Why Stockpile?

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Maintaining a stockpile saves your family even more money in the long run. Why buy for a few months when you can buy for a year and save hundreds! 

I can’t believe that this is the last post in my Couponing for Beginners Series!  We’ve covered a lot of information in the series so far, from getting started to how to organize to how to make the most of money saving apps.  If you’re new to the series or missed a post or two jump over and catch up!  Then come back and join us.  It’s ok, I’ll wait 😉

If you’ve ever watched TLC’s Extreme Couponing or just flipped past it while channel surfing then you know that every single one of them has a stockpile.  But that is the last time I will use them as an example because those people are crazy and are not an accurate representation of a “regular” extreme couponer.  Most stores have policies that don’t allow you to buy $1,000 worth of product for pennies in a single shopping trip.  

In one episode I saw a woman do over 15 different transactions so she could buy $800 worth of product for less than $50.  Could you imagine going into your local grocery store and asking to do that all in one day at one time?  Yeah, me neither.  They’d probably roll their eyes at you every single time you walked in the door.  And magically all go on break when you headed towards checkout.  Plus, just going into the store with the mindset that you can walk out with hundreds of dollars worth of products for pennies regularly will set you up for failure.  50% savings is huge!  And noteworthy!  And you should mentally high five yourself when you save 50% at the grocery store!  Or be a cool kid like me and actually high five yourself.  Whatever.

What every single couponer should and can do is maintain a stockpile.  Don’t start shaking your head.  I promise that this does not make you a hoarder.  Unless you’re the lady I saw on TLC that had several year’s worth of diapers and no kids.  She might be a hoarder.  Don’t be that person.  In this post I’m going to convince you that maintaining a stockpile is a good idea because, in the long run, it saves you even more money.  But first, here’s a photo of my toiletries stockpile. 

 

 

Nice, right?  I haven’t paid more than $10 for this entire closet full of stuff from deodorant to hand soap to feminine products and we haven’t run out of shampoo or conditioner or been forced to run into the Dollar Store for body wash because we were out since I started couponing in January.  Imagine if I had gone to the store and only bought one or two bottles of body wash, shampoo, and conditioner when it was completely free.  That would last my family a couple months and then we’d need more.  Chances are when I go back to the store in a couple months it’s not free anymore and I’d have to pay for it.  But if I buy as many bottles as I can {while still respecting store policies and coupon limits} when it’s free or super cheap then I will have enough to last me until it goes on sale again.  Doesn’t that just make sense?  If I can get a year’s worth of toothpaste {or about 4-5 tubes for my family} for completely free why would I buy just one and have to pay for it again in a few months?

So let’s talk about food.  I have two rules for food stockpiles.  1) Only stockpile what you’ll eat.  If you don’t eat Sriracha sauce please don’t buy 5 bottles of it just because it’s free.  2) Be vigilant about expiration dates.  When you’re putting things away order things by date and bring the newest dates to the front.  So when you go to the pantry to grab a box of cereal you’re grabbing the one that expires in February and not the one that expires in October.

If you aren’t a family that’s big on packaged foods then your stockpile won’t be the same as others.  My stockpile includes pasta, rice, soup, cake mixes, cereal, Nutella {food of the Gods}, sports drinks, etc.  I keep a close eye on what I’ve got and when it expires and try to always have at least 3 months worth of food on hand.  This has saved us a few times when money was tight one month and we had to live off the stockpile.

Before you think that stockpiling is all packaged foods and canned goods don’t forget about your freezer!  You can stockpile tons of things in your freezer like cheese, bread, frozen veggies, ice cream 😉 and even meat.  I’ve heard about freezing things like milk but I don’t like the way it tastes after it’s thawed.  That’s totally up to you.

Everyone has a different list of foods they want to maintain in a stockpile and what their stock up price is.  Just to give you an idea here are some of my stock up prices for different foods I maintain in my stockpile:

Pasta…………free
Canned Soups…………$0.25-$0.50 per can
Cereal…………$1 or less per box
Shampoo/Conditioner…………$1 or less per bottle
Hand Soap…………free

I don’t buy pasta unless I can get it for free and I don’t pay more than $1 for a box of cereal.  It’s totally up to you what your stock up price is because it’s different for everyone.  If your family eats so much cereal that you can’t wait until it’s only $1 a box then raise your stock up price to $1.50 or $2.  Whatever works best for you and your family!

We have had MANY a last minute meal from the stockpile because I always keep a ton of pasta and rice on hand.  So it’s easy to throw together my favorite one pot meals like Lo Mein, Hibachi, Sausage Pasta, or Jambalaya.  It’s also great for snacks or last minute desserts for bake sales or game nights.

Have I convinced you that stockpiling is just smart shopping yet?  If you’re still not convinced then email me at cookcraftloveblog{at}gmail{dot}com and let me know what’s holding you back.  Thank you so much for sticking with me during this couponing series!  I know you’re all well on your way to being savvy coupon shoppers using the info I’ve given you over the last 2 months.  Be sure to check out the entire series here and don’t forget to pin, share, tweet, and Instagram this with all your friends so they can be smart, savvy coupon shoppers too!