What is Food Storage?

The next and probably most powerful step to successful coupon use is building up a usable food storage or a home store. Usable food storage is a great way to save money and be prepared for emergencies.  A useable food storage contains multiples of the items you commonly use. Having six months of a useable food storage is a great preparedness idea and will help you save money.

The concept behind building food storage is simple. When a great deal is found, buy in bulk. Stocking up at your preferred price will save you money.  This means you are buying your groceries and other household items at your idea of a best price. By doing this you will almost always get to pay what you want for your items, not what the stores feel they should charge you on a regular basis. Take pancake syrup for example. If you find a great sale on pancake syrup, and maybe you can even use a coupon too, buy what your family will realistically use before the syrup goes bad.  When you run out of syrup you will be able to go to your food storage, or home store, and get some from there. You have paid your preferred low price for it instead of paying whatever it costs at the store the week you run out.

As you shop for items and build your food storage it is important to remember to only buy what you will actually use. If you buy too much of something, it is money wasted. If you buy something you will never use, it is money wasted. Lots of new coupon users fall into this trap. When a deal is amazing, you want to get as much as you can. Using smart shopping skills and remembering to buy only what you need will save you money. Throwing unused food and other item away is just like throwing money away.

Donating items to charity can be easy and fun when you shop with coupons. This is the only time I think it is ok to buy things that you won’t use. If you buy things to donate, just be sure to donate them before they go bad. There are usually lots of items that are free and cheap with coupons that can be donated easily.

Building a usable food storage and a home store are the reason why accumulating multiple coupons is necessary. To do this you usually need multiple coupons. If you want to stock up on laundry detergent, be sure to gather multiple coupons for the brand you want to purchase. Remember you can use one coupon per item purchased.

Buying a lot of one thing at a great price can lead to never having to pay full price again.  For example, buying six months of cereal at a great price means cereal will not need to be purchased again until you run out. This can be done with many food items and most household goods.  This is probably most powerful step to successful coupon use. It will feel great and look great at checkout when you realize that you will never have to pay full price again. Stay tuned tomorrow when we talk more about pinching your pennies!