Charting Usage To Determine Appropriate Stockpiles
A big part of my strategy for spending less at the grocery store is to shop sales - buy in bulk when something is at its lowest price (through a combination of sales and coupons) so that I don’t have to buy when the price is high. Since I started this strategy in earnest, our “needs” grocery list each week has gone down from 20-30 items to less than 10 (all fresh perishables that I can’t freeze) and I’ve been able to stock up when there are good sales and hardly shop at all when the sales aren’t to my liking.
But the big question for our household (and especially for my skeptical spouse) has been “How much is too much?”. When he opens our under-stair closet, which I converted to the stockpile storage, and sees a literal mountain of cereal boxes, he has to ask me - how do we know we actually eat this stuff before it expires? And my answer is - by charting household usage before you buy, and paying attention to expiration dates when you do.
When I started serious stockpiling, I also started serious (but simple) charting of our general usage of items. Things aren’t always predictable (although my spouse is a creature of habit and more predictable than most) but with charting I could get a general idea. The idea of the chart is simple - not complicated. I simply made a list of what we had in our pantry and freezer - not an exhaustive list, just types. Like “cereal”, “bag frozen veggies”, “can soup”, etc. I then made a box for each month after the items. As something new was taken out to use, I put a checkmark in the appropriate month.
So, for example, for cereal. I had 3 checkmarks in August, 2 in September, 3 in October, and 3 in November. So now I have an idea of how many boxes we eat in a month (2 to 3). So when I am considering stocking up that item, I look at how many boxes we currently have stored and calculate how long they will last. I can then look at the items on sale, their expiration dates, and see if it is appropriate to stock up. To continue the cereal example: to be on the safe side, I estimate 2 boxes per month. If we have 12 boxes in storage, that would be six months. If there is a stock up sale on cereal, I look at the expiration dates of the items in the store. Let’s say they expire next December. So, since I have 6 months right now on hand, I could buy another 6 months’ worth (12 boxes) if the sale allows. Most of the time since I am using a combination of coupons and sales I am limited by my coupons to how many I can buy, but that is the basic idea. Let’s say instead that the expiration dates were next July. Then, since I already have 6 months on hand (January to June) I could only buy 2 boxes for use in July. Once home, for storage I store by expiration date, first expiring on top or in front (depending on the storage method) so that I use the items before they expire.
So if you want to start buying in bulk but don’t want your items to go to waste, remember these two tips - usage charts and expiration dates. The combination can keep you on track to spending less and having more available to save or spend elsewhere.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
You can also: Stumble It! Bookmark Submit to Reddit Submit to Tip'd
December 11th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Hey thats a great idea. My husband keeps asking me the same thing too. I haven’t tried to make usage chart but started stockpiling things on a vague idea of usage. Now I can have a more precise idea of what we’re going to need and when.
Thanks for sharing this idea.
December 11th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
NIce post!
December 11th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
i am soon going to be moving out of my parents house and this i find to be an excelent idea. i was worried about how i was going to handle the task of budgeting food, and stock piling with out knowing how much i consume personally.
i am deffinately going to have to use this tracking method
December 12th, 2008 at 5:34 am
Great tip! Food waste is a personal bugbear of mine, so this is a great technique that I’ll be putting to use.
December 12th, 2008 at 7:42 am
This is a really good idea. I like the simplicity of it, because you’re right, there’s no reason to buy in bulk if half of it is going to expire before you use it. Great tip.
December 12th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Great idea! I stocked up on toilet paper right after we bought our house, two 24-packs for a steal. Now I know that we use less than 1 roll per week, so 48 rolls last about a year - and that the best sales happen about once per year.
I think we all do this subconciously, but taking inventory is a great idea for perisables. Like you said, always check the expiration date in the store - I almost bought expired coffee last week.
December 12th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I have a sort of semi-system. I like to put a date on containers when I open them. Then when they get empty I have some idea how long it needs to be before I buy more. This works well especially for the bulk things I buy–like detergent that I get at Sams Club. Other things I just take a look at my storage before I add them to my list–if I have several cans of shaving cream I wont buy more unless its free. (with coupons things can be free at times)
I know I’m not disciplined enough to keep a real checklist so that’s my semi-way of doing it.
December 12th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I rotate things in my pantry, so I just grab what’s out in front. Im just not organized enough to keep a list. I always start one with the best of intentions, inventoring the freezer while wearing gloves, but I never remember to update it when I bring new supplies in. D’oh.
December 12th, 2008 at 10:24 am
This is a concrete way of figuring out how much really to buy when stock piling. Thanks for the great system.
December 12th, 2008 at 10:31 am
This is a great idea - in fact, would you mind sharing the actual chart you use to be used as a template?
December 12th, 2008 at 10:35 am
@ Cathy - I’d have to create it in open office or something, since mine is handwritten. But I could do it I think. I shall put it on my to do list
December 12th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
That’d be great - thanks!
December 13th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Hi there,
I found your site through googling snowflaking. I haven’t read much, but I’m already learning helpful tips.
I try to shop in bulk whenever I can and I’m always estimating how much of an item that is on sale I can afford to buy. I’m off to create a spreadsheet - my next Costco shop will hopefully be more structured.
December 15th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Thanks for the info. I wonder if this is similar to what restaurants do.
Have you ever written about how much you spend a month on groceries? I am curious to learn more about how to lower our monthly bill. Just trying to figure out if our grocery bill is outrageous, normal, or below normal.
Thanks!