Finding more money in the Budget and Inventorying

Last week is a blur and I didn’t post as often as I wanted to post.  Here are some updates on our budget and saving more money each month.  Back in April I quit getting my nails done and finally after 3 months, my nails are strong, healthy and grown to a perfect length.  My nails are just at the tips of my fingers which is a perfect length.  I had been wearing acrylic nails for 12 1/2 years and it was time for my real nails to see the light of day.  Savings is $50 a month. 

Today I decided that I would cancel my membership at the Curves fitness center.  Savings will be $36 a month.  I made this decision after pondering it for several weeks and I decided that with my schedule and their limited hours that it was getting harder to get there to work out.  Also I am finding that walking outside and lifting weights at home is doing just as good a job of keeping me in shape.

I downgraded our Netflix account to 2 dvd’s being sent in a month.  We used to have unlimited dvd’s mailed in a month, but frankly I find a lot of dvd’s at the local library so I wasn’t getting my money’s worth from Netflix.  One time I had a dvd sitting on my kitchen counter for almost a month before I watched it.  We will be keeping the unlimited streaming of Netflix as that is something we seem to use.  The savings will be $3.00.  Okay, $3.00 big deal right?  Pennies add up and so do dollars.  In time I will probably cancel having the dvd’s mailed to us altogether for an $8.00 per month savings. 

We are also looking at our cell phone bill.  We have a shared plan.  After reviewing some recent monthly bills we have realized that we are not using the amount of gigabytes that we are paying for.  By reducing this to what we are actually using we will save around $20 a month. 

Total amount of savings for the above is $109 per month. 

So, little things add up and inventorying our resources has really added up to a big list.  I was going to post what I have in my pantry but I want to delay that until the next post.  Instead I am listing what I have stored away for toiletries, paper, laundry and hair care products. 

As with everything that I have inventoried, all products were bought on sale.  However,  it is in the following categories that I used the most coupons teamed with sales. That is why I have so much laundry soap.  When there is a sale for $2.00 a jug of liquid laundry soap and you have $1.00 off coupons, you stock up.  In one case there was a major sale in which I bought laundry soap for 88 cents a jug.  It was that sale that really grew my stockpile. 

Here we go:

Toiletries

 Bar Soap – 36 bars of ivory soap, 144 bars of bath soap, 8 bars of Oil of Olay, 15 bars of Dove and 4 bars of Castile soap.

I also have 2 bottles of men’s and 8 bottles of women’s body wash.

Lotion – 8 bottles

Shampoo – 13 bottles

Conditioner – 6 bottles

Ladies Razors – 36 razors

Deoderant – 28 sticks

Toothpaste – 4 tubes

Paper Products

Paper Towels – 62 rolls

Toilet paper – 276 double rolls and 56 single rolls

Kleenex – 2 boxes

Laundry Items

Octagon Laundry and cleaning soap – 7 bars

Fels Naptha – 3 bars

Laundry Detergent (jugs) – 59 jugs – 50 oz size.

Laundry Detergent (powder) – 15 boxes

Softener, Sheets – 5 boxes

Softener, Bottles – 6 bottles

Purex Laundry Crystals – 5 bottles

Borax – 1/2 box

Shout Pre-Wash – 2 bottles

Tide Boost – 1/2 bottle and 1/2 box of powder

Bleach – 1 jug

There is some measure of pride and comfort in knowing that I can provide for my family through sales, stockpiling and inventorying to make sure that everything is managed and stretched in order to save more money.  It is a skill that I have learned and probably is right up there with being one of the most important skills I have ever learned.  

Struggling with the Budget

I have struggled for the past 5 weeks with our budget. I have overspent and have chastised myself to get back on track. Since May 1st I have diligently been getting back on track.

With a new puppy in the house I haven't had much time for planning meals, planning my schedule or anything else. So with lack of planning, goes spending money on things that I normally wouldn't buy such as convenience foods or ordering pizza. It did make my life a little easier over the past few weeks though.

Molly trying to get our other dog, Griffey, out of the wading pool.

I have pondered a challenge for myself. I am not going to have a no spend day, week or month. What I have come up with is turning into two challenges. One challenge will be regarding food. I will be eating from my pantry and freezer and only buying what is necessary. Hopefully it will only be produce and other perishables that I will be purchasing. 

The second challenge will be for other purchases - non-food. Both of these challenges will be "need" based. In other words, do I actually "need" this? Pretty basic isn't it, but I want to take it another step further. For the non-food challenge it isn't enough to determine if it is a need, I will ask the question, is it essential? Aha. That puts things in a different perspective. 

Asking if something is essential is really the basic question to saving money. Anyone can take a want and put it in the need category if they really try to justify it. It's not so easy to make something essential.

The other day I spent a total of $5.84 on 6 lbs. of fresh strawberries. Yummy strawberries just to eat right out of the fridge. Necessary - you betcha!! We needed some fresh fruit and these were on sale for only 94 cents a lb. 

But - and you knew there was going to be a but -- I looked at the grocery ads for this week. I wanted to check on prices of fresh produce and milk. They are having a sale on 85% lean ground beef for only $1.99 lb. In order to get the $1.99 price, you have to purchase it in 10 lb. tubes. 

I only wanted to add this "dilemma" to this post as when you are consistently purchasing items on sale, it is hard to pass up a bargain. I am still pondering this one and I have until Tuesday to make a decision as that is when the sale ends. This is an incredible sale and I could buy 20 lbs. (the limit) and I would be set for a very long time and for a lot of burgers on the grill.

Need or want??? Never thought I would ask this question about ground beef.

Two Freezers????

Yes, that is what my husband said when I told him I wanted another freezer.  His response was that maybe if I used up what was in the other freezer I would have enough room and wouldn't need another freezer.

Men don't get it.

Right now we have a large upright freezer.  I think it is about 15 cubit feet.  It is full of meat, cheese and frozen veggies.  I would like a separate, small chest freezer for casseroles and such that I make ahead of time and also for day old bread that I get on sale.

First of all I'm not sure that I could plug in another freezer in the same outlet in our basement.  I should be able to, but I'm not sure and would have to have an electrician check this out for me.  

Second of all, he does have a point about using up what is in the first freezer to make room for more stuff.  However, the reason that this freezer is full is because I came across an in store deal on ground beef for only 80 cents a lb. and I bought as much as I could buy at the time. This is an example of how I shop for meat.  When I come across deals such as chicken hindquarters for only 39 cents a lb., turkey for 49 cents a lb., boneless pork loin for only $1.59 a lb. I buy a lot.  These prices don't come around very often and with prices increasing, I have to be able to buy in bulk when there is an exceptional deal. 

The bottom rack of my freezer is jammed with frozen vegetables that were on sale one week for only 69 cents for a 1 lb. bag. 

You may be wondering about the freezer above my fridge.  Yes, it is packed with day to day freezer items such as lunch meat, bread, ice cream and items I use for pizza. 

I am probably preaching to the choir here but I know that I would make good use of a second freezer and in no uncertain terms there is no way I would buy a third.  I believe wholeheartedly that our economy will never be the same again and that we need to go back to living like our grandparents - simply and frugally.  Grandma had a garden and canned and she helped to butcher and process her own meat.   I have the advantage of grocery stores that offer great deals that I can buy in bulk and freeze.

A small second freezer makes sense.  Convincing my husband of this will take a few months of hard work. 

How many freezers do you have?

The Economy is in Bad Shape - No News Here

Over the past several weeks, or should I really say months, Congress has been at odds regarding raising the debt ceiling. The economy is in bad shape and frankly I am quite worried. That is all I will say about that. I don’t want to talk politics, I just want to say that we are living in a very difficult economic time. The one thing that I have learned from this is that we have to depend on ourselves to take care of our own family, neighbors and friends. This is a philosophy that was common amongst our grandparents and great grandparents.

I have been listening to the news and reading the paper and here is what I have learned:

1. Crops are failing due to the weather – flooding, droughts, storms. Crops failing mean prices are going up on items such as food and clothing as two examples. Of all the problems with the weather one thing made me sit up and really take notice. There was a dust storm in Phoenix on July 5th and the pictures that were shown of that dust storm looked exactly like the Black Blizzards of the Dust Bowl years of the 1930’s.






2. Oil prices are fluctuating up and down and there is uncertainty as to when prices will drop and level off for good.

3. Our economy continues to struggle.

4. Unemployment remains high and lay offs continue.

5. The housing market is still in the toilet.

Forget Obama care and forget if you are a Republican, Democrat, Independent, Tea Party member or anything else – truth is we can point the blame at a lot of people which is easy to do when you are looking at anything in hindsight.

Back in 2009 I was optimistic about our economy as I felt that by the end of 2010 we would be working our way out of this economic mess. Now I truly believe that we have a few years ahead of us until we begin to recover. 

I have been reading a book entitled The Great Depression: A Diary. It was written by an attorney who lived in Youngstown, Ohio and as you can guess, he kept a diary from the crash and throughout the Great Depression. His diary mirrors a lot of what we are going through right now. There are so many comparisons but most of all he gives advice to anyone who reads his diary about how to be financially secure in your life such as simply not borrowing much and living way below your means so that you can put money away for hard economic times.

Ever since we got back from vacation I have become increasingly concerned about my family’s future.  Costs are up and lay offs continue and if you have a job it doesn't mean that you will keep your job.  So what is a person to do?

Sit down and take a piece of paper and ask yourself this question. If this continues for several years, what is my plan for my family’s financial future?

Here is the list that I came up with:

1. Next year I will find a place in our small backyard to plant a garden and grow as many of our vegetables as possible.

2. Money comes with responsibility. I will look at all money that comes in our house as a precious commodity.

3. I will take better care of what we already have be it furniture, electronics, cars, clothing or food.

4. I will not waste anything and will find opportunities to save our resources.

5. I will make a list of financial goals for our family.

6. I will refer to the Tightwad Gazette books often for ideas.

During the spring when I was eating out of the pantry and freezer, my freezer and pantry didn’t get totally depleted, but both went down by about one-third. There weren’t a lot of sales on meat until about 3 weeks ago. I realized that from what I was reading in the paper about prices going up, that I really had to spend extra money in order to stock and really pack my freezer.

Right now I have a 6 month supply of meat, toiletries, baking items, laundry supplies and paper products. I have about a 4 month supply of canned goods and a 3 month supply of cereal.

My grocery budget for as long as possible will be $37.50 per week ($150 for a 4 week period). I want to leave a generous amount for fresh produce and to also pick up some sale items such as canned goods and cereal. Even though I over spent for a few weeks, I will save in the end. I have done this before but never have I ever felt like I must really take to heart what we have on hand to stretch into as many meals as possible.

With prices going up I may never see food, especially meat, at these prices again. I am really serious about doing this and about making good use of what we have on hand. That means that I will be stretching those foods and trying out new recipes.

I am going to put the kitchen makeover on hold except for the wainscoting and painting.  The rest can wait.

This isn’t a lark, this isn’t a challenge, this is life.  It's time to get serious and face the harsh reality that our economy may continnue to struggle for a few years.  We've been living in denial, looking for a quick fix to return us to prosperity.  But as the 1930's song said "Prosperity is just around the corner.  Which corner is it just around?"   

I'm not panicking but I don't want to sit here one year from now(when we could be in an economy that has slipped into another recession that is worse than the one we experienced 2 years ago)  and wish I had been more prepared financially for whatever we may face then. 

It's time to dig in and get serious for the sake of our families and future.

Back to School Time!!!

I love Back to School time but not for the reason some of you may think.  Okay, it is nice to get the kids back to school and into a routine, but I love "Back to School Time" for one reason alone - school supplies are on sale.  It takes me back to when I was in grade school and I used to get a new pencil box each year for school.  I remember in second grade getting a plastic pencil box that had a picture of the United States on the front and the capitol of each state was listed.  I memorized those capitols from looking at that pencil box over and over.  Ah, happy times.

I stock up on baking supplies during the holidays and I stock up on pens, pencils, post it notes, paper, and notebooks during " Back to School Time."  Better yet, wait up to two weeks after school has started and those supplies go on clearance.  Every household needs these supplies so I always make sure I buy a year's supply for our household and also for our son's school needs. 

This time of year is almost like the beginning of a new calendar year.  I feel like getting organized, I feel like tackling some projects and I just feel happy.  I'm happier this year as my son is a Senior and he doesn't have to take math this year.  Yippee!!!

Pantry Principle and Stockpiling - Part 3

This is my last in a three part series on stockpiling and having and maintaining a large pantry. Today I will talk about where to put your pantry items and a system for tracking those items.

I live in a house that was built in the late 1800’s. My large pantry is in my basement and I take precautions to make sure everything is stored safely. All of my canned goods are stored on shelves, my flour and sugar are stored in Rubbermaid bins, boxes of crackers, cereals and snack items are also stored in plastic bins. Basically if it isn’t in a can or plastic container, I store it in a bin.

Bins of flour, sugar, pastas, cereals, some snacks

My freezer is located in the basement and I also store my paper products and toiletries on shelves in the basement also.

Paper towels, napkins - using them sparingly as I switch to rags and cloth napkins

Toilet paper purchased for $5.00 or less for 12 double rolls

Laundry soaps purchased for $1.50 or less

I have lived in small apartments and in houses and if I wanted to stockpile, I would have been able to do it in any place we lived. More than once I wish we would have bought a small chest freezer years ago when we were apartment dwellers as we could have saved a bundle on meat. Also, even in a tiny one bedroom apartment that we lived in, we could have stored items under the couch and under the bed. If I would have been in the mindset we could have found places in that apartment to “hide” pantry items. Why didn’t we? I have no idea. Perhaps it was feeling like I was newly married and we were both working “professionals” so we should be able to go to the grocery store and buy anything we wanted and not worry about watching the sales.

Freebie chinet cups and plates - sales matched with coupons

If I wanted to go to a level of hoarding or even to becoming a survivalist, I could store 20 times more pantry supplies in our present home, but I choose not to. When I started stockpiling, my goal was to have a 4 month supply of food on hand and I have reached that goal. For some items such as canned fruits and vegetables, soups, coffee and baking supplies, I have a year’s supply. What I am trying to say is that on hand at this moment I can supply us with 4 months of meals and will only have to add milk and some perishable items each week to what I have on hand. In addition I also have plenty of soap, toiletries and paper products on hand that go beyond a 4 month’s supply.

This brings me to a hoarding. I have stopped buying several items for my pantry as I am totally stocked up on canned vegetables and soups, for example. Even if they go on sale at a rock bottom price, I won’t buy them as I have plenty. I saw on t.v. recently a woman that stockpiled and then couldn’t stop and became a hoarder. She had gotten in the mindset of getting a thrill at getting great deals and she couldn’t stop. Perhaps some people will look at the pictures I have posted over the past few days and think that I am hoarding, but I am not. I have passed up deals because I have enough of an item.

The entire idea of stockpiling is reaping the benefits of buying at rock bottom prices and building your “inventory.” As time goes by and as you have built up your supply, you can cut back and direct that money into other areas of the budget.

It’s okay to stop buying. You have done your work by building up your pantry and the good news is, since you know when things go on sale you will be able to buy more when you need it.

Now that I have reached my goal of a 4 month supply of food, it is easy for me to keep that 4 month supply maintained each week by using up items and continuing to stockpile when those prices are low and add to what I have used up OR I can take a break from grocery buying and use the money for other purposes OR in case of a financial emergency, we are set with 4 months of food.

Stockpiling can completely go down the tubes if you don’t use the items you purchased prior to expiration dates. Here is the system that I use.

Before putting anything in my pantry, I take a marker and write the expiration date on the package so I can easily see when the item will expire. Then I write each item I have purchased on my pantry list. This list consists of the following headings: Item, Number of Items, Expiration Date OR Purchase date. 

As you buy items on different weeks you may end up having a few lines for one item to accomodate the different expiration dates.  For example you would write diced tomatoes - 5 cans - expiring 10/11 and underneath I would write - diced tomatoes - 3 cans - expiring 12/11.

I have a similar list posted on the outside of my freezer. When I take anything out of the pantry or the freezer I simply cross it off. Each month I update these lists in Excel. At that time I take note of any items that are going to expire within the next two months. If I don’t believe I will be using an item before it expires, I donate it. I am donating these items 2 months before they are due to expire which I feel is reasonable. I would never, never donate an item that is past expiration.

I keep track of all of my “inventory” this way. This is my system and it works for me.  It doesn’t take very long for me to empty the groceries from the bags, mark them, add them to a list and then put them on the shelf or in the freezer.

It is easy each week to menu plan or to shop from the information on these lists. I can identify what is going to expire and work those items into my menus. I see at a glance how much spaghetti sauce I have on hand, for example, and if I have plenty on hand, I skip the stockpile sale.

This is not for everyone and I realize it. For me this is a system that works and makes me feel like I am getting the most for my money for my family’s groceries, am prepared for an emergency, am able to make a bigger impact on giving to the local Food Pantry, and I have the ease of always being able to supply meals to someone who is sick or just got out of the hospital.

Pantry Principle and Stockpiling - Part 2

In continuing my story of how I got into stockpiling and why I do it, today I want to talk about how to know when a sale is a good deal – good enough to stock up.

Spaghetti sauce, canned tomatoes, ketchup, beans

The coffee containers hold a variety of chocolate chips and other baking extras.

I started with the Grocery Game and this site helped me in the beginning to see when items were on sale at a stock up price. I keep track of the prices of everything I purchase in a spreadsheet program. Each week I enter my receipts into this spreadsheet and thereby I have a month by month accounting.

Try as I did I couldn’t important a pdf file into this post. Perhaps someone out there can help me. So, I will try to describe what this spreadsheet looks like.  I have these captions at the top of several columns:

1.  Item Description
2.  Store
3.  Date Purchased
4.  Item Price
5.  # of Items purchased
6.  Gross Amount
7.  Sale?
8.  Less Coupon savings
9.  Net Purchase Amount

I enter the Item Description such as frozen orange juice, then I enter the store name, the date purchased, the item price, the number of items I purchased and due to the magic of a spreadsheet it calculates the gross amount. I always enter whether it was a sale or not, enter any coupons I used and then voila, it gives me the net amount spent. After entering each item line by line, it is very easy to have the spreadsheet add up the total net amount along with any tax that I have added in. Then as the month goes along I can easily see my running tally of how much I have spent. Every month I start a new spreadsheet and keep each subsequent months stored in my computer.

This system works for me as I can easily see what I have spent so I can stay on track with my budget, it acts as a price book as I have a listing of all items I have purchased and what they cost.

Canisters of coffee, soups, broths, canned vegetables

home canned jams

With this spreadsheet, I can also track cycles of sales. For example, boneless chicken breasts go on sale every 6 weeks and so does string cheese. Shredded mozzarella goes on sale at 99 cents for an 8 oz. package about every 6 months. I buy what I need to get by to the next sale, which may be an annual event in some cases. In general I buy all my baking supplies at the holiday time and I have enough chocolate chips, nuts, sugar and flour for the year. I buy a year’s supply of canned cream soups and canned broth at holiday time when they are at their cheapest. In the summer time I stock up on canned pork n beans when they go on sale for as low as 20 cents a can.

When stocking up on any canned item, or for that matter any item, I always check the expiration dates. Depending on the product, most canned items do not expire for a year. Canned vegetables and fruits can have expiration dates that are longer than a year – closer to two years most of the time. Again, always check the expiration dates and with some careful planning you will end up with pantry items that are shelf stable for more than a year.

As to food for your freezer, you can find on the internet information for how long you can store meats, vegetables and fruits and other foods in the freezer. I follow those guideslines and keep that in mind when I am adding food to my freezer.

Again, don’t buy so much food at a great sale price and then let it expire or spoil. That isn’t saving you any money at all.

Meats, vegetables, fruit, bread, ice cream and more. 

(Yes those are a lot of hot dogs, but I got the majority for free or 25 cents and

I wasn't going to pass it up.  Hot dogs on the grill once a week is a summertime treat.)

Next post: A place to put your pantry items.

Pantry Principle and Stockpiling - Part 1

Today's post will be part 1 of 3 in which I discuss how I stockpile and keep a pantry.  I will also discuss how I got started.  There will be pictures of my pantry interspersed throughout these posts

In my prior post of July 2nd, I posted that my grocery spending averaged $353.00 a month. In our household there are 3 people:  myself, my husband and our 17 year old son. For some people $353.00 a month for grocery spending even with using coupons or stockpiling may seem high, and perhaps it is. Part of my grocery budget and planning involves taking meals to people who are sick and cookies or desserts to people as part of my ministry of hospitality. Also, I give food to our local Food Pantry to help those that need additional help in providing food to their families.

There are many reasons that I stockpile but I have narrowed it down to three.

1. Stockpiling and keeping a full pantry and freezer has helped me in my providing food to others and to my own family. It feels good to know that when I get a call from my pastor asking if I could provide a meal to someone, I can go to my pantry and freezer and provide a complete meal, along with disposable containers to put the meal in. (Yes disposable containers. I regularly get ziploc containers and bags for 25 cents each on sale and with a coupon.)  In essence I shop in my pantry and freezer for everything I need. I always have plenty of ingredients on hand to cook meals for others and my family. For me, this is the ultimate in convenience.

Here are the toiletries, canning supplies, ziploc bags.

Next to the board games are the 25 cent boxes of ziploc containers

2. By taking advantage of buying food at the best price and stocking up, you truly are getting the most for your money. There is a great sense of accomplishment when you know that you are buying food for your family, and others, at the best possible deal on the market at that time.

I never make up a menu plan ahead of time. My menus come from what is on sale and what I have in my pantry and freezer.

3. Lastly, in case of any financial emergency, you can divert any money budgeted to groceries to that financial emergency and still feed your family. If the worst happened, I could get by with $15 a week for perishable grocery items and the rest would be made up with what I have on hand. I have plenty of baking supplies, meat, canned vegetables, canned fruits, cereals, soups, peanut butter, frozen meats, frozen vegetables, frozen fruits and more.

I would say that 90% of the groceries I purchase are purchased at rock bottom prices and most with coupons. I do buy things that are on sale with coupons that my family won’t eat. Why? If I can get a box of Hamburger Helper for 25 cents, I buy it for the Food Pantry. If I can get Colgate toothpaste at 50 cents or less, I buy it for the Food Pantry (my family prefers Crest). Often I am able to get deodorant for 25 cents and again, it is donated. I am always on the hunt for bargains that can translate into donations to those in need.

Click on the coupon label on my blog and you will see my posts on how I coupon and organize my coupons.

When I was growing up, my mom had a substantial pantry. She would always keep replenishing her pantry as she used things up. A month’s supply of bread was purchased at a day old bread outlet and stored in the freezer. My dad loved to garden and he grew all our vegetables. We went to farms to pick our own strawberries, blueberries, cherries and apples for mom to can or freeze for later use. My mom also made all of our jams and preserves.

My cousin was a farmer and we were able to purchase a pig and side of beef from him each year.

Why did my parents do this? My dad was a union factory worker. Many times in my childhood he would get laid off or the union would vote to strike. It was the pantry and freezer that kept us fed during those lean weeks/months. One time he was on strike for 9 months and there was no income. They never fell behind in the mortgage and we always had food to eat.

They were prepared. I equate it to the story of Joseph in the Bible. My parents stored up in the times of plenty to be prepared for the times of famine. They knew that hard times could happen at any time.

When I was working full time, I never thought about stocking up on sale items. I was too busy to think about it and frankly I felt it was easier to go to the store without a list and buy what I felt we needed.

In the months prior to becoming unemployed, I decided that I needed to put the pantry principle into action. At that time (February of 2009) I signed up for a membership in the Grocery Game. This site takes your local grocery store sales flyer and lets you know when the sale shows a rock bottom price and it also will show any coupon from the newspaper that you should use with that sale price. I easily recouped the $1.25 per week for the cost of the membership. I recently cancelled my membership as I no longer need this service. I now know when a sale price is the best price.

Canned fruits, vegetables, peanut butter, condiments and more

I had a freezer with some meat in it when I started out. I also had some canned goods (about 1 shelf) and some baking and cereal products. Because I knew I had about two weeks of groceries on hand already, I started out by buying only the deals that were on sale that week and worth stocking up. My grocery budget each week was $80 and I continued to use that amount of money to buy stockpiled items and whatever else I needed. Some weeks I spent less and when I did spend less, I saved the money for when I knew I would need more money – the holiday time. During the holidays there are some of the greatest sales of the year going on and I definitely wanted the extra money for stocking up at that time.

Many people that are starting out in stockpiling take some extra money and divert it to the grocery budget so that they can get a good start. My personal opinion is that you can start small – with an extra $10 a week and begin your stockpiling journey. You don’t have to take stockpiling to the level that I have taken it. Do what is comfortable and what you can manage.

In upcoming posts I will tackle the following:  Knowing when a sale is really a great stock up sale, a place to put your items and a system to keep track of your pantry and freezer items.

My Pantry and Freezer

In the next week to 10 days I will post how I keep and maintain an extensive pantry and freezer stockpile.  I started stockpiling about 18 months ago and I won't go back to shopping for groceries the way I used to.  I will post pictures and sample documents of how I keep track of everything. I also hope to discuss how stockpiling for some people can end up being hoarding. 

It is easy to go to the "darkside" in stockpiling and become a hoarder.  I learned quickly that I would never let stockpiling control me.  Instead I find the principle of stocking up on sale items and buying in bulk a unique way to save money and stretch my grocery budget.