Zero to Stockpile Challenge – Week In Review, My Plans for Next Week & My Challenges

January 20, 2018 at 9:31 am by | Printable Coupon Round Up, Zero to Stockpile

8 Comments

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure.

Even More Ways to Save

Grocery Price Comparison
Beginners Guide
Printable Coupons

Zero to Stockpile

Week two is done and I made it through another week of my Zero to Stockpile Challenge. 

This week was so much easier and relaxing and I’m starting to feel really good about my stockpile. So much so that, I can tell, as I start preparing my shopping for next week, it will already be starting to work for me.

When I say it will start to work for me, what I mean is, it will allow me to pass up deals, on items I keep in my stockpile, that I don’t think are the very best prices and be able to wait until the prices drop even more. That’s an awesome feeling to have control like that of your spending. One I had no control of the first week and part of this week.

During this week I was still concerned about getting some of the staples I needed. I accomplished that by scoring a great deal on diced canned tomatoes, vitamins I used daily, whole chickens, canned fruit and more.

 

What I Gave Up

If I’d have to focus on one item I’m missing this week it would have to be ground beef. I still haven’t found a deal on it (I am exploring grinding it myself, anyone do that already and have tips for me?) and now that I have my canned tomatoes, I’m wanting to make my Sunday gravy. But, I need meatballs to do it. Hence why I need the ground beef. But, all in all, I think I’ve got most things I wanted and needed.

Of course I still have a bunch left to stock up on. Some of these items are nice to have like paper plates and napkins for when we have parties, ice cream because, duh! and some items that I’ve stocked up on that just aren’t enough in my stockpile to really keep us going. So, those deals I have an eagle eye on.

 

How I Hustled Shopped

Last week was a hustle for sure. I was at many different stores, all week long. This week was much different. I did visit five different stores including Acme, ShopRite, Foodtown, CVS and Aldi.  I even went back to Foodtown for a second time later in the week to pick up more of the romano cheese they had on sale. It was such a good price that I just decided to use up the rest of the $9 in my budget to buy more.

While five stores may still sound like a lot to some, this is how my week went.

On Sunday (which I considered my shopping day), I hit up ShopRite and did a larger shopping trip there. On the way home is an Acme so I swung in there for a few of their loss leader items. On Monday, I had to head into a different direction for some errands I had to take care of so I lumped Foodtown, CVS and Aldi  to coordinate into my trip.

Besides ShopRite, which probably took me about an hour shopping in store, the other stores take me no time at all. I have my list and coupons ready and I’m in and out between 5-15 minutes. If it takes me longer in the store, it’s usually because I’m browsing for other deals or checking stuff for the site. So, my point is, if you are prepared, you can do these shopping trips very quickly.

My Plan for Next Week

While this past week was very different then the first week, I see this coming week being even more different.

During weeks one and two I was extremely focused on stocking up on food items. It was priority to me. We needed to eat and I needed food.  So, I past over awesome coupon deals at stores like Rite Aid (example of an awesome wellness+cash deal last week) for a few reasons. One is I didn’t have  enough money in my budget to put out cash (remember I had to store rewards) to do the deals.  The second is, I just didn’t have the time to spend on that. My time and energy were much better spent focusing on food items and finding the very best deals on those.

Now, I can totally see me doing more coupon deals at the drugstores and I’m already planning some more deals at CVS next week especially since I now have $13 in ECBs to roll into other deals.

Some of the items I’m more focused on this week are beef, kitchen garbage bags, hand soap, deodorant, toothpaste, brown rice and ground turkey. My eyes are alert to any deals on those items.

Also, I’m willing to bet that I don’t spend my full budget of $200 and I’ll already start to see it drop on it’s way back down to where I was when I had a, very full, stockpile.

How I Challenged Myself This Week

If you aren’t following me on social media, you probably don’t know that my word for 2018 is Challenge. This year is my year to challenge myself on things I’ve been afraid to try, haven’t put the time in to try or even things I never thought I could or would do. This week, my challenges fell into the category of “haven’t put the time in to try”.

  1. Grating my own romano cheese. This week I found an awesome deal at Foodtown on Romano cheese.  At $5.00/lb,  I bought a bunch. Guys, grating it is so so easy. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to buying already grated cheese. I especially don’t buy that stuff in the green container (blah!). If you are interested in grating your own cheese it’s really simple. Chop the cheese up into chunks and place in your food processor. I have a mini processor that powered through it just fine. Using the regular blades, simple process it up. Stop and start occasionally to be sure you are getting all the chunks. You can continue processing it until it’s the consistency you like.
  2. Making Broth: This week I made vegetable broth (hello where have you been all my life) and chicken broth. Guys, the vegetable broth was just so easy you’d be foolish not to try it. Simply keep vegetable scraps (ends of onions, shavings from carrots, tops of celery, etc) from your everyday cooking in a ziploc bag in the freezer. Once the bag is full, empty it into a pot and fill with about 14 cups of water. If the bag doesn’t have enough onions, celery or carrots in it, simply cut a onion (skin and all) hack up a carrot and/or celery and maybe even a few pieces of garlic. Bring to a boil and let it sit for about an hour. Strain the veggies out and put into a container.  I put mine into wide mouth mason jars and froze them keeping one, at all times, in the fridge for quick use.

Now It’s Your Turn

So, now it’s your turn. How did your week go? Did you have goals you wanted to reach? Did you reach them? Did you stock up on some important items your family needs? Did you challenge yourself with any new challenges or any of the ones I posted during the past two weeks?

What You Might Have Missed

In case you missed my shopping trips, you can see each one of them below.  I also show my budget as well as the items currently sitting in my stockpile and freezer.

I Challenge You

And, I challenged you with five things to make this an even more successful journey for you:

Zero to Stockpile Giveaway Winners

This week’s Zero to Stockpile Giveaway Winner is Dina Troha. She won a $50 Amazon Gift Card. Remember, head to our Zero to Stockpile giveaway page to find out how to enter.

Tips to Follow My Journey

  1. Follow me on my Instagram account where I post, via my IG Stories, all my day to day!
  2. Join our Zero to Stockpile Facebook Group.
  3. Sign up for the Zero to Stockpile Newsletter

 

 

More Hot Deals You Don’t Want to Miss: