Flagstaff Arrival - and food storage!

So I'm behind on blogging, as usual. But we got to Flagstaff the evening of Friday, February 24th. Gore helped out with relocation, which was really nice. We got into our place the next day, and the movers didn't come for a whole week! But I had plenty of things to catch up with online. They eventually got here, and the setting up began!

 Of course, I still found some time to coupon :)

 Setting up our 7 large shelves we bought in our extra "storage room." We now have 8.

 Sweet hair, dude

What a man - a few of our finished products!

So that was before, and this is after - many months later :)

 Our pantry we made :) (yes, those are lockers on the very left - nothing like a "home gym" and a pantry right next to each other, right?)

 You can't see everything, but you get the main idea. Call it crazy, call it OCD, or call it organized food storage :) We are working on the 1 year supply...although I haven't done water yet. That is next on the list.

And do you see all those little neon stickers one each item? This was Kase's idea:

Each item has a sticker on it - the color depends on the quarter of the year. We have 4 different quarters. This one happens to be Jan - Mar. And the number 13 means it "expires" in the year 2013. So, if we are conscious of our expiration dates, this should be consumed before March 2013. Not sure how long we will keep up with this system, but it's great for now!
Although I did read in the WSJ the other day that expiration dates are really only for the store - not for the consumer to consume before the date. The product is as it's peak before the date, but is still fine afterwards (that is everything EXCEPT baby formula)

And here is the rest of our storage room:

 Paper products and YES, another deep freezer. Our other was getting stuffed. I think it's a little ridiculous for 2 people to have 2 deep freezers and a small one, but we got a good deal and it helps create a "lean environment" (which is what Kase does in his career). I will admit, it is very nice to have! And it's up on those blocks that raise a bed....ha.

 Toiletries rack

 We invested in a $11 file cabinet from Savers when we got here, to organize all our papers/documents we have floating around in our lives. And extra school supplies.

And the part I don't want anyone to see, but it's a work in progress. It's EVERYTHING ELSE that either needs to be stored (blankets, backpacks, etc.) to boxes that just need to be gone through. Hopefully you will see an "after" picture for this area soon!

So there we have it! Call us crazy, because we are. We don't use our extra room for guests...we use it for storage. We have plenty of room in our living room for an air mattress :)

I LOVE having most anything I need at my fingertips, and knowing exactly where it is! Our goal is to have our entire house like this someday, including the storage area pictured above. So, this is what I do with my life. "Organize" before our family expands, and try my best to keep it that way!

And according to Kase, now we just need guns to protect our food storage from others when disaster strikes.