So let’s talk about inventory and why we manage it. Inventory management isn’t just for business optimization, there is a residential need to manage our inventory as well. WHY? Well because continuing to hold on to dead stock and obsolete/excessive inventory could be causing problems to your cash flow. Sometimes in order to get back on track you have to clear out past planned intentions and decide how you’re going to do better moving forward.
(AYT) Ask yourself this? Have you found yourself purchasing items you thought you were out of ONLY to get home and discover you already have multiples of said item. Likely this is a culprit of poor management systems or past programming behind this behavior. “I just always buy multiples of everything or it’s better to have too many vs. not enough.” Is that your internal dialog? This can be detrimental if you are not able to use that inventory up in its intended life cycle and therefore money lost/wasted when it’s disposed of before it can be used.
AYT? Do I have room to keep this amount of inventory and am I managing it in a way where it serves my future self? Meaning are you purchasing items to stockpile or do they actually have a frequent use in your daily, monthly, yearly lives. Backstock can have its benefits and uses. If you’re not at least using an item yearly you should strongly consider parting with it to make room for the inventory you do USE.
AYT? Are the ingredients I have on hand or intend to buy in the future set me up for the life I want to live. For example, maybe you have an excess stock of pasta, but you’re on a weight loss journey and eventually that inventory could become obsolete. Make a decision now to remove that inventory and donate it to the local food bank while it still has value. You may retain some tax benefit for doing so.
AYT? Did I buy an Instant Pot only to discover that I never use it? We all purchase things from time to time in hopes of making the chore of cooking food faster or more convenient. If you use it, well then great… That was a successful tool in finding a solution to a problem. However, sometimes these things sit unused after poor follow through or lack of desire to learn a new machine for the sake of “more efficient meals down the road”? Is this YOU? If so, make a goal to use that item within the next month, or lose it. That guilt is only dragging you down. I did this myself and found that I now use it a couple times a month and for specific purposes, such as cooking rice and whole chickens with 100% success every time. Sometimes it takes a little trial and error.
AYT? Do I value my car that I USE and drive OVER storage of little use items in my garage? Wouldn’t it be lovely that in the instance of hail, you would be able to pull that car inside your paid protection? Most can’t do this. Many use the garage space as a storage unit. There technically isn’t a problem with that IF the items you’re storing have USE and VALUE exceeding the value of your vehicle. Is this You? Do you have a strong WHY in parking your vehicle inside your garage? Maybe you want to be more efficient about your time spent in the mornings and prefer to not spend TIME scraping windows before work. That could be a WHY to reduce inventory in your garage.
To recap… All inventory has a life cycle, and all inventory that we interact with we manage in some way. I’d like to help you learn to see these items for what USE they bring to your life and make deductions through what I call “AIR” Active Inventory Reduction. Lets start with improving the quality of our AIR around us through active inventory reduction and sprucing up by trimming out what we’re not using and isn’t benefiting our health. Let us know what is your WHY and how we can help assist you with that.