I weeded through my stockpile box. It is amazing the amount of the stuff we think we need to clean ourselves and our homes.

Am the only one who wants to par down and make some of my own stuff?

We have to deal with our conscience and the equal/opposite consequences of our behavior.

I go in phases.. right now I'm decluttering my house AND restocking my stockpile. Basically seasonal cleaning, reorganizing. I'll coupon like crazy for a month or two and then real life will get in the way and I'll avoid stores, coupons, etc and "shop" from the house. So while at times I look at this stuff and wonder if I'm crazy its also nice to know I dont have to run to the store for anything.

Around the first of the year I got really sick and couldnt do much for about 6 weeks. It was great knowing we only had to pick up fresh foods and had everything else we needed right here. Sure not every meal was homemade and healthy but the items I had on hand made life so much easier.

I've also had a few friends fall on hard times in the last year. Knowing I can easily put together a care package for them is a great feeling. A few bottles of laundry soap, cleaning products, shampoo, deodorant, razors etc can really make a huge morale boost for someone who is struggling and cant afford those things.

I agree with Bandit26. I too was sick around the holidays. It was such a relief to know that I only had to walk to the laundry room to "shop" for what I could use to put together dinner. Having bronchial pnuemonia pretty much wiped me out for 6 weeks, but hubby only had to get the ham and turkey and fresh veggies - the rest was here already...so major time saver AND money saver.

We have several single mothers or families facing financial difficulty in our local church. It's a really nice feeling to know that while I may not be able to "financially" help them out by giving money - I am able to help them out by stretching their grocery budget.

Digging out of debt, 1 coupon at a time.....

Yes, I agree with you both. I was sick for a month and half and had no interest in going to any stores.

There are certain things we need but I think the amount of stuff out there that we believe we need is a different story. Eye cream, wrinkle cream, face cream, lip serum, jaw cream, etc. I realized I fell into this trap and need to re evaluate.

We have to deal with our conscience and the equal/opposite consequences of our behavior.

I too have fell into the "trap" of buying items I do not need because they were free or cheap. Now I buy items my family or friends truely need and can actually use. You are right it does come in handy to have your stockpile in emergencies when you are unable to shop

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I have enough air freshener to choke a ball field. I got it for overage towards other items I needed. Now, I need to get it out of here, lol! I think I'm going to stop with the little overage items because I need a decluttered house more than I need .20.

I have not really had the opportunity to build a huge a stockpile - it seems like everytime I get to the point to where I start looking at things to get because they are nice to have and not really a necessity - something happens and we end up living off of the stockpile for a couple of months. Then I am back to square one and rebuilding my stockpile from the beginning. The only thing I have right now that I don't need to stock up on is cereal.

I haven't gotten there yet. If I buy it, I use it or find someone who will. A coworker of mine will buy alot of what extra I get. Not at a big profit, mostly what I have paid for it including the q's I have to buy. It helps both of us out, for different reasons. In turn, with the $ I get from him, I buy the stuff I want/need that is not on sale or at the best price. I feel better about paying a higher oops.

I did stop shopping for over a year. When my stockpile was getting very low, yes I had enough to go that long with little purchases in the processs, I started back up around Nov 2012. And now teaching my dil how to do this so when they finally get there own place, maybe it will help them stay on there feet.

We make our own laundry soap and cleaning supplies sometimes. But I enjoy the thrill of the hunt. What I save I try to put in my savings account. Hoping to buy a house next year. And this is the only way I know to get there.

Do you ever look at your stockpile and wonder why we need all this stuff?

Honestly, no. Most of my stockpiles are of the non-perishable products that we use on a regular basis - from Aveeno to Ziplocs and everything in between. I built it knowing exactly what I was doing and why.

I've been couponing for over two decades and I remember the days when getting non-perishables for free was virtually impossible. I decided to make hay while the sun shines, but I have never allowed the stockpiles to take over my home. They are all neatly organized and store behind cabinets, cupboards, and closets. If you walked into my home, you would have absolutely no idea what lies within.

That is not to say that there were not times when I went overboard because of a huge MM. There are ALWAYS organizations that need items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and shampoo. As far as I was concerned, it was a win/win.

The only time I've ever stocked something I or my family won't use is if it gives substantial overage (ie: Poise $3/1 mfg and $3/1 store q which gave $2.51 overage on each package!), and that gets donated to shelters and other needy families. Other than that, I only stockpile stuff I ABSOLUTELY KNOW that my family or those I give to can and will use within the time before expiration.

I haven't built up enough of a stockpile yet to cut my grocery bill down to where I really want it to be consistently - so I don't go purchase stuff to donate unless it is 100% tax free FREE. I would dearly love to be able to only have to spend $35 a week, but still up around the $75 mark - but even that is way down from the previous $100-$125/wk before I started couponing. However, with that said, I have 2 nephews getting ready to deploy for 1 year deployments to Afghanistan and Vietnam in the coming months - so I will be having to re-evaluate my purchasing to include items that they will/can use or like to have for their care packages every month.

Digging out of debt, 1 coupon at a time.....