I’m not a hardcore coupon shopper, but I am quite frugal and thrifty. And I’ve always been someone who stockpiles good deals. Well I wanted to address how my stockpile saves me money but not like normal couponers.
I stockpile mostly non-perishables. I started about 1 year ago really getting into and it turns out has been quite nice. I have a years worth of toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, tissue, body wash, etc. Mostly things which don’t go bad. This week I’m considering stockpiling 12 packs of soda. It’s 5/$12 ($2.40/case) which is the cheapest I’ve seen in about 6 months. I typically stockpile 6 months worth when it hits $1.99/case, but those deals appear to be gone. I also never find coupons for Coke (only brand DH drinks).
But should you stockpile? When I started coupon shopping last February, I tried to stockpile food. Turns out, it was a failure. We never ate the food quickly enough to justify stockpiling the food even if it were non-perishable. We don’t eat enough mac and cheese, hamburger helper, etc. Turns out I ended up donating a bunch of it because well truthfully we don’t like to eat that sort of processed foods.
So I focused on what I did use. I began to hunt down deals on shampoo, body wash, facial soap I liked for free or close to free. I have 10 boxes of electrasol tablets, 3 packs of paper towels and 4 packs of toilet paper, and something like 6-12 bottles of shampoo/bodywash/conditioner, etc. Enough to last me a year. I also have a bunch of cleaning supplies which I run through quickly.
So my stockpile is non-perishable, stuff I like and want to use, and stuff which I’d be buying even without deals. I’m sure many more people save tons on stockpiling food, but I don’t think as a couple we could finish an entire freezer of meat or 3 pantries of canned goods quickly enough to justify the extra money monthly used for stockpiling. But I could see how large families could save a lot by stockpiling food.
So my savings comes to about $50/month in health and beauty supplies and household goods. This in turn has been spent on eating healthier, fresher foods I enjoy. So coupon shopping is not only savings on foods, but perhaps using it for stockpiling everyday toiletries and household goods which will give you more budget flexiblity to buy food you want.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Grace // May 13, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Just so you know–stockpiling soda doesn’t work. It changes flavor the longer it sits, even in unopened cans. You’re probably too young to remember the hullabaloo when Coke decided to change its formula, and we all stockpiled Coke Classic, but that’s the lesson that I learned. I do think you’re right to stockpile goods more than food. VO5 shampoo is sometimes on sale for as low as 50 cents a bottle–I buy it by the caseload!
2 tom // May 13, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Stockpiling non-perishables is the way to go. Head out to Costco/Sams, and buy a boat load of it. The short term financial hit will only benefit you in the long run. Like you, there are only 2 of us and the dog to feed so when we try to stockpile food it goes bad too quickly. I hear canned goods last a very long time so it might be beneficial to stock up on beef/chicken broth, and campbells soups.
3 Livingalmostlarge // May 13, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Soda isn’t so bad actually. I asked my SIL who works for Coke and was told they did change the formulation. It doesn’t go bad like before. But now I stockpile 6 months of Coke. DH drinks it way faster than a reasonable person.
I have a bottle of 100 cubes of bullion, much smaller space than the cans.
4 Future Millionaire // May 14, 2008 at 1:14 am
I’m with you on stock piling of beauty supplies. I only buy my body wash, face wash, lotion and deo when its on sale and I have coupons. When both forces combine I buy in bulk. I can’t remember the last time I ever ran out of any of this since I have the equivalent of a small store in my bathroom closet.
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