Refining Storage

This pantry is narrow pull out storage that can be accessed from both sides. It works well. I would use this food storage solution again. But, as with anything new, learning how to use it best takes some time.

So, the ongoing task of living in our new home is one of refining what we need, and storing it in a way that is both pleasing and useful. When one lives in small spaces, those spaces cannot be wasted storing items for only occasional use. We keep the items we use year-around close at hand and the seldom used items are not kept at all. Those extra serving dishes or cooking pots used twice a year at holiday time are no longer part of our inventory -- not even in our storage closets.

The past few days I've been refining the contents of our shelves, adding to our food storage containers, and eliminating items that have been collecting dust. When moving into our new home I made the best cut I could but the experience of living here has provided valuable information. For example, the pull out pantry doesn't store bagged items, like beans and pasta, well. The packages flop around and get caught when the pantry is pulled out. Plus they take up too much room.

In looking for solutions, Brad discovered these great glass canisters (top shelf) at one of our local stores. They are now full of coffee beans, rice, beans, pasta, granola, oatmeal and the secondary flours and sugars (soy and wheat flour/powdered and brown sugar) for baking. The larger quantities of sugar and flour are in the larger containers. In the pantry, plastic sealed containers are used for dried fruits and nuts. The remainder of the pantry is available for cans and boxes of frequently used items that store well in that space and are handy to grab. Floppy bags and bulk supplies are no longer creating panty problems. After purchase, they are immediately placed in the canisters -- neat, dry, air tight and handy storage.

I went on a reading jag about the Chinese Cultural Revolution a fews months ago. It left me with a clear idea of just how lucky we are here in America with our large homes (even ours at 860 square feet) and all our amenities for living well in those homes. Thinking of cooking on a gas burner, squatting on the floor of a hallway; an entire family living in a cold cement room of only very limited space and almost no privacy; inadequate heat; few accessories; and so forth, has helped me realize how little I really need. And, how much I have, even after reducing what we had by so much. I like turning away from the American norm so I can focus on the essence of what's really important. Having what I need rather than what I want helps me to have a quality life without being owned by my possessions.

A friend once visited our Saratoga home (also small at 1200 square feet). Her comment was, "oh, I love small homes. I would love to have one too." Since she was in the process of designing a new home I asked her why she couldn't have one. Her reply was that she had so much furniture she needed a large home to house it in. Her children were grown and out of the house so it was only she and her husband. But, they built a four bedroom home of probably 4,000 square feet so she could store her furniture. Hum? Seemed crazy to me.