Stockpiling Pg # 2

The art of stockpiling can be an exhausting one. I will not lie to you. It is a blessing to be able to do it, but it is like a job and takes a lot of time and patience. It, for me, is like taking my coupon shopping to the extreme level. I used to shop with coupons like most of you. I would get my one Sunday paper, cut the coupons and file them in my little, pretty file folder. I would spend about an hour or two at the grocery store, going up and down each isle, with my coupons looking for the best deals. I did pretty well and was happy with my near 50% savings each trip. But as my family grew and times changed so did our needs. I started to realize that if I bought 5-10 newspapers a week that I could get much more of the free items and deals out there. So, that is what I started doing about 6-7 yrs ago. Well, you know what happened then. A great deal would come along and I would want to buy 10-20 of them. So, I had to research how to aquire the coupons needed to purchase those items. I woke up one early morning in January 2003 and decided that my News Years resolution was that I wanted us to start saving more money. I started surfing the internet and reading on ways to become more frugal. I had already been that way most of my life, but wanted to begin to save even more.

As I began reading on being frugal on the internet I ran into people discussing coupon shopping. I soon discovered tons of websites dedicated to helping people learn the basics. Most, if not all of the things I read, I already had knowledge of. But, digging through the web I read a blog where people were posting pictures of their stockpiles. I thought, Wow! ~Man, I need to do that. I was working at the time and could not devote much to the process. So, months went buy and I was just doing my normal shopping and on the occassion I would buy 10 or so of ceratin things that may be free or close to it. So, in 2004, during my pregnancy with Justin, I was reading a post on a website. It was from a lady whose husband had cancer in California and was needing soy milk coupons. That is all he was able to hold down. She was wanting to trade Huggies baby wipes coupons. They were $2 off of one! These were like gold in the coupon exchange world. Most areas would only get .50 to $1 off of one. Ebay had them, but, the prices were rediculous. I looked everywhere I could and found the coupons she needed, emailed her and made the trade. She even sent me extra's. I believe my final total of Huggies cpns were over 250. I had about one month in which to use them before they expired. I went nutts...lol...The new Publix(at the time) in Smyrna had them on sale 2 for $4 for the tubs. I was so excited. I shopped there several times a week and went to a Publix in Nashville. Within a month I had a nice stockpile of a good portion of the wipes that I would need for him. I even had some left for when Emma came along. So, for at least a year or so I did not have to buy them. I have calculated that I saved over $400 just on that one ordeal. Of course, I did find deals on wipes later, but never paid more than a few pennies for them and continued to stockpile what I was using. I would also find deals on diapers and everything else I ever needed for my babies. I cannot ever recall having to make a run to the store to buy diapers because I was out in the last 4-5 yrs. God is good!

Around that time I was watching Ms Cheap on Talk of The Town, discussing her contest. You would send in your ideas about saving money and hopefully win one of her prizes. I sat on the computer for days emailing her every idea I think I ever had(wish I had keep a record) of how to save a buck. Well, I was chosen as one of her top 30 or so for one of my ideas. All the winners got to meet her at The Palm restaurant, down town for a fun filled evening. It was so much fun. I got to take a date and took my daughter Anna. One of our best pictures together we took that night. She has actually emailed and called me to use some of my ideas in her paper articles since then.

My testimony on this issue is so large. I want to try to show how and why I have gotten to the point I have. I hope that you are following me. I so want to help people do this. It is a very rewarding process and I still learn something new everyday...~~Go, shop, stock up and save the money the good Lord has given you...:)

Blessed with His grace and mercy,
Rhonda

VIEW Stockpiling PG # 3 Here http://freebiejunkiessavings.blogspot.com/2010/02/stockpiling-pg-3.html