How to Stockpile without Being a Hoarder

Have you considered stockpiling groceries and supplies?

Not stashing items away for survival—but rather gathering goods for the sake of saving money.
If you’re afraid that starting a stockpile is going to land you on ”Hoarders” you need not fear.

You can store items away without having bulk size cans of peas in your bedroom or stacks of paper towels under your kid’s bed.

Here are some simple steps on how to build a stockpile that is realistic, useful, and easy on the pocket book.

Step One: Where?

It’s time to choose a spot for your stockpile. Stockpiles should be used and not seen. Think of some places in your home where there is space to safely store some non-perishable items.

I have five stockpile locations: the top shelf of the pantry, under my bathroom sink, under my son’s bathroom sink, the top shelf of the linen closet, and half of the spare room closet.

Step Two: What Should I Stockpile?

Here’s a good rule of thumb when deciding what to stockpile– only accumulate items that  you use. No matter how good a deal is, unless you are going to use 100% of it before it expires, don’t load up on it.

I like to gather household staples like razors, shampoo and soap—both body and dish. I also stockpile grocery items that have a long shelf life, like sports drinks, crackers, and canned goods.

Step Three: Buying For the Pile

How do you know when to stock up on an item and when to wait for a better deal? Keep a little notebook in your purse or coupon binder for tracking the prices of products you usually buy.

Jot the names of the items down in the notebook, and then, on your next shopping trip, write down the cost of each product. If it’s the retail price (non-sale price) write an R next to it, and if it’s on sale, write an S next to it.

You’ll start to notice patterns, like sports drinks seem to go on deep discount every three months, or that BBQ sauce is at it’s lowest before July 4th every year. Once you see these sale cycles you’ll know when to buy, how much to buy to tide you over till the next sale, and when that next sale will be.

Step Four: Organizing Your Loot

Now that you have your stash, it’s time to organize it. Since my stockpile is split up throughout the house, I keep things closest to where they would “live” if there were only one of them.

I keep sports drinks and BBQ sauce in the kitchen stockpile, shampoo under my sink, detergent in the garage next to the washer… you get the picture. If you’re keeping everything together in one place the most common way to organize it is alphabetically by item name.

There you have it, stockpiling the non “Hoarders” way.

This guest post was written by Teri.