Stocking Up

One of the ways I have found to cut our grocery bill by more than half is by stockpiling. I have always bought an extra couple rolls of toilet paper and before I had Reagan I stocked up on lots of household items so I wouldn't have to take all five kids to the stores but I never used stockpiling to the fullest.

I first heard of stockpiling from a website www.thegrocerygame.com, when I started reading the message board I couldn't believe how little these moms were paying for groceries!! I stayed up way too late into the night reading and looking at their stockpile pictures. It was official, I had to try this!! I started using coupons in July of 2008. It took me awhile but my savings are now well over 50% each month and as of November I am officially "cherry picking" which means I only buy the best deals each week so my budget is getting even lower.

It takes a couple months to see a big savings. It can also be time consuming to track grocery prices to ensure that you stock up only when things are at the lowest price. It is helpful to buy as many papers as you have family members when you begin stockpiling so you have plenty of coupons. You can stockpile with just one paper but it does take much longer. Make sure you only buy things that your family will use!! You aren't saving money if you end up throwing your bargains away. You should aim at buying enough to last 12 weeks since that is usually how long a sales cycle is.

Here is an example from my weekly shopping trip. Meijer has Tyson chicken nuggets on sale for $4.50 and I have about 10 $1 off coupons. We have "fast food" night at our home at least once a week. I have never seen this chicken at such a low price so I'll buy as many as I have coupons for. Now I'm stocked up and won't have to pay full price for more in a couple weeks.

How could stockpiling save you money? What could you do with the extra time you'd have if you didn't need to grocery shop for a few weeks?