Stockpiling Saturday - The What, When, Why and How of Stockpiling

This is a repost of a guest article done for us by Stockpiling Moms.

I often get asked What is a Stockpile?

* What? A stockpile is a pile or storage location for bulk materials. In this case meaning groceries, personal care or household products.

* Why Stockpile? To save money! If you stockpile your groceries by strategically using coupons, you will never pay full price or retail for your groceries. If you stockpile successfully you will save hundreds every month = thousands a year!

* When do I stockpile? Stockpiling is a strategic game. The objective is to “match” grocery sale prices to your coupons to take advantage of when your groceries are at the very lowest price or what we call “rock bottom”. This is when you stockpile.

* How do I stockpile? You compare the coupon policies at the stores you have available to you as well as any incentives they offer you to shop there. Finally “match” your coupons to the sales ads and purchase when you find a deal that is at rock bottom. I stockpile when the price is free or close to free (70% off). You purchase in a quantity to last your family until the item can be purchased again at rock bottom. This is tricky because some products like cereal cycle every six weeks however some products like baking goods or BBQ sauce only cycles at rock bottom once a year.

In order to successfully stockpile you are going to need to purchase or obtain multiple papers or purchase your coupons/inserts from a clipping service. Because you need to stockpile the quantity necessary to last your family until the next cycle. Once you are shopping from your stockpile weekly instead of from the grocery store, this is when you are going to see the savings! It takes on average 3 months to build a stockpile. Normally the first month you will see an increase in spending and by the end 2nd and 3rd you will begin to see a savings. By your 4th month you should be saving hundreds of dollars a month!

I hope this helps you understand what a stockpile is and how you can start to stockpile.