Hello Everyone!
This is probably the BEST advice I can give you when it comes to saving money – Stockpile!
No Joke.
It literally saves me thousands each year.
So I’m hoping in the near future I will start a series on how to start a stockpile – but for those of you who don’t know what it is – it’s simply a overflow of goods you use, that will help you get to the next sale cycle. Typically sale cycles can be about 3 months long (depending on the item). The entire premise is to stock up on an item at the LOWEST price it will be – and get enough of that item to get you through to the next time that item will be at a rock bottom price.
This has a lot to do with your own personal price points when it comes to items. The longer I coupon the more picky I get with my price points on certain items. For instance – Anything mouth related (toothpaste, mouthwash, floss, toothbrushes) the most I would ever pay (after rewards) is $1.00. Cereal is under $2.00 a box. Toilet paper is less than $0.35 per roll. Those are just some quick examples.
There was even a time I was able to score Deodorant (normally $4.00 a stick) for only $0.50 each – so I stocked up (and then gave my sister a nice little stock pile of it herself)!
This means that if I am running low on toothpaste in my stockpile – and there is a store that will allow me to get that toothpaste at or under $1.00 after coupons and rewards I will stock up and buy a decent amount of toothpaste. If a store is having a sale where I can end up with the item for Free or as a Money Maker I will almost Always buy the item (unless I absolutely don’t need it – and even then I might still get it and donate it).
For instance last years Thanksgiving sale (2014) I was able to get toothbrushes for Free (and to the extent I had the coupons as a Money Maker). I have enough toothbrushes to last about 2 years – but these were free or ended up making me money every time I bought them, they take up almost no space, and they don’t expire so it was really easy for me to justify getting as many as I did. (plus if anyone has every watched a Roll With Me Video on my YouTube Channel you will see how it is sometimes necessary to buy certain items to cover the cost of other items you need).
2014 Thanksgiving day Haul – I ended up Making Money after all was said and done.
A photo posted by Come Save Away (@comesaveaway) on
For me if the item doesn’t expire and those items are at a very low price I will most certainly stock up on that item for a decent amount of time. However the perishable items I will not! I will get enough to get me through to the next sale cycle. If it happens to be an item that has an overage that I need to use, I will buy however much I need to make my shopping trip work. I will then keep what I know I will use and donate the rest.
A great example of this is when there was a money maker on cat food at Walmart (every time I bought a can of cat food I made $0.50) – I don’t have a cat – but I needed the overage of the cat food to pay for my groceries I was buying that week. So I got my hands on as many of the coupons as I could – bought the cat food – used the overage to pay for my food that week (and still left with Walmart paying me over $1.00 in cash). I took all the cat food I had purchased and donated it to a local shelter – I obviously had no need (other than the overage) for the cat food – but the shelter needed it.
The point being that if you purchase the products at rock bottom prices – and you purchase enough of that product to get you to the next time it will be at a rock bottom price – you will save a ton of money.
Last year I kept track of what I was saving from January through June thanks to couponing and stockpiling. Those 6 months alone I saved around $3,700. That’s not even including the amount of “Money Makers” I would just zero out the product and call it good. I stopped couponing around the June mark and we lived off the stockpile for a little over 4 months before I wanted to start re-filling my stockpile (and if I’m being honest I missed couponing). That’s 4 months that we did not have to spend anything on household items (and only a little bit on perishables – because we love canning and buy our meat in bulk we really didn’t have to buy too much). So that was savings from the budget on top of how much I saved from the original couponing purchases. In 2014 alone I saved over $5,000 with couponing and stockpiling and that includes taking the 4 month break from it entirely.
I was paid $8 to leave with these #comesaveaway #paidtoshop
A photo posted by Come Save Away (@comesaveaway) on
So I can honestly say it works!
Starting the stockpile is where it can be difficult – so be on the lookout for an upcoming series or post on how to do this. In the mean time be sure to check out the Stock Up Deals This Week section of the blog to see what some of the can’t miss deals are.
For the purposes of this post we will say you can save merely $200 a year (even though I know you can save well over $1,000 without trying to super hard). Heck If you follow my top deals you can save the $200 in a matter of a month!
Saved with this methods $200
Total Saved: $1,504
If you Missed any part of the Series be sure to Catch up:
1. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #1 Use Coupons
2. Over 50 ways to save Over $50: #2 wash clothes in cold water
3. Over 50 ways to save Over $50: #3 Buy Meat in Bulk When It’s On Sale or Marked Down
4. Over 50 ways to save Over $50: #4 Have A Garage Sale
5. Over 50 ways to save Over $50: #5 Shop at a Farmer’s Market
6. Over 50 ways to save Over $50: #6 Canning
7. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #7 Make Your Own Baby Food
8. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #8 Make Coffee at Home
9. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #9 Movie Night At Your House
10. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #10 Use Gas Rewards
11. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #11 Shop With a Credit Card
12. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #12 Swagbucks
13. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #13 Shop Holiday Clearance
14. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #14 Use an App That Pays You
15. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #15 Put $1.00 Away Each Week
16. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #16 Turn Electronics Off When You’re Not Using Them
17. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #17 do Your Own Nails
18. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #18 Shop Consignment