Money Saving Monday - Stockpiling

I wanted to write about stockpiling today, since we are in another season where it is good to stockpile items. If you have noticed all the baking supplies in the stores have gone on sale. It is baking season and it is time to stockpile on all your baking supplies. Each season has different items you want to stockpile.

Here are a few items that are on sale right now at most stores and have great coupons to match:

Yeast

Sugar

Canned Soup

French Fried Onions

Corn Starch

Flour

Chocolate chips

The time you want to stockpile and item is when it is FREE or 70% off retail price. I will be making a list and publish it soon of what I found to be my rock bottom or stockpile price for an item. I started my extreme couponing hobby in Feb. of this year and I have now seen all four seasons and I am more familiar when to stockpile an item and when to wait. I used coupons before, but I would only clip the ones I was going to use and when I went to the store the next time I would buy that item. I shopped at Walmart so the prices didn’t change. Or so I thought. Walmart does change their pricing and they do have sales on items. Especially this time of year. Walmart will change prices about once a month or once a quarter depending on the season and the item.

At first this is difficult creating a stockpile. You need to manage having enough food for your family to eat each week and create a stockpile. You may wind up spending more in the first month, but once you acquire a lot of coupons and a lot of variety of items and learn the sales cycles, you will be a pro in no time. If I can learn how to do this, so can you. After the second and third month you should start to see a significant savings in your grocery budget. You will find your list of items you need will decrease, and you spend more money on less expensive items. Saving you money all around.

In order to stockpile you will need a large number of coupons to combine them with the sales. The more coupons you have the easier it is to match up with the items on sale. The general rule of thumb is to purchase as many papers as there are members in your family. I purchase 4 papers and clip the coupons from those in order to match them with the sales when they come along. I print additional coupons on items I really think my family will eat. But normally four papers will do it for us. I can then purchase four of the sale item and create my stockpile when that item is at its rockbottom price and this will be enough to last me through the next time this item will go on sale. You don’t need to clear a shelf of an item. That item will go on sale again and it will have a coupon to match.

I am now at a point where I have a great variety of food to where I can buy at the rockbottom price and still have enough to eat. This takes around four to six months before you have a wide variety of food in order to do this. Stockpiling takes time. If you are like me trying to stockpile and are on a very strict budget it is difficult to accomplish both, but I like a challenge.

Here is what my stockpile looks like.

My pantry

Canned and Baking goods

Boxed items, cereal, breakfast items, Boxes meals, Pasta

My laundry room shelf with juice, Paper towels, a few other items

A shelf in my closet with my bathroom items