Savings Pro Tip: Stockpile to Save Money!

“Stockpiling” is how you save the most money. Stockpiling is when you can get your kids favorite $4/box cereal for $1/box and you buy 4 or 6 boxes at that price to last you until it’s on sale again. If you only buy one box for $1, sure you saved $3, but the very next week you’ll be paying $4 again. But if you buy $4 boxes at $1/box, you’ve saved yourself $12.

You want to buy shelf-stable items (foods as well as paper products, health/beauty, cleaning, etc) at their lowest possible price – and as many of them as you can get in that price (which will depend on sales limits and how many coupons you have).

The key is when you need something, you “shop” from your stockpile. During your weekly grocery shopping trips, you want to stick to buying only the lowest priced deals to replenish your stockpile with.

If you are shopping at the store out of necessity, you’re going to be spending too much. Buy it when it’s on sale so you have it when you need it.

More Stockpiling Tips:

A deal isn’t a deal unless you are actually going to use the item before it spoils. ALWAYS check items before stocking up! Even water has an expiration date. Determine realistically how much your family will use and then buy the appropriate amount.
Don’t fall for the warehouse store trap. Buying in bulk isn’t stockpiling, it’s wasting money. Sam’s is expensive! Let me say that again, Sam’s is very expensive! 90% of the time, purchasing in bulk at a warehouse store is not cheap!
When you find an item that is free or extremely cheap when using a coupon, the inevitable question arises, how much should I buy? To begin, you need to figure out how large of a supply you need! We recommend having at least a minimum of 3 months on hand, but 6 months is preferable. This will allow you to take that item off your grocery list for six months. Sales are cyclical, which means that eventually that item that you are purchasing today, will eventually go on sale down the road again. How much of a particular item you need depends on your family and their usage.
Just because you got 4 jars of pasta sauce for under $2 last week, doesn’t mean you will pass up the next sale on pasta sauce. You are never “finished” with a stockpile. Sales and cycles are happening constantly. If you find a pasta sauce deal while you still have 2-3 jars left, snag it! As soon as you get a full supply of one item, you will run low on another. Each week is different.

Here are some more Stockpiling articles to help you: