One of the best tips I can give on how to save money is to buy more. The concept may be counter intuitive, but the math proves it:
Let’s say your family consumes on average 2 small jars of peanut butter a month, or 24 a year.
You go the store to buy your 2 jars for the month and find they are on sale for $1.00 down from $2.28. You can buy your 2 for the month and save $2.56. That’s good, but if you buy all 24 jars for the year (peanut butter lasts well past a year) you would save $30.72!
I know not everyone can afford the extra money to buy all 24 jars of peanut butter or has the room to store them, but consider whether finding a creative place to store them and paying a bit more up front would be worth the savings. If you can’t possibly spend any extra money I recommend at least purchasing the $ amount you normally would spend in that month on that particular product to buy a little extra without taking a budget hit. In this instance you would go ahead and purchase 5 jars at a total of $5.00, a savings of $6.40 over 2 and a half months. Then the next month perhaps something else your family consumes a lot of will be on sale and you can stock up on that product while you aren’t needing to spend any money on peanut butter. The common name for this concept? Stockpiling.
And no, it doesn’t mean you have to buy 5 years of toilet paper. Just stock up on an item at a great price to last you a reasonable amount of time.
Another great thing about stockpiling is that you save time because you have fewer things to shop for because you already have them at home!
I encourage you to take a few minutes to jot down some common items your family uses, their respective prices, and how many of the item you can consume in say 3 months. Make it your goal to begin stocking up when items are on sale and see your savings grow!
You might also enjoy this post on Reducing Your Grocery and Household Budget.
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