When it comes to being prepared in the case of a disaster, storage space plays a key role. We have always been aware of our limited storage space, but when we began disaster prepping this limitation became a huge issue.

A quick look around the house lead us to the conclusion that there was only one area we could convert for a little of our storage needs. We have a walk in closet in the bedroom that has been converted into an office. This is the same closet we crammed a deep freeze in, but that is covered in another post.

The closet, which is now referred to as the pantry (Ann has always wanted a pantry) was pretty much a catch all for overflow of our extraneous crap. So we went through it all and got rid of anything we found less important than storage space for our families survival. Most of it got thrown out or given to Goodwill. Some of the important things got relocated.

After the clearing out, we had managed to clear up about 80% of the floor space and almost all of the one shelf that circled half of the closet. That was some great progress. We were very proud of ourselves. Then as we began placing some jars of canned food given to us by our mothers (aren’t mothers great?), we realized just how little shelf space we actually had.

Simple solution? Put in another row of shelves around the top and we almost tripled our shelf space. Luckily they were placed high enough that I could run them all the way around the closet and not hit my head. Ann says she is too short to reach them, but I think she is the perfect height. Besides, I need a reason for her to keep me around.

So a quick trip to Lowe’s to pick up some wooden 8 ft utility shelves for $10 each and some $2 brackets. Got it all home, marked the studs, and a few quick screws later we had our second row of shelves.

While this is not the complete solution, it is a step in the right direction. That’s what this process is all about, small steps in the right direction. And it gave us enough shelf space for our two week emergency supply.