Stockpiling vs. Hoarding

I was visiting some blogs recently and saw stockpile pictures that made my chin hit the floor. There were people who had 50 bottles of shampoo, 100 boxes of mac 'n cheese, and more toothpaste than my family will use this century. It made me consider the concept of stockpiling from a different perspective.

I have been using coupons, pairing them with store ads, and CVSing for free and almost free items. I've accumulated a couple of nice stockpile areas in my home. (We have almost NO closets, so things are stashed wherever they'll fit without being in the way too much.) I don't have replacements at the ready for every item we use in our home, but we have a lot of personal care items now. It's nice to know that when we use up our daughter's current bottle of bubble bath, there are two more waiting for us in the kitchen cupboard.

Notice I said that there were two bottles of bubble bath.... not 20 bottles of bubble bath. I can't see the purpose in stockpiling more than we know we'll use in a reasonable amount of time. So I have adopted the save and give mindset. That's where this blog's name, Saving & Giving, came from. I began the blog not long after I viewed the stockpile photos. I decided there must be a way to make better use of the free and almost-free deals that seem to keep popping up.

I've decided to share the blessings. A few weeks ago, I read on a blog site that Johnson & Johnson's Buddies soaps were at Wal-Mart for under $1. I had several $1 off coupons for those soaps. However, I had just scored a great deal at CVS on body wash for my daughter. I have enough to last her for several months. But I also had the coupons, making the soaps free.

I decided to go ahead and buy all the soaps that I could with the coupons I had. I then put them in a bag at my house. Since then I've added things like facial wipes, dish soap, and other items that would be useful at our local battered women's shelter. Once this bag is full, I'll drop it off at the shelter's office. Hopefully the women who come there for refuge will enjoy using the things that I got for free, especially when they often arrive at the shelter with nothing but their clothes and their children.

I guess I could increase my stockpile when I find freebies. So what if I already have four bottles of shampoo for myself? Don't I need sixteen bottles? No! But there are ladies who do need those bottles of shampoo.

I've found that the stores offer sales on a rotating basis. If shampoo was on sale this week, it's going to be on sale again in a few months. If I can keep enough in my stockpile to last a few months, I can be assured that the items will be attainable at a decent price again before I run out. By remembering that sales aren't a one-time thing, I keep myself from hoarding things. I can gladly pass them along to others who need them even more than I do.

Maybe the people whose pictures I found had much larger families than mine. Maybe they have been through some trying times emotionally and/or financially. I don't know their stories. But I know that my family doesn't need more than we can reasonably stash away for the next few months. I know that God is our provider, not CVS. I appreciate CVS, but I know that it's God who helps me find the deals that I find. I also know that He smiles when I share those deals with His children who need them most.