I kind of forgot about Thrifty Thursday the past couple of weeks, but I’ve already made a list of more topics, and I’ve added TT to my moleskine calendar so I don’t forget.
Today, we’re going to talk about stockpiling. Before we started this whole being poor thing, I never understood stockpiling. I mean, if you don’t have a lot of money, why would you spend more money? But that’s where I was WRONG. We stockpile by buying ONLY things that we will use, and we always wait for very good sales – like buy one get one free (BOGO).
Our closest and favorite grocery store is Publix, and they have a long list of BOGO products every week. I start there.
Then, I move onto list-worthy sale items – like 10 for $10 Campbell’s soups or 3 for $11 Coke/Pepsi 12-packs.
And then, I look at meats. Meats can always be frozen, so I stock up when the prices are really good – like $1.99/lb.
Finally, I go through my coupons and see if I can find a coupon for anything that’s BOGO or on sale for an even bigger price break. That’s when I really go crazy stocking up. ;) For instance, last week, Publix had Post cereal BOGO and then I had a coupon for $1 off 2 boxes – so I ended up getting 4 boxes of cereal for about $3. I would have gotten more, but there was a 4-box limit.
In the end, the only way that stockpiling works is if you stockpile items that you will definitely use. So if I get 10 cans of Campbell’s soups for $1/each this week, then I won’t have to buy them next week for $1.50/each when I actually need them. I can always use Campbell’s soups, so it saves money in the long run.
Unlike the can of sardines Ken bought because it was only 50 cents. :::shakes head:::
So you’ve started stockpiling … where do you put it?
Well, we got a cheap plastic shelving unit from Big Lots for about $8, and we put it in our garage.
Next to our Christmas tree, of course.
It holds all of our canned goods, sodas and juice – basically, the non perishables that won’t lure mice (we don’t have them, and we don’t want them!)
I also use the top shelf of our pantry to hold our boxed/bagged items.
And here’s the rest of our horribly messy and unorganized pantry, for your viewing pleasure.
It’s on my to-do list for this weekend.
We also have a small freezer that my parents gave us in our garage to hold extra frozen items, including meats.
So that’s the basic gist of stockpiling. It does make sense & save money if you do it the right way.
Plus, we are totally ready in case of nuclear war.
ps: I’m going to do a post either later today or tomorrow re: my camera, lenses, favorite software and tips. I’m not ignoring your comments on my last post (thank you!!!) – I just thought I’d hit everything in one fell swoop.
