The Art of Money Saving- Part 3

If you’re just jumping into Mrs. Moneysaver, this is the third part of a “back to the basics” series on money saving. In Part 1, we discussed coupon sources, and Part 2 was all about organizing your coupons. I absolutely loved hearing about all the different organization methods my readers use for their coupons!

Today I would like to discuss the topic of stockpiling.

If someone had told me two years ago that she was “stockpiling”, I would have quickly gotten a picture in my mind of a greedy miser hoarding things she would never use. Or perhaps a family storing food away in their 1950s backyard bomb shelter? Either way, I didn’t have a very positive or accurate idea of what stockpiling could be. And now, to my surprise, I find myself stockpiling.

The basic idea behind stockpiling in this: Instead of buying just what you need for a given week, you buy the items that your family commonly uses, in bulk if possible, when you find the items at the lowest price- as far as your budget allows or is reasonable for your storage space/consumption rate. Then, when you need an item, rather than buying it from the store at a premium price, you are able to use it from your stockpile.

My typical grocery shopping trip must look strange to some fellow shoppers. Each week I buy the produce, bread, milk, etc. that our family will eat that week. But then I use the rest of our grocery money to “stock up” on sale items that we commonly use. Those items change week to week, based on the current sales. You’ll very rarely find even a complete meal’s ingredients within my shopping cart. For example, last week my Kroger cart was filled with boxes and boxes pasta. Now, we don’t eat that much spaghetti. We eat it maybe once a week. But I was able to find pasta that week at a very sweet price. So I not only bought enough for that week’s spaghetti dinner, but pasta dinners for months in the future. When we want baked ziti two months from now, I won’t have to run to the store and pay full price for the noodles. I’ll just use what I already have at home, saving me money.

The weeks when I stockpile toilet paper must look the goofiest to other shoppers. Several weeks ago, I bought about ten 4-packs of toilet paper all for free or less than 50 cents each. That’s more toilet paper, obviously, than what our family can use in a week. But I was able to get the toilet paper for next to nothing. I won’t be buying toilet paper again for quite some time, and the toilet paper stock up will save us quite a bit of money.

Today I have a few tips to share on stockpiling. Many of these I have learned from my own mistakes.

1. Do not stock up on an item your family doesn’t use just because it’s inexpensive.
If you won’t use it, it’s wasted money. I know it can be tempting to buy an item just because you can get it for a nickel. But if you (or someone you can give it to) won’t use it, it’s a nickel down the drain. A good deal is only a good deal if it actually saves you.

2. Only stock up on so much of an item as you can use before the end of its shelf life.
Just because you can get 20 packs of tortillas at pennies on the dollar doesn’t mean you should. Will you use the items before they expire? If not, that’s just wasted money. (Unless you donate the item before it expires! More on donating below…) As I’ve begun re-filling my diaper and wipes stockpile for the baby on the way, I’ve had to consider how many of each size diaper we will reasonably use. Diapers don’t have a shelf life, but the time a baby spends in diapers does!

3. Only stock up as your home’s storage space allows.
Or else your home will become cluttered with excess products. Oh, how I’ve learned this lesson! Our family loves cereal. My husband and I probably eat an unnatural amount of cereal. So when I can get it at a great price, I love to stock up. Recently I stocked up so well that we ran out of room for anything else. (We had at least 25 boxes…) I had cereal stored in five different places around our house. When I began contemplating storing it in the bathroom cabinets, I knew I had gone overboard with the cereal stockpile. Yes, we will easily use that much cereal before it expires. (Come to think of it, I’m kind of embarrassed to share that we eat that much cereal…) But our home’s limited storage space has the final say on how much we are practically able to stockpile.

(Just a glimpse of our cereal stockpile)

4. Organize your stockpile well.
I recommend organizing similar products by their expiry dates. When you buy new items to add to your stockpile, put the newest items in the back of the storage space. This will help you use the oldest items first, preventing food and money waste that comes as a result of allowing items to exceed their shelf life.

5. Be generous with your stockpile.
I encourage you to frequently look through your stockpile to see what you can give to those in need. (Or to those who would just appreciate the gesture!) Just because we will use up all those boxes of cereal doesn’t mean we should just keep them hanging around the house until their comsumption. There’s people in my community and yours who need the item more immediately. And another cereal deal is always around the corner, so I can buy more to replenish our stock.

Food banks, womens shelters, and crisis pregnancy centers are just a sampling of the nonprofits found in most communities that could use donated items from your stockpile. And with our nation’s current economic state, these organizations can use the contributions more than ever.

My toiletry stockpile- big thanks to CVS- is always a great place to look for items to donate.

For those who have experience stockpiling, what other tips can you add to my list? Do any of you disagree that stockpiling is a great way to save? I would love to hear your thoughts!