A lot of new coupon users out there wonder how you create a stockpile, keep up a stockpile, and the importance of one.

First of all let me just say having a stockpile can be very important when trying to save the most money with coupons. Also, the size of a “Great stockpile” can really vary by person. For example, if you live in a 2 bedroom apartment and are a family of 2, you will want a smaller stockpile. As for a family of 5 with more space, you may need/want a larger stockpile.

Something else that is important to keep in mind is that history repeats itself. Meaning that sales will most likely repeat themselves. They may be for different brands but the same type of a product. For example, Noxema razors may be on sale where you can get them for free in January and then you will most likely see another sale for Gillette razors (where you’d be able to get them for free with coupons) in February.

With food items, it seems like the sales for same product types happen every 2-3 months. So to have a stockpile for each item your family uses for 2-3 months would work out well.

There are certain items that I personally do not go “Sale Happy” with….meaning I don’t get 10 of that item .Once you have your stockpile for these items (listed below) you can get 2-3 of them when they’re free.

These items for me include:

• Toothbrushes
• Toothpaste
• Razors (mostly women’s but men’s as well)
• Deodorant
• Body wash

Another great reason to have a stockpile is so you have the basic staples to meals. That makes it so you may only have to purchase garlic for a pasta dish because you already have 15 boxes of pasta, 15 cans of tomato sauce and seasonings you got for free. You may have gotten these 1 month ago but hey, the night you crave pasta and homemade sauce, you won’t have to pay much at all! Same thing for when you want it 2 weeks later. See how that can really make your grocery expense go way down? You are now able to make a pasta dinner for the cost of garlic ($0.50). Since you can usually get pasta for free with sales and coupons and tomato sauce for very inexpensive (these make great filler items at Walgreens sometimes with the in ad coupons).

Here’s another example….you want to make chocolate chip cookies so you may only need to purchase eggs because you got the flour, chocolate chips, baking soda, etc for very cheap.

Basically you just want to make sure you stockpile items that you will use when they are on SALE with great coupons. This will help ensure that you don’t ever have to pay full price for those items….once you start running low on your stockpile for an item, you will most likely see a sale on it soon.

What are some of your tips and advice on stockpiling, storing your pile, etc?!