I'm sure many of you have heard or watched the show extreme couponing and I truly believe, as I've said before, that that is WAY too much! I will not dedicate a precious room in my home to stockpiling since I don't have room for my regular stuff. What I will do is strategically shop so I am spending the least amount possible and still supply for my household. Now let's take a trip down memory lane...how did I get started...
Well, it was all an innocent accident. My mom was at Ft Campbell Army Base one day and they were having a truckload sale. People this is like hitting the motherload of sales. That morning I had asked my mom to get me some toilet tissue during her trip.
Ok no problem, right? Wrong!! Well add toilet tissue request with truckload sale and what do you get? 32 double rolls of toilet tissue!! Now for a household of four that would be fabulous, but for this single woman...that was a moment that left me speechless.
I had to get really creative really fast in determining how to store all this tissue. Well, God knew that he was bringing a Man into my life so He was preparing me for the future (Did you feel it? that was an awwwwwwwww moment lol).
Ok, so this oops helped lead me to a solution that has stuck with me. What did I do with all that toilet paper? Well, I decided to keep enough to have backup rolls in each bathroom. I have two and a half bathrooms in the house, and each now has overstock quotas. Sounds funny but how many times have you been in the bathroom and run out of toilet paper. Who wants to have to leave the bathroom to get back up toilet paper? So, Each bathroom has a certain maximum and minimum roll count (cracking up at how funny that sounds).
I don't buy toilet paper until I get to the low quota (LQ) point of stock in all locations. I instead just borrow from another bathroom if necessary. Ok so here is the math...follow me: Master Bath = 1 on roll and 2 under sink/LQ = 1 under sink Guest Bath = 1 on the roll and six in a basket in cabinet/LQ = 2 in basket Half Bath = 1 on the roll and four in toilet tissue roll cabinet/LQ = 2 in cabinet Once I hit this point, I begin seriously looking for tissue.
Now if there is a great sale and I have room to add a few rolls I can get it, but it isn't imperative until I hit the LQ in all three bathrooms. This lets me watch for the sales and get it at its rock-bottom price. Now would I buy it if I didn't have room in the TT locations? Well, I'm not going to act like I haven't...it all depends on how good the price was (it would have to be lower than my bottom price) if I had some space in my unused overflow location and/or if there was someone I could split the package with.
I made a discovery one day while decluttering my bathroom sink (see the previous post). I pulled out a number of cleaning products that I didn't even realize I had. At the time I was trying to decide whether to store the items in the linen closet or guest bathroom cabinet.
Well, during this debate I discovered more products...it was like they were multiplying! I had been keeping items in each room to simplify cleaning. At the time this made sense, but in reality when I cleaned I usually did it at the same time. I would carry all the items from room to room. I also realized that by keeping a bottle in each room, I was purchasing more products than I really needed. I would run out in one room, forget I had some in another room and repurchase it. So, this is when I decided I needed to group like things together.
This exercise was like opening pandora's box. I found I had an overabundance of all kinds of items, hand soaps, conditioners, cleaners, sponges, etc. So that is how I ended up on purchasing punishment for certain items lol. Now I keep all like products in one place. That way I know exactly what I have available and what I need to restock.
I do keep a bottle of cleaner in the kitchen, but if I run out there I go to the "restock area" wherever that is...to replenish it. I also check the "restock area" before purchasing more. Like other "stock" items I try to determine a healthy limit of how much I should have in the house. Each family is different, but you should determine how much of a product you expect to use before the next big sale on that item.
So, time to confess...you remember last August/September there was this great sale on Chex cereal. At the time I was eating that cereal constantly. When the sale hit I did some calculating in my head (enter hysterical laughter here) and determined I needed to buy 12 boxes of cereal. Yeah well, I have come to realize I didn't need twelve since they had a similar sale about four months later in Dec or Jan.
Needless to say, I still have two boxes of cereal left from that purchase and here we are 9 months later! So what is the lesson here? Know that most sales return four to six months later. Start recording your usage now. Determine how much you really use an item...this will help you keep your calm when that mustard goes on sale (which it does all summer long).
Remember the sale may be fabulous but if you don't use the item it's a waste...also you have to store the item too.
Alright, that's it all my confessions in one post. I hope you learned from my confessions and are ready to tackle this stockpiling and couponing like a pro!
Money Saving Bucket: Tracking Your Sales - Create a Price Book
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