If you have trouble viewing this video you can view it Here.
(View the Printable Notes Here)
| Building a Stockpile
A stockpile is a reserve of the products you use most, purchased at their lowest prices
The Goals of Stockpiling Include:
• Buy multiples of an item when it’s on sale & you have a coupon
• Never pay full price for items you frequently use
• Save money by buying items you USE
Create a Stockpile Plan using this Stockpiling Plan
A Few of my Stockup Prices are listed below to give you an idea of what you can realistically pay for an item. Remember, I’m located in the Mid-West so you may have to adjust your plan based on your cost of living.
Here are 9 Steps to get you started:
1. Download and Print the Stockpiling Plan Worksheet and use it as you follow along this post.
2. Write Down 10 Items you buy every time you go to the store. Do this for each category listed. You will want to include items which you could stockpile, so you probably don’t want to list Milk, Bread, or items that will perish.
For the Health & Beauty items you want to list your most frequently used items. So for my family we would use items such as Toothpaste, Contact Solution, Shaving Cream, Razor Blades, Lotion, and so on.
Pharmacy is for items that you prefer. My mom prefers to use Aleve over anything else so even though I can’t get that for Free very often I do want to purchase it at Rock Bottom Prices. Another item we use is Children’s Tylenol so that’s going to go in this category as well so that I make sure I’m watching for the best deal.
3. Fill in the Retail Price of the Item. This is the price you would pay if you just walked in to the store and picked the item up off the shelf. If you normally buy the generic than you could also use that price.
4. Aim to Buy Items at 50% Of the Retail Price. The Buy price of an item is around 50% This would be when the item is either on sale, or you have a coupon for the item. This is the highest price that you typically want to pay for an item.
5. Watch for a Stock Up Price. One of the reasons you want to know the Buy Price of the item is so that you can determine when it’s time to stockpile. My typical rule of thumb is that you want to pay 75% or less for an item that you are stockpiling.
6. Set aside $10 each week for stockpiling (You may need to reduce the items you buy by $10 to avoid busting your budget)
7. Print Coupons & Watch for Sales. As coupons for the items on your list come along you will want to print those or cut them out and put them in your coupon box or binder. This is so that when you find a sale you already have the coupon available.
8. Try to Stockpile 1 item a week, or as much as you can with the $10. You will find that most of the Health & Beauty items go on sale frequently for Free and that would be a great time to stockpile without using much of your $10.
9. Check off your list! I love to check off my list so I included a checkbox so you could see your progress. The goal is that as you stockpile the items you use on a frequent basis you will start to see freedom in your budget to expand your list of items that you stockpile.
| Additional Resources
I have a 3 part series on Stockpiling that you can check out if you’re looking for additional resources.
Stockpiling Facts and Questions
Next Lesson: Saving at Drugstores
My mom used to stockpile even bread and milk by freezing them. If you’re really picky then milk tastes slightly different after freezing, but bread is just fine. Just make sure you bag it well and remove all the air just like freezing anything.
And speaking of freezing and since it’s corn season, corn is really easy to freeze- just cook corn on the cob as you normally do, then cut the corn kernels off the cob like you would for a small child. Spread on a cookie sheet and freeze for a few hours. Then pull out of the freezer and load into bags. The reason for the cookie sheet first is to keep the corn from sticking together in one big lump in the freezer so you can later take out how much you want. It’s probably the easiest perishable to ‘put up’, much easier than canning.
…and thank you for the site!! The menu planning video especially was great!!
at the bottom of your page i see a tab that says My List what is this for. By the way I am new to extream couponing so i am learning alot from you videos it is a great program and will start using you tips and lists. thank you
Good question Lillian and I am so glad you are starting to save! When you go to a list for Weekly Ad and Coupon Matchups for a store that I cover, there will be small box you can check next to each matchup in the list. This will generate a personal list for you of the matchups you have checked and you can print off the list to take to the store! I hope this help and let me know if you need more help!