Organizing Bulk Purchases at Home

Do you buy in bulk at Sam’s Club or Costco? Buying in bulk can save you money but only if you have space to store the items and you use the items before they expire. Once you get those bulk purchases home it can be an organizational nightmare to get them in the pantry, let alone the front door! Here are some tips to organize your bulk buying buys…

1. Store the buys in a centralized place. Maybe you create ‘pseudo’ pantry in the corner of the garage or basement. Maybe you have extra shelf space in a hall closet. Often our purchases are too large to keep in the kitchen so you need to find a home elsewhere. I suggest setting up shelving in another part of the home to store all your bulk buys. Give yourself boundaries – one shelving unit – or else you could open your own Sam’s Club in your basement.
2. Organize the shelves like the club store you just came from. Group like items together.
3. Store heavy, bulky items on the bottom shelves to provide stability for the shelves and prevent injury.
4. Break apart large items. Often the packaging takes up a lot of space. Recycle as much of the packaging as possible.
5. Use S-hooks (click here for examples) to hang scissors, shopping lists, box cutter, etc. from the shelves to make unpacking the bulk items simple and quick.
6. Arrange shelves so new items are in the back. Use older items first but check expiration dates.
7. Consider shopping in bulk with a friend to split oversized bundle packs. This will make storing the items more manageable and minimize the risk of spoilage.

Where do you do your bulk buying? Share your bulk buying tips and organizational tricks here! We love hearing from you.