How Stockpiling Can Save You Money

Stocking up, stockpiling, buying ahead, buying in bulk, creating a stock pile, etc. I prefer to say that I am creating "My Own Home Store!" However you want to say it, it can save you money. Here's how.

Items go on sale approximately every 12 weeks. This is called a "sale cycle." So, you can expect your favorite toiletries and foods to be on sale approximately every 3 months.

When your desired items go on sale, you should purchase enough to last your family 3 months (until the next sale cycle). This way, you are never paying full price for these items.

For example, last week organic coconut flour (2.2 lbs) was on sale through Tropical Traditions for $9.99. Regular price is $15. I only needed 1 bag, but I purchased 3 at the discounted price. This should last me until it goes on sale again. I saved $15 by purchasing more at the discounted price.

The extra bags of coconut flour are now part of my home store!

When you stockpile, you are purchasing enough products at a discounted price to last you until the next sale.

This was a big coupon shopping trip from a few years back. Obviously, before we started making a switch to whole foods.

Shortening Replacement

There are so many conflicting opinions on what you should eat that it is difficult to make sense of it all. After all of the information I have read on nutrition, I have determined to do what feels right to me. That may be different than what is best for you, but it helps me to feel so much more at ease. I am tired of feeling guilty about how I am feeding my family. What makes the most sense to me, is to eat less processed, more whole foods.

I have a problem, though. I love to bake. In the past, I have used a ton of butter-flavored shortening. Well, after realizing how bad it is for you, I spent several years using butter as a replacement. Unfortunately, there are many baked goods that just don't turn out as nicely when I use butter instead of shortening. 

Enter Palm Shortening

I first heard about palm shortening from Facebook. Someone on the same local, natural living group posted that she had just gotten a great deal on it through Tropical Traditions. I buy my coconut oil through them, so I was intrigued. Later, I read about palm oil on The Healthy Home Economist. In the comments, someone mentioned palm shortening. So, I decided to try it.

It is great! It has the benefits of palm oil and none of the garbage of shortening. It isn't flavored and is a little bit lighter and fluffier than vegetable shortening. I am very happy to have found this for my family.

I use the palm shortening in a lot of recipes - baked goods mainly. It is also great for frying, but I tend to use coconut oil for that. Now, most of the baked goods I make are not entirely healthy. I feel better, though, knowing that I am moving over to healthier ingredients.

Have you changed any of the products that you use for your family?

Six Flags

 

One of the gifts we gave to the kids for Christmas was Season Passes to Six Flags!

We spent a cold afternoon going to the park with friends to get our pictures taken for our passes. While we were there, we decided to go on a few rides. We had a great time and are looking forward to spending more time there this spring and summer. The best part is that we don't have to stay all day! I love the idea of having passes, so that we can go for just a couple of hours and not feel like we are wasting money. 

Painting

When we moved into this house, we had painters come in and paint the main areas of the house. They did the kitchen, living room, stair case and upstairs hallway. These areas have very high ceilings and we knew we couldn't do it on our own. We also had all of the drywall fixed in the entire house. So, every. single. room. has places on the walls where the drywall was patched/fixed. This left us with a lot of painting to do.

We decided to start with the Alexandra's room. She really wanted to be a part of her decorating, so we told her to invite a friend over and they could paint. (this also got us out of having to paint the entire room - a wonderful benefit!)

They had a really good time. Of course, Alex had never painted a room before, so there was a large learning curve, but they did a great job for their very first time! 

I tend to have a difficult time letting my children do big projects like this, because I want them to do it MY way and have it look the way I want it to. I am really trying hard to let go more and let them do these things. I want to give them the skills they need to be on their own. I also feel that letting them do more will give them more confidence to try new things and take on bigger challenges. 

That is a lot of philosophy on painting a room, but I think it is true. Do your children work on big projects at your house?

Free Shipping at Tropical Traditions

Tropical Traditions Weekly Sales



 I buy my coconut oil through Tropical Traditions. This weekend, they have Free Shipping!

Just use coupon code 13711.

They have some great sales going on right now, too. I plan on buying some coconut flour to try. 


*Thank you for using my referral link. Please note that I will receive credit for each new customer that I refer. 

whole food eating and coupons?

One thing that I heard a lot of people say, back when I was teaching coupon classes, was that they didn't want to learn about using coupons, because they didn't eat junk food. They believed that there were no coupons available for the healthy foods that they ate. Well, they were wrong! (and I told them that) There are many coupons out there for whole, real foods - you just need to know where to look. Even though we are starting on a whole food eating adventure, I still plan on using coupons.

It is true that there are many, many coupons available for unhealthy, processed foods that my family will not be eating. I plan on looking right past those and cutting/printing only those that my family will use. Most of the coupons I find for my family are for fruits/vegetables, basic ingredients, toiletries, household goods and school supplies.

Where do I find coupons?


The easiest place to find coupons is your Sunday newspaper. There are several different types of coupon inserts that can be found each week.

SS = Smart Source
RP = Red Plum
PG = Proctor & Gamble
K = Kelloggs
JJ = Johnson & Johnson
T = Target

This upcoming Sunday, January 6th is, typically, the best day of the year for coupons. The paper will be filled with more coupon inserts than at any other time of the year. (2013 Coupon Insert Schedule)

2 Red Plum, 3 Smart Source, 1 Target and 1 Johnson & Johnson

Wow! I will be purchasing several papers, in order to have lots of coupons. I prefer to purchase my Sunday paper at The Dollar Tree, as they are only $1. I also purchase them early Saturday morning (the early edition) instead of on Sunday. If they run out before I get there, which often happens, I will purchase double papers at my local neighborhood Walmart.

Be sure to also look through the Parade section of your Sunday paper. There are often coupons located there.

Printing coupons online is another easy way to get coupons.

I recommend that you first go to the websites for the products/items your family uses most and look for coupons there. Often times, these companies will have you sign up to receive periodic newsletters in order to get their coupons. Please be sure to set up a specific email address for this sort of thing before signing up! These companies want to market to you. If you give them your regular email address, your inbox will fill up with these newsletters. Having these go to a "deal" email will keep them all in one place where you can go and look through them once each week, rather than dealing with them every day. Many of these newsletters will have coupons for the products that you buy, but some of them won't.

Other online sources for coupons include coupons.com, smartsource.com, couponmom.com, and cellfire.com.

There is so much to share on eating whole foods on a budget! I will stop here for today, but will write more soon. Please let me know if you have any questions!

whole food eating adventure

I really dislike the word "diet". I have gone on too many diets in my life that have not helped me to make my body healthier at.all. I have lost some weight on them, but have generally felt deprived and not good about myself.

I am ready to be healthy. I am ready to be strong. I am ready to feel great!

To do this, I am taking my family on a life-long adventure. (doesn't that sound much more fun than a diet?) We are going to focus on Whole Food Eating.

Our adventure will include lots of fruits, vegetables, grass-fed beef, pastured chicken & eggs, wild-caught fish, coconut oil, raw honey, butter and full-fat dairy. We will be eating less grains, making sure that the ones we do eat are whole grains. We will be working hard to eliminate processed foods, making our own version instead.

Of course, this adventure will include finding deals and saving money. I love to find a good deal! I also need to stick to my budget. Trying new things can often lead to spending a LOT of money (in my experience) and I want to avoid that.

I am looking forward to spending much more time in the kitchen and sharing my recipes with you.

I hope you come along for the ride! Do you already focus on whole food eating? I would love to hear what works for you.