i try to have backups and buy extra when it's on sale.

Having tp, my favorite plain Crest toothpaste, q-tips, cotton balls, facial wash and several bars of good soap in a deep drawer and TONS of dish and laundry detergent under the kitchen sink gives our family comfort. Everything else stays at the bare minimum. Nice article!

yes. i've started doing this at costco in the last year and it really comes in handy....plenty of toilet paper, soap, paper towels, extra toothbrushes and toothpaste, female tampons, hand soap. we always seem to run out of things at the worse times and it feels really good to know a that moment that could have been a pain in the ass-- no need to panic, theres more.

Yes! I used to be under buyer due to limited space. Now that I'm in a house, I've realized it's much more efficient to have extras on hand especially for cooking.

Also, I was a very thankful houseguest when our family had extra toothbrushes for us over the xmas break, when our baggage got stuck at the airport. I never have toothbrushes since I use the ones with replaceable heads. Now I think I'll stock up on what would be handy for guests as well...

not female tampons....i meant to write female toiletries! goodness.

I tend to be an overbuyer but am learning that I don't always need 10 bottles of lotion under the sink, and a years worth of toothbrushes to take up my much needed cabinet space.

Coffee ....

I like to keep extras of essentials. My husband is opposite. We clash in this area.

Sales seem to rotate every 2 or 3 months, so when my preferred brand of tp, toothpaste, or other basics is on sale, I buy enough to last till the next sale.

I keep at least one extra of everything: toothpaste, deodorant, etc. Waiting until I desperately need something means that I will inevitably pay full price. Plus I would have to go shopping when perhaps I would have no desire to go.

Getting extras means I can get them cheaper, and I won't have to run to Target late some night because I don't have toothpaste.

I definitely stock up on shampoo, conditioner, razor blades (nothing like being out of razor blades), and buy some every other time I'm out (hubby does most of the grocery shopping, so I only hit up those aisles every few weeks or so). I justify it by telling myself that the same shampoo will only cost more in inflated dollars.

But I will say that there's a difference between buying ahead and keeping things I don't use (like my lotion collection of bottles that may or may not have expired. We also don't have tons of TP storage so we buy the mega sized bag at Costco one at a time.

Absolutely. Toilet paper, paper towels, coffee, toothpaste, etc...even groceries. When something's getting low (milk or cereal or something), I buy the backup a day or so in advance. Once in a while I forget to do that, though, and then I'm scrambling to get the missing supplies when it isn't always convenient to do so. It feels nice to have a steady supply on hand.

I make sure to stock up on toilet paper, and I always have an extra bar of soap or tube of toothpaste. I keep cans of tomatoes on hand, too, and canned tuna. That's about it. I live in a 520 sq ft apartment...must be careful about what you bring in.

My man insists there are two kinds of people in this world. Those who run out of toilet paper, and those who don't.

Currently, we have 26 rolls stealth-stashed away in our bathroom and one would never guess. I love the way he thinks.

Oh, we always have the extras of basics: tp; kleenex; shampoo, conditioner, soap and body wash; floss, toothpaste, brushes, and rinse; razor blades; feminine hygiene; basic otc drugs; and after running out twice in the last year, dishwasher soap and laundry detergent. We are lucky to have a basement so storing extras is easy.

Lately I've also decided to get the items we use/run out of when they are super-cheap on sale, AND the brands/items we use. The only thing I am still working on is some workable organization/hiding spots. How about some tips???

Feels great to have several months worth of toilet paper and paper towels. Storing under the bed and in any inused areas of closets are places to consifer for your stash.

We always buy extras of the things we use regularly. We stock up when things are on sale or on clearance. You should see our pantry: multiple boxes of oatmeal, Cheerios, All Bran, cases of canned tomatoes, pasta, jarred peaches... Hubby has really dry skin and when his favorite moisturizer got clearanced out at Costco he bought eight bottles. This is what we do. Why pay full price in the future when you can pay less now?

Running out of toilet paper, toothpaste or deodorant really sucks, so yeah it's good to not let it run out. TP especially. You want to get the runs and find out you're down to your last roll? I don't.

My BF is ALWAYS out of toilet paper at his apt and it drives me totally insane. He'll buy that stupid 4 pack every time, knowing full well that it will run out quickly.
That is the one thing I do not mess around with. I go for the pure insanity 36 pack or whatever.
Everything else I will try to buy if I know I am getting close to the end.
I am fickle with shampoo and will often switch before I am even out. Is it just me, or does your hair build up a tolerance to shampoo and render it pointless after a while?

I'm an overbuyer for the following things:

-tinned tomatos
-toilet paper
-paracetemol/ibuprofen
-soap
-toothpaste
-razors
-pasta
-crackers
-biscuits
-dips when on sale
-tinned/longlife milk
-laundry detergent
-dishwashing powder & liquid
-sponges/cleaning tools

Also if something is on sale and can be stored, I'll get it. For example:

-blocks of cheese (shred/foodprocess then freeze)
-our favourite cordial (Ribena!)
-softdrinks/beer (for parties)
-my favourite wine
-tinned corn, chickpeas, tuna
-frozen vegetables
-pasta, rice

if i'm really organised, i'll bulk buy meat when it's on special then repackage and freeze in small portions.

It sounds like a lot in storage space, but if you organise it all well, it's all good, and it's WONDERFUL to never have to run out to the store to get anything.

my mother treats her attic as a whole-level storage space. she has quite literally enough toilet paper to last a whole year, and enough paper towels, tissues, dish and laundry detergents, soap, shampoo and conditioner to last maybe even 2 years. alas, after moving out i dont have the attic space she has, but her overbuyerness has definitely rubbed off some one me. i hate getting things full price just because im desperate, so i stock up when they go on sale!

This strikes me as being sort of funny. I just bought four tubes of toothpaste at the grocery store (end of a long day). We ran out yesterday and so resorted to a travel pack from my partner's travel bag. I really dislike running out of anything.

I figured out a long time ago that stocking up was a stress reducer. Having just downsized to a tiny place with absolutely no storage space, I'm having to do a 180 on this. I'm even going to let my Costco membership lapse. I'm anticipating stress!

The thing I overbuy is medications for flu, gastro, fever, etc. Nothing's worse than being sick (or having a sick kid) and having to schlepp to the store -- especially if you don't have any nearby 24-hour pharmacies.

To me, a bare cupboard/fridge is bliss! One way of helping maintaining control over the mess of life.

Excess stock is a waste of money that could be earning interest. I don't shop regularly either. If I notice I'm low on something I'll just go get some more.

That said, if an item is on significant sale, I might stock up (2-3 backups) on occasion. Maybe.

We're limited in how much we can overbuy because we're in a 1BR apartment, but we'd certainly stockpile things like TP and soda if we had the space. More often than not, the trunk of my car becomes extra storage for the large pack of paper towels or pallets of Coke Zero from Costco.

I decided that part of how I would express my adulthood was to always have a well-stocked basket of female toiletries. It's like being at a fancy restaurant!

Aside from that, I'm pretty hit or miss, although I'd like to be an overstocker. You can always be pretty sure I have extra lotion, canned tomatoes and beans...and shoes. Always well stocked on shoes.

I save by purchasing in quantity (love Costco!) and stocking up during sales. That being said, I always seem to "need" shampoo just because I smell one I like and it makes it's way into the shower before the last one's run out. Drives my husband bananas.

@nrp- Nothing beats being stranded in a strange bathroom and searching under the sink to find that some kind soul has not only stashed extra supplies, but in a little basket that seems to say, "It's OK, we've all been there... take what you need."
If you should find such a basket under a man's sink... marry him.

i always stock up on hygiene essentials, especially things like TP, toothpaste, shaving cream etc. These are things you need to be clean and comfortable. There is nothing worse than getting ready to go out and realizing your deodorant is out or there is no shampoo to wash your hair etc. I also consider it a courtesy to guests to make sure there is ample toilet paper, soap, etc in the bathroom. I always make sure there is a few back up rolls of toilet paper and some bars of soap under the counter.

The only other thing I really stock up on are cooking basics - things like salt, olive oil, certain spices, canned tomatoes, beans, pasta. Things that dont perish (or perish fast).

There are certain things we use that they don't stock in every store, and so I tend to stock up on those -- for example, my favourite brand of toilet paper (they only sell it in the French grocery stores, not Swiss); toothpaste (Italian, and so buy when in Italy); Savon de Marseille (annoyingly overpriced and in small containers in boutique-y stores, so I buy a year's worth online); SportWash and Bar Keeper's Friend (the former is hard to find in Europe, the latter, impossible, so moved over with what I calculated to be a 4 year stash), and real Canadian maple syrup (they don't have the good stuff here -- just small overpriced glass bottles -- so we came over with a 1 year supply, and have been begging from visitors ever since); Advil Gel Caps (ha! little-known tidbit of knowledge -- it is very difficult to get pain relievers here -- must go to pharmacy, and can only get 10 -- yes, TEN -- tablets! Of regular Tylenol, which is not my preferred choice. So we buy 2 big bottles of Advil for a 12-18 months if we are in Canada or ask visitors to bring. Nothing like Advil gelcaps, or Robaxacet (which is carefully hoarded and traded among expats who have sore back from the cheap mattresses we are stuck with) even exist here...).

So, as people on a foreign posting, we tend to keep a lot more stock of stuff than we normally would. Hilariously, my husband went to COSCO to do a big buy while I was still in the hospital with our newborn (we were moving within a couple of weeks), and bought what he thought we needed... Hilariously, he bought a life-time supply of ZipLock bags and stuff we don't use that much :-) Well, guess we can give it away before we move back (they really are better plastic bags than what is on the local market...)

I am usually an over buyer and like Sharon, and tend to stock up a lot on foods that keep for a long time.. that is until relatively recently.. In my pantry I found an unopened bag of pasta with lots of weevil bugs in it.. and although the bag was closed, the weevils have spread into almost everything in the rest of my kitchen cupboards, even getting into all my spices!!

Not a nice thing to come back to after the Christmas holidays.. I was throwing everything away until the early hours of the morning, and i'm still not convinced that I have managed to get rid of them..

so beware!!

@sharonpakir
My list is almost identical to yours. I try to buy when these things are on sale, and they are guaranteed to be used, so there is no wastage.

I try not to buy up to a year's worth of anything (besides maybe canned or powdered soup for emergencies), but I do like to have a month or two's worth of things like toilet paper, shampoo, laundry detergent, etc. It's worth the peace of mind to know you have plenty and never obsess when you are going to run completely out.

I have spent the last 3 or so years using everything I have so I am down to only 1 bottle or tube of anything I need ever. As has been said, surplus in your home is interest lost in your bank. I am also opposed to excess consumption - plus, by not having stock, it allows me to chop and change brands as I wish.
On the toilet roll issue, they can only be purchased by the 12 pack here which for one person will last ages and takes up more than enough space already.

In an effort to make my life a bit more simplified, I make a once a month "drug store run" to get all the supplies I need. So I usually have one or two extra tubes of toothpaste, a extra deodorant, extra lotion and soap and TP. No more than one or two months worth. It saves a lot of hassle, because I never run out and don't have to think about replacing things all the time. I use the last of something and just go to the closet and there's the new one.

Most of this stuff is not stored in the bathroom, which has very little storage. My apartment has an odd "linen" closet just outside the bathroom. The shelves are only 7 inches deep, which means that the closet doesn't work for sheets and towels, but does work just fine for TP, paper towels, extra toothpaste and toothbrushes, a box of tissues and the like.

The only time I've ever run out of a necessity like TP was when I had a roommate who would keep the fact that we were on the last roll of TP a deep, dark secret, and who wouldn't think of replacing it, either. I got used to keeping a spare "emergency" roll in my bedroom.

I like to keep 2 each of certain household products, the one I am currently using and one in a storage cabinet. When I grab the one from the storage cabinet I add the item to my shopping list. This way I don't tons of extra stuff, but I also never run out completely. I also rarely make emergency trips to Walmart.

I am definitely an under buyer. I squeeze the last bit out of bottles and sometimes resort to using baby wipes instead of toilet paper. I've recently resolved to start buying two gallons of milk at a time because my toddler goes through it like crazy. I usually have a couple of macaroni and cheese boxes though. I spent summers with family in a house stocked for disasters - months of food in the basement, toothbrushes and tissues galore, all of the shampoo you can dream of. And it just overwhelmed me.

I like to have an ample supply of the basics, but I hate shopping and having to schlep all of that stuff home. I am on "subscription" at Amazon.com for things like Olay body wash, toilet paper, Kleenex, deodorant, paper towels, etc. Not only does Amazon have some good prices on those things, subscribing gives me an extra 15% off. On most things you can set how often you want them shipped to you, which makes it really easy to not end up totally overstocked. Love not having to go to Target for this stuff anymore.

We buy TP at Costco and always have at least 8 rolls stored in each of the 3 bathrooms (most important to maintain the TP in guest bathrooms - would HATE to have a guest run out of that). We also have a pantry full of basic food staples (pasta, beans, canned tomatoes, flour, sugar salt, olive oil, rice) that we use in regular rotation but keep fully stocked in case of emergency.
I used to keep extra toothpaste, lotion, soap, etc but now that I am making a switch over to all natural stuff, I'm kicking myself for having bought so much of the others! We're working our way through using up all that and then replacing it with natural products with a shorter shelf life.
But I think if you have the space, buying in bulk can save money and time in the long run.
PS - I love that bathroom pictured above. So organized!

I used to have a serious problem with over-stocking hand soap, body wash and lotion. Having a healthy back-up supply of essentials is a good thing, but it does get to a point when it can be considered compulsive hoarding.

The good thing is, I haven't had to buy any of this stuff in about 2 years. I ended up giving a lot of it away to a women's shelter - which was good, but a huge waste of money for me.

Excess stock is a waste of money that could be earning interest.--starwxrwx

i don't necessarily agree with the that could be earning interest part of that, but i do agree that excess can be a *tremendous* waste of money. i'm an over-buyer, sometimes to the point that i know i have it i just don't know where it is. particularly for perishables, my strategy to 'stock up on sale & save!' is a complete farce sometimes.

i really DO like your a bare cupboard/fridge is bliss! philosophy, starwxrwx. i'm going to start telling myself that & see if i can't break my over-buying cycle a little bit.

I only overbuy two things: wine and soap. I guess that probably says something about me.

I always have additional toilet paper, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, feminine hygiene, shampoo. Some, but not a lot of food items.

In regards to earning interest it really depends how much you saved on an item, how long the item will be stored before using, etc. If the savings are > interest earned for the same period before use then it would probably make more sense to purchase.

There is definitely a big difference between stocking up and making sure you don't run out. I think it's important to take your amount of storage space into consideration; the idea of not running out of toilet paper does not balance out the stress of having piles of it pouring out into your hallway. Personally, I try to buy the next package of something when I am running low, rather than when I have already run out. That's what warehouses do, right? Calculate to restock so that the new items will come in just when they have sent out the old, so there's as little real-estate waste as possible. I do occasionally buy more when the items I always choose happen to be on sale, but I will only buy twice what I would have bought anyway.

My one problem is that if I somehow find myself with stuff that I wouldn't normally buy, and it's the kind of thing that you can use up, I tend to try and keep using it until it's gone -- like that streaky glass cleaner my BF bought -- rather than throwing it out and buying the stuff that I like better.

@HongKonger A 12 pack of TP does not last for ages unless you are a man who doesn't poop much :P . As a woman with an irritable bowel a 12 pack of TP would not last long around here.

@ Ms Melly. I am a single female who is barely at home. 12 rolls of loo paper = around 5 months worth.

With respect to stocking up, there are things people need to consider before passing judgement...

Most -- if not all -- live in either a major metropolitan area or North America. Whenever you run out of something, unless there is a major snowstorm (etc.), you can just head out the door and get it, whether it is at 8 pm or 2 am. Not so here in Switzerland. Stores are only open until 5 - 6:30 weekdays and Saturdays (some are open until 8 pm on Thursdays); only one grocery store at the airport and some gas stations are open on Sunday. So you really have to plan ahead and not run out.

Stores here do not keep things in stock the same way that stores in North America do; for example, my favourite TP was out of stock in our French supermarket for over 6 weeks, and so I learned to have a good supply of it (we're lucky; we have lots of storage).

Plus, I really, really hate shopping; I'd much rather schlep the stuff home once, and forget about it for as many months as possible.

I usually start to get annoyed when things are running low -- the toothpaste tube needs to be pressed on the edge of the counter to get the last bit out, or whatever... which, sometimes after a few days in a row of this, triggers getting the next container.

TP we buy by the 12-pack. We have 5 bathrooms in our house (twin master-suites, guest room bath, first floor lavatory, basement bath -- it's not as big as that sounds! We just like private bathrooms, so we went overboard when we built.) We have at least one backup roll under the sink in each bathroom, which is replaced when put into use, and some extras in the linen closet to move where needed.

I rarely stockpile, and I figure the few cents I might save on something when on sale isn't a big deal in the long run, when storage and other factors are involved, so I just pay for the brands I like when I need the items, and if there is a sale or coupon, that's a bonus.

Buying a few extras -- no a huge stash -- saves in several ways. Saves time, saves money when buying on sale, saves gas money to go to the store. A little organization and planning goes a long way. Also, the more you go to the store, the more likely you are to buy other items you don't need -- which causes you again to spend extra money.

People here seem to not understand the difference between having just enough so you don't run out and hoarding. Not everyone wants to be sitting on the toilet when they realize they are out of toilet paper or get in the shower to realize they are completely out of shampoo. This wastes my time since then I have to go get more right then instead of picking it up the last time I was at the store for other reasons. Unless you realize you are allergic to the soap, shampoo, etc that you probably have been using for quite some time (so not likely), you didn't waste the money at all - you were going to be buying it in the future and more than likely you bought it on sale and not having to pay full price.