When bottled water goes on sale, I buy a few cases for our emergency water supply. I keep some cases in the garage, and some in the emergency closet. And of course bottles in our 72-hour kits, and barrels in the basement. But the cases were not stacking very well in the garage, so I needed a better storage idea. I didn’t want shelves because most shelves don’t allow you to double-stack cases of water. The water needed to be off the floor and movable when we clean the garage. Not an easy feat. Our garage doesn’t get very hot in the summer, which is nice. And the bottles are out of direct sunlight.
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| Tipsy cases of water |
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| Timber!
So I ran to our local Home Depot for help. The handy dandy hardware guy came to my rescue with an idea: a furniture dolly. He showed me the Milwaukee1000 lb. Capacity Furniture Dolly. The wheels began turning in my head. That might work! With a dolly we could move the water if needed, and use the furniture dolly as a dolly if we every needed it. At $19.93, this was the price I was looking for. |
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| Milwaukee 1000 lb. Furniture Dolly |
He suggested I get some plywood to lay across the cart, and then stack the cases. But I wasn’t about to spend $10 on a piece of wood. So I grabbed four 2×4’s from the dent-and-scratch wood pile for .50 cents a piece. They were already the right length. Cool! So I put them evenly across the dolly.
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2×4’s across the dolly
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Then I re-stacked the cases with the newest cases on the bottom, and the oldest on the top. It’s hard to see, but I’ve written the expiration date with permanent marker on the front side of every case. In this stack there are probably six different dates. I like the cases with the cardboard bottoms, but sometimes price wins out.
Cases nicely stacked on my dolly contraption. Looks like it’s tipping, but the camera woman was tipping.Isn’t it nice! Still need a few more cases, but I will get them next month when they go on sale for $2.50 again. Varying those dates prevents them from expiring at the same time.
How much does a 24 ct. case of 16.9 ounce water weigh? About 26 pounds. I need 20 cases at 26 lbs. for a total weight of 520 pounds. Still under dolly capacity. It’s a cool thing! Just don’t ask me to move it.