Nothing derails a morning faster than reaching for something and finding the box empty. No coffee filters. One square of toilet paper. The kids' toothpaste squeezed flat.
It's never a big thing. It's a hundred little things, and every one of them turns into a last-minute store run you didn't have time for.
So I stopped letting things run out. Here's how I do it, and the list of what I keep stocked.
The one rule: open one, buy one
When I open the last one of anything, it goes on the list that same minute. Not later. Not when I remember. The moment the backup becomes the one in use, the replacement gets added.
That's it. That one habit is why I almost never run out of anything.
What I always keep a backup of
Bathroom
- Toilet paper and tissues
- Toothpaste, toothbrushes and floss
- Shampoo, conditioner and body wash
- Hand soap refills
Kitchen
- Paper towels, trash bags and dish soap
- Dishwasher pods
- Coffee, filters and the creamer everyone fights over
- Foil, plastic wrap and freezer bags
Laundry and cleaning
- Detergent and dryer sheets
- All-purpose spray and disinfecting wipes
- Sponges
Kids and family
- Diapers and wipes, plus a pack in the next size up if you have little ones
- Kids' pain and fever medicine (check the dates)
- Band-Aids
- Lunchbox snacks
Around the house
- Batteries in the sizes your house actually uses
- Light bulbs
- Furnace filters
Where the backups live
Pick one spot. A shelf in the laundry room, a bin in the basement, the top of a closet. Everything extra goes there, grouped by room. When the shelf looks thin, you know before you're out.
Make restocking automatic
Once you know what you go through every month, you can put the boring stuff on a schedule. I keep my restock items saved in one place so reordering takes two minutes instead of a whole cart-building session.
If you want my full list, I put together a free Stock Your Haven checklist with everything I keep on hand, room by room. You can grab it free at stepintohaven.co.
And if you want one place for the list and everything else your home runs on, that's exactly what the HAVEN Planner is for.
Open one, buy one. Try it for a month and see how many store runs it saves you.
Taylor 🤎
