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Home Neat Home: Organizing The Bulk Buys

This post is sponsored by Boxed

I haven’t done a Home Neat Home post in a while, and this one is tailored to storage!

Bulk

We tend to buy a select number of household, personal care and baby items in bulk both to save money and ensure that we never run out. After a few years living in our house, I have finally figured out how to store these smartly without having toilet paper and paper towels overflow out of closets. We are very lucky to have a good amount of storage in this house. Our first house had almost no closets, but it did have a big garage. Our second (rental) house had a huge basement but no closets. This house has lots of closets and a basement, so that makes buying in bulk possible. The giant wall of closets is what sold me on the house in the first place!

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This is what that closet looks like today:

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It has quite a bit more in it, including a bunch of bins and baskets I have purchased over the years for a neater look. On the bottom shelf you’ll find our paper towels, tissues and TP. I take them out of their outer packaging so the rolls are all easy to grab.

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The toilet paper is also split up so that both bathrooms get a few rolls should someone run out on the spot Winking smile

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Also in the basement closet I keep picnic supplies – paper napkins, plates, flatware – in a bin. We buy these in bulk too since we usually need a ton for our parties each year.

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Lastly I have a bin for “extra kitchen supplies” like sponges, dish soap, foil and Ziplocs. I have one of each of these up in my kitchen and one (or a few in the case of sponges) on reserve for the day I run out. I try to keep things on a “one in use and two in storage” rotation so we never run out, even if I forget to replace the replacement. Clearly a second foil needs to be purchased soon!

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Another household item I keep on hand is soap –

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Extra soaps (or mixers to make more soap) and things like Magic Erasers are stored in the laundry room with other cleaning supplies. I still use the Shaklee concentrate as my basic household cleaner, so that means we have less bottles to have to keep on hand.

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When I was nesting when pregnant with Mazen I organized bins that are labeled and contain household supplies like batteries, tape, nails and light bulbs. They are up on some shelves in the brewery. When we start to get low on something I make a note and a replacement is purchased – like batteries.

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Oh, and this is where the bulk beer is stored ; )

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On the toiletry front, we are lucky to have an actual closet in our bathroom. This houses everything personal care related, including extra soap, shampoo, razors, deodorants and things.

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I follow the 2+ in reserve policy here carefully – you never want to run out of toiletries! {So glad to see that Boxed has Mazen’s Honest shampoo and body wash.}

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And finally, baby items. Mazen’s diapers are packed into a crevice in his closet.

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Rather than have a big box hanging out elsewhere, I unpack them and slide them in here. It’s nice to have the extras in sight so I know when I’m running low.

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Lastly, the drawers of his closet dresser hold more consumables, like his diaper pail refills and wipes. (Boxed has these guys for much cheaper than Target, FYI!)

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I have a love/hate relationship with shopping in bulk stores. I love the idea of saving tons of money, but I don’t like the shopping experience (spending 20 minutes looking up and down the huge aisles for something the store doesn’t even carry), the membership fees that I worry I will waste or debating where to store a 50 pound tub of ketchup. But I was excited to learn of Boxed, a site that takes the hassle out of buying in bulk by giving you a free membership to digitally put bulk goods in your cart – at prices comparable to Sam’s, Costco, and the like. In addition to a website, Boxed has an app for Android and iPhone, so you can browse and buy all your non-perishable bulk goods from your tablet or phone.

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Here’s everything Boxed has to say about why it rules:

imageBoxed also offers a rewards program where for every $1 you spend on merchandise at Boxed, you receive 1 Boxed Rewards point and during promotions even more. You can put these points toward future purchases to save even more. There is free shipping on your first order and it’s always free on orders over $75 (which is probably the minimum you’d order anyways).

Boxed asked me to test the system, and I bought many of the items we already love and use there for a great price right from my tablet. They have a lot of trendy beauty items – like the Method Hand Wash and Honest & Company Baby Shampoo along with groceries like chia seeds and quinoa – and of course a ton of the household staples like TP, paper towels, personal care items, and more. It’s great that you can search for something in a split second or sort by category rather than having to walk the aisles in a store to find what you need.

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I can’t imagine anyone not liking this process. And best of all – there’s no membership fee. I’ll definitely be using it again!

Thanks to Boxed for sponsoring this Home Neat Home post!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I’m so jealous of your storage options! Our little apartment has 2 tiny closets (which are filled with clothes of course haha) That means that towels, sheets, etc. basically have to go on a bookcase! We’ve tried getting creative with storage but I can’t wait to move to a house that has them built in!

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  2. I appreciate learning about boxed – I really do – but just wanted to say that the balance between “real food” related posts and sponsored posts seems a little off lately. I started reading here because I love seeing what you eat, and you encouraged me to eat better too. Most recently, 4 of the last 5 posts were sponsored (many unrelated), and I miss the real food content. I will keep reading but would love to see more “back to your roots” content!

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    • Although I dislike sponsored posts and agree it’s been excessive, I think home neat home and lifestyle posts make kerf a well rounded blog. I feel that healthy eating and healthy living/lifestyle go hand in hand. I enjoy reading about kaths ventures as a healthy, well rounded person. For me personally, I wouldn’t be a loyal reader if kerf was strictly food based. Just my thoughts 🙂

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      • Love home neat home posts – so fresh and inspiring! But this isn’t really a home neat home post, as all she shows us is stuff put into bins, on shelves. I don’t think anyone learned anything about home-organization here, just an excuse to post an unrelated sponsored post.
        In saying that, Boxed does sound awesome and I am checking it out now.
        Kath – perhaps a focus on real foods that you buy from Boxed would have been more appropriate?

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        • Home Neat Home are some of my favorite posts you do! Please do more!!! I also so enjoy reading about your lifestyle…I so miss your old way of blogging…

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  4. While I really like the idea of boxed for non-perishable items I can say I definitely get my money’s worth in Costco’s meat and produce department. I have saved saved so much money by stocking up on their grass fed beef, organic chicken, frozen fish etc. Obviously we end up freezing a lot of if but it cuts down our weekly grocery bill. The excess produce ends up in a lot of crock pot meals and soups that I end up freezing which is great for a hectic night later down the road. We also stock up on the basic household good while we’re there and I save so much money buying their sparkling water in bulk. We try to make a trip once every three weeks and get there as soon as they open to avoid the crowds. Unfortunately that means missing out on the free food samples too…oh well!

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  5. Great organization! I like stuff about storage (you should see my Pinterest boards…). I was surprised that a lot of items on Boxed are actually much more expensive than what I usually pay. I can get the same size 5 big box of Pampers cruisers for $29.99 (Canadian $$), for example That’s cool, though, since we don’t do bulk buys most of the time. I actually really enjoy shopping, and it’s not crazy crowded where we live, so my time in the store isn’t stressful or frustrating. I can see how this sort of service would certainly appeal to people who like to shop online. I agree – lots of sponsored posts lately – but I like your blog because of the pics and some of the topics, so I don’t have an issue with the fact that the posts are sponsored. I’m still interested 🙂

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  7. This is more of a babykerf comment but the diapers made me think of this: it’s almost potty training time isn’t it? Are you ready for pull ups and potties and the like? 😉 lol

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  8. We’re pretty loyal to Costco, but Boxed sure looks tempting! You can’t go wrong with free shipping over $75. We easily spend that on our Costco trips and it would be great having it delivered. Who doesn’t like getting mail? mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

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  9. Hi Kath! Thanks for the storage ideas! Just FYI that I found the same Honest Shampoo and Body Wash (pkg of 2 bottles) at Coscto for $9.99. I am in Northern VA so just a heads up in case you want to check locally.

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  10. I’m a huge customer of Amazon Prime and this boxed place seems similar..have you done a comparison for price/availability of the items you use most? I’m expecting my first baby any day now so very curious about any shortcuts to keeping the house stocked and saving money. Also is it like Costco where you can only buy 10,000 rolls of TP at a time or are there options for more manageable amounts?

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    • I have a spreadsheet of Boxed.com vs. Amazon and Walmart.com. It is actually pretty even in terms of which one wins in terms of lowest price. My spreadsheet takes into account sales tax (which pushed Boxed to the winning column in a bunch of entries, because no sales tax with boxed). Bounty paper towels, for instance, way cheaper at Boxed. Palmolive is better at Walmart. And so on. Boxed ships fast, and packages their stuff well (Walmart is horrible at packing stuff, they put mayonnaise and potato chips next to each other, and the potato chips were quite broken). Boxed had great 10% and 20% promo deals. But it’s best to compare unit prices between other places: Boxed wins, but not all the time. My main reasons for buying online is that Walmart and Costco are 20 miles away, so we don’t end up going as often as we should, and when we run out of TP or whatever, we go to very expensive CVS. Buying online saves us time, but it saves us money as we can always find the time to order online, but some weekends don’t have the time to go to Walmart/Costco. If we lived 2 miles from a Costco, our situation would be different. Even still, though, checking out of Costco on a weekend is madness. Checking out of Boxed can be done anytime, anywhere. We’ve really structured our household to buy every non-frozen consumable online from the three vendors. Save gas, time, and from having to buy from expensive local places.

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  13. Hi Kath! I really enjoyed this post and seeing how you organize. I am pregnant with our first right now and I think nesting has officially kicked in so I this motivates me. I have a non-related question- I see you have switched to regular diapers versus cloth. When did this occur? What was the reasoning? Would you use cloth diapers for your next babe? We are debating doing cloth or regular and I am honestly split 50/50. I would love any thoughts/advice, possibly a Baby KERF post??

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  14. This is cool! One of my goals for this month is to organize the stacks of papers I have (research articles, power points, class notes, etc.). I want to establish good organizational skills before my graduate program starts and the paper increases exponentially!

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  16. Holy cow you are organized and keep a well stocked supply closet!!! I am super jealous. Maybe someday I’ll get some shelves set up in our basement to stock up on stuff like that. I hate buying paper towel and toilet paper every week! Off to check out Boxed now.

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  17. Very interesting post Kath, your blog always motivated me to eat clean and now definitely towards organizing everything.I keep thinking how do you plan everything love the simple layout of bins, those wooden boxes ..oooooooooo very cool collection

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  19. These lifestyle/home neat home posts are AWESOME! So glad that you shared with us and I would love to see more! Thanks Kath.

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  21. So interesting to see this from a European perspective. It just seems so unbelievably wasteful to have so much stuff! And all the packaging is a concern from an environmental perspective… But I know it’s different in the US and that the culture is a lot more around bigger = better. I’m currently travelling through Japan and here everything is tiny! Maybe that stark contrast made me even more aware of how different American culture is compared to mine…

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    • Well it’s not wasteful if you use it all, which we eventally do. Packaging is always a concern whether you’re buying 1 or 10 of something. Some of the bulk goods actually have less than if you buy a few at a time. But i agree that there are lots of differences between the cultures…stuff being a big one

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  22. Hi Kath, I’ve been silently reading your blog for several years now. I’m a busy homeschooling Mama of 3, but wanted to say “HI!” and how much I enjoy your blog on many levels! The variety of whole food meals your prepare and share are awesomely inspiring, along with fitness goals, and organizational posts!! We live in Colorado, although we have family in Virginia and just love your posts on local Virginia events!
    You do a great job!!
    Blessings,
    Jaime from Colorado 🙂

    Reply

  23. I hadn’t heard about boxed. We use amazon subscribe and save and for what we order it’s much more cost effective and more products available. I am not buying baby products though so I didn’t compare those. Thanks for the info. I will keep an eye on boxed to see if their prices come down or they get more product.

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  24. Wow, I’m so intrigued! We recently moved to a town with no Costco and I have really missed it. (Especially all the prepared meals and amazing produce!) This sounds like an easy way to stock up on those things that we need all the time without hauling kids to the store every week.

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