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Things I Keep Spares of in Our Home

In my last post, I talked about items in my home that I only have one of. While it might surprise you, as a minimalist, in my home there are things I keep spares of. You might be wondering, why would a minimalist have extra items? The answer lies in the fact that I use minimalism as a tool to simplify my life and reduce the things I have to manage. Having a spare of certain items, particularly consumables, has proven to be incredibly beneficial in simplifying my life. While this might contradict traditional notions of minimalism, I can assure you that this approach has significantly reduced stress in my life. This system ensures that I am never caught off guard by running out of essential items.

things I keep spares of, white door and handle

The “Spares” System

Our system works like this: once we finish a product, we retrieve its backup from our storage, and then add the item to our shopping list for our next trip to the shops. We usually do our grocery shopping once a week, and our toiletries/other supplies shopping once a month. So, the quantity we store is enough to tide us over for that duration, depending on the item. This system greatly simplifies our home life as we seldom run out of anything. It also frees us from constantly wondering if we’ll need something next week or if we have enough – because we always keep a spare.

things I keep spares of, wicker storage baskets on shelf

My Spare List

These are some of the things I keep spares of in my home.

1. Medicines/First Aid:

We don’t keep a large inventory of medicinal items. However, for items we may need immediately, we keep spares. These include paracetamol, children’s paracetamol, and plasters.

2. Toiletries

We maintain a backup for each toiletry that we use regularly. Over the years, I have experimented with many products. However, now I have found items that suit both me, my family and our budget. I try to avoid testing new products merely for the sake of novelty.

3. Paper Products

We maintain a spare pack each of toilet roll, kitchen roll, and tissues. This stock is sufficient to last until the following month.

4. Ambient Food Items

Have you ever been cooking, only to find out midway through that you’re short of an ingredient? Checking the recipe, it calls for 3 tbsp of an item, but you realise you have less than 1 tbsp. It is always possible to substitute items, but it add an extra step and for me it makes cooking more challenging.

To streamline this process, we always keep a backup of all the ambient food items in our kitchen. We only stock items that we use regularly. This approach has made cooking much easier and more efficient. It has also simplified meal planning. Now, I don’t need to wonder if we have all the necessary items. I just fill in the meal plan and trust that we have enough ambient items to cover our chosen recipes for the week.

5. Baking Supplies

Just like the earlier point, I like the peace of mind knowing I won’t suddenly run out of essentials like cocoa when I’m in the mood to whip up a chocolate cake, or yeast when pizza is on the menu. So, I ensure every baking item that is used in our kitchen always has a trusty backup.

6. Freezer Foods

Our freezer primarily holds “real food”, and serves as a backup pantry for fruits, vegetables, and meats. For each of these items, we maintain one package that we’re currently using and a spare one for future use. As soon as we tap into the spare, the item lands on our shopping list. You know the drill.

7. Pen Refills

Some might find this peculiar, but I prefer using a specific type of pen. I use the bullet journal method for all aspects of life and prefer not to see mistakes on my pages. A few years ago, I discovered the Pilot Frixion pen, an erasable pen that allows me to correct any errors. Since then, I’ve found it difficult to use other pens. Knowing this, I always keep a refill cartridge handy to maintain a seamless writing experience even when my pen is running out.

8. Sticky Tape

Don’t you just hate running out of sticky tape in the middle of wrapping something?

9. Greeting Cards

In the UK, there is a shop called Card Factory that sells reasonably priced greeting cards. I make a trip there at the beginning of the year and purchase cards for the entire year, saving a lot of time and effort. At the start of each month, I check for upcoming birthdays, write out the cards, and place them in the letter rack to be sent on the appropriate day.

10. Stamps

In addition to greeting cards, we maintain an extra full book of stamps to ensure we always have one available for posting. We recently switched to second class to save some money as stamps have become quite expensive. Using second class still gets the mail delivered, we just need to remember to send it a few days earlier.

11. Light Bulbs

We always ensure we have a few spare light bulbs that fit the fixtures in our home. When we first moved into this house, I found myself needing to replace a bulb and, upon opening our storage cupboard to find our spare bulbs, I realised that I wasn’t sure what all these bulbs were for. To solve this little mystery, I took a tour around the house, checking which bulbs fitted in which lights, and then labelled the box with the appropriate location for each bulb. To my surprise, we had brought along light bulbs from our old house that were of no use in our new one. It’s funny how clutter can sometimes follow us around unnoticed, isn’t it? Now, we only keep spares for the lights that we actually have, ensuring we’re always prepared and also clutter-free!

12. Batteries

We use rechargeable batteries and only store spares that are compatible with the items in our home.

13. Rechargeable Tealight Candles (fully charged)

In our living room, we like using rechargeable tealight candles to create a warm and inviting atmosphere during the evenings. For convenience, we keep a few extra rechargeable candles nearby. This way, when one runs out of charge, we can quickly and easily replace it with a fully charged one from our collection. The one that’s just run out is then plugged into our nearby charging station. This simple system ensures that we always have a supply of fully charged candles ready to go, keeping our evenings cosy and never without that lovely candlelit glow.

14. Kindle Book

I’ve met people who can juggle multiple books at once, but I’m not one of them. To be honest, once I dive into a book, I truly enjoy it, but getting started can sometimes be a challenge. This is something I hope to improve on in then future. Thankfully, audiobooks have been a game-changer for me. They’re perfect for listening while on the school run, and they also help in my understanding when I opt for ‘immersion reading’ – simultaneously listening and reading. To keep things simple, I limit myself to two downloaded books: the one I’m currently reading, and the one I plan to read next.


As you’ll notice from my ‘spares’ list, these are all consumable items that we use regularly. It’s not a question of ‘if’ we will use them, but ‘when’ we will use them. We don’t store spare items like lamps, TVs, or rugs in our attic or garage for those ‘just in case’ moments.

The primary goal of this system is to maintain only the items that we are certain we’ll be using in the near future. We want to avoid cluttering our home with items that might make life more complicated, or even items we might forget we own. The idea is to simplify life, not to create additional work.

Now, this might seem to contradict the principles of minimalism. But before I adopted this system, I would often find myself in the middle of cooking and realise that I only had a spoonful of an ingredient when I needed a cup, or my favourite pen would run dry, and I’d have to wait a week to get a replacement. Now, I can relax knowing that I won’t unexpectedly run out of the things that I regularly use. I simply notice when we’re down to the last of something, locate its backup, and add the item to the shopping list for our next shopping trip. This simple system has been a wonderful way to make my days run a bit smoother.

What are some things that you keep spares of in your home? I’d love to hear from you in the comments 🤍

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