7
 Sensible Stockpiling

Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Matthew 6:19–21

The Basics of Building a Sensible Stockpile: Having What You Need at Your Fingertips

I’m guessing that by this time many of you have seen the crazy photos of extreme couponers showing off their massive stockpiles. Yep, those things look pretty intimidating, don’t they? I mean, even the word stockpile brings forth images of people out in their backyards building fallout shelters for a nuclear disaster. Either that, or they have rooms devoted to toilet paper storage or entire closets of toothpaste just waiting to clean the teeth of the next three generations.

This is not the kind of stockpile we’re learning how to build in this chapter. Rather, it is about buying what we will need and use during the next three months. In other words, I want to have a well-stocked pantry, not hole up enough items to feed a family of twelve for the next five years. Shopping this way will save you money. It will also give you a way to shop from home so you only have to go to the grocery store for the fresh items you need to replenish quickly, like bread, milk, eggs, and produce.

I like to call this “sensible stockpiling.” It’s smart, practical, and doesn’t involve going overboard.

It’s very difficult to master the art of couponing without having a stocked pantry. One of our goals is to avoid as much as possible paying full price for the items we use. The only way to do this is to buy enough of an item while it’s super cheap to last until the next sale cycle. It’s a simple concept, and it has some impressive benefits.

For example, shopping this way will all but eliminate those one-item trips to the grocery store. You know the ones I’m talking about. Those days when you walk in looking to buy cheese for the tacos you’re making for dinner and walk out with four full bags of groceries. This kind of trip costs you time and money.

Let me share what a good friend of mine has to say on the subject:

I used to be one of those people who said I couldn’t possibly buy extra items . . . I could barely afford what I needed on a weekly basis, let alone buy extra. But I started stockpiling about five months ago, mostly on items I got from CVS sales—shampoo, toothpaste, razors, laundry detergent, dish detergent, and so forth. The best part is, after you get into it a few months and start to build your stockpile, you will notice you don’t need nearly as much at the grocery store each week. And you can buy more and more items that are on sale with that extra money. It’s a great feeling, when everyone is complaining about the cost of everything, to know you are actually paying less for things than you did a year ago, and if you had to, you could go for a while without buying anything! Stockpiling is the best.

See? The best! And you can do it too. In this chapter we are going to learn what it takes to build and organize your sensible stockpile. Plus, we’ll find creative places to store your groceries and household items, learn how to be flexible with brand loyalties, and even talk about planning meals around your stockpile to avoid extra trips to the grocery store.

Let’s see if this sounds familiar. It’s 4:30 in the afternoon and I’m making lasagna for dinner. The best part? I’ve got everything I need. I’ve got all the ingredients, have the casserole put together, the salad is made, and I’m about two minutes from turning on the oven for the bread.

Wait . . . bread! How could I have forgotten that I don’t have any bread? Oh well, I can at least go ahead and set the table, grab the salt and pepper, and pull out the salad dressing. Hmmmm . . . I thought I had a brand-new bottle of salad dressing. Where did that get to? Forget it! I’m out of time. I’ll just run to the store and grab a bottle to go with the bread I now need. The lasagna is cooking and I can be back in less than ten minutes.

Then, I walk into the store and it’s like my brain just disconnects from my body. I planned to grab the two items I needed and get back home before the timer dinged, but somehow two has turned into twenty. On my way to get the dressing I realize we need some juice. My husband and daughter are diabetic and we have to keep juice boxes with us all the time in case their blood sugar drops. It’s not on sale, but we’ve got to have it. Oh look! My favorite cookies! Better grab a pack of those too. Hey, Powerade is 10 for $10! My kids love that stuff!

And so on and so on and so on, until I’ve managed to spend $75 on bread and salad dressing. Not only that, but I didn’t even get a good deal on anything I bought. I forgot everything I had learned and fell back into that old habit of shopping for what my family needs instead of for what we use. Don’t fall into this trap; plan ahead.

Our goal is to stock up on the items we need when they are at their lowest, rock-bottom price. In doing so we cross these items off our list until the next sale cycle and save ourselves from those “got to get it now” trips to the store. We want to maximize our coupon savings and get the best possible value for our money.

In the last chapter we walked through how to navigate the Time 2 $ave blog, build your list, and prepare for your trip. Now we are going to take those skills and use them to build a stockpile of the items your family uses every week.

Ready? Here we go!

Be Flexible with Brand Loyalties

One of the first things you can do as you get set to stockpile is change your mindset. Are you brand loyal? Yep, so was I until I found out I could purchase a different name-brand peanut butter for $0.40 a jar instead of $3.86. It doesn’t mean you will like your new brand better, but this type of price difference will definitely make you open to trying something new.

If you only ever buy one certain brand of something, you’re going to have to wait much longer for the opportunity to stockpile it. But if you work at stockpiling the item and not the brand (salad dressing, not Hidden Valley or Kraft or Wish-Bone), you will have so many more chances to get a great deal.

What Items Should You Buy for Your Stockpile?

Want to know what to buy for your stockpile? Then check out appendix B of this book! You will find a list of items you should look for when building your stockpile. Take this list and make it your own. Mark off the items you’ll never use (in my house that would be mayonnaise and tuna . . . gross!). Consider your family’s eating habits and fill your pantry accordingly. For example, if your family only goes through five boxes of cereal in a year, then this isn’t an item you will need to focus on. But if you tend to use a full jar of peanut butter every week, then that is a sale you want to take advantage of.

Quick note: I still live by the principle of looking beyond the needs of my own family. For me this means actively searching for those items I can buy and donate each time I go to the grocery store. It might mean picking up a few extra boxes of cereal here and there or even sucking it up and buying mayonnaise that I know someone else would use. I’m not going to stock up on items I know we won’t eat, but I will grab one or two to donate and then keep on walking.

With this in mind, approach the sale matchups each week looking for those items you want to stock up on. It’s a process and it won’t happen overnight, but with time your weekly grocery list will begin to shift from need to use as you stock your pantry and knock those must-have items off your list.

Over the next twelve weeks you will be purchasing different sale items each time you shop. Remember? It’s about finding that rock-bottom price and taking advantage of it. Yes, you are buying enough to get through this sale cycle, but you aren’t buying enough to last the rest of your life. For example, our goal is not to buy five hundred tubes of toothpaste so that we never have to buy it again. The idea is that you will begin to run low on specific items just as the next sale cycle rolls around.

Back in chapter 6 we talked about what your “list” would look like in a given week. Now we are going to look at that same list in relation to building your pantry.

This is where setting aside between $5 and $10 a week to build your pantry comes into play. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but we can make that money stretch a looooong way! Some weeks you may only have one pantry item on your list, but don’t let that discourage you. Those items will add up week after week until one day you open the door and find this wonderfully stocked pantry staring back at you.

Here is an example of a pantry stockpile list:

Items to Target

Cheese Salad dressing Veggies Oatmeal
Rice Crackers Butter Mustard
Pickles Bread Jelly Pasta sauce
Chicken Pasta Cleaning wipes Bleach
Shampoo Detergent Dryer sheets Window cleaner
Toothpaste Toilet paper Paper towels Furniture polish

Now let’s look at what shopping for pantry items might look like.

Green Giant Vegetables—$0.64 ea. or $1.28 BOGO

Use $1/4 PRINT

(makes it $0.39)

** I have (2) $1/4 printables = $3.12 for 8 cans of veggies

Mueller’s Pasta—$0.79 ea. or $1.58 BOGO

Use $1/2 from 1/8 SS

(makes it $0.29)

**I have (5) $1/2 newspaper coupons = $2.90 for 10 boxes of pasta

Mt. Olive Sweet Relish or Pickles—$1.20 ea. or $2.40 BOGO

Use $1/1, $0.75/1 from 1/22 SS

(makes it as low as $0.20)

**I have (5) newspaper coupons = $1.00 for 5 jars of pickles

Hall’s Cough Drops—$1.00 ea. or $1.46 BOGO

Use $0.50/1 from Feb. All You (this will double)

(makes it as low as FREE)

**I have (1) All You magazine coupon = $0 for 1 pk. of cough drops

Although this item is not on my target list, I know that at some point I’m going to need cough drops and I’d rather have them on hand for free than to have to make a midnight drugstore run and pay full price.

Wish-Bone Dressing—$1.32 ea. or $2.64 BOGO

Use $0.65/2, $0.50/1, $0.70/1 from 1/29 RP

Stack with $1.00/2 Target PRINT

(makes it as low as FREE wyb 2)

Quick note about the salad dressing: to get this product for free we need the Target printable. Although we have five manufacturer coupons from the Sunday paper, we can only use one competitor coupon per like item. With the Target printable the sale would look something like this:

(1) Target printable + (2) $0.50/1 newspaper coupons (will double) = $0.00 for two bottles of salad dressing. The remaining three would be $0.32 each. I have (5) newspaper coupons and (1) Target store coupon = $0.96 for five bottles of salad dressing.

Price Comparison: Retail vs. Pantry Price

Item Retail Price (per item) Sensible Stockpiling Price
Veggies $1.28 8 cans for $3.12
Pasta $1.58 10 boxes for $2.90
Pickles $2.40 5 jars for $2.00
Cough drops $1.46 1 pk. for FREE
Salad dressing $2.64 5 bottles for $0.96
5 items total: $9.36 29 items total: $8.98

These sales are from an actual week at one of my favorite local grocery stores. Look at these items as if you were the one at the store. Look at the price differences laid out in the chart above. If I were to buy just one of each of these items on a regular shopping day then it would cost me $9.36. However, by shopping when the items are at their rock-bottom price I am able to bring home 29 pantry items for a total of $8.98. Pretty significant savings! Not only that, but look at what this trip has done to our pantry list.

Items to Target

Cheese Salad dressing Veggies Oatmeal
Rice Crackers Butter Mustard
Pickles Bread Jelly Pasta sauce
Chicken Pasta Cleaning wipes Bleach
Shampoo Detergent Dryer sheets Window cleaner
Toothpaste Toilet paper Paper towels Furniture polish

Now pickles, salad dressing, and pasta are marked off for the next twelve weeks and we can focus our attention and our budget on other things.

After you’ve stocked up for the week, the rest of your grocery budget can go toward those items you still need. This cycle continues until you’ve stocked your pantry with items you use on a regular basis. Then when you run out of pickles, for example, you shop at home. I have a shelf in my garage where I keep some of my pantry items. If I need pickles, I can grab one of my own $0.20 cent jars off the shelf instead of putting it back on my list and paying $2.40.

If you don’t make it to the store each week, don’t stress about it. The great thing about prices cycling the way they do is that those same sales will come around again.

The Big Picture

As you change your shopping habits and put these ideas into play, your list will start to change. We’ve talked about that, but now I would like to take just a few minutes to look at how that will happen. It’s really kind of fun to see your grocery list shrink week after week until it dwindles down to only a handful of items. Then when you miss a week of shopping, you don’t even feel it! (See chart on page 99.)

Month One and Two

At this point your focus has been on changing your shopping habits. It’s still early in the game, but you’ve started building your pantry and you can see where your shelves are fuller than before. Not only that, but there are several items your family uses that you’ve been able to stock up on. As a result, your list of must-haves is starting to get smaller. It also means that you can now allocate more of your weekly budget toward building your pantry. Instead of $5 to $10, now you’ve freed up $15 to $20 without increasing what you spend.

Month Three

This is where you really start to notice the difference. By the end of the third month you have been through a twelve-week sale cycle. You know what it feels like to shop from your own pantry, and you often find yourself walking past items you would normally buy, because you know the price will come down soon. Your weekly list is shrinking considerably, to the point where the number of must-haves and the number of pantry items are almost equal.

Month Six

This is what I like to call “maintenance,” and it’s a beautiful place to be. After six months you have been through two sale cycles and your pantry is stocked. Need shampoo? Just grab some off the shelf. Want spaghetti for dinner? You’re covered! You have what you need on hand at any given time, and now you pretty much only shop for those items you have to replenish regularly. Your weekly list is shrinking considerably, to the point where the number of must-haves and the number of pantry items are almost equal.

And Beyond!

The must-have portion of your list has dwindled down to almost nothing and your weekly bill is considerably lower than ever before. This is the goal line! It takes some work to get here, but the reward is oh so wonderful.

Storage Tips

Now that you have all these groceries/household items, you need a place to put them. Yes, we’ve talked about cleaning out closets and drawers, but let’s get a little more specific because I know that some of you are still convinced your baby is going to end up sleeping on a bed made out of toilet paper.

The trick is to look at the space you have in a new way. You’ll be amazed at where you can find places to store stuff that you didn’t even think about before.

Here are a couple ideas:

I give you these options to get you thinking. Look around your home as you read this and see all that wasted space you can put to good use. There is no reason to sacrifice the comfort of your family because you bought two hundred tubes of toothpaste and now you have no idea where to put them. (Just kidding, but you get the picture.)

What if a person has enough money to live on and sees his brother in need of food and clothing? If he does not help him, how can the love of God be in him? My children, let us not love with words or in talk only. Let us love by what we do and in truth. This is how we know we are Christians. It will give our heart comfort for sure when we stand before Him. (1 John 3:17–19 NLV)

Avoiding the Burnout

Burnout. We’ve all been there. Maybe not with couponing just yet, but you know exactly what I’m talking about. I’m not going to lie; it’s easy to burn yourself out couponing. It is so tempting to fall into the trap of feeling like you have to get every deal out there and then beating yourself up when you happen to miss one.

Honey, it is all about balance! I don’t want you to burn out. I want you to find that place where this works for you and makes a difference for your family. You’ll never get there if you always feel like you’re fighting your way upstream in an effort to get all the best deals and lowest prices. Making daily life difficult is not my goal. My goal is to help you build a pantry that works for you. And I don’t think you can do it—I know you can.

Here are a few habits that should be avoided to prevent burnout.

Savings Percentage

I know some couponers who always strive to reach a certain percentage of savings. If they happen to miss that mark one week, then they feel as if they have failed or done something wrong. Don’t let yourself fall into this trap. Whether you save 5 percent or 75 percent, you have still saved money.

Marathon Shopping

Let me just be honest with you. There is no way for you to hit every store and snag every deal every week. It’s not going to happen. It will consume your life if you let it. I can tell you now that almost every couponer out there struggles with this at some point or another. It is just so easy to get caught up in the mindset that you are missing out on something. Here’s the thing: none of us needs this kind of anxiety in our lives. We just don’t! And if you feel anxious about missing a sale, it’s probably not a good thing.

So prioritize. Make a list of the stores you would like to hit and prioritize them. If you don’t get through them all, don’t worry about it. Move on to the next week and put the past behind you. See, that’s the great thing about couponing. It’s not a “one time only” deal where you have to get in line or miss out forever. These deals will come around again. All of them. Yes, I said all of them! Couponing does not have to be overwhelming or stressful. It’s about savings and it’s about simplicity.

Keeping Up with the Joneses

I talk to new couponers all the time who worry because their stockpile doesn’t look like their neighbor’s, their friend’s, or their sister’s. Guess what? It doesn’t matter. Honestly, I would be a little worried if your pantry did look exactly like someone else’s. Your pantry should be built for your family. Celebrating each other’s savings and accomplishments is much more fun than comparing any day.

So far we’ve talked about how it can benefit you to build a stockpile by saving you trips to the store and buying the things you use at their lowest price. But there are other benefits you might not have considered. Let me tell you a story about my friend Jamie.

The first time we met was entirely by chance—she walked into the first couponing class I ever taught. She was in her midtwenties with four kids under seven, and though her husband worked full-time, it never quite covered everything. They found themselves leaning on food stamps at the beginning of the month and credit cards toward the end of the month just to stay afloat. Jamie wanted more than anything to keep her family from sinking into debt, and she had taken on part-time jobs at Laundromats and fast-food restaurants over the years to help. She later explained to me what drove her to learn how to coupon:

It was one of the simplest decisions I’d ever made—take on a part-time job or make couponing my part-time job. I was more than willing to work hard at this couponing thing in order to stay home with my family. Within a couple of months we were off of food stamps and I’d built a stockpile that I was really proud of. We still had those tight weeks, sure. But during those weeks I made simple dinners like pasta, tacos, or soup and sandwiches—using ingredients foraged from my stockpile. It made me feel more safe and secure—I could tell things were changing for us. I had absolutely made a big difference for my family just by couponing.

While I love that learning to coupon empowered Jamie to change her family’s finances, there’s something else about her story that I want to share with you. Just as things were becoming easier for her, one of her friends (we’ll call her Melissa) suddenly found herself newly single, in the last semester of nursing school, and devastated—with three kids to care for. What she needed was someone to rescue her in a big way. She honestly needed so many things. Jamie wanted to help any way she could. First of all, there was no way on earth Melissa had time to sit down and learn how to coupon right then. So instead of showing her how to shop, Jamie invited the single mother over to her house to shop in her stockpile.

There was always enough to go around—just like the Bible story with the loaves and fishes. And knowing the kinds of things Melissa’s family ate often (easy, convenient meals during this period), Jamie purposefully shopped to stockpile extra of those items. Each week she sent her friend home with a trunk full of groceries and household supplies, even buying sale-priced meat or cheese in bulk so she could send hamburger with the Hamburger Helper or cheese with the taco ingredients.

The amazing part is, this wasn’t even giving till it hurt. This was giving painlessly. An extra $10 a week to maintain her stockpile was nearly all the investment Jamie had to make to keep on providing for Melissa until she was in a better place to provide for herself.

Wouldn’t we all love to be able to do that? Don’t we all have a friend or family member or neighbor who we know is going through a rough patch? Wouldn’t it be awesome to have the means to drop off a box of supplies on their doorstep or invite them over to fill a couple bags during a hard week?

Having a stockpile can make a difference not only in your family but also in the lives of those around you who are hurting. I encourage you to keep those people in mind as you look through the lists of free and cheap items each week.

For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. (2 Cor. 9:10–11)

action

Try your hand at stockpiling.

First, find a nook or cranny in your home that you can use to store some extra items. Maybe it’s in your basement or garage, or maybe a shelf in one of your closets can be hijacked for this mission. Once you’ve claimed a piece of your home for your stockpile, find something to put there!

Head over to Time2SaveWorkshops.com and browse through the ads for grocery or drugstores near you, or look at your favorite store’s weekly circular. Usually the best savings are right there on the front or back. Look for an item that your family uses that is at a really low price after the sale and coupons are taken into account. You might find only one or two items that you have the right coupons for already, but hey—that’s how it is for everyone at the beginning.

Okay, did you spot one item that is super-cheap after the sale price and coupons? Great! That’s going to be the item you stock up on this week. Dig out the exact coupons you need, double check to see if there are any extra coupons you can print from home, and see if there are any competitor coupons that you can stack on top—gather those as well.

Put all your coupons in an envelope along with your list. Making a plan and having the coupons all clipped and handy will make your trip much less stressful. Get as many of the item as you can with the coupons you have (even if that’s just two or three this first time).

When you get home, tuck your purchases into your little stockpile corner. Step back and pat yourself on the back. You’ve just started a sensible stockpile!