w00t! My plan to stockpile food, thereby limiting trips to grocery and big-box stores, is already paying for itself. Ten days into the current budget cycle, I’m $425 in the black (!!!!!). Last week I spent a grand total of $55 on a few catch-up items. This week, I’ve spent $120, of which $13 went to gasoline. About $40 went to food; the rest covered OTC meds and household goods. There’s plenty of food in the house, and fresh veggies thriving in the garden.
Normally, the first week of a budget cycle would go right straight into the red. In the pre-stockpiling regime, I would regularly run out of food (and everything else) near the end of the month. So, in the first week of each cycle I would have to make a gigantic Costco/Safeway/Target run, because the cupboard would be bare. Last month, before the stockpiling strategy kicked in, I was $75 in the hole against my first week’s microbudget; the preceding month’s first week, 36 cents in the black; in December’s, $270 in the red.
Now what I’m doing is keeping a running record of things that are starting to run low. Because there’s no hurry to restock, I can wait until these items come on sale, or until I have time to drive across the city to a cheaper emporium.
A fresh set of grocery-store and big-box ads came in the mail yesterday evening. Taking advantage of the sales, I expect, will allow me to expand on the hoard without having to devote cash in savings accounts to the project.
Goal: Have six months’ worth of food and household supplies in the house by Layoff Day, December 31, 2009.
I’m glad this is working for you! I’d say that having a stocked pantry is the best thing anyone can do to save money (not to mention time, gas, etc). I don’t even have a freezer–and it still works for me.
We do a bit of stockpiling but not 6 months worth! We do it because we hate grocery shopping (though we never eat out) and had a tendency to buy too much each time we went. Shopping less often has saved at least $100 per month, maybe more.
I also stockpile – I buy a quarter of beef and 20-40 pounds of poultry twice a year. Add in a little venison courtsey of the Marine!Goth’s inlaws (who own a place in the country) and I rarely buy meat at the grocery. Maybe some lunchmeat for sandwiches when it’s on sale.
Bread at the bakery discount store (or homemade) and canned veggies at Aldi’s (just as good as the pricy brands). Fresh veggies from the garden if it will ever freaking STOP SNOWING – in Kansas, in April – give me a BREAK! Grains and legumes in bulk from the local food co-op.
So the weekly grocery runs are dairy products, staples for baking and cooking, fresh fruit (and veggies in the winter). That’s pretty much it.
Having enough food in the house to not have to go to the grocery is such a blessing. I grew up that way (farm girl) and have ALWAYS stocked – even when my apartment was so small that my mini chest freezer was in a corner of the living room with a pretty table cloth draped over it and a lamp on top. And the pantry was roll out bins under the bed!