In business school, I remember learning about "just-in-time" inventory management, a process that Ford Motor Company
Many companies use this approach. Heelys
Just in time for us
All that is fine and good, but I hadn't thought about how it might apply to my personal life (and yours!) until recently. I was noticing that a bottle of vitamins on my desk was getting low. I would need to crack open a new bottle soon. (Did you know that you can now buy gummy vitamins?) Fortunately, I comforted myself, I had such a bottle, waiting downstairs.
Then I thought about how sensible I am, keeping good-sized supplies of staples on hand. I patted myself on my back for my 12-packs of toilet paper, my extra ream of printer paper, my extra cartons of soda cans, my year's supply of shampoo. I started thinking about the cost of these items, though, and I quickly realized that I may have $1,000 worth of supplies-in-waiting in my home. Maybe I'm not so smart!
If I switched to buying what I need when I actually need it, I could invest that $1,000 and in 25 years at 10%, it would grow to more than $10,000. All that from trimming my inventory. How's your own inventory?