Building a Stockpile

Now, I'm a huge couponer, but you can see that my stockpiles are not crazy.  I live in an apartment with limited storage space and we are a family of three.  We can only use so much.  You have to keep your shopping & stockpiling under control and do what works for your family.  I probably only do 10% of what those people on "Extreme Couponing" do.  Obviously, if I can get something free or pennies-cheap, I'm going to get it.  I end up donating my over abundance if we can't use it all.  Usually twice a year I donate approx. 10 bags of items to Food Share.  For those of you who can itemize on your taxes, this is a tax write-off!! 

Most of this stuff was free or under .25 cents each.  Ralphs usually has a huge "Mega Deal" sale every 2 months and I'm able to get enough to last until the next sale.  Keep in mind, just because you have a coupon doesn't mean you have to use it!!  Coupons are released in cycles... they will be released again.  You'll also learn more about the cycles after you are involved in couponing after 6-12 months.  There may be a .25 cent coupon on Secret deodorant this month (which would double to .50 cents off at our Ralphs & Vons), but in 1-2 months, there may be a .50 cents coupon, which would double to $1 off!!  I stockup during the sales, usually just enough to get me to the next sale.  Also, since our local Vons & Ralphs have double coupon policies, it makes it harder to buy multiples.  I would have to make multiple trips or transactions, and time doesn't always allow.  Since I only get one Sunday newspaper, this also slows down my buying... because I may only have one coupon to use.

This is one of my closets I transformed into a "pantry" after the Ralphs unlimited doubles back in November 2010.  I needed more room to store stuff!!  Everything I see in there was free or only pennies!!

This is the area above my washer & dryer.  You can see all the different detergents, fabric softeners & stain removers.. and there's some more in there that you can't see!  Again... free or pennies!!  Slowly but surely you will begin to build up your own stockpile.