7 Ideas to Organize and Store Your Wholesale Items at Home

Bulk buys are usually great deals, but a drawback is that you have to store all that bulk in a space that wasn’t exactly built for it. A lot of people resort to piling things up in a pantry or even in an open corner, but that doesn’t mean you have to do that, too. There are ways to organize bulk buys and wholesale purchases so that it’s easier to find what you need and know what you have. When you get your storage system in place, future purchases will be much simpler to handle.

1- Store Smaller Items on Doors

When you buy smaller items in bulk, you can store most of those on doors. For example, if you have a pantry with a door that swings out into the room, hang portable shelves or a plastic shoe storage bag on the inside of the door, or install small shelves on racks. Use those for spices, foil, and other light items. Hang another on the back of the bathroom door for extra toothpaste tubes, cosmetics, and more. Ensure the shelves and bags are transparent or easy to see through. That keeps the items fully visible and accessible.

2- Look for “Thin” Storage Racks

If you don’t want to install racks on the backs of doors or don’t have a pantry, look for thin rolling storage carts that fit in spaces between walls, cabinet, and appliances. These are great for extra canned goods and cleaning supplies, and they keep those extra items out of sight. These thin carts come in different heights, from smaller carts that are only a couple of feet high to larger carts that are as tall as many models of refrigerators.

3- Reduce the Packaging That You Keep

If you buy something in bulk or wholesale and aren’t going to use part of it for a while, you’ll have to store it. You don’t want to open packages if you’re storing them, but you do want to remove the outer layers of packaging that aren’t necessary for longer storage. For example, many individual-size snacks come with several bags inside a larger box, and the bags may take up only half or three-quarters of the space inside the box. You might consider taking the individual bags and storing them in a larger canister with a lid.

4- Place Food in Airtight Containers

While some foods like soup come in cans and bottles that remain well-sealed, others come in bags and boxes that can rip. Or worse, pests could rip into them. These foods shouldn’t be stored as is, and they should be placed in airtight containers. If you’re not keen on opening up everything and decanting it, buy large airtight bins and store the bags and boxes in those. What you want is a strong barrier between the food and potential intrusion, be it from pests or humidity.

5- Get Perishables Ready for Freezing

You could try to work your way through all those apples you bought in bulk in the next couple of weeks, but chances are you won’t be able to. The same goes for most produce and other perishables. Instead of risking waste, cut them up and prepare them for freezing. Vegetables need to be blanched first; fruit doesn’t. But all of it needs to be washed first because you won’t be able to rinse off dirt when the food is thawing out.

6- Use Extra Space in the Garage

You can find sturdy rolling shelf racks in different sizes for some really reasonable prices. Find shelf racks that fit empty spaces along your garage’s walls and use those to store bulk purchases.

7- Utilize First in, First Out

Finally, do what you can to remember the first-in-first-out rule. Use up food that’s been there the longest, and place newer food behind older food. You want to set up a rotation system to ensure nothing sits for years and gets wasted.