Beginner Tips: Stockpiles with Pictures!

Extreme Couponing shows a VERY Extreme way of couponing and stockpiling, I wanted to share pictures that show a more realistic way to stockpile and some tips to get you started!

Some may wonder why you want to have a stockpile and how it will save you money?!
It’s pretty simple(:  If you can snag items at their best prices (which sometimes happen to be FREE!) and get enough so you won’t have to buy those items until the next sale rolls around, you’ll  never have to pay full price!  Plus, once you have a decent stockpile, you can be pickier about prices for example, If you only have 1 tube of toothpaste, it may seem like a great deal if you can get some for 25¢ – 50¢ each, but once you have a decent stockpile, you won’t “buy” it unless it’s FREE!

It does take a while to build up a stockpile so if you don’t have one yet, don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t grow quickly -especially with many stores having limits on how many like coupons you can use!

Tips:
*Don’t go overboard especially with items that have expiration dates! You’re not saving money if you are throwing items away!

*Rotate the items so the ones expiring first will be in the front

*Even if you have a lot of one item, you can still be frugal with it!  I usually cut my snuggle dryer sheets in half (this also helps if you have sensitive skin!)

*Think of  unused spaces where you can store your items, however, don’t let it take over your house!  I try to keep these items out of the bedrooms, but as you will see in the pictures below that I use the top of my closet and I explain why(:

*Plan your meals around items that you have on hand.

*Be creative…I never put the meat in my Tuna, Hamburger & Chicken Helpers- I make them as a side dish. (Okay, that’s not too creative, but it’s a FREE/cheap side dish-haha)

*Store Candy and other snack items in harder to reach areas or they may disappear quicker than you want them too(:

*You can always donate items if you stockpile is overflowing or if you family decides that they no longer likes a particular product (trust me, this will happen at least once after you stock-up on something)

**If you have any Stockpiling tips -leave them in the comments below – I would love to hear them! **

Okay – onto some pics(:  I LOVE looking at pictures of other people’s stockpile to get me motivated! Remember that everyones stockpile is different, so these are just to get some inspiration, but you’ll want to stockpile in a way that works for you and your family!

Thanks to the readers who sent in their stockpile pictures!  I posted their pictures below plus some of my stockpile pictures.  If you sent me a picture and don’t see it below, let me know!  I tried to go thru all my emails but it would be easy to miss something.

Click below to see the pictures!

The above stockpile is from Brooke Mullins. “I am a stay at home mother to two toddlers. I don’t have room for an extreme stockpile but this is my toiletry stash. I discovered if I removed everything from the original packaging I could fit it in my shoe organizer.So now I have also re purposed some unused space!”    This is a great idea – it keeps everything nice and tidy and makes it easy to see what you have!

This is from Dahn – “Here is my stockpile in the basement. Only been couponing for a few months but we’ve saved a TON. 🙂 It’s not much but I’m happy with it!”    I love it!! That’s a Great Stockpile especially for only a few months of couponing(:

The above photo is from Angie.  That is an amazing setup she has!!  I love how organized it is and she has a nice great stockpile without being extreme!

Okay – now to give you a look at my stockpiles…I have a few different areas that I keep my items in, I took pictures of the main ones….

The above picture is my hall closet before I cleaned it up a bit!  How embarrassing, but this is usually what happens after a week or so of not straightening it out(:

This is my hall closet after I straightened it out…it’s really hard to take a picture since the shelves extend to the right and left.  There are over 80 boxes of pasta hiding to the left and a ton of shampoo to the right!  On the bottom right I also have about 4-5 boxes of cereal – this is all the cereal I need for a stock-pile since my family eats it VERY slowly!

I have cleaning supplies, dish soap and body washes in my bedroom closet.  I’m only 5 foot tall and I need a chair to reach this shelf so I can’t keep anything that I would need daily up there which makes it a great place to store these items!

My son’s old dresser made a great place for all those deodorants, toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, razors, nivea lip care, and travel size items!

Can you guess my favorite detergent? Luckily- it’s on sale a LOT and I can snag it for really cheap along with those snuggle dryer sheets (I’m guessing all the GE shoppers have these!)

Reader Comments:

  1. I LOVE it, and I too am a little jealous of how Angie’s is so organized. Way to go. =) Like you Tammy I am short (5’1″) so the top shelves are utilized for stuff that is NOT used daily. I love looking at stock pile pic.’s

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  2. Rachel – we eat lots of pasta:) My girls and I LOVE it….if it wasn’t for my son and hubby we probably would eat it every night! However, I had about 20 boxes of healthy harvest pasta (whole grain) and recently when I made it my husband said he couldn’t even choke it down -haha! I saw that my local Walmart (I’m guessing all Walmarts are participating) is collecting food for food shelters, so I bagged up about 20 boxes of pasta plus some other items (I didn’t care too much for the Fiber One 90 calorie brownies with peanut butter) to donate. Hopefully someone else will like these things:) Plus, I figured that’s a really convenient way to donate since I will be going to Walmart anyways;)

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  3. OMG, I can’t believe my picture made your website! My husband and I have only been “couponing” since we came home from vacation in May! We love it, we devote our entire day on Sunday after church to cut coupons and then we sort and put them away and then it’s on to the stores we go!

    Thank you guys for your kind words on my stockpile. This is just our “household stockpile”, my kitchen and my candy stockpile are upstairs in our house!

    We love our shelves, they hold 1000 pounds and we got them from Lowes! We decided since we were getting so many razors and things to hang that we should get a peg board! This was super easy and cheap to do as well!

    If you all have any questions, please let me know! I love doing this! Thank you Lady Savings for a great website as well!

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