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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, this is 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.
Make sure to visit Melissa’s blog over at Stockpiling Moms!
Your Turn: What do you think about stockpiling? Do you do it? Do you like it? Have you noticed the savings yet?
*~*~*Bargain Blessings*~*~* says
Andrea~ Body wash, deodorant, and toothpaste deals will always come around. When you have your stockpile set for those items feel free focus on other items that you do need!
Andrea says
Wow-that makes a lot of sense! I was getting a little confused b/c I am only in my 2nd month of stockpiling and have noticed an INCREASE in my spending the last 2 months. Hopefully I will start seeing my decreases soon!! I guess my question is when to know you have enough? Right now we are very well stocked on personal items (body wash, deoderant, toothpaste). But I keep seeing these great deals for more free items! Is this a pretty regular trend? Or should I continue stockpiling? Just don't want to miss out on any great deals!!!
*~*~*Bargain Blessings*~*~* says
Sorry…that should have said KrisTin! 🙂
*~*~*Bargain Blessings*~*~* says
It sounds like you all are doing great at stockpiling! Way to go!
Krisin~ As far as putting a timeline and amount on saving it really is going to be different for every family. If I only shop at King Soopers, but if you shop at all the stores…your stockpile is going to grow a lot faster than mine and your savings will also eventually be more. I would say that if you really hit thr ground running and are shopping a multiple stores, by four months you should have (or at least a start towards) a significant stockpile built. 🙂
JA_freecash says
@ Ash Savage our LDS church also recommends that we have a Food Storage for a year. It is nice to have a safety net.
Sarah says
I only started couponing 1 month ago, and it was Ashley who recommended this site and this is where I learned everything I know! So, my "pile" is not all that big yet, but still impressive to me. I keep a spreadsheet of retail and sale prices and then the price I paid for each item so I can instantly see what I am saving and it's already hundreds. When having people over or going to a friend's house, I don't stop at the store and pay the shelf price for food, I get something from my stash. I also have many things ready to donate to the food bank and women's shelter. As a SAHM, I can't write checks to places like I want to, but I can do this with my time, and on my schedule. I like that I can save our family money and give to others and have fun doing it.
Kristin says
Well, my biggest stockpiles right now are certainly not a year's worth! But it's more than I've had in the past! I have bought cereal and salad dressing several or more at a time, have several cans of shaving cream for my hubby and body washes, lots of diapers and wipes all from deals here on BB. Thanks Jennie. It's hard to imagine having that big of a stockpile, but hey, I've already saved some money!
Jennie, in your experience, how realistic is what Melissa is saying about her stockpile and how much money she saves?
Karla says
We do the same thing with Food Storage so stockpiling with couponing was not a new concept. It does take a few months to build up your stockpile. I'm finally at the point where I'm seeing savings in my grocery bill and my basement is FULL of groceries. I love couponing and I love Bargain Blessings….she does a GREAT job with the grocery ad matchups.
Ash Savage says
I have been stockpiling for years – we call it Food Storage! Our church encourages it, actually, which is why it was my goal in the first place. We are encouraged to have 1 year's supply on hand, for those not-so-great occasions such as losing a job, natural disaster, or economy issues, etc. I'm not quite up to a year yet, but I'm getting there! You can see my blog post about it here: https://familysavage.blogspot.com/2010/05/food-storage-glory.html Enjoy!