Stockpiling and My New Resolve

Please, don't gasp in horror, but this is how(most of) my cupboards looked!

I am a stockpiler. I can't deny it if I want to because all you would need to do is look in my cupboards. I hate running out of something. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe because it is inconvenient, because I was deprived as a child (just kidding!), or maybe it gives me a sense of security. I don't know. At any rate, I have this list of staples (not really a list, just one in my head) that I always keep on hand. Well, at least try to. My list includes things like saltines, sour cream, beans, rice, jello, ketchup, mustard, mayo, BBQ sauce, shredded cheese, chocolate chips, cream cheese and much more.

Well, that might not sound so unusual, but see, I like to always have at least one extra of all these items on hand. For instance, I like to always have at least one extra bottle of ketchup and mustard in my cupboard at all times, even if I just opened a new one. Also one of my grocery buying rules is if I can get an item for 50% less than its normal price and it is something on "the list" I buy it.

Now typically this is not a problem but lately there have been so many good deals and my cupboards were just pretty much as full as they could get. My husband, who is totally not a stockpiler, has learned to just grin and bear this silliness of mine. But recently when he noticed how full our cupboards were, he began to make his little remarks hinting to me that this was getting bad.
So I decided to try something this month and next. I decided to try to not buy anything more than we absolutely need unless it is 50% or more off the normal price. I started this probably about a week into August and so far it looks like I should be able to have roughly $40 left over in our monthly grocery budget.

I am really excited about that because due to all the canning and freezing I have been doing we are over our grocery budget right now. This is typical and I generally catch up within 3 months but I am hoping to do better than that this year. Maybe!

I plan to update occasionally about how it is going, what I am doing to help eliminate my stockpile and what I am learning from this. So stay posted!