Home Store - Day 11 of 30 - Things That Make My Life Easier

I'm Jaren, a neurodivergent Mom of neurodivergent kids going back to school in my 40's. In this series, I'll be posting about things that make my life easier.

The Magic of Having a Home Store

Home Store is the greatest tool I have in my belt as an AuDHD mom to ADHD kids, on a full-time schedule and a student budget.

Home Store is essentially a pantry, but it's where I hold all the duplicates of everything in my house, not just food and laundry items. (And before we get all judgy and think I am a hoarder, I want to let you know this came about because I was looking for a way to save money by buying what I use only when it's on sale, and storing the extras somewhere until I can use it. Think Jordan Page's "buy one for now, two for later" for sale items.)

Home Store started as a little storage box under my bed (because that's all the storage I had), and has progressed to an actual little storage room in my house with a metal shelving organizer containing a bunch of cardboard boxes that have been marked by category.

As mentioned above, when I shop, I buy only what's on sale. If my shampoo goes is on sale (think $4 instead of $12), then I buy two extra to put in Home Store. When I run out of my current shampoo, I ask the kids to go to the Home Store and shop for some shampoo, please!

It makes me feel rich.

My Home Store Categories include:

Bathroom

This is where I keep all the extras I purchase when they were on sale: shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, etc.

Snacks

Because I don't know if you have teens, but if you leave snacks in the kitchen, they'll magically disappear after only 24 hours even if you tell them to limit themselves. In order to make snacks last, I keep them in the Home Store and shop only what I need during the school week. (I have stretched a Costco box of granola bars from one week to two months with this method.)

Extras of ANYTHING

Bath towels, shoes, office supplies, bags, you name it.

*Did you know that if you want to reduce the monumental amount of laundry teenagers manage to produce weekly, all you have to do is give them each one towel and hide the rest (Home Store works for this - out of sight, out of mind). Heaven forbid I put all the clean towels in the bathroom. The kids use one new one for each shower and I end up washing an entire load of towels every three days.

Some of the greatest benefits of having a Home Store (even if it's a cardboard box under your bed):

• Saving money! Maple syrup goes on sale here once every quarter. So if I can stock up on extra cans while the price is $6/can instead of $12/can, you better believe I'm going to.

  
  

• Less clutter in the living space to organize.

  
  

• Less visual clutter.

  
  

• A backup for necessities so you're not stuck without toilet paper because you forgot to buy it. Gorl, you bought an extra package on sale and stored it. You've got your own back.

Anyway. That's my pitch for Home Store. It has truly saved my sanity.