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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio. Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast Podcast.

Today's tip is to pair down your inventory, designating a time or giving yourself a challenge and some incentives to use things up.

It can be satisfying and maybe free up some cash too.

After experiencing the shortages of the last few years, a lot of people have ended up with excessive amounts of canned goods, toilet paper and the like.

With more of us shopping online, we also wind up with various consumables that may not be exactly what we imagined we were getting.

It's not a bad thing to have a well-stocked pantry at home, but you want to be sure you are using what you have, not just storing it.

And it can be easy to wind up just storing anything that isn't truly a favorite.

The stationary that looked nice online, but turns out to be a very loud sheet of blue.

The pretty bottle of lotion that doesn't smell quite as nice as the advertising implied.

All those garbanzo beans you bought in a panic and now are facing moving from home to home.

I'm sure you can add to this list of stuff you own, but aren't really using.

So what do we do with this? Well, how about creating a challenge for yourself to pair down your inventory?

Pick a time where this makes sense and then create a plan.

Use the freed up cash or space for something fun or meaningful.

One great option is to use the week before you go on vacation to eat down your foodstash.

If you normally go to the grocery store on Sunday, but you are leaving on Friday, try not going to the store.

Instead, challenge yourself to eat what is there.

Make the time you would have spent in the store googling meals that include that jar of chutney you got as a hostess gift.

Or slow cooker recipes that can use up those kidney beans and canned tomatoes.

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