Setting the Table for Savings: Step #7

Stockpiling

I have been so excited to get to this step! This and freezer cooking (which is the next, and last step in the series) are by far my favorite to talk about. You see, you can save money by clipping coupons and buying what is on sale each week; however, you won't see HUGE savings until you begin to stockpile. It is great if Ragu is on sale and you buy one for dinner this week, but that only helps you this week. The basic idea of stockpiling is to buy as much as you can when that item is at it's rock-bottom price! Then you have enough to cover your family until it goes on sale again.

Since I have been doing this for a while I have learned what a good deal is on items that I regularly purchase. When they are at their rock-bottom price I know it is time to stock up. This is where the price book or knowing ALDI's prices comes in handy. ( I talked about this in the "Got coupons, now what" post.) As a rule of thumb, I may buy a few if something is 30-50% off. I really start stocking up when it is more than 50% off! I know when chicken breasts hit 1.77/lb. that it is time to buy A LOT!!!! I won't pay more than $1 for laundry detergent (and I buy name brands), .50 a bag of frozen veggies, .30 for pasta sauce, .50 a box of cereal...and on and on the list goes!

If you have been looking at my Packing the Pantry posts, you have probably noticed that I shop differently than most. My cart may be filled with 6 boxes of cereal, 8 jars of spaghetti sauce, 15 pounds of chicken, 20 cans of tomatoes... That is because most of what I buy goes down to my stockpile... It will take you a little time to start stocking up, but little by little, you will see it grow. Pretty soon you will be able to make many meals just from what you have on hand. Once I make out my meal plan for the week there is usually one 2-3 things that I need to buy to complete that meal, and they are usually perishables.

Below is a photo of some of my stockpile. As you can see, there is a lot of each item there! I try to keep it all organized and keep similar things in the same area. All the canned goods go on the same shelf, all the breakfast items go on the same shelf, and so on... It does take room to stockpile! If you don't have a lot of space you can still stockpile, but you are going to have to get creative on places to put your stuff. I keep my body stuff (shampoo, razors, shaving gel, face wash...) in the upstairs linen closet, everything else goes in the basement. The food goes on the shelving units and the laundry stuff goes by the washer and dryer.

Another big thing is to keep track of what food you have and their expiration dates. I keep a sharpie downstairs and I put the expiration date on each item when I put it away. It is no longer a good deal if it expires and has to be thrown away! Periodically I go down to look and see if something needs to be used. Oh, and let me tell you, someone better not go down and take something that isn't next in line to be used. That is not cool, and is not tolerated in this house!! Ha Ha!! I take my stockpile pretty seriously!

I really believe that when you go from just couponing to stockpiling you will really start saving!!! Like I mentioned before I take out $40 a week and with that I buy what I need for the week and also stock my stockpile! Give it some time and I think you will be surprised at what a difference it makes. I will be back soon with my last post in the series, freezer cooking!