Question

Does anyone do a sinking fund for stockpiling items? I’m not an extreme couponer by any means, but I’m in some deal groups (mostly Target) and I like to stock up on staples when there are really great deals. For example, a few months ago there was a deal on laundry detergent. I don’t remember exactly how it worked, but there were stacking coupons, a gift card offer, cash back, etc. and it worked out to be the cheapest per bottle if you bought 9. Now under my new TBM budget, I don’t really have the extra funds built into any given week to buy 9 laundry detergents. Some pantry type items are maybe cheap enough to work in, but household and toiletry items, maybe not. I’m wondering if I should have a separate envelope/sinking fund to use when these deals come up. I hate to pass up a really low price on something we use just to turn around and buy it later at full price when we need it.  

Answer 1

I would. And as good of a deal NINE laundry soaps are. no one needs that many‼️ My sis (who is an extreme couponer) has hords of sh*t she got “on sale”. lemme tell you, when i look at her racks . all i think is “WOW there are like 15 credit card payments or 2 things paid off in there!  Just because it’s on sale doesn’t make it worth it. (By all means buy what you need when on sale-but stockpiling while in debt is not always the best option)

Comments

@saboteur yeah I see what you mean but I will eventually need 9  and as far as I know it doesn’t go bad, at least not in the time frame I’ll use them. I don’t do this with everything and certainly not that extreme. but Target very often has a deal of buy 4 deodorants/body wash/shampoo/diapers, get a $5/$10 gift card.  

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Honestly I got 13 bags of All laundry pods for $7 last summer. I'm down to my last 2 bags. They are usually $5 and change a bag. I usually only do stock deals if it's less than $1 an item and stock up for months. It saves me so much money not having to buy those items for months at a time that it gives me more money to pay off debt

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@liquidize that’s amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever gotten that big of a discount. But I figure if it’s more than half off, it’s worth buying a couple extra.  

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@alpert71 I follow a lot of fb couponing groups. My favorite are the shopforfree one for my local stores

Answer 2

If you have a cvs you can coupon with about 10 or less a week and get a good stockpile with that. Check YouTube there is a bunch of coupons that post there halls and tell you what you need couponing with Toni dose a 10 challenge every week at cvs.  

Answer 3

Create a Sinking fund for it! That way when those deals come along, you have the money set aside for it! If you don't have the money in your budget, save all the extra money at the end of the budget period from your envelopes to get you started.  

Answer 4

Stockpile what you can afford. Buying items at the lowest possible price and then not having to buy them again for 2-4-8 months is how you save money in the long run. I'm not in debt and I make it a point to stockpile at the lowest possible price. Just today Amazon had four 500-packs of Qtips for $8. 22 shipped. We use them everyday and I will share with my adult daughter. Qtips don't go bad and I won't have to use any of my grocery/toiletries budget for them for two years probably.  

Answer 5

I’d say yes four if you can afford that extra envelope I love couponing but hasn’t been in the budget very much lately. But I did go to the store the other day to redeem a rain check and found my grandmas oatmeal super cheap if you buy 4 and ritz crackers and the 5 boxes of granola I paid almost $12 for it all.  $1 a box for everything

Answer 6

Can you PM me the group name? I’ve been trying to learn couponing.  

Answer 7

$20 a week and if you don't use it it just adds up each week. So when there is a really good deal you have the money to buy the multiples needed.  

Answer 8

For me when something food related is on sale I’ll buy so many I need for the two week span then if I have room I will buy 1-2 extra for the next time I need it. I also never pay more than $5. 99 for 24 rolls of toilet paper

Answer 9

We've been toying on how to do this. We have a Stock Up Fund envelope but just started it. I coupon and shop sales too so it seemed like a good idea. Was thinking of replenishing by putting what we saved back into the stock up fund. For example, for laundry detergent we have an envelope for Household but if it has money in it by next paycheck, putting it into the stockpile fund because I saved that money by stockpiling if that makes sense.  

Comments

@frilling yes that’s a really good point!  

Answer 10

Absolutely. Set aside a little as you can. Stockpiling has allowed us to keep a little to no budget for most HBC and household items. We havent needed to buy shampoo, razors, detergent, etc in about 5 years.  

Answer 11

I do $30 a month for couponing. I typically don’t spend the entire $30 though. I mostly do deals at cvs or Walgreens where I can roll points on future transactions.  

Answer 12

So I personally do this with meat. For example last week the grocery store got 10 cases of chicken tenderloin extra as a wrong order. They put them out and put $4 off, which made the most expensive one $1. 05 for 2 pounds. I spent a total of $15 for over 40 pounds of meat. I roll over my food budget, so we budget $120 a week, but typically spend $80 a week. So we roll the extra over. It helps when there is a good sale.  

Comments

@plunkett that’s a good approach, too! Maybe I’ll just budget a little more than I should typically need and roll it over to cover bigger weeks. Thanks!  

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@alpert71 yeah it also helps when we have company over or if we are doing a big lots run when they have 20% off everything

Answer 13

Last month when they had a punch of great gift card deals I stocked up and it was so great! I just decided to start a target stock up envelope too! I agree, I know I’m going to buy it so obviously want to get it on sale!  

Answer 14

I did last year, but kept track of what I was actually using and really cut back when I saw I had way too much. now I cash flow each month. I keep a post it on desktop and just add an item when I'm low so I can order the following month and put in that months budget.