Stocking Up
I just stocked up on something that might not interest you in the slightest. But it gave me peace of mind. And I’m curious what items you have stocked up on, and why.
In this post “stocking up” on something means to buy a large quantity of it, to have on hand for future use because you reasonably suspect, or know for sure, that there will be a future shortage of it. I’m not talking about buying a few extras of something you use all the time because it’s convenient to have them on hand. I’m not even talking about emergency supplies, which are also good to have, but which may never be needed, kind of like insurance. You can find some lists online and in my Emergency Preparedness Resource Roundup to help you prepare for natural disasters. But some of the same considerations definitely apply to all categories of extras, like how much you want to invest in them and how you will store them.
I know, I know — I’m usually talking about decluttering. (Exhibit 1: Go With the Flow! The Clutter Flow Chart Workbook.)
So you may be surprised to hear me saying there’s nothing wrong with stocking up on things.
This topic goes hand in hand with a previous post: Keep or Toss? “But I might need it someday!”
When is something worth stocking up on?
I say it’s worth stocking up on something if:
- It’s your favorite thing that you use all the time, and it becomes scarce, or actually discontinued, and there seems to be no good substitute.
- You have the space to store it without sacrificing living space.
- You can find it when you need it. There’s no sense in piling things up that you can’t use because you can’t find them, or that you don’t use because you forgot you had them!
- You can afford it, financially.
- It requires little or no maintenance. It won’t spoil, or you have a system for swapping out expired items.
Discontinued Glad handle-tie trash bags (my favorites)
So, what did I stock up on?
I stocked up on Glad Handle-Tie 13-gallon white kitchen trash bags.
Why? Because I like them and I learned they’ve been discontinued. Boo! I thought they just weren’t available anymore in my particular local stores, so I’ve been buying them on Amazon. (eBay is another good source of discontinued items.) Soon, although they may still be technically available for awhile because someone else stocked up and is selling theirs at a premium price, they may become un-affordable and not worth it to me anymore.
How many did I buy? $100 worth. Two packs of 4 boxes = 8 boxes x 50 bags each = 400 trash bags. That’s $0.25 each. I’m sure they were cheaper last time I bought them, and I see they’re already selling for more than that. This is it. I do not plan to buy more.
What if you run out? Well, it’s not if, it’s when they run out. I’ve bought myself plenty of time, I think, to 1) not worry about it for awhile, 2) mentally adjust, and 3) find a suitable replacement. At a rate of two per week, these will last 4 years. (Depends on how I actually use them, of course. Just for fun I asked Chatty G (ChatGPT) how many uses it could think of for trash bags and here’s the list it came up with.)
How much storage space do they require? 9″ x 14″ x 18″ = 1.3 cubic feet.
(I haven’t opened the box they came in yet, or put them away. I do have a spot for them, though, and it’s not in the living room!)
Why do I like them so much? If I told you, it would just make you want them too, and you would buy them all up! No, not really, I’m sure you’re doing fine with whatever trash bags you already like. But I prefer the handle-tie ones. In case you’ve never paid attention to them, the handles are individual loops that you, um, tie together. They’re easy to use, hold as much as I need them to, don’t get too full or heavy, and they feel comfortable in my hand when carrying them out of the house to the trash bin. (Or whatever else I do with them.)
Meanwhile, I actively dislike all of these other varieties of trash bag: drawstring, twist tie, elastic drawstring, flap-tie (aka cross-tie or quick-tie). I also dislike flex trash bags. Why? Because they’re designed to hold not only bulky items, but more items. I don’t need them to hold more items! Just like purses, backpacks, and luggage, more items generally means a heavier bag.
How does stocking up work with organizing, decluttering, and minimalism?
In The Trouble with Minimalism, I wrote (favorably) about The Minimalists’ 20/20 Rule. Basically, anything they can replace for less than $20 in less than 20 minutes from their current location goes away. They do not get rid of things they use every day; only items they are saving just-in-case that are cluttering their lives unnecessarily because they might, in fact, never need them at all.
In my case, I can no longer get my favorite trash bags easily, or for a reasonable price, because they’ve been discontinued.
Then there’s my free Keep or Toss? “But I might need it someday!” chart, which weighs the Realistic Chances of Needing it Someday, against the Replacement Cost (Time + $$ + Energy), against the Potential Space Recovered. Basically, the lower the chances of your needing or using an item; the lower the replacement cost; and the greater the potential space recovered, the more likely it falls into the Toss category. (Toss = purge or let go of by donating, recycling, gifting, selling, or throwing away in the trash.) For more advice about setting limits read this post: A bag of bags. A box of boxes.
In my case, it is worth it to me to spend the money and devote the storage space to a stash of my favorite trash bags.
What have YOU stocked up on? Or considered stocking up on?
Why? Were you glad? (Ha ha, just noticed the pun in proofreading, yes, I’m Glad!)
Or, did you simply manage without, or find a suitable replacement?
Are you overstocked on something you could get rid of to free up space and mental energy?
Please share with us in the comments below!
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- Hazel Thornton is an author, genealogist, and retired home and office organizer.
- Book: Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror
- Book: What’s a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy
- Book: Go With the Flow! The Clutter Flow Chart Workbook
- Feel free to link directly to this post! Click here to ask about other uses.
- Copyright 2025 by Hazel Thornton, Organized for Life and Beyond
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts on stocking up, Hazel. I don’t stock up on anything unless it is canned beans or things that can stay in the pantry for a while. I love to cook, and having these staple items available when I want to create a new meal does help. However, each October, I do a purge, where I pull out items from the pantry, use them for our meals for the entire month, and clear out the food that has been hanging around too long. It works pretty well.
Hi Sabrina! Sounds like you’ve got a pantry rotation system that works for you!
I just stocked up on a Jergens facial moisturizer that I liked because I was having trouble finding it, and then a CVS employee looked it up and said it was being discontinued. I ordered about a 6 month supply of it. Eventually I’ll have to find a substitute, but I love it, so worth getting some to carry me until I settle on an alternative.
Seems like everything I love is slowly being discontinued, starting with Tab and my favorite Snapple Iced Tea packets, among other things. I only stock up with it won’t go bad, though.
I also stock up on things I always use when they are on sale, like toothbrush head refills or razor blades. They cost a fortune, so the savings is worth it, and they are tiny so not hard to store.
Sorry about the trash bags!!
It’s like c’mon, so MANY things in life are changing ALL THE TIME that we have to deal with, why can’t we just have our favorite trash bags and moisturizer stay the same? Not only are they gone, but we now have the additional mental task of finding a replacement. Like we don’t have enough to do. Sigh! Your stocking up on small, otherwise-expensive, and for-sure-usable items on sale is smart!
I tend to be an under-buyer. The only time I can recall buying two of the same thing is when a store is having a BOGO (buy one, get one free) where you can’t just buy one at half price. (Most stores, if you only buy one, they do give it to you half off, and I really don’t want more than one gallon of ice cream in my house at a time. But occasionally, you really do have to buy two if you want one for free.) So, stocking up is a rarity for me.
However, I have been known to stock up when it looks like something has been (or is about to be) discontinued. I bought all the Peter Pan Whipped Peanut Butter jars I could find at the start of the pandemic. You couldn’t find them at all by May 2020, then they came back (briefly) during that summer, and then were discontinued. My stylist let me know that the Aveda Smooth Infusion nourishing styling creme was being discontinued, and I bought two instead of my usual one (but each bottle lasted almost a year!).
But cosmetics? Boy, howdy, do I stock up! When L’Oreal stopped making Bare Naturale mineral eye shadows, I bought up every one (in each of my two favorite colors) I could find: Amazon, Etsy, weirdly named online sites. Sadly, I had no heads-up that my (and Paper Mommy’s) favorite eyeliner was being discontinued. I’d been using it 30+ years, and can’t find anything that’s a good replacement. During the pandemic, it seemed like production was just being slowed down, but it seems that they made all they were going to make of that particular pencil type, and though the brand has kept the product on its site, there’s been none in stock for years.
I’m reluctant to spend money on duplicates (due to lack of space, frugality, crankiness at things not being available, etc.), so getting me to stock up is almost always going to be a non-starter unless it’s a food or beauty essential. (Like, I’m going to look like a stranger to myself without it.) If diet Coke is ever discontinued, you can be sure I’ll be buying a bunker just to have enough space to store it all away.
I love you Chatty G list of plastic garbage bag uses! What a fun prompt!
We all have our priorities! I do have an extra jar of Laura Scudder’s natural smooth peanut butter, which is my favorite. And I have had trouble finding it in the past, which is how I know I dislike even other brands of natural peanut butter. (I don’t like any brand with sugar in it. And most of them do include sugar. Nothing to do with nutrition, just taste. Which is weird when you consider a PBJ has jelly on it.) I don’t eat peanut butter as often as you do, and my extra jar should last me a while, but…uh oh…maybe I should check to see if it’s discontinued?! Glad you liked the Chatty G list. I love AI for stuff like that. I write what I write all by myself, and I link to what AI generated for me in two seconds with full attribution.