Teaching Tuesday: How Do You Begin A Stockpile?

For today's Teaching Tuesday post, I'm going to discuss how to begin building a stockpile.  We've already learned about how to organize coupons and how to match coupons to sale prices (and we know if it's a good sale price because we know our prices!)

When we put all of this information into practice, we're going to see significant savings!  However, all of that goes to waste if we do not buy enough of an item to last us until it goes on sale again  (typically 4-8 weeks) and we have to run out and buy the item at full price.

Over the summer, I wrote a post that was all about stockpiles (literally, that was the title!  Go read it if you'd like to learn more!)  I've also posted about how stockpiles do not need to be extreme, but no matter if they are large or small, they've got to start somewhere!

Ideally, the best way to begin a stockpile is "buying" several of an item that is FREE after coupons during a given sale, but lately those have been few and far between!  The next best thing is buying several of an item when it is at it's lowest sale price and you have a coupon for that item.

When the items you wish to stockpile aren't free, you have to be careful not to overdo it, and risk going over budget buying things that you don't immediately need.  It's a tricky situation to be in, because you are having to spend extra money now in order to get future savings!

Since we're saving so much on our grocery bill, we can dedicate some of that savings to beginning a stockpile.

Let's say, for example, that before using coupons you were spending $150/week on groceries.  By using coupons, you find you're able to save nearly half, spending only $80/week.  Your instinct is to lower your budget and allocate all of that savings into another budget category.  Great idea!  But leave yourself a bit of wiggle room!  Set your budget at say $100/week.  You'll still have an extra $50 to shift into another budget category, and you'll give yourself an extra $20 to "play" with at the store.  Also, you never know when there will be a bad sale week (or a really good one) and you need a little more than that $80!

Then, when you see a great sale on something, you'll know you can afford to buy a few extra.  Let's say you see juice on sale for $2 when it's usually $4.  That's already half off, but you happen to have a few $1 coupons, so you can get them for just $1.  That's a savings of 75% and a great time to stockpile.

If you buy 4 bottles for $4, you've gotten 4 times as much for the same price you would have paid without a sale or a coupon  (the price you'll pay next week if you only get one bottle when the sale is over and your coupon has perhaps expired).

If you normally buy 1 bottle of juice each week, you've just stocked up for the whole month for no more out of your pocket than a normal weekly purchase, and that item gets taken off of your "needed item" list for at least three weeks..freeing up more money that you can use to focus on stocking up on another item.

I love how savings has a snowball effect!

Next week we'll be discussing how you can save more by not being so loyal. ;)