Stockpiling guidelines

*Taken in part from hotcouponworld but also added my own thoughts.

These are the general guidelines I follow when deciding how much/what to put in my stockpile.

Building a stockpile should not make you go over budget. The idea behind a stockpile is not necessarily to stockpile the items but to stockpile your savings on items that you use everyday. Do not neglect the overall savings in favor of stocking up on individual items. If the current sale or great deal is not something you use at all or even much off, only buy what you need or none at all and look for the deals on things that your family uses every week. Don't end up paying full price for everything else at a later date because you spent all of your budget getting 10 bottles of shampoo that you won't even begin to use for 2 months or more. But also if you have room in your budget and you know you will use that shampoo in the next couple of months and there is nothing else that week to that you wish to add to your stockpile...feel free. If there is something else that you need to add before that shampoo, hold off on the shampoo (or only buy a few bottles)..The sale and coupons will come back around.

What is a stockpile, anyway?A stockpile is, in its most basic form, having a backup for every item that you use on a regular basis. It's not something that you go out and buy all at once, and say " I have a stockpile!"

A stockpile is built one item at a time, not bought. For example...My first week of stockpiling, I had great coupons for Suave and it was on a roll back at walmart for 88 cents a bottle. I had $1/2 coupons so it was really cheap. I bought a bunch and got the other things I had coupons for. The next week there were no sales that I wanted to add to my stockpile so I didn't add anything. The 3rd week Purex was on sale at my local store for $2/bottle...A rock bottom price. I had 50 cents/1 bottle coupons making this $1.50 a bottle (there was also an incentive that went with it making it even cheaper, a catalina. I will get into those in another post, however.) I know that I won't see that price again for awhile so I bought 30 some bottles. Weeks later I added many other things to my stockpile...generally 1 item a week.)

Stockpiling is ongoing. You don't just build a stockpile and never add to it or take away from it. You rotate your stockpile and use what is oldest first and add when things are again at the lowest price. Knowing the lowest price can be tricky, many people have a book that they write the regular and lowest prices in along with the date and store. This is important because sales generally go in cycles depending on the item. I have seen things on a 4 week cycle, 6 week cycle, 8 week cycle and 12 week cycle. The purex I got so cheap has still not gone back to the rock bottom price and that has been a much longer than 12 week cycle.

Brand loyalty is not something I possess for most things. There are some things that I will only buy a certain brand but as you can see by my stockpile pictures, I am not very brand loyal. In my opinoin it is hard to be totally brand loyal and stockpile...I am sure it can be done but I think it would be a lot harder.

Some more things about stockpiling..

• Even if you can get stuff at a really great price...there is no need to go overboard. The sales will come around again. I learned this the hard way. I overbought on some stuff because it was such a great deal..only to get so sick of eating that or using that scent of shampoo that I was not enjoying it anymore. Not cool. Many things have expiration dates and over stockpiling can also lead to spoilage, thereby wasting your time, money and energy.
• If you do not have the space for 20 bottles of laundry detergent and they will just take space away from other things that you need now, there is really no point in buying all 20. If you have the room and you will use them all...go for it but if not, well set a limit and stick to it...no matter how great the deal

My goal in stockpiling is 1 year on meats and other freezable stuff (except things like ice cream, toaster strudel, veggies, etc). I try for 3-4 month worth on veggies. My canned food goal is 1 year for soups, veggies, fruits, spaghetti sauce, etc. I try to have 1 year worth of cleaning supplies and HBA stuff. Pads and Tampons are 6 months to a year. They are ok to stockpile longer but I don't have the space upstairs for a full year supply and I won't keep them in the basement. I probably have an 8 month supply right now but I won't be buying anymore in the near future unless I can get them free. Diapers take up a lot of space so I do about 3 months or less on them. More if it is a really good sale. I use cloth but have disposables here for emergencies, babysitters, outings, and nighttime. Each family uses items at a different rate than the next so you will need to determine how much is right for your stockpile.

I have some gift stockpile guidelines to but I will post them seperately later.

Also ready.gov has some great information on stockpiling for emergencies. What you should have, additional items that might be needed, etc. Check out that site for more tips