing.

We have a two-story house, so most of my supplies have gone into the triangle beneath the stairs. About out of room, though. What have others done? Outbuildings? Storm shelter? Other ideas?

-- Vic (Rdrunner@internetwork.net), July 13, 1999

Answers

Under the bed, buried in 5 gallon buckets outside, "tables" covered by linens (nightstands, etc.). Also my mom lives alone in a good sized house so am storing some stuff there as well. Good luck!

-- Kristi (securx@succeed.net), July 13, 1999.

Camo your box's & 5gal buckes. stack box's or can's neex to bed ,chair,couch.cut a pice of plywood .Round and just a little biger than your box or bucket and cover with sheet or tabel colth [you got a end table or,coffie table.]dig a small root cellear.I posted a post on helpful ideas ,on how to make a small root cellear.

-- HD (home_dad@yahoo.com), July 13, 1999.

Clean out a closet. I know, easier said than done.

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), July 13, 1999.

Do you have sturdy bookcases? Pull the books forward to the front shelf edge. Load up the spaces behind the books. Voila. Can't even tell something's there.

-- That's Where (The C@ns.are), July 13, 1999.

Bury it, upper garage, garage ,shed, attic, we took apart beds and made box bases, sometines you can put in a shelf in a hallway above door, kitchen base cabinets( clean out and put storables in back and what you actually use in the front)including under sink,same in bathroom, might be able to put in shelf above bathtub if it's not the new all-in-one-unit, deep closets might have room in back,floor or top, small shelves made behind bookcases. Small shelves will fit almost anywhere like behind dressers and hold a lot of small cans.Also look under and behind furniture as well as making furniture out of them.Not all are easy to get to and be careful of what you put in warm (high) areas. Extra or large bedrooms? You can make more shallow closets and cover with paneling or drapes or economical sheet fabric or make more bookcases.

-- sue (deco100@aol.com), July 13, 1999.

Crawl space? Go thru your house, are there rooms that you don't use much say living room because you have family room, or dining room because you eat in kitchen? Perfect places to put extra bookcases, shelves, or even a walk in pantry.

I've started a y2k decorating/storage book. It'll give the grandchildren a good laugh in 10 years, maybe.......

-- sue (deco100@aol.com), July 13, 1999.

Closets often run to full-ceiling height, but have normal-height doors. Put in a false ceiling by stubbing 2x4's across the closet, plywood on top of 2x4's to carry the load, sheetrock the underside of 2x4's, paint. Then get in with a hole in attic floor (under the insulation) into the dead space, load it up. Cover the cut hole with sheetrock that runs joist-to-joist in the attic, and even someone lifting the insulation won't see the hole.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), July 13, 1999.

We built a double insulated 12x12" room into the corner of our pole construction garage.It is staying around 55'60 degrees even in our 95 degree heat. Used a heavy steel door-has cement floor so do have to store items on pallets so they don't sweat. Lots of room under beds,too...look out for spiders.

-- MUTTI (somewhere in Mo@hiding.com), July 13, 1999.

I found room for 6 5gal buckets under our Queen sized bookcase headboard. I am now putting boxes of canned goods, sealed with duct tape (I love that stuff) under our girls beds. I cleaned out all closets and converted one linen closet for food storage. I am storing towels in the bathrooms and sheets in the bedroom that they are to be used. I have packed up a lot of old kitchen junk and I am using the extra space for canned goods. All non food items are in garage or storage shed. Will be having a BIG yard sale soon. Extra money buys a kerosen heater.

-- Homeschooling Grandma (mlaymon@glenn-co.k12.ca.us), July 13, 1999.

"Oh my, well you know that for simple yet delightful Living room storage, you can place trashcans at either end of the couch, top with round pieces of plywood, and store your extra dry goods inside. This makes a lovely lamp table, especially if you use a mylar emergency blanket as a tablecloth. Simply lovely!!

Cover your 50 lb. bags of beans in tailored pillow cases (stripes trimmed with buttons for that nautical look, you know) and place at the head of your bed for a lovely backrest.

A 5 gallon bucket topped with a pretty sheet makes a fine footstool or extra seat. Gather the fabric around the top and tie with dental floss, and you will have both bedding and clean teeth later."

Winner of the Y2k Martha Stewart Contest

-- flora (***@__._), July 14, 1999.

If you are near Cedar Hill Check out the root celler near the gift shop. If they have eggs get some.

-- && (&&@&&.&), July 14, 1999.

The idea of burying, while labor intensive, seems to be the best ideal to me. You gain a huge advantage in hot climates - a cool place. If Milne is right, we may have enough time on our hands so that digging stuff up is not a problem.

Check out some of the life expectancy charts as related to heat. It's not a staight line progression, it's a rather steep curve of how much faster edibles loose their value as the storage temperature goes up.

-Greybear, just be cool about food.

-- Got Storm Cellars?

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), July 14, 1999.

We're lucky--we have a spare bedroom on the north side of the house and it stays relatively cool. I've put up Cloest Maid shelving everywhere possible above four feet. I've cleaned out the good-sized closet (not quite walk-in) and fitted shelves and storage niches so that small items don't get lost. All our Y2K stuff and my sewing stuff will eventually end up in that room. Water will be stored in the brick-surrounded crawl-space under the house--with room left in the recycled soda bottles just in case of a very hard freeze. Stand-alone steel shelving has gone in the utility room on the carport--extra ice chests, outdoor cooking equipment, and so on will go in there. The shallow attic will take paper goods but nothing else--too hot!

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), July 14, 1999.

In addition to the other ideas, if you have a waterbed with drawers in the base, there may be an area that is open in the middle. Pull out a drawer and look in with a flashlight. On a king size waterbed you can get quite a few rolls of tiolet paper and cans of coffee in between the drawers.

Some counter bases are designed with corners that are nearly inaccessible. Could get quite a few cans back in there.

Place the non-edibles in the attic to free up cooler storage for food.

Otherwise, it's hard to add to the other suggestions.

gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), July 17, 1999.