Many people wonder why would anyone buy 20 bags of rice or 35 razors. Typically when a person shops they only buy what they need when they need it and stores know it. Toilet paper isn't something you will need only once a year so if they put it on sale only once a year people will still buy it. Fact of the matter is there are staples of life that everyone will always need. The idea of stockpiling is to buy when the prices are low and buy enough to last until the next sale. Sale cycles run about every 3-6 months on products. So Secret deodorant may be on sale right now bit not again until July. If you can get a product cheap enough, say .15 each, buy enough to last your family until the next sale.
Products follow predictable patterns for sales. When is flu season? December or January. Guess what's on sale...cold and flu medicine. Same for holidays or seasons. A good example of a seasonal sale is mustard. During the big BBQ holidays mustard and other condiments will go on sale AND many manufacture coupons will come out to make this product free or close to it. Does your family only use mustard when BBQing? Mine doesn't so I will buy enough mustard to last a few months.
Stockpile prices for me are at least 80% off for health, beauty and home products. I look for around 50-60% off for stock prices on food. Other parts of the country people can get away for less but prices in California are high.
So what are items I will never pay anything but tax for? Kleenex, paper towels, shampoo/conditioner, band aids, razors, snack items, deodorant and lotion just to name a few. If you really want to cut your family budget down for the long term, stockpiling is the way to go.
