Originally posted by I'm-working-on-it, at Fluwiki (Hat-tip IWOT, for some really GREAT ideas!)
http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=F ... ntPreppers
Having lived in an apartment for a number of years and now in a small condo, I understand the space constraints and have a few suggestions.
First, you all know how to fill up every drawer you have that you don’t really use....the one in the kitchen that’s your junk drawer can hold a LOT of tuna cans! The little drawer in the bathroom in that cute little corner table can hold a lot of matches, etc.
Also, I think someone mentioned that you can replace your coffee table with 4 plastic buckets with a piece of plywood on top & a tablecloth over it and also have space underneath the plywood for other buckets of supplies.
Another thing is to put a false back in your closets (you may have to make the coathangers hang at an angle, but you can take 1′′x6′′ boards and attach them to the back of the closet and fill them up with canned goods. If you’re afraid of someone seeing them (like the bug spray man that has access to your apartment) then buy a piece of sheetrock and cut it to fit your closet and put it in front of the narrow shelving for cans to hide the entire back of the wall, basically making a false wall.
If you can convince your landlord to let you, or just do it and worry about your security deposit later, you can cut in between the studs in the walls, add small board pieces for shelving & store food, money, supplies, etc. in between the studs.
Put an empty can that held asparagus on your refrigerator shelf (with spare keys, money, copies of family phone numbers, bank account info, or any other information that you can laminate, roll up & store in the can — I’ll bet 9 out of 10 people will NOT pick up a can of asparagus!
For larger and more reachable storage, use the ‘puddling drapes’ idea to decorate your windows. Hang a decorative rod over your window and let it extend out from the window on both sides, as wide as a 5 gallon bucket — about 12′′ on either side. Fold yards and yards of fabric (the thicker the better, like a tapestry material — that will still ‘hang’ properly but have enough body to not give away your secret. Let the fabric puddle on the floor a little and behind the vertical panels stack plastic boxes on top of each other to the top of your curtain rod, using the fabric to hide the buckets from sight inside the room, and from view outside your window, you could even cover those buckets with that contact paper that looks like woven wicker so that if someone sees them they’ll think you’re using them as columns or something. Work with the idea until it fits your window.
As time draws closer, put a wooden shelf on top of your bathtub — I use our guest bathroom in this way to keep our pet carriers handy but out of sight & I’ve found that having 2 pieces of wood that fit one on the left of the tub rim and one on the right makes it much easier to remove the 2 pieces from the tub without whacking off the water faucet or something. You can store items you don’t really think you’ll need under the boards, and stack up toilet paper, food supplies, etc. up to the top of your shower curtain. Then take sponge baths or set up a camp shower type thing, using one of those square pans that you put under washing machines to keep them from ruining your floor if they leak. You can get one at Home Depot or Lowes for around $30 — they’re pricey but they work and you can empty it and store it behind a door for your next shower.
Decorate your house with decorative tins — find ‘em at your thrift store and set ‘em on tabletops, desks, kitchen counters, over the fridge, in the bathroom, etc & fill with whatever supplies you can use in that room......they’re great for rice, beans, gravy packets, or whatever comes to mind. Be sure and load up your mantle display with them if you have a fireplace.
If you need to hide something sort of large (propane tanks, etc.) get one of those mesh laundry baskets that have supports in them so the basket stays open. With some thread, baste clothing from the thrift store around the inside of the basket to make it appear full, then slip whatever you want to hide down into the bottom of the basket — it could be those ‘vittles’ holders someone mentioned that hold dog food and stack on top of each other(from Petco & other type pet stores). Put as many as you can into the ‘laundry basket’ and just toss a clean sweater or sweatshirt on top to hide the fact that the hamper really isn’t being used for clothes — you can get away with having up to 3 of these since people tend to sort clothes into whites, lights and darks! Same with recycling bins.
Clothing travel bags (you know the black vinyl ones that zip up over your coathangers - you can hang hospital scrubs or full body coveralls and masks in them and hang on that hook on the back of the bathroom door that you don’t ever use (the hook, not the door!).
If you have planters, take a piece of styrofoam & cut it to fit just inside the top of the planter, then cover it with florist moss, stick some artificial ferns or flowers in it and set it on top of the planter, using the space below to hide supplies. This is easy to do in a bathroom where you want to hide medications!
Line your bookshelves with those cardboard boxes made for photo storage — look at Michaels or a party or paper store, etc. and store supplies there instead of photos.
Oh back to the fake wall at the back of a closet, if you have the money to throw at this, you can buy those tall white plastic coated wire pantry baskets and nail them into the back of the closet (you can get them at any Home Depot store) and use the narrow baskets as your shelves so you don’t have to cut and install narrow wood pieces for shelving. Once they’re full, cover up with that piece of sheetrock - you can also cut that piece of sheetrock down the middle for easy removal later, just tape it together with sheetrock tape, paint it the color of the other walls in your closet. You can even caulk around the edges to give it that finished look and no one will know it’s a false wall.
This is sort of elaborate and ‘out there’, but if you have stairs, and can somehow remove the treads without damaging them, you can attach those white wire baskets that hang under your cabinet shelves that give you more storage. Attach them to the underneath side of the treads, load up, set the tread back in place & reattach it carefully.
If you have a fireplace, load it with supplies, take art and cut out a “fireplace screen” and cover it with decorative fabric that you attach with spray adhesive. Anything to keep people from seeing into your fireplace and that will be an easy to reach storage place — unless it’s freezing weather!
Decorative baskets along your kitchen cabinet tops........a stretched canvas painting on wooden stretcher frame hanging on the wall could have shallow pocket shelves built into the stretcher frame with skinny things hidden there — how much pasta and cheese & mac pkgs will one canvas painting hold!? Or you could use those vinyl shoe caddy things that hang on the back of a door and store stuff in the pockets — lotions, shampoos, toothpaste, etc. - just make certain the stuff in the pockets isn’t thicker than the stretcher frame because you don’t want the painting sticking out from the wall. These could also be stitched into the top back of a tapestry wall hanging or a hooked rug hanging.....anything that is stiff enough to hide something behind it without it’s shape showing through to the front.
Inside your washer & dryer is space (if you have those in your apartment).
Stack up modular storage cubes that have solid sides, backs, tops, and bottoms, and alternate them for shelving against a wall. One cube turned outward with cd’s in it, the next one turned backward, hiding bottles of alcohol, the next turned out correctly with your battery operated tv, the next turned backward with toilet paper, the next turned out correctly with your wind up radio & a candle, and the next turned backward hiding 10 lbs of flour. Then start the next row up and the next and the next!
The one thing to remember in an apartment is that you’re not the only one in there — management most likely has the right to enter the apartment at any time, so does any pest control people or maintenance staff, AND they probably have the right to show your apartment to prospects out apartment hunting — I used to be in the apartment business so I know — especially if you plan on moving sometime & haven’t renewed your lease! One way to avoid being the ‘showhouse’ is to keep the front room slightly messy with ‘unsightly’ things like dirty socks, Kleenex on the floor, soda cans turned on their side (washed out first of course) — make it look like you’ve turned into the bad side of the Odd Couple!
That’s all I can do for this brainstorming session. What other ideas can YOU come up with??
I forgot to add that if you’re forgetful, at least make a master list & hide that where you’ll be able to find it easily.....possibly in the dark if there’s a weather emergency. If you have a collection of something like pet rocks for instance, instead of grouping them together, leave one on top of each tabletop throughout the house to remind you that there’s food in the piece of furniture it’s sitting on. No one will wonder why they’re not together & you don’t have to scratch your head wondering what you did 6 months ago when hiding your supplies in the first place!
Storage Suggestions for Apartments
Some low impact suggestions
Originally posted by (amt) – at FluWiki
http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=F ... ntPreppers
Some low impact suggestions for general apartment storage (I lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn at one time)
Use the space between the kitchen cabinets and the ceiling.
Install shelves about 12″ from the ceiling along walls in bedrooms or bathrooms, and put stuff in decorative boxes on the shelves (plus a plant or two if there is enough light)(This can create alot of space.)
Use trunks for end tables or coffee tables
Install an additional cabinet over the toilet
If possible, hang wine glasses from an under-the-counter rack to leave extra space in cabinets. (Some people hang the pots and pans too.)
Eliminate things you haven’t used in over two years and won’t help you out in an emergency
Consider moving stuff you can’t part with, but don’t use on a annual basis to an off-site storage facility (aka Mom & Dad’s basement, or the office for books you have already read.)
Buy things in smaller containers so they can be shifted around more easily (aka the 55 gallon water drum is not for a 400 sq apartment - but 1 Liter containers of water can be stashed more easily in the back of linen closets, etc.)
If I was in an apartment now, I would opt for the collapsable water jug option, and plan on filling them when things begin to look bad but before the water supplies are on on ‘boil only’ status. Also, if there is an individual hot water heater inside the apartment, this can be used in a pinch
http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=F ... ntPreppers
Some low impact suggestions for general apartment storage (I lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn at one time)
Use the space between the kitchen cabinets and the ceiling.
Install shelves about 12″ from the ceiling along walls in bedrooms or bathrooms, and put stuff in decorative boxes on the shelves (plus a plant or two if there is enough light)(This can create alot of space.)
Use trunks for end tables or coffee tables
Install an additional cabinet over the toilet
If possible, hang wine glasses from an under-the-counter rack to leave extra space in cabinets. (Some people hang the pots and pans too.)
Eliminate things you haven’t used in over two years and won’t help you out in an emergency
Consider moving stuff you can’t part with, but don’t use on a annual basis to an off-site storage facility (aka Mom & Dad’s basement, or the office for books you have already read.)
Buy things in smaller containers so they can be shifted around more easily (aka the 55 gallon water drum is not for a 400 sq apartment - but 1 Liter containers of water can be stashed more easily in the back of linen closets, etc.)
If I was in an apartment now, I would opt for the collapsable water jug option, and plan on filling them when things begin to look bad but before the water supplies are on on ‘boil only’ status. Also, if there is an individual hot water heater inside the apartment, this can be used in a pinch
3 months of food and water, and am working on more
Originally posted by (Suze35) at Fluwiki
http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=F ... ntPreppers
I’m a lurker, and just found this thread. I wanted to add in my two cents as a prepping apartment dweller! I hope you don’t mind it being a bit long :-).
We plan on SIP once things get critical. I have managed to stockpile 3 months of food and water, and am working on more by doing the following:
I have purchased 360+ gallon-sized Ziploc baggies (12 boxes of 30) - the freezer kind, with double zippers, work best (NOT the actual zipper ones - those leak - but the ones you press together). These are food-friendly, and will be filled at the first sign of TSHTF. I am also buying 2+ gallons of spring water per week and filling every 1- and 2-liter soda bottle I consume. I am storing those in our second bathroom which we currently don’t use, as well as under beds/crib. And plenty of bleach for disinfecting tap water. This will provide our drinking water.
(Suze35) – at 22:25
I wanted to update my Ziploc test - I found I do get some leakage with 3 bags stacked, although not true failure. I am trying 2 stacked, but the overall footprint is about the same as two upright, so I am going to go with that just for safety sake. I don’t mind having baggies everywhere once TSHTF, if I can just keep the kids out of them, lol.
For non-potable water, we will immediately fill all available containers asap after the Ziplocs. Right now I have eleven 15-gallon storage bins that are holding my kids toys, old clothes, and food prep. I plan to add at least 9 more of these. These are the ones you can get at Walmart/Target with the lids.
These bins are also fantastic for prep supplies and they are pretty cheap - I have one for each category. I then stack them along any empty wall space - nice, neat, out of the way.
I will also get an inflatable kid’s pool as we live on the bottom floor and have a fairly large space out of our back door with great rain run-off. Thankfully mgmt doesn’t object to these type of objects.
As for walking the dogs - mine simply go right out our sliding door and we flush their poops - we have to “scoop†it anyway, and this is better environmentally. Because they are small dogs, if it becomes necessary, they will use papers inside for all of their needs - I’m stockpiling those to - currently they reside in our spare tub with lots of cardboard. Worse comes to worse, it makes great starter fuel!
Our second bedroom is located very conveniently right inside the front door and there is a hallway before the living room. It has its own bathroom. If my husband needs to continue working (he travels nationally), it will become a quarantine room. He will basically stay in that room for 7 days, or until he leaves again or heaven forbid gets sick - I will curtain it off at the end of the hall, so he will come in and never go past that space. All comfort items will already be in there, with a small fridge, computer, TV, etc. available. I’ll simply move the boys into our room and camp out on the couch if necessary. We can use the sliding doors to leave if necessary. This will also work well as a sick room thankfully.
[snip]
We have a small Weber grill that we can use outside - our apartment opens to a space of about 12′ by 20′ that goes to the parking lot. One side is a large bush/hill, the other about 4 feet of rocks. It literally almost feels like our own backyard, and if anyone is in that space, they’d better have a reason! I’ve stocked some charcoal as we normally grill 1x week during summer anyway. We also have a small propane grill with 4 small canisters. But I don’t intend to do much cooking when SIP - I’m prepping with no-cook stuff when I can in case of no electricity, because…
I’m concerned about our safety should someone realize we have resources - hence the limited cooking - so we do have protection and we both know how to use it. When it comes to the safety of my family, I won’t be asking a lot of questions if I see you peering in my sliding doors. The dogs are a big help here as well - they may be small, but they have large barks (dachsunds) and they never shut up, lol. I also want to get my pool out early for the boys to play in so it doesn’t look too suspicious. I figure when it becomes necessary, I will let it fill with rain while “guarding†it, put the water into any empty containers, and then bring the pool back inside.
Hmmm…that’s it for me - water was the toughest thing to consider, but then I remembered how I used the Ziploc’s to freeze breast milk with no problems. I’ll simply stack them in the closet on some plastic in case of leaks, or anyplace I can find - it won’t matter asthetically at that point.
(STH) – at 16:31
Lots of great ideas there, Suze35. I’m a little bit concerned, though, that your water storage containers might not be sturdy enough. If you stack up filled gallon baggies, I’m afraid the ones on the bottom would split; even if you only stack them, say, 4 high, the one on the bottom will have 24+ pounds of weight on it. And I just don’t know if those plastic bins can hold 120+ pounds of water. Is there any info on the labels about how much weight they can take?
(Suze35) – at 20:31
Those are great points STH. I couldn’t find any actual weight capacity numbers on the bins (they are Sterilite’s), so I will test one out to make sure they can hold the water. They are pretty heavy duty plastic, but it’s important to know for certain.
I’ll give the baggies a test as well - if I need to, I will just spread them out around the apartment I think. They can also “stand up†a bit if need be, so I can put a single layer in a box, which we have plenty of from our move (hubby doesn’t throw anything away, lol). Or I can layer them in drawers and take the clothes out, etc. What I like about the baggies is you can take one and put it in a small space, making it easier to stash in an apartment.
It’s great to get this feedback!
(Suze35) – at 20:47
Just did a test with the baggies of a stack of four - at least initially, they held up very nicely - no leaks. I also dropped them from different heights - about 2 feet was the limit before they opened up, so that would probably be as high as I would stack them.
I’ll keep them in a bucket and see how long that lasts. So far it seems that at least 2 deep is totally doable :-).
(I’m-workin’-on-it) – at 07:50
I thought the baggie idea was a good one so yesterday I bought a case of bags from Costco (I swear I was the only one buying any kind of preps) and some small aluminum pans firguring I’ll fill the baggies & put 2 layers in the pans and shove them under my sofa which sits fairly low to the ground. It’s just one extra place to stash!
http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=F ... ntPreppers
I’m a lurker, and just found this thread. I wanted to add in my two cents as a prepping apartment dweller! I hope you don’t mind it being a bit long :-).
We plan on SIP once things get critical. I have managed to stockpile 3 months of food and water, and am working on more by doing the following:
I have purchased 360+ gallon-sized Ziploc baggies (12 boxes of 30) - the freezer kind, with double zippers, work best (NOT the actual zipper ones - those leak - but the ones you press together). These are food-friendly, and will be filled at the first sign of TSHTF. I am also buying 2+ gallons of spring water per week and filling every 1- and 2-liter soda bottle I consume. I am storing those in our second bathroom which we currently don’t use, as well as under beds/crib. And plenty of bleach for disinfecting tap water. This will provide our drinking water.
(Suze35) – at 22:25 I wanted to update my Ziploc test - I found I do get some leakage with 3 bags stacked, although not true failure. I am trying 2 stacked, but the overall footprint is about the same as two upright, so I am going to go with that just for safety sake. I don’t mind having baggies everywhere once TSHTF, if I can just keep the kids out of them, lol.
For non-potable water, we will immediately fill all available containers asap after the Ziplocs. Right now I have eleven 15-gallon storage bins that are holding my kids toys, old clothes, and food prep. I plan to add at least 9 more of these. These are the ones you can get at Walmart/Target with the lids.
These bins are also fantastic for prep supplies and they are pretty cheap - I have one for each category. I then stack them along any empty wall space - nice, neat, out of the way.
I will also get an inflatable kid’s pool as we live on the bottom floor and have a fairly large space out of our back door with great rain run-off. Thankfully mgmt doesn’t object to these type of objects.
As for walking the dogs - mine simply go right out our sliding door and we flush their poops - we have to “scoop†it anyway, and this is better environmentally. Because they are small dogs, if it becomes necessary, they will use papers inside for all of their needs - I’m stockpiling those to - currently they reside in our spare tub with lots of cardboard. Worse comes to worse, it makes great starter fuel!
Our second bedroom is located very conveniently right inside the front door and there is a hallway before the living room. It has its own bathroom. If my husband needs to continue working (he travels nationally), it will become a quarantine room. He will basically stay in that room for 7 days, or until he leaves again or heaven forbid gets sick - I will curtain it off at the end of the hall, so he will come in and never go past that space. All comfort items will already be in there, with a small fridge, computer, TV, etc. available. I’ll simply move the boys into our room and camp out on the couch if necessary. We can use the sliding doors to leave if necessary. This will also work well as a sick room thankfully.
[snip]
We have a small Weber grill that we can use outside - our apartment opens to a space of about 12′ by 20′ that goes to the parking lot. One side is a large bush/hill, the other about 4 feet of rocks. It literally almost feels like our own backyard, and if anyone is in that space, they’d better have a reason! I’ve stocked some charcoal as we normally grill 1x week during summer anyway. We also have a small propane grill with 4 small canisters. But I don’t intend to do much cooking when SIP - I’m prepping with no-cook stuff when I can in case of no electricity, because…
I’m concerned about our safety should someone realize we have resources - hence the limited cooking - so we do have protection and we both know how to use it. When it comes to the safety of my family, I won’t be asking a lot of questions if I see you peering in my sliding doors. The dogs are a big help here as well - they may be small, but they have large barks (dachsunds) and they never shut up, lol. I also want to get my pool out early for the boys to play in so it doesn’t look too suspicious. I figure when it becomes necessary, I will let it fill with rain while “guarding†it, put the water into any empty containers, and then bring the pool back inside.
Hmmm…that’s it for me - water was the toughest thing to consider, but then I remembered how I used the Ziploc’s to freeze breast milk with no problems. I’ll simply stack them in the closet on some plastic in case of leaks, or anyplace I can find - it won’t matter asthetically at that point.
(STH) – at 16:31 Lots of great ideas there, Suze35. I’m a little bit concerned, though, that your water storage containers might not be sturdy enough. If you stack up filled gallon baggies, I’m afraid the ones on the bottom would split; even if you only stack them, say, 4 high, the one on the bottom will have 24+ pounds of weight on it. And I just don’t know if those plastic bins can hold 120+ pounds of water. Is there any info on the labels about how much weight they can take?
(Suze35) – at 20:31 Those are great points STH. I couldn’t find any actual weight capacity numbers on the bins (they are Sterilite’s), so I will test one out to make sure they can hold the water. They are pretty heavy duty plastic, but it’s important to know for certain.
I’ll give the baggies a test as well - if I need to, I will just spread them out around the apartment I think. They can also “stand up†a bit if need be, so I can put a single layer in a box, which we have plenty of from our move (hubby doesn’t throw anything away, lol). Or I can layer them in drawers and take the clothes out, etc. What I like about the baggies is you can take one and put it in a small space, making it easier to stash in an apartment.
It’s great to get this feedback!
(Suze35) – at 20:47 Just did a test with the baggies of a stack of four - at least initially, they held up very nicely - no leaks. I also dropped them from different heights - about 2 feet was the limit before they opened up, so that would probably be as high as I would stack them.
I’ll keep them in a bucket and see how long that lasts. So far it seems that at least 2 deep is totally doable :-).
(I’m-workin’-on-it) – at 07:50 I thought the baggie idea was a good one so yesterday I bought a case of bags from Costco (I swear I was the only one buying any kind of preps) and some small aluminum pans firguring I’ll fill the baggies & put 2 layers in the pans and shove them under my sofa which sits fairly low to the ground. It’s just one extra place to stash!
Re: Storage Suggestions
PVC Pipe-A Great Storage Solution!
Space, or lack of it
http://modernsurvivalonline.com/guest-post-space-or-lack-of-it/
Some things are just plain hard to find space for, so my solution is to create more of it without impeding the space already there for other things. PVC pipe is a great way to increase space, it can be any length, or diameter. It can hold anything from canned goods to rifles, it’s waterproof, very durable, and pest proof (except bears and wolverines…Ha). It can be mounted on the roof rack, side of a trailer, even underneath the trailer as long as it doesn’t interfere with the suspension etc.
It’s fairly cheap, readily available, waterproof, and easy to fabricate into any size you want. Just ... --- CONTINUED at LINK, above ---
Space, or lack of it
http://modernsurvivalonline.com/guest-post-space-or-lack-of-it/
Some things are just plain hard to find space for, so my solution is to create more of it without impeding the space already there for other things. PVC pipe is a great way to increase space, it can be any length, or diameter. It can hold anything from canned goods to rifles, it’s waterproof, very durable, and pest proof (except bears and wolverines…Ha). It can be mounted on the roof rack, side of a trailer, even underneath the trailer as long as it doesn’t interfere with the suspension etc.
It’s fairly cheap, readily available, waterproof, and easy to fabricate into any size you want. Just ... --- CONTINUED at LINK, above ---
Re: Storage Suggestions for Apartments
Small Spaces Storage Solutions
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/01/26/small-spaces-storage-solutions-results/
Having no space for food storage is one of the biggest excuses we hear when we talk to people about getting started in prepping. We had this problem ourselves when we first started, and really allowed it to keep us from doing as much as we wanted. When we kept getting asked for tips on this, we decided to ask our readers to come together and share their small spaces storage ideas for food storage. The results were incredible! ---CONTINUED---