Stockpiling vs. Hoarding

Have you seen the show Extreme Couponing on TLC? I had heard of it, but finally caught it the other night. There was a part of me that was completely envious and another side that thought, "isn't this kind of considered hoarding... just a little?"  The episode I saw featured a guy who has 1,000 bottles (no, that's not an exaggeration) of bodywash in his garage and buys huge amounts of every kind of HBA you can dream up. To his credit, he donated 1,000 boxes (yes, you read right) of cereal to his church's food bank. While I would agree that there's something to be said for finding a good deal and stocking up, several of the people in the show either bought enough for a year or so much that there was no possible way they could use it in their entire lifetime (like having a literal pile of 1,500 sticks of deodorant... who uses that much??).

Here's an idea of what stocking up looks like. My friend Chelle went to Publix yesterday, to fill her pantry on the week's sale items. I told her next time she took a picture, she needed to spread that stuff out more or get an aerial shot! I'm a visual learner and need to see her loot! :) 

In coupons alone that girl saved $40. Forty dollars! She even made money on some things. You go, Chelle! But I digress... My point is, she bought 6 bags of mac & cheese and 8 jars of spaghetti sauce. This will last her until the next time it goes on sale. Even if she would have had 60 coupons, I think I know her well enough to say she would not have purchased 60 jars of sauce for herself. See the difference?

My family has made a commitment to give away items that we are stocked up on, that we get for free or at an extremely reduced cost. Going back to my friend Chelle and her spaghetti sauce, if she would have had 60 coupons to get it ultra-cheap or even make money on it, she probably would have kept 10 or so, but would have donated the rest.

There was a time, when I really thought we were doing something good by having our children each take 1 item to our church's food bank every time I did my major grocery shopping. After looking at that situation a little closer, I soon realized if I watched for great sales and paired them with coupons, we were soon donating more and actually spending less doing it! How'd that happen?? I honestly feel like God was having a good ol' LOL and saying, "Hey! Come quick! Look at this! The lightbulb finally went off in this one!" and it was then that He started funneling more opportunities to give our way. In no way do I want you to take that as bragging. I would never, ever want that to come across as being proud of what we've done. I'm just trying to recognize the fact that God is enabling us to help more people, all while continuing to live contently on a meager grocery budget. If you still think I'm being arrogant, consider this: I saw a church sign the other day that read, "Man sees what you do, God sees why."

Did I dream this couponing thing up? Don't I wish... I'm really not that smart. I'm simply trying to take what I've learned from others and teach other people how to do the same. My hope is that once you've stocked up on the things you need, then you can give away stuff to help other people, too! :)

So don't be out there hoarding all the bodywash you can cram in your closets... it'll go on sale again, soon. I promise. :)