My Stockpile | Saving On The Essentials

Organizing My Stockpile…

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon trying to bring some organization to my stockpile. I’m ashamed to admit that for the past month or two I have just been throwing items I’ve purchased on one of our guest beds. So, for the past for to eight weeks,I piled and pile…and this is what I it looked like after all that time

I am a procrastinator to the core, but yesterday I had had enough! I planned to get the spare bedroom whipped back into shape in case we have any visitors in the next few months. I did manage to get quite a lot done – there is still a few things to do, but I did get all of my stockpile items put in their respective places.

We are renting a 40 year old house and do not have much closet/storage space. In fact, it’s practically non-existent! When organizing and arranging my stockpile I have had to become creative. Our Stockpile spreads throughout the entire house – Guest Closet, Kitchen, Linen Closet, and Laundry Room. And I have finally found a way that works for us, I think.

I did manage to get everything from the bed and into the closet. In our Guest Closet we keep OTC Medications, Bath Tissue, Paper Towels, Candles, Light bulbs, Razors, Office Supplies {pens, pencils, paper, etc}, feminine care, oral care items, free sample items {I keep these for days when we travel so I don’t have to take full size items}, batteries, facial care, deodorant, kleenex, and a lot more!

I ended up putting a little 2 shelf bookshelf that I had in the closet to help keep things a little more organized. I am an organizer at heart. I love things all neat and in their place. And the bookshelf helps a lot with that. As you can see, I pile things up to the top as much as possible to allow more room for other items.

I still had a TON of floor space since the closet is really deep so I got a few old boxes to hold things like pencils and candles, and, on top of that, are batteries and a basket that holds toothbrushes and free samples. I have free samples galore in that basket – I keep laundry samples for when we travel so we don’t have to take detergent bottles with us.

On the opposite side of the closet are razors and more razors {and more razors under the Q-tips and Always}. Between my husband and I we have 10 brothers – guess what they are getting for Christmas this year!

Before we moved into our rent house I thought we would have a ton of cabinet space. And we do! Of course, we can’t put anything taller than a regular 16 oz can inside of them. Which presents a challenge. So, I purchased this cabinet to put in the kitchen across from my cabinets. Not an idea situation, but it works for us right now and that is what is important. However, I told Andrew next time we rent a house I was bring a bottle of ketchup to test the cabinets.

Thankfully the couple who originally owned the house decided to enclose the back porch to make it a laundry room. And added these shelves. I’d be lost without them! I keep all of our Laundry Supplies, Shampoo, Hair Spray, Body wash, Bathroom/household Cleaners, and tools along with paint and wood stains out there. I love DIY Projects.

Can you guess which shampoo is my favorite?! Love me some John Frieda Shampoo!

When they enclosed the porch to make a laundry room they also added another shower out there along with a vanity mirror. I didn’t use it for a long time, but recently began storing all of our soap in there.

Our stockpile items are all put away where they are suppose to be and I can rest easy knowing we have everything we need. I love shopping this way – when I need something there is no need to head to the store. I shop my cabinets first to grab whatever I need. And that is a great feeling!

Do you have a stockpile? If so, I would love to hear your thoughts on organization!

Creating A Stockpile…

When we first began our journey towards a more frugal lifestyle I knew we would have to make some major changes. One of the major changes we made was not purchasing all of the things we wanted – no more frivolous purchases that we do not need (not that we do not treat ourselves on occasion – because we do – we just do it less often now than we did before).

Another change we made was buying things we did not necessarily need at the time when they were on sale. For instance, we may have 2 bottles of shampoo at home right now, but if they are on sale for $1.28 each and I have a 1.00/2 coupon which would make them $0.78 each, I would purchase shampoo.

The idea of creating a stockpile this way seemed foreign to me at first. Why buy something if I have it at home already? But the more I looked in to creating a stockpile, the more it made sense to me. Why pay over $3 for shampoo (and most shampoos are well over $3) when I can get it for $0.78 today?! Why pay over $3 for salad dressing when I can get it for $0.99 or less? So our journey began towards creating a stockpile…

I aimed at purchasing a few stockpile items each grocery trip to begin building out stockpile. That was over three months ago, and we now have a nice little stockpile {SP} here in our house.

Here are a few pictures of some things we managed to snag while on sale:

We wanted to purchase products that not only we will use

but also things that we can donate where needed

We purchased these paper plates to give to our church

We don’t have a lot of storage space in our house

In fact, it’s practically non-existent

so we pulled out some boxes and began storing food in them

and our freezer is near to bursting!

We have been able to purchase not only groceries, but cleaning and household supplies

above and beyond our budget by purchasing items when they are on sale

and we save even more when combing the sales items with coupons

I love knowing that since we’ve started our stockpiling method that we no longer have to run to the store when we run out of toothpaste and pay over $3 for a single tube.

Or if we’re in a hurry and I am unable to fix what I had planned for dinner that there is

always something quick I can simply pop into the oven

Having a stockpile not only helps you buy more at a lower price

but it also gives you a cushion knowing that you have on hand what you need when you’ll really need it

And it also allows you more room in your budget to share with other who are in need

Do you guys have any thoughts of stockpiling?
Have any of you done this before?
Or are any of you interest in doing this?

I’m curious to see what you guys think!