Confessions of a Cheapskate

First of all, I’d like to welcome all of you new readers to my site! Thank you so much for stopping by!

I’ve struggled writing this entry for my website for some time. It’s very important to me that I explain the concept of stockpiling correctly because this is vital for longer-term savings. It’s important to me that I get it right, that I make it easy to understand. Also, I don’t know how others shop and I’m worried that everyone that will find their way to my site will already know how to stock up and that this will read like an article to tell the difference between a triangle and a circle.

Stockpiling is an easy enough concept for anyone who lives near a Meijer. For years, Meijer has run an excellent store brand sale that was super awesome. One could pick up boxes of mac and cheese 4/$1, canned veggies 4/$1, store brand pastas (spaghettio types) 4/$1, boxes of plain pasta 4/$1, etc., etc.

Wouldn’t it be great if the price was low every week? It can be!

As this sale would approach in the fall I would stretch what we bought at the last store brand sale to last because the prices were simply unbeatable. People at Meijer would have overflowing carts with cans and boxes and fill their pantries cheap. And the best part is, Meijer brand is excellent. There are a few places around town where I find the off brand, well, off.

The math is pretty simple. On average, you were saving 50% or better. If you only bought a single can of green beans for .25, you saved .25 or more that week. If you happen to use a can of green beans every week in a certain recipe for a meal your family loves, by buying several cases at 50% off or better, your savings multiply.

You use 1 can per week. 1 can x 52 weeks/year = 52 cans.

If you buy 52 cans through the year at regular price, (52 cans x .57 (regular price) = $29.64) you’ll spend $29.64.

If you buy 52 cans when they are 50% off or better, (52 cans x .25 = $13) you’ll spend $13 for the year’s worth of canned green beans.

It makes sense to stock up when you find the lowest price like this and enjoy that same savings each and every week. For the year, you’ll have saved $16.64.

$16.64 may not sound like much over the course of a year, but multiply that by the 2 cans of corn, the can of carrots, and the 3 cans of peas you put in your famous casserole dishes and now you’re talking ($16.64 x 6 different cans) $98.84 for the year.

Now, it’s starting to look like real money saved.

This is what stockpiling to save money is all about. We all do it to some extent. Some believe that the price of gas goes up on the weekends or on holidays, so they will faithfully fill up their tank on Tuesdays. Some see the price of gas look a little lower than it did last week, and so they’ll stop to top off the tank even though they don’t really need to yet.

The trick is to buy enough that you’ll make it to the next sale.

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