I remember about a year ago before I started couponing. I know many of you have been in this same place too. You’re in the bathroom and you’re squeezing that last little bit out of the toothpaste tube. You thought you had gotten as much as you could last night but since you forgot to go to the store you’ve got to try to eek out just a little more out of that old tube.
Or you are doing laundry. You have a tiny bit left in your detergent bottle. You may turn it upside down or swish some water in it to get the last little bit out. You might be doing this because you don’t have another bottle. Or, if you were like me, you just couldn’t bring yourself to open the new bottle that you paid $8.99 for when there’s a tiny bit left in the old bottle that also cost a fortune.
Fast forward 9 months. I now find myself in a new dilemma. I have huge stockpiles of just about every toiletry imaginable. They are lined up on the shelves like at a grocery store. When I get down to the end of a tube of toothpaste, I don’t squeeze the last little bit out. I just go get a new tube from the stash. When I’m out of laundry soap or shampoo, I open a new bottle. After all, I only paid $1 for it.
Now that I want for nothing, at least nothing that you can find at Walgreens or CVS, I find myself wasting. Not huge waste but definitely more than is necessary. As I reflected back over this recent chapter in my life, I realized that I began couponing to cut back on one area of waste (money) and inadvertently have increased waste in another area. So last month I made a conscious effort to do better. I’m not doing this because I’m cheap or want to save even more money. I just feel that I shouldn’t just be a good steward of my money - I need to be a good steward of everything I’m given, no matter how small.
By not taking my stockpiles for granted, I might be able to help others even more. If I can get a little extra out of one tube of toothpaste, over a year or two, that might equate to a full tube of toothpaste. Then I’ll have an extra tube I can donate to a shelter or give to a friend in need. That might seem like a small contribution but I guarantee you that it isn’t a small gesture to the person receiving it.
I’ve been doing better these past two months. But I’ll be honest, it’s easy not to waste when you don’t have much but when you want for little, it’s a little more challenging.
Do you find yourself in a similar situation? How do you keep from taking your stash for granted?
Shellie loves to share her frugal living tips as well as deals and bargains to help you get more with less. A spender at heart, she balances her frugal lifestyle with the occassional splurge. 
Good thoughts, Shellie. I find myself in the same “wastful” habits more often when it comes to food for my kids–I’ll bring home free (fill in the blank) and if they don’t like it, I’m not as inclined to eat the leftovers or pressure them into finishing the free/cheap food.
Thanks you for this post! I too will be more conscious of this slippery slope in the future.
I was actually going to ask how you find room for all the extra items. It seems that a key to successful couponing is stocking up. My husband does NOT like clutter and we just don’t have room to spare. Any suggestions?
I don’t stockpile which helps in this area of waste. I do purchase when I find a good deal though and only if it is a good deal on something I use and will consume. I usually don’t have multiple coupons to help me achieve that sweet deal multiple times which is really why I am not stockpiling. However, that’s okay with me because on some things (i.e. toothpaste) you know there is going to be a good deal next week. Honestly, I’m just not quite as good as you are, Shellie.
I find that I am quite the oppisite. The more I have, the more frugal I become. We use those darn toothpaste squeezers, and we still swish the laundry soap. Thats because the money we save here and there, is going toward my grandson’s college education, and towards that Ihouse that my daughter and I fell in love with. But yes, we donate, and we have taught several others how to do what we do, but I always give credit and thanks, to Shellie, and the others that work so hard to find these deals for us, and others. Thanks Shellie!!
Katy, obviously I don’t know what your living arrangements are like, but I’m a pretty good organizer- maybe I can help. What I have done is to de-clutter our closets of extra clothes, old sports equipment & coats & household items we haven’t used in years, and donated those items. Once you get rid of some things, consolidate and rearrange what you have. For example, get rid of some old clothes/shoes from your clothes closet and move linens/blankets into their place. That could free up space in your linen closet for toiletries and toilet paper surplus. And perhaps you could display your bath towels in a basket instead of having them in the closet, for example. I’ve found that having useful decor items (like baskets) are nicer than nick-nacky stuff anyway. Also utilize the “Hidden Spaces” (awesome show on HGTV)in your house/apt by using under-bed orgainizers for stuff like wrapping paper or old memoribilia. Closed-storage is great for keeping down the “cluttered” look. We have several trunks (for blankets/pillows, toys, etc) and even built a window seat for extra storage, too. Just some thoughts… hope any of it helps… good luck and happy stockpiling!
I struggle with this too-
but on the other side, I find myself with the same miserly ways and I am afraid of hoarding
I have a stockpile.
I also have 5 kiddos and a sweet husband. so how many toothpaste’s should I hold on to?
I have an abundance. My husband and I get between 6 and 10 papers a week.
I love to share and show off the stockpile its my new baby that I have worked so hard to gather.
But I dont like people picking though it (family) to see what they would like…
so hmmm yes we go though lots of products
but does anyone have an idea on how much of anything an average person needs of shampoo or toothpaste?
One thing I don’t like about couponing is the trash waste. Before I always bought big items from Wal-Mart or maybe Sam’s. Now instead of buying the huge laundry detergent at Sam’s, I’ve gotten the same amount in lots of little bottles for cheaper…but with WAY more plastic. Same goes for toothpaste, shampoo…And I don’t sign up for samples for precisely this reason, because they seem the most wasteful of all. Also, many small items are often less space-efficient than one big item. But we really need to save this money! I’m not a green fanatic but it still bothers me. I’m trying to strike a happy medium. It’s a hard balance.
I do stockpile, and i don’t have a huge house but fortunately i have a nice walk in pantry about the size of most people’s small bathroom. It is in the basement, and i think by keeping my hoarde separate from the kitchen and bathroom, so that i have to go down one or two flights of stairs to “shop” when i run out of something, helps keep from being wasteful. I both squeezed dribs of toothpaste out of a tube that has been folded and clothespinned to force the last bit to the end, AND tipped a laundry detergent bottle upside down so the last drops will go into the cap all day and i can do a load tonight! Aren’t we funny – we’re all so alike….
To Debra – I too have been trying to figure out how much is “enough”, and i just started this – when i open a new something – contact lense solution, shampoo, or toothpaste – I’m writing the date i opened it on the tube or bottle with indelible marker. That way when it runs out, i’ll know how long it lasted. That should give us a good baseline.
Great post Shellie! My husband was just saying this week that we need to treat all these special snacks that I have been getting for free or under .50 cents like we paid full price for them. Our kids are getting spoiled by the abundance!
Fantastic idea, Peggy! I’m going to do just that from now on!
Shellie, I was just thinking this exact thing the other day as I rinsed out the conditioner bottle and (gasp) dumped it down the drain. Formerly, I would certainly have used that on my hair, but since I have 4 more bottles I “need to use up” why bother, right? I think that’s part of my problem- I feel like when I have a lot, I’m on a mission to use it all up… and I noticed my husband doing the same thing. Eating lots of cereal (since we have like 16 boxes) and brushing his teeth more often (we have 12 tubes of toothpaste!). I guess fewer cavities and better nutrition is a good side effect of our “excess consumption.”
Lindsey, I am SO with you on the concerns about excess packaging! I was a Sam’s Club shopper and would get frusrated about their packages inside of packages wrapped in plastic, though, too. Unfortunately in the couponing world, you frequently have to buy multiples of the smaller boxes/bottles to be able to use the coupons to get the cost down. Frustrating, since it is such a contradiction of the frugal mindset, which would otherwise incline us not to waste!
I too struggled with this during my first few months of couponing. I had to make a serious effort to remember the reason I began stockpiling was budget control. I forced myself to think of this every time I thought about reaching for a new bottle or tube from the household supply closet. It made me better at squeezing the last drop of life from every item.