Stockpiling Success at Candy Cane Lane

This year I was asked to be the Candy Cane Lane Chairperson at my son’s school for the PTO.  Candy Cane Lane is the name for our Holiday Shoppe where the kids come in and buy for their families.  I really did not have time to be the chairperson with the blog and everything else in life that I do but I just couldn’t say no.  For one reason, I wanted to volunteer at my son’s school, several of my friends are PTO officers and I wanted to help them and of course the final reason is because I wanted to see how I could put my frugal shopping skills to use and raise money for our PTO/School.

I decided to strategically use coupons and get in on as many clearance finds as I could.  My goal was to purchase 5,000 items for $3000.00.  I did not want to use a company to provide the items because I wanted to cut out the middle man and really bring the profit margin up.  By hand purchasing all 5,000 items I was able to come in right at budget as far as expenses.  My other goals was to provide useful and affordable items for the children and families.  With the economy I wanted the majority of the items to cost $1 – $2 with some ranging up to but no more than $5.

I knew that if the items sold we would be able to make our money back plus a profit.  So, I spent countless hours shopping, finding the deals and bargain shopping.  I was able to meet my goal of purchasing 5,000 items for $3000.00.  Some great finds were at sidewalk sales this fall where I picked up items for $.30 each.  Other great finds were strategically matching the $1.00/1 energizer flashlight coupon at Kroger and purchasing 80 flashlights for $.19 each.  I worked hard collecting the items and luckily my dear hubby “allowed” me to take over most of his garage where I stored them until time for Candy Cane Lane.

In the end we were able to sell 4,000 items and make a profit of approximately $2000.00!  All of the hard work, blood, sweat and tears paid off   We have some inventory to start with next year and I learned a lot in the process.  Of course the event would not have been the success it was with items alone and I am so thankful for each and every parent that gave up their time to help work the event.

Shelley and I fully believe that you can stockpile in every area of your life.  No matter what you are doing or what your goal is you can have true stockpiling success wherever you turn.  I wanted to share this with you so that you can see how beneficial stockpiling is in EVERY area of your life.