Although it is possible to find food, medicine, and other household items using these methods, this article will be concentrating more on the types of items that do not fit into these specific categories. The kinds of items you either will always need in stock in your house, or that would at least be very valuable in specific survival situations. Items like clothing, blankets, can openers, knives, scissors, matches, tape, pots and pans, and sleeping bags.
Of course most of the time you’ll already have one or two of these lying around the house, but backups are always helpful, especially when they cost you next to nothing to acquire. What will you do if the shit hits the fan and you just broke or lost your only can opener? It’s better not to think about it. Just get an extra one or two while you still can.
Although you might not think of these types of items as part of a stockpile, they, like all the other items in your stockpile, will prove very valuable to you in the case of emergency or disaster. So without further ado, a list of things you can do to ease the financial blow of acquiring more useful items as a prepper.
Start Extreme Couponing
I’ll start with the obvious here. Chances are, if you’re even remotely interested in stockpiling, you’ve seen at least a few episodes of TLC’s Extreme Couponing television show. If you haven’t and you’d like to, you can find a few clips up on TLC’s website. Buying items for free or near free at retail stores can be done, but only in specific countries, and only with a considerable amount of patience and time invested into finding and clipping coupons, and keeping track of item sales in different stores.
Extreme couponing can be done for food, medicine, and other household goods, unlike most of the other methods mentioned here, which is why it can be very beneficial to look into.
Try Dumpster Diving
This method is a little hit and miss, especially since in most cases, I would guess, you have to look through quite a bit of garbage before finding something truly valuable and worth keeping. That being said, I’ve seen some come out with really amazing finds using this method. If you’d rather not open garbage bags themselves, you can always drive around looking for larger items, such as furniture and electronics, left on the side of the road.
If you’re curious about seeing some evidence that this method of stockpiling can really take off, you can find tonnes of inspiration on this blog here. The owner of the blog, a Montreal-located dumpster diver, also has a small shop where he sells some of the jewellery and vintage items he’s managed to dig up in the trash.
Check the Free Ads Sections on Online Classified Sites for Free Items
When my husband and I had just purchased our first house, I used to do this a lot. I’d keep both Kijiji and Craigslist’s “free” pages for my city bookmarked at the top of my browser. I would check these pages regularly throughout the day, and as soon as I saw something I might like, I’d email immediately. As a tip to those who are just starting to do this, I found that if you don’t respond within the first hour of a post being up, chances are the items are already being saved for someone who responded prior to you, so be sure to respond as soon as possible to make sure you have a fighting chance at the items. Of course you can still try asking later, but time is a very important factor in getting the best items on the free pages of an online classified site.
As awesome as it is to get free items, there is a definite downside to this way of gathering items for your stockpile. If your city is very spread out, driving from one end to the other is both time consuming and costly – we all know how expensive gas is these days. That being said, this shouldn’t deter you from keeping an eye on the free sections: it’s not like you have to pick up everything that looks good. Just remember to take into consideration the length of a trip and the cost of transportation when deciding if you want to pick up an item. You may also want to ask the owner of the objects if they have anything else they are trying to get rid of that you can take off their hands. You never know what they’ll say.
Visit Garage Sales and Bargain for Deals
As with driving long distances for free items, it can at times be costly to go garage sale hopping considering gas and transportation prices are what they are today. That being said, it can also be extremely worthwhile if you know which neighbourhoods to look in and if you’ve got a knack for bargaining. If you do want to drive around aimlessly looking for a garage sale, you might want to check the garage sale notices on online classified sites. It can help reduce the amount of time you spend driving, and help you to find garage sales sooner in the day, when the good items are still available and haven’t yet been sold.
Locate People Who Are Moving
Is anyone you know going to be moving in the next month? How about the next year? Can you ask them to keep you in mind as a person they can dump their stuff on when they do end up moving? Even if they have a garage sale or try to sell things on Craigslist or Kijiji, chances are they’re not going to be able to get rid of it all, and you can volunteer to take the rest off their hands. You can also ask them to show you items that they want to sell before they sell them. Typically, if there are many items you would like to buy, they’ll be more likely to give you a good price for taking all of them.
If you don’t know anyone who is going to be moving, try searching online classified sites again, this time specifically for people who are moving. If you find one or two whose items you like, you can usually get a good deal, especially since if they don’t sell soon, they’ll risk having to throw the items out anyway.
Hardest part of couponing for me was actually GETTING enough to use at all! The rest is easy for me. I live in small town of Pa. Hardly anything in paper recycling bin. Don’t want to buy ton of newspapers on Sunday. $$. Monthly subscription in mail has basically one coupon each item. I even went into my savings and bought a real computer and printer with the works. I had so much spam, viruses, many issues on subscribbing online coupons it was a nightmare! Fix one thing and another happened. I returned all my purchases by the end of second month. Lastly I asked my community at church, neighbors, and kid school staff. I got next to expired or not much at all. 3 months later I quit. I am a stay at home mom with some extra time- I viewed couponing as fun job #2 that just can’t work. There is no where near enough to do anything. :(
I think maybe times have changed for the extreme couponers. I don’t think it’s as easy to do that kind of thing as it once was. Shame, but it makes sense, considering when more and more people started doing it, they were bound to catch on and change the rules.
Check the “guy” yard sales. I just scored a nearly new kerosene heater with kerosene from a neighbor who’s moving for $10. I got 3 nice battery-powered Coleman lanterns for $1 and an unused Lodge cast iron skillet for $3.. At one sale I got a really nice Skil saw for $3 and a band saw for $10. I think the guys are a little embarrassed to haggle with a little old lady! Lol
Wow nice finds. I’m sure you’re being modest – you’re probably a master haggler!
Here in Ontario we can’t do extreme couponimg ????
Couponing is a great way to reduce the cost of the products you buy in Ontario, but extreme couponing, the way it can be done in the States, isn’t really possible in Canada, no.
That’s because in the States often times you’re allowed to “stack” coupons, while here in Canada, you’ll see printed on almost every coupon the words, “Cannot be combined with any other offer” or similar. This limits our ability to make things virtually free by “stacking” or combining two or more different coupons to reduce the price so low that couponing becomes “extreme” couponing.
Here’s a write-up on coupon stacking for Canadians if you’re interested: http://www.groceryalerts.ca/coupon-stacking-canada-guide/
Hope the way I phrased that makes sense.
Great ideas ! I go to our local (dump ) now turned recycling& reuse center. They have an area where people can pick up good unwanted items ( for free ) people have brought in for the dumpster but, instead got a reduced rate for recycling & reuse state of mind. As for garage sales , I scored big time this summer just on neighborhood sales. A lot of military grade stuff & like new for a fraction of the cost. I’m going to put your Craig’s list idea into action ASAP . Thanks for sharing your great tips ! Lisa :).
That’s amazing that the dump/recycling center does that now! I wish they all did that; sounds like a good thing for both them and for the community!
Wow! Like new military grade stuff is hard to come by at a low cost – good on you for scoring those finds! I can’t believe how often I used to do the Craigslist tip myself, and how much it helped us back then. Of course once you’ve got enough, you can take a nice long break, as if you’ve got quality items, they should last you ages :). Thanks for stopping by, Lisa! Hope to see you around here again. :)
Never considered myself a prepper personally, but have been hunting and fishing my whole life and thinking of the possible scenarios that go with that. Since going on pintrest I find myself checking out all of this type of reading regularly. Thank you for all the great info. It makes me think more and more about a SHTF the fan scenario. Thanx again
Glad to be able to help, & potentially drag you into this stuff a little more ;). Love seeing people get into prepping from a general outdoors-loving mindset.
Am so glad I discovered this blog. Lots of great info.
Often get great deals at garage sales that have a “Sold’ sign on the front lawn.
All my clothing (work clothes. running gear, cycling gear, dress clothes) all come from thrift shops. I am tall (6’4”), so I have to be patient. In the end, I do score, and it is SO rewarding! :)
Yeah it must be really hard finding odd sizes in thrift stores! I’m pretty average and it’s still enough trouble ;)
Thanks for the comments, Carl!
Try freecycle.org
Thanks, Keith! Should’ve mentioned that in the article, that’s a good point!
I am not as extreme in couponing as they are on the tv show, but i do get 100.00 of things from the store for 25.00 or less (not 300 bottles of mustard or hot sauce though) lol . The Dollar stores are great places to get things like scissors, can openers, twine, pens, pencils,ect. I also go to yard sales and book sales and get any books I can find on farming, horticulture or agriculture, sewing, anything that may help in the long run. I learned alot in my horticulture classes that will be very useful if/when something does happen.
That’s some really good shopping! I’ve found dollar stores have been getting better and better, and yes, you certainly can find some really great buys there for a fraction of the regular cost. You’ve gotta keep an eye on the prices, though, ’cause sometimes items are overpriced, although it’s not usually the case.
Those books will definitely come in handy. I think we underestimate how much help books can be in difficult times. Even outdated first aid books can come in handy.
Good tip regarding moving. I should say too to check the garbage especially when the house it is in front of is for sale, sometimes houses on the market have to be cleared out of their old stuff, especially when someone passes away and a lot of great stuff gets pitched
So true. One of my friends recently scored some high quality furniture because someone on her street had sold his house and left it out on the road.