What does buying too much really cost?
You know the moment. You get home from the store, open the cupboard to put away the new bottle of dish soap, and find two already sitting there.
It happens to everyone, and it costs more than we think.
A discount can make spending feel like saving
When something is marked down, we notice the few dollars off. We don't notice that we still spent money on something we didn't need yet.
There's nothing wrong with buying ahead when there's a good reason. It just helps to be honest with yourself about which one you're doing.
Stuff on the shelf is money on the shelf
Everything in the cupboard has already been paid for. For trash bags, that's fine. They'll get used.
It's different for the giant box of snacks the kids were obsessed with, right up until they weren't. And for fresh food, anything that ends up in the trash is money in the trash.
The more you have, the less you can see
This is the sneaky one. When the cupboards are full, it gets harder to know what's in them.
You're at the store thinking, "I think we're almost out." So you buy it. Then you get home and find another one hiding behind the cleaning supplies. Nobody does this on purpose, and each time it's only a few dollars. It adds up anyway.
One thing that helps: give each thing one home, and take a quick look there before you shop.
This isn't about an empty house
Nobody wants to run a household on one roll of toilet paper and crossed fingers. A few spares save you from late-night store runs and from paying whatever it costs on the day you run out.
The goal is a comfortable amount, not the biggest amount. Our guide on how much to keep on hand can help you find it.
"We have enough" is a real answer
Sometimes the smartest purchase is the one you don't make yet. You can wait. You can use what's already in the house. You can buy the smaller one.
Or you can simply decide, "we have enough." That's a perfectly good shopping decision.
This is what StockPock is for
It keeps track of what your family has and how fast you go through it, so you know when to buy, when to wait, and when you're covered. The free calculator shows how it thinks.
Try the calculator