How to Reuse & Recycle Glass Jars

Hey Girls! If you've been keeping up with my social media feeds (FB, Tweet, Instagram), then you know the hubs and I are driving cross country from corner to corner of the US! That's Washington state to Florida, baby! We hit the open road a week ago and our first stop was Flaming Gorge. It's a gorgeous body of water nestled in red canyons. Puppers caught themselves a wild salmon...well, Zack caught it an puppers smelled it before it was sent back to its watery home!

Vintage Suitcase & Food Storage

I have been coveting the suitcase decor trend for awhile now. This week I finally dropped five whole dollars at the DI {thrift store} on two blue lovelies.

Check out some awesome suitcase inspiration-

This is almost a carbon copy of one of the suitcases I purchased.

Source: crate.typepad.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: cupcakesandcashmere.com via Rebecca on Pinteret

 Source: sweetandsaucysupply.com via Janice on Pinterest

Do you guys have vaulted ceilings? 

If you do, then you probably have some weird nook, where the wall stops and doesn't touch the ceiling. This creates a strange, dust collecting, ledge that's ridiculously hard to decorate.

Unfortunately, I have a major lack of storage space.
Well actually, the condo has great storage for a "normal" people. But when you are packing in a year's worth of food, hygeine products, cleaning products and 3+ months of animal food-
well, you get the idea.


This is what we have been living with. No amount of Photoshop is going to spiff up  this picture. It is what it is, dust collecting ledge "awesome" architectural feature being used as an animal food storage shelf.
{Yup, there's a grill up there too.}

I almost mentioned this ledge way back when I first started blogging, in my post about small space food storage solutions. But then I quickly realized the post was intended to be about food storing SOLUTIONS, not eye sores in your living room!
Enter the suitcases.

They'll be working double duty. On the one hand I needed some older items to temper all the modern pieces I've been buying or refurbishing.
On the other, they'll be creating some {always} needed storage. The suitcases are large enough to each fit a 20lb of cat/dog food, with room to spare! Yay! Totally awesome news because we believe in food storage and don't want our furry family to starve, but I cannot look at cat food bags even one more day!

 Pretty much these sweet little babies are saving the day!

The dark blue one had a name written on it in black sharpie. I used a Magic Eraser and it took it right off. Actually, the Magic Eraser took off like 40 years of grime off of each of them. Uh, gross. Next I cleaned the exterior with my homemade all purpose cleaner.

I used my carpet cleaner on the inside fabric and scrubbed the heck out of it!
Where the fabric was gaping, I used some spray adhesive and just shot it right into the hole! Then smoothed the fabric back down and it worked like a charm.

This is what things are looking like these days. For now I'll be keeping the color. I have so many projects planned that involve this side of the room, that it just doesn't make sense to change them yet.

 

 I am thinking about painting them. Mostly I'm playing around with the idea of a light gray or a white with gray undertones. Don't these look beautiful? I like that the hardware is painted, as well.

I have some more to add on this side of the suitcases, a few more vintage items.
But was actually thinking about getting one more suitcase. That would be one more bag of food out of sight or out of my guest room closet.

What about you guys? Have some hard to decorate area of you home? How about storage problems? Or storage solutions?!

Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party page.

I'm also linked up here.

➹ Homemade Cleaning Supplies ▻ Part 1 ➷

I mentioned that Z and I have incorporated a years' supply of cleaning and hygiene products as a part of our food storage. I discussed how to keep track of what you've bought and buying on sale, but now let's talk cleaners.

I thought a lot about how I wanted to store all these cleaning products in our home- how much, where, which ones. In the end I surprised even myself with the answer.  We've decided to store the items that go into cleaners so that we can make our own, store less toxins in the condo, make anything we want as we need it.

Recipes can be found all over the Internet- but here are the basics you'll need to start:

Liquid Castile Soup, Washing Soda, White Vinegar, Lemon Juice, Borax, Baking Soda, Olive Oil

With these items you can clean just about anything- and they're pretty stinkin' cheap too!

Homemade  Laundry Detergent- All Natural

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing Soda

1 bar (of grated) Castile Soap 

Just grate a dried out bar of soap and mix in with other ingredients in reusable container .

Use  2-3 tbsp per load depending on its size.

Homemade Surface Spray- All Natural

2 tsp Borax

1/4 tsp Liquid Castile soap

16 oz Spray Bottle

Hot Water 

Furniture Polish 

 1/2 tsp Olive Oil

1/4 cup Vinegar or Lemon Juice

Mix in a glass jar and use rag to polish surfaces.

Floor Cleaner

1 cup Vinegar

2 Gallons Warm Water 
 

Toilet Cleaner 

Baking Soda or Borax

Liquid Castile Soap

 

Dishwasher Detergent

2 cups Borax

2 cups Baking Soda

4 packages Lemon Unsweetened Kool-Aid or 1/2 cup Citric Acid

Window/Glass Cleaner

 5 parts Water to 1 part White Vinegar

Spray Bottle 

 Carpet and Stain Remover

 1 part Borax

10 parts Warm Water 

Spray Bottle

Mix and then spray on stain, wait 5-10 minutes and blot clean.

That's the basics! Isn't this the perfect project to put in cute bottles and make some homemade labels? Do you see it?

source

I do! Let me know if you have any questions,  have recipes to add, or want some more recipes from me.

I'll be back tomorrow from my trip. Gotta get my projects going!! Woot Woot!

UPDATE:

I've added more recipes! Check'em out here!

And Here!

Track your Year's Supply of Storage (Hygeine/Food)

Along with the traditional year's supply of food storage and the 90 day supply of short term foods we have decided to add a year's supply of hygiene and cleaning products.

We started with and excel spread sheet and made a list of all the items we would NEED for one year.

 We made a list that we kept handy and each week when the sales ads would come out we would look for our usual foods and also the items we needed to stock up on. 

Instead of buying all at once, we saved a ton of moula by buying good deals and keeping the items we HAD and NEEDED ORGANIZED on the computer.

If you're not Excel savvy these cute girls from Food Storage Made Easy have made a downloadable spreadsheet for short and long term food storage needs. You can either modify the long or short term storage sheet to keep track of your hygiene products and cleaning supplies.

 Now that we're on this system we need to make sure we track when something's empty. For us it's easiest to print off copies of the spreadsheets and put one in each bathroom and in the kitchen. This was we can write it down right as we're throwing out the old deodorant or whatever.

 Here' what the cabinet in Z's bathroom looks like. It has mostly his year supply of hygiene products.

 
Then on the cabinet door we have our spreadsheet printed out.  We just write in when we've opened  a new item.

There's probably a fancier way to display it and keep track of it- but the truth is, you have to have a system you'll actually do.

It would be easier if we could remember to input the stuff directly, but it never seemed to work out that way.

Each week when I look over the ads and fliers I input all the lists into the computer and add whatever is needed to the grocery list. A little work each week keeps us stocked up and helps us to buy things when they are on sale.

And who doesn't like saving money?!

- Becca -

Partying here 
and  here !

Food Storage for Dinner

Almost every week I make a pot of soup. Usually something with minimal meat, a lot of beans, and a ton of veggies. This is one of the best ideas I've had. Seriously. It lasts my husband and I a week at least, sometimes I freeze half and pull it out a few weeks later. We eat it for lunch or dinner depending on the day and whether or not I'm making something else for dinner.

This is a great meal idea for eating through some of your FOOD STORAGE (the church I belong to suggests each member have a year's supply of food for each member of the family). Whether we're talking about short or long term food storage you need to rotate through it.This dish is great for either- but in this post I used short term as a matter of convenience. Our short term food storage is comprised of a lot of canned vegetables, since we live in a condo and only grow very few potted veggies in summer.
Rotating through tons of canned veggies or beans isn't always the first priority when you wanna cook food you like, so this dish has been a life saver for getting through all the stuff we store.

This week I'm making a variation of chili, which is one of our favorites.

I make vegetarian recipes because they put in so many vegetables, but then I also put in lean ground beef (93 or 97% fat) 

We love the chili option because you can eat it with chips and cheese or maybe just sour cream on top. I am always using different variation on the vegetables and this keeps it from getting old.

This dinner is AWESOME for several reasons:

*It will feed each of us 5-7 times, making 10-14 meals. That makes the cost approximately .78 to $1.10 a meal. I buy the canned foods at Costco in bulk, I use whatever vegetables are on sale, and buy my meat in bulk.

*Although there is very little meat in the chili, my husband is always happy with it and feels like he's getting a regular hearty meal. He is a HUGE meat eater and wants it every single day and he feels  there's enough to satiate him- although it's more likely the beans are what's filling him up.

*It takes very little time considering how many times it saves you from cooking.

*It is so healthy! I always leave out the noodles in the soups so we're filling up on healthy veggies, beans, and lean meat.

Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 medium onion, chopped 2 bay leaves 1 teaspoon ground cumin 2 tablespoons dried oregano 1 tablespoon salt 2 stalks celery, chopped 2 green bell peppers, chopped 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped 2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained 2 (12 ounce) packages vegetarian burger crumbles 3 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed 1/4 cup chili powder 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained 1 (15 ounce) can black beans 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn Directions Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the celery, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers. When vegetables are heated through, mix in the vegetarian burger crumbles. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes. Mix the tomatoes into the pot. Season chili with chili powder and pepper. Stir in the kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in the corn, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving. Nutritional Information Amount Per Serving  Calories: 342 | Total Fat: 7.7g | Cholesterol: 0mg

Linked up with Laugh Love and Craft, Tatertots and Jello, Funky Junk Interiors Beyond the Picket Fence,  Some What Simple and Tip Junkie.

Condo + Food Stoarge = Creativity

As I look through all these awesome, creative bogs I am so surprised at the lack of apartment dweller bloggers. In fact, I think only one of the more popular blogs I follow is done from an apartment. I know apartments are not for everyone and if you're a house person, and I am, they can kind of suck.

We moved to Utah from Colorado when we sold our home as the housing market was just beginning its decline. It was not a good time to buy a home and we figured we would rent somewhere temporarily until things started to pick and and then we'd buy.

Well, we are still in that "temporary" two bedroom condo and I would like to introduce you to my secret food storage stash. We have food storage bursting at the seems in this place.

It is under our bed, under the twin bed in the office/"guest room for only one person", in the closets, above the kitchen shelves, in the outside closet and on top of the weird nook in the the living room. I spent countless hours organizing our stash and almost cannot believe I am going to show you how we are actually bursting at the seems beneath this organized exterior.

 This is our closet in the guest room/ office. Obviously anyone staying in our house will not be able to hang up any clothes. I've just put some hooks on the back of the door to supplement. More importantly though, we have all our short term food storage in this closet, as well as animal supplies, out of season clothes, and to the right of this armoire repeat food storage is stacked. Stuff that we have like 50 boxes of like wheat.

Under the guest bed we've put long term storage items that we actually use and try to rotate through. This can be a little inconvenient to get to, but I can actually lift up the bed myself to get it out

Under the mater bed we've put the things we've bought to supplement the items from the cannery. Items the cannery doesn't sell and that we only have a few of. The bed is too low to stand them up, but this has worked pretty well so far. We've also opened a few boxes from the cannery and rolled them under here to make them more accessible. Like sugar, flour, and apple slices.

In the master closet we've utilized the corners and built up stacks or our repeated food storage items. This is actually completely out of our way so it works well for us- but the closet does NOT look like it came out of a magazine.

On top of the kitchen cabinets we've put some Ikea storage boxes. Inside we actually have random items like our emergency candles, propane, and the wheat grinder.

I doubt anyone would look twice when they see them but for us they provide extra storage to hide our emergency essentials.

I hope that showing all our little secrets can help others living in apartments. We can still be prepared and provide for ourselves, it's just a matter of prioritizing and creativity!

Thanks for coming by!

- Becca -

Linked up with Tater Tots and Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Shabby Nest, Simply Designing, Caft Envy,  I Heart Nap Time, Chic on a Shoestring, L Bratina, Some What Simple, Shabby Chic Cottage and Tip Junkie!