Category Archives: Stockpile

Feb 11

Stockpile Building

Over Christmas break, I started noticing that we ran out of everything way too quickly. I was always in the kitchen cooking a meal, making more cookies, and then cleaning up another mess. The kids were hungry around the clock, and when we ran out of something I didn’t want to drag them to the store. That got me thinking about stockpiling…

I haven’t kept a decent stockpile, or a proper stocked pantry since Dylan was a baby. I haven’t once a month shopped since Thade was a baby. I also haven’t hadn’t kept a decent coupon binder since Agnes was a toddler. I need to get back to being better organized, and keeping a better stocked kitchen.

First I need space. Since I have a (ahem very) small kitchen, I started out by cleaning out the cabinets. I cleaned out a lot of clutter, and we gave some unused small appliances to a good friend of ours. Once I had a little more space to work with, then I started list making. List making is my favorite!

I’m building up my stockpile, one week at a time. I’m allowing an extra $10.00 – $15.00 per week on the grocery budget for items to stockpile. That way I won’t break the bank, or use up too much space.

Here is a little of what my list looks like (all prices are estimated):

Week 1:

  • BBQ Sauce (5) $5.00
  • Brownie Mix (5) $5.00
  • Pasta Sauce (5) $5.00
  • Cake Mix (5) $5.00

Week 2

  • AP Flour (3) $6.00
  • Broth (3) $6.00
  • Sugar (3) $9.00
  • Mustard (3) $5.00

Week 3

  • Spaghetti (5) $5.00
  • Ketchup (2-3) $5.00
  • Asst. Ramen Packets (10) $3.00
  • Black Olives (3) $6.00

Week 4

  • Dried Beans (4) $6.00
  • Rice 5 lbs $5.00
  • Mac & Cheese (5) $5.00
  • Re-fried Beans (4) $6.00

I pick an item or two per shopping trip, and add it to the pantry. So far it is going well. We are running out of Saltines a bit too quickly though. I swear my kiddos eat those non-stop. I’m trying to think of more non-perishables to stockpile that we’ll use.

It seems to be an ongoing battle in the kitchen with a tween, a teen, and one cute picky girl that doesn’t want to eat what the boys are eating. What about you… What do you like to stockpile in your pantry?

 

 

Jun 12

June 6th and 9th Couponing Trips

I might try and post these weekly, or whenever I have a good shopping trip to share. Last week the kiddos and I made four trips to the store, three trips I focused on building the stockpile. By the fourth stop the kiddos were really tired of grocery shopping. We stayed locally, and I learned a good couponing tip too.

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I had spotted a great pizza deal at Gene’s Heartland Foods, and I had 2 coupons too. The pizzas were selling for $.97 ea, and they make a fantastic fast lunch for all my boys. My coupons only saved me $1.00 on the transaction, but I learned that they will double coupons up to $.50 as long as the item is not on sale. Nice tip, and I can’t complain about a super easy lunch to make.

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Then it was off to Walgreens. I shopped this sale late in the week, and I was worried that everything on my list was going to be sold out. I’ve run into a local extreme couponer at Walgreens before, and I know their great deals tend to sell out fast. I had 6 coupons for the transaction, and saved 47% after all the coupons rang up. I also earned $2.00 in register rewards thanks to the toothbrushes. I’ll probably put the register rewards coupon towards diapers.

Lastly it was an awesome BOGO Shopping Trip at Woods.

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This little trip helped out with the stockpile, and I saved 47% again! The kiddos were really excited to pick out  their favorite fruit snacks. The fruit snacks regularly cost $2.99 but, after the BOGO discount and my coupons doubling they were only $.99 each. You just can’t beat that deal.

I didn’t have any freebies this week, but one of my favorite deals was the deodorant deal at Walgreens. They were down to $.74 with the help of coupons. Also the Fruit Snacks for just $.99! The kiddos liked the fruit snacks deal too.

I’m anxious to see what coupons are in this Sunday’s papers, and I hope to find some good deals this next week too. Happy couponing everyone!

Jun 11

Couponing Deals and Freebies: May

I know I’ve mentioned it a few times before, but I have decided to get back into the couponing game. My main goal for May was to start my stockpile, and stock up on Summer staples for the kids. I think I did pretty good, and for the few weeks that I was at it, I was surprised by my savings. I stuck to the local stores, but in June I’m taking my coupon binder on the road, and hopefully I’ll come home with even better savings.

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I started off at Walgreens, one of my favorite places to shop locally. They are very coupon friendly, and don’t frown when I hand over a big pile of coupons. I came home with a fantastic freebie, a full sized bottle of lotion was free with a coupon. I also got one of the lip-glosses for $.99, thanks to a bogo 50% off, and I used coupons on both too. Once I did the math I saved 43% with coupons and earned $4.00 in register rewards too.

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Then it was off to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart seems to be hit and miss when it comes to coupons, but this time I was pretty happy when we got to the check-out. I got the tank top for free thanks to a $5.00 coupon. I also saved 48% on this shopping trip thanks to coupons.

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Wood’s had an amazing soda sale going on, and I shopped it twice. We are stocked up for the Summer now. This was also my first time really using my coupons for a big shopping trip at Woods. I got a cool freebie too, I got a free sauce pan ($15.00) for signing up for their store’s membership rewards card ( to use to save on fuel). I also saved 26% on this trip, and started growing my stockpile.

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Back to Walgreens one more time for the cereal sale. I was hoping to use my $4.00 in register rewards plus a $1.00 coupon to make this transaction $.97, but it didn’t work. I saved the $4.00 register rewards for the diaper sale for later in the week. I can’t complain about a cereal sale though, my kiddos go through a crazy amount of cereal.

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I also visited Gene’s Heartland Foods to once again shop a cereal sale. I also spotted a good deal on chips while we were there. I saved 15% on this shopping trip, and  one of the boxes of cereal had $5.00 worth of coupons included. Pretty good deal, and once again all of the purchases went to the stockpile.

My best deal for the month was getting the lip gloss for $.99, I was pretty happy about that one.

I also came up with some cool freebies. I got 2 free tank tops, a free sauce pan, and a free bottle of lotion. Not too bad.

I tracked all of my shopping trips for two weeks, and ended up saving 23% total. It was well worth the time and extra clipping too. I’m going to make this my Summer project and see just how much I can save at the stores.