Getting Started: How to Stockpile & Budget

The number 1 question from new couponers is: How do I save 50% or more on my grocery trips..

The truth is as a new couponer saving 40% is great! So many folk have seen the TV showÂ Extreme CouponingÂ on TLC and expect to do the same trips. The expectations are too high. It take a lot of time before you start saving 70, 80 or 90% on big trips like they do.

It takes little steps to get to that point.

Let’s start with BUDGETING..

Setting A Grocery Budget

Even if you donâ€™t have a budget for anything else in your finances it is key to set yourself up with a grocery budget. You can’t actually save money if you have no idea how much money you are spending. Â Once you know how much you are spending, you can keep track of how much you are SAVING.

My budget is around $200 a month. We are a family of 4 (2 kids: 3yrs & 1 yr) and a dog. If deals are really good, I like to keep it lower but each year prices just get higher so since we just started a new year, I upped our budget just to be prepared. Â Any money that we don’t spend each week goes into an envelope we keep in the safe to buy extra groceries on weeks that I’m stocking up on stomething or for meat purchases.

I price match all of my produce at Walmart (or pick it up at the store with the sale) and this has saved me more Â money than I can tell you. Or rather, my family now gets to eat fresh produce, where before we could never afford it.

I buy my meat in bulk normally so when a good sale or Zaycon comes to town I stock up and don’t have to worry about not having a good sale on meat. (If you don’t know about Zaycon, we will talk more about them another time.)

Now to talk about the actual budget:

Create a Grocery Budget

In order to save money you need to know how much you are actually spending on groceries each month. What you are spending right now on groceries (food, health and beauty products, household items like toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, diapers, wipes, formula, pet food etc) is going to be your starting budget. Figure out what you are spending and I want you to write it down on a piece of paper. Your goal is now to see how you can get more groceries for your money and then begin to whittle that starting number down. If you do not know how much you are spending on groceries, guess. Â You should be able to make a general guess at what you are spending by looking at your bank statements or receipts.

Using coupons and building your stockpile

If you are new to Cook, Coupon, Work or Couponing in general, I recommend you start withÂ Getting Started: Where to Begin.

NOTE: I really want New Couponers or Discouraged Couponers to know this.. Stockpiling doesn’t have to be excessive or ‘hoarding’ nor any of the other terms that have been tagged to ‘stockpiling’.

Stockpiling is a way to make sure you have enough of a product to last you to the next ‘rock bottom’ price on an item. Not everyone will stockpile the same items. Not everyone will have the same stockpile prices. For example, if you drink coffee everyday and can’t go without it. You are going to be willing to pay a little more for it than someone who drink one cup a week or month. And you’ll want to have more coffee on hand.

Now that you have a grocery budget I want you to decide on a number that you can pull from that allotted amount of money that you can dedicate to stockpiling. I would recommend about $10 a week at first. Then the rest the budget will be spent on the normal everyday items that a family needs to eat and use. As you build your stockpile that number is going to shift.

Your goal is to find whatever deals you can each week that meet these four requirements:

1.Â FreeÂ â€“ If something is free after coupons purchase it and stockpile it. Don’t forget you may still need to pay sales tax. * IF YOU WILL USE IT, don’t just purchase items because they are free if you won’t use them!*

2.Â CheapÂ â€“ Aim for at least 50% off retail or cheaper than the price of generics. *This is only on items that you MUST buy right now*

3.Â SpaceÂ â€“ Make sure you have the SPACE to store what you are purchasing. If you don’t have room in the fridge/freezer it would be a waste.

4. Stockpile BudgetÂ â€“ Stay within your stockpile budget. Â - Remember: All the sales cycle so the sale WILL be back.

Let’s StockPile..

Here is a EXAMPLE of how to start your stockpile.. Keep in mind, not every week will have something to stockpile and you won’t always find the mentioned items on such great sales.. This is just an idea of how it goes.

NOTE: You need to remember that you will need to purchase the paper or trade/buy coupons so that you can have enough to buy multiples of items.

We will start with a $100 a week budget. $90 for regular grocery shopping and $10 towards stockpiling.

Week 1:

Crest toothpaste is $1. With Coupons, they are FREE. Pick up 5. Â Total: Just tax

At another store, there is a sale on Sargento Sliced Cheese $1.50 ea. I have a $1/2 Coupon. Making them $1.00 ea after coupon. I have (5) $1/2 Coupons. Buy 10 pkgs. Total Spent $10

My stockpile budget for this week is now spent. I use the rest of my grocery budget of $90 to buy the normal things my family needs.

In my stockpile

5 tubes of toothpaste
10 pkg Sargento Sliced Cheese (you can Freeze it)

Week 2:

Secret Deodorant is $1. I have $1/1 Coupons. Buy 5. Total Spent: $0

StarKist tuna is on sale for $1.25 and I have 10 coupons for 50Â¢ off 1. Store Doubles them to $1. Total Spent: $2.50

Ground Beef is $1.99/lb. Buy 3.5 lbs. Total Spent =$9.47.. Rest goes towards TAX.

My stockpile budget for this week is now spent. I use the rest of my grocery budget of $90 to buy the normal things my family needs.

In my stockpile

5 tubes of toothpaste
10 pkg Sargento Sliced Cheese (you can Freeze it)
5 Secret Deodorant
10 Starkist Tuna
3.5lbs Ground Beef

Week 3:

This week there is a big sale on Kelloggâ€™s cereal, itâ€™s on sale $1.88 a box and I have 10 coupons for $1.00/1 making each box only 88Â¢ each â€“ Total spent $8.80

At another store I find Barilla pasta is on Sale for $1 a box, I have 15 Coupons for $1/1.. Making it FREE â€“ Total spent $0

I have two printable coupons for $3.00/1 package of Bic Razors and there are 5-packs of the razors for $2.99. I go ahead and grab 2 packages of razors (that is 10 razors total) Â That makes them freeâ€“ Total spent $0.00

I have spent $8.80 from my stockpile budget (don’t forget TAX). I use the rest of my grocery budget of $90 to buy the normal things my family needs.

In my stockpile

5 tubes of toothpaste
10 pkg Sargento Sliced Cheese (you can Freeze it)
5 Secret Deodorant
10 Starkist Tuna
3.5lbs Ground Beef
10 boxes of cereal
15 packages of pasta
2-5pks Razors

Week 4:

Slow Week, no great sales. But Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $1.49/lb. Buy 6 lbs = $8.94 +tax

I use the rest of my grocery budget of $90 to buy the normal things my family needs.

In my stockpile

5 tubes of toothpaste
10 pkg Sargento Sliced Cheese (you can Freeze it)
5 Secret Deodorant
10 Starkist Tuna
3.5lbs Ground Beef
10 boxes of cereal
15 packages of pasta
2-5pks Razors
6lbs of Chicken

Here is a bit of a turning pointâ€¦take a look at the things I have started stockpiling! Now I have some ingredients that I can use to plan my meals around. I cannot eat the toothpaste, razors or deodorant but I can eat the cereal, cheese, tuna, ground beef, cereal, pasta and chicken. These are things that I can now scratch off your weekly shopping list. I think I am going to see if I can shift $5 from my regular grocery budget on over to my stockpiling budget. Now my stockpile budget is $15 and my regular grocery budget is $85 a week.

Week 5:

Laundry soap is on sale this week for $2.99 a jug and I have $1.00/1 coupons making it $1.99 a bottle. Buy 5 Â â€“ Total spent $9.95

DishSoap is $0.88. I have $0.25/1 Coupon. Doubles to $0.88. Buy 10. = Just tax

Hunt’s Tomatoes are $0.40/can. No Coupon, great price though. Buy 12 cans. Spend $4.80.

Spend $14.75 +tax. I use the rest of my grocery budget of $85 to buy the normal things my family needs.

In my stockpile

5 tubes of toothpaste
10 pkg Sargento Sliced Cheese (you can Freeze it)
5 Secret Deodorant
10 Starkist Tuna
3.5lbs Ground Beef
10 boxes of cereal
15 packages of pasta
2-5pks Razors
6lbs of Chicken
5 Laundry Detergent
10 DishSoap
12 cans of Hunt’s Tomatoes

Week 6:

Ragu pasta sauce is on sale $1.00 each and I have 10 coupons for $1.00/2. That means I can buy 10 jars of sauce for 50Â¢ each â€“ Total spent $5.00

Quaker Instant Oatmeal is on sale $1.75 each and I have 8 coupons for $1.00/1. That means I can get 8 boxes for 75Â¢ each â€“ Total spent $6

Pantene shampoo and conditioner is on sale for $3.00 and I have coupons for $2.00/1 making each bottle $1.00 each. Buy 4 bottles â€“ Total spent $4.00

I have spent $15 from my stockpile budget. (UH OH, the tax will have to come out of my regular grocery budget) I use the rest of my grocery budget to buy the normal things my family needs.

In my stockpile

5 tubes of toothpaste
10 pkg Sargento Sliced Cheese (you can Freeze it)
5 Secret Deodorant
10 Starkist Tuna
3.5lbs Ground Beef
10 boxes of cereal
15 packages of pasta
2-5pks Razors
6lbs of Chicken
5 Laundry Detergent
10 DishSoap
12 cans of Hunt’s Tomatoes
10 jars of pasta sauce
9 boxes of instant oatmeal
4 bottles of my favorite shampoo

Week 7:

Strawberries are on sale for $0.89/ lb. So I pick up $6 worth of strawberries (about 7 lbs.), take them home and prepare them and freeze them â€“ Total spent $14.00

I have spent $14 from my stockpile budget. ). I use the rest of my grocery budget of $85 to buy the normal things my family needs.

In my stockpile

5 tubes of toothpaste
10 pkg Sargento Sliced Cheese (you can Freeze it)
5 Secret Deodorant
10 Starkist Tuna
3.5lbs Ground Beef
10 boxes of cereal
15 packages of pasta
2-5pks Razors
6lbs of Chicken
5 Laundry Detergent
10 DishSoap
12 cans of Hunt’s Tomatoes
10 jars of pasta sauce
9 boxes of instant oatmeal
4 bottles of my favorite shampoo
7 pounds of strawberries

Wow! After only 7 weeks of couponing I am really starting to see my stockpile grow. I think I have the hang of it now. I will just keep slowly building up my stockpile a few things at a time. The more I can stockpile the more items I have on hand at my house to plan meals out of instead of paying full price for those items each week or as I need them. Pretty soon I will be able to shift more and more from my regular grocery budget into my stockpile budget so I can buy more. Over time I am going to have more coupons too so that means more deals! Pretty soon I am going to run low on some of the items I stockpiled earlier, so that means I am going to need to make sure I have my coupons ready the next time those things are on sale. Cereal for example, those 10 boxes are not going to last very long when we eat two boxes a week. Next time I am going to try and buy more for my stockpile on the things we use a lot of.

And that’s how it’s done.. One item at a time. One week at a time. Slowly you will build it up. It will take a good 6 months to a year to really see BIG Savings and to see a good stockpile.

Sales have cycles and sometimes you just have to wait for the really good ones. Some sales cycle every couple weeks, while others only come around 1 or 2 times a year.

Keep in mind that you should always pay attention to seasonal produce and meat sales and stock up and freeze (or can) those items so that you have them later when the prices are higher.

Stockpiling is a mentality. You can carry on the concept to other things outside of groceries too. For example when the great back-to-school sales are going on I stockpile office supplies. Â There is nothing worse than having to pay $1.50 for a pack of notebook paper midyear when I know I can get for 5Â¢ a pack at the back-to-school sales.

Just remember to be patient and to take it one week, one deal at a time.

Thanks to HotCouponWorld for some of the info! Thanks to one of our readers for the picture.