Why You Need to Organize Your Pantry to Save Money
What did you see the last time you looked at in your pantry? Was it neat and organized so that you were able to see what you had on hand and what you needed to buy? Or was it cluttered with boxes lying sideways, cans tossed about and dinner was really just guesswork as to whether you have what you needed? If you’re like most people, your pantry probably looks a lot like the second option.
Having a cluttered pantry not only causes stress over the age-old question “What’s for dinner,” but it can also cost you big bucks over the course of time. Whether it’s $10.00 extra each month or $50, your clutter is jumping your grocery bill each and every day and you may not even realize it’s happening.
How do you ask? The answer is pretty simple.
When your pantry or cabinets are cluttered, you don’t know what you have available to use. When you don’t know what you have available, you buy more. See where I’m going with this? If you’re constantly buying products that you already own, you’re spending money that you don’t need to spend. If you are consistently buying products you don’t need, you’re consistently wasting that money.
I want to be clear on something though. I’m not talking about the items you use every day. I mean the occasional items that you may end up having 15 of lurking in the back of your cabinets. Once they’re there, they can easily be buried and once they’re buried? You waste the money by purchasing more than you need AND when they expire.
Let’s look at the math on one single can of vegetables:
We’ll use $0.75 each as our price. Now let’s say you buy (2) more than you need each week. That’s $1.50 per week, $6.00 per month and $72.00 per year.
Now imagine that cost across everything you’ve accidentally bought over the last year. I’m willing to bet it’s a considerable amount.
Now take a look at how many items have expired in your cluttered cabinets? Add the two numbers together and you’ve got what amounts to a small pile of cash that I’m sure could be very useful in other areas of your life.
So how do you put an end to the waste? You organize!
Start by pulling everything out of your cabinets. Once that’s done, a group like with like. When you go to put it back, do it in an orderly way. This way, you’ll be able to see what you have on hand. When you shop next, be sure to visit your pantry with your list to make sure you aren’t buying something you already have 15 of….oh, and be sure to sit back and enjoy that extra money you’re no longer wasting!
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