Why stockpile and where to start...

Stockpiling is storing items you will need in the future. There are many types of stockpiling but I am referring to food and HBA items right now.

Why stockpile?
Buying common items you and your family use when they are on severe sales, discounts or clearances can and will save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year. Using coupons and learning how to use them correctly is highly advised. I will get to that later.

Since I am a self proclaimed Diva, I love to shop. Before working towards frugality, I spent tons of money on clothes, shoes, and accessories. As the economy got worse, that had to end. I had to find a way to fulfill my shopping addiction but in a way that actually is useful. One day, while on the Internet, I read about a lady that fed her family on very little money. She told about her "stash" of diaper and how she paid $3-$4 a package. I was in awe. She had me from hello. I needed to learn and became obsessed with learning more. It is funny, but she has since disappeared and I wanted to thank her for what she did for my family. The only way I know how is to teach other people and share the knowledge. Now, on with the show...

Where do I start?
Make a list of the food items you use everyday. What you are looking for is listing items that don't expire fast like cereal, meats, condiments, and other pantry type items. Next make a list of the HBA items that you use daily, weekly and monthly. If you are brand specific, list that brand.

Next you must determine how much of each item you need. Before doing that you should also know the shelf life of the item.

Here is common food terminology we see on packaging -

“Sell by” or “Pull date” — This date tells
the store how long to display the food for
sale. Foods eaten after this date are usually
safe to eat as long as they are stored
for no longer than recommended time, and
handled and prepared safely.

“Best if used by (before) date” — This
date means that the food will be of its highest
quality or flavor if consumed before the
date on the package. Foods may be safely
consumed after the date indicated on the
package, if they are stored for no longer than
recommended, are handled and prepared
properly and show no signs of spoilage.

“Expiration date” — This is the last day
the food should be eaten. Except for eggs,
discard foods not consumed by this date.
EGGS: The expiration date is the last date
a store can sell the eggs and still refer to
them as “fresh.” Buy eggs before the expiration
date and use them within 30 days.
After 30 days, discard the eggs. Do not buy
eggs if the expiration date on the package
has passed.

“Pack date” — This is the date the food
was packaged or processed. Consumers may
be able to determine the age of the product
by looking at this date.

Keep in mind if you stock 10 of a particular item and 5 expire you are not saving money! There are plenty of web sites that give you a guideline as to how long you can store items. Here is few of them;

Whats cooking America - food storage chart - Link

Recipe Tips dot com - another food storage chart - Link

There is literally tons of different charts and you can do a simple web search with the key words "food storage life" and find plenty.

When you are looking at stocking up on your HBA items, you need to think about how many you will use in a given time before they expire and what would be a reasonable amount to store. Yes, those are 2 different questions.

My family could use a roll of toilet tissue a day and since I have space, I could store 10 cases. Depending on the sale, it would be reasonable to store 10 cases if they were on a great discount. Now, my family also uses about a tube of toothpaste per month. I usually keep 15 in my home because it is not reasonable to store more. Why? They expire and toothpaste is a item I can usually find on sale if not free with using a coupon.

Hair care products have a general life of 3 years until opened. After they are opened come in contact with bacteria and lose 1/2 their life. 18 months is rule of thumb for opened hair care products unless the product states otherwise.

Toothpastes - read the package before buying. You never know how long it has sat and depending on the ingredients, each one may vary. You need to check each tube before you purchase them since you may buy 10 with all different dates. Even sizes can change the expiration date. I got this from the Colgate web site;
Colgate Total has a two-year expiration date, the same shelf-life as other Colgate toothpastes. The .75 oz sample tubes of Colgate Total have a shelf life of 18 months.

There are certain items that my family uses that others may not. We use paper plates (like dixie or chinet) and justify it. I run my dishwasher 2 times a day. If we did not use paper plates it would be ridiculous. I seek deals to make them cheap and not burden my budget. Most of the time, I buy them with Register Rewards from deals that I have done at Walgreens. I will get into Walgreens at a later date. It is one of my favorite stores to deal shop.

It does take time to build your stockpile. If you are patient and wait out the sales, you will be amazed on how far you can come in just a few months. When my kids were in diapers, I never paid more than $4 for Huggies. The same packages that other paid $9 for. Toilet paper, heck, I have at least 40 packages that I bought for .25 a package when they were on sale and used coupons. Over time your spending will narrow and you will notice you have more money to pay off your debt!

Once you get going you will need to devise a plan for organization and storage. I have a unfinished basement that stays the same temperature year round. I bought Heavy duty plastic shelving from Menards. I have watched the sales and it goes on sale about every 3 months. The regular price is almost $80 per set and on sale they will go as low as $39.99.

Since I have a unfinished basement the smartest plan was to line the walls with shelving to save the middle area for other things. The shelving that I have is 5 shelves tall, 48 inches wide and 36 inches deep. Each self can hold 150 pounds. This pops together and takes maybe 5 minutes without tools to assemble. I have 15 sets that take up 2 of my walls. Since they are flush to the wall, they take up very little space.

Yes, I did invest in my shelving but organization is really important when stockpiling. If you can't find something, it can expire before you find it. Only 5 of my shelves are for my personal use stockpile. 5 other shelves are stockpile that I sell for profit. The remaining 5 shelves are things that I just need to store like photo albums, winter clothes, important records and so on.

Plastic containers are your best friend. I buy the clear ones to be able to view what is in them easily. I also store the stockpile I sell in these so they are all organized, grouped by price and ready to move. The best way to buy plastic containers is to wait until they are on clearance. I find great deals on these at Target. Since it is December now, I am sure the red or green ones will be next to hit the deep discounts.

If you don't have tons of space in your home, get creative. Use closets, under the bed bins and other areas that are unoccupied. I have a friend that stores her stockpile in a dresser. She has a small studio apartment and only needs a small stockpile for herself. If there is a will, there is a way.

It does take money to get this all going but once you get started, you will notice it pays off very fast. In my house I noticed the payoff in about 3 months. I was spending the same amount during that time but acquiring a stock and storage system. When you are spending less on everyday items you will have the dollars to get started.

Once you have a nice stock in place you will notice 2 things. The first is that you are now saving a ton of money. The 2nd one is that you have what you need and no longer need to rush out of the house to buy common items. Life is now cheaper and easier than before. I actually am a bit obsessed with my stockpile and tend to feel a tear in my eye when I look at it. "She" has a name also...."My Preeeeeecious.