Cheap and Easy Storage Solutions | The Ramen Noodle Box Bookshelf



 One of the greatest gifts my parents gave me, after raising me to know Jesus as my personal saviour, was the gift of growing up without. After hearing the voice of God as clear as a bell in the pineapple field he was working in, my father went back to college with a wife, three kids, and a mortgage.



And God provided.

Not always in the ways you expect. Those were lean years. But I didn't know any different. I was 19 years old and doing a socioeconomics class when I called my mother to ask, "Mum, were we poor?" with a note of incredulity in my voice. We were always clothed and shod (albeit in hand-me-down clothes and shoes), there was always food on the table (my Mum packed out our meals with lentils and rice), our freezer was always full of bread (Dad would get up at 4am every Thursday to go to the local bakery and pay 20c a loaf for the old bread, before the local pig farmers came to pick it up for the pigs), we always had a houseful of people (usually foreign students with no family of their own), Dad put money in the plate at church every week, and the mortgage was always paid on time.

There is much more to that story but it was not really my intent to write even that much today.

Maybe someone needs encouragement in their lack. I grew up without all the things my friends had. Stayed behind at school because we couldn't afford the money for field trips. Wore faded school uniforms that been worn by three people before me. Only got a school photo every other year.  Listened to my mother ironing other people's clothes, our typing up other people's assignments late into the night. Never knew what a baby sitter was, because if Mum and Dad couldn't take us, they wouldn't go...no money for babysitters. Never had soda or candy but for special occasions. Birthday parties only for ages 7, 14 and 21.

But I was happy and content.  Because we had enough. And I thought everybody lived the way we did.

Don't fret about the effect being poor will have on your children. It is not the lack of things that damages children.  It is seeing their parents grasping for that which God has not given. God gives enough.

Being poor taught me to make do. To see use in things that others would waste no time or thought on.

Like a Ramen Noodle Box.  Ahh, the original point of this post.

The one luxury we did have, was books. Mum would scrimp and save for book club.  Not every month, but whenever possible.

Books.

My mother always said the world was going to sink under the weight of all my books. I've donated and given away many times over what I own now.

My children have a lot of books. Shelf space can be a problem. 

Those 8" square books get lost on a bookshelf. They're so thin, you can't see the spines between all the picture books.  And they get bent, and torn, and scrappy.

You know the ones. They cost $3.77 at Walmart.

And my kids LOVE them.

I want them to be portable (bedroom, to living room, to play/school room), and I want them to be visible. Not lost in a big bookshelf.

And then I bought the family box of Ramen Noodles from Aldi. (Yes, I feed my kids two-minute noodles. They love them, and they eat their veggies, so it balances out).

And my brain that learned to 'make do' saw potential. Because a Ramen Noodle box, and an 8" and smaller book collection are a match made in heaven. A perfect fit.

Just cover with construction paper (or paint or whatever), insert books, et voila, there you have it, a portable bookshelf for those flimsy books.

It's so easy the kids can do it. A great decorating activity.

 Cheap and Easy. (Not me, the bookshelf...I may be cheap, but I'm never easy...as my Mum used to say).




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