I’m buying in bulk to save money like I used to in the past. This may not apply to EVERY single item I purchase. I used to buy in bulk a lot more in the past but stopped because of storage space and ease of access.
While I still do not have access to truly bulk buying situation like Sam’s or Costco, I can still buy in large containers to save money.
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Benefits of buying in bulk
- Lower price per unit
- Ability to stock up
Costs of buying in bulk
- Loss of storage space
- High up front cost
Lower price per unit: The biggest benefit of buying in bulk is the cost per unit. In almost every case you get a larger package for a decreasingly larger price. You may get a four pack of something that costs less than what buying four individual units would cost. This is really beneficial if you tend to use up multiples of the item in question. My example is laundry detergent which is something that does not go bad.
I would normally buy the smaller bottle because of the cheaper price. However the larger bottle gives me almost four times the liquid for less than four times the price of the small bottle.
Ability to stock up: When you begin buying in bulk you get the ability to stock up on items. This can be a great help if you are not very mobile. It can also help if you do not live close to your store. In either case, you are not making frequent trips to the store to purchase needed items.
Loss of storage space: When you buy in bulk you are obviously buying larger than normal packages. If you do not have adequate storage space it may not be worth it to make large purchases. If you can easily store your bulk items then it is one less thing to worry about on your next shopping trip.
High up front cost: Since you are buying a larger package you should expect to pay more. This cost can be a bit much depending on what you are purchasing. If the item is something you have the space for and it won’t go bad then you can think of spreading the cost over a few months.
Whatever you decide additional pros and cons are, buying in bulk can save you money so try it if you can!
Decades ago, I saw the cycle of supermarket and drug store sales. Toilet paper, for example, on sale was about 1/2 the price compared to the regular cost. I’ve always found space to stock up on it, thinking of a 100% return in a few months time as the best use of that money.
My suggestion to anyone looking to adopt this idea? Get familiar with the unit cost. Your favorite laundry soap may be 20 cents an ounce small container, 15/oz large, but 10 cents on sale. A $10 buy then saves $5-$10. A small notebook or spreadsheet to track the top items you buy can help. On a lighter note, when Covid hit, and the toilet paper was nowhere to be found, my wife said “ok, for 35 years I thought you were a bit eccentric, now I’ll admit, it was brilliant. But we’re out of wipes.”
Lol I used to snap pics of the per unit cost and then enter in a spreadsheet when I got home…then I got lazy.