Always at the Store? How to Never Run Out of Things You Need! by Laura Greenwald

Always running to the store to pick up something you ran out of? Try a reserve list. First, make a list of everything you usually buy at the market. Then decide how many of each item you need to have on hand and note that number on the list. How do you know how many you'll need? Ask yourself:

• How quickly do I use it? If you're always running out, you're not buying enough.
• How much room does it take up? It's harder to store family-sized cereal boxes than extra tubes of toothpaste.
• How hard it is to find? If you can only find it at certain stores, keep more on hand.

Then, next time you go to the store, just check the number on your reserve list against the number you have on the shelf and you'll know exactly how much to buy.