One night, when I was working a graveyard shift, I was talking to a super-poor college student that told me “Only rich people shop at Costco”…I thought that was kind of funny because I am in no way rich, but I shop there. The thing is, the rich get rich (and stay that way) by being smart with their money. I’m writing this post to help people understand how much every little thing we buy(and how much we spend on it) adds up over the course of a lifetime.
When my husband and I were newlyweds we were sometimes broke to the point that there were only 25 to 50 dollars a week for groceries. We would go to the grocery store and buy the smallest package of whatever item that we needed because we “couldn’t afford” to buy any of the larger packages (we weren’t even about to spend ½ of our grocery budget for the week on one item). Boy do I wish that I had known then what I know now about buying in bulk. The savings are ridiculous!
Here is an example of what I’ve learned:
(These numbers go off of how many garbage bags we go through on average per year)
 |
| $4.27 which is $21.35 per 100 count |
If we bought the 20 Pack it would cost us $88.82 per year.
 |
| $7.47 which is $16.60 per 100 count |
If we bought the 45 Pack it would cost us $69.05 per year.
 |
| 78 pack is $10.57 which is $13.55 per 100 count |
If we bought the 78 Pack it would cost us $56.37 per year.
This savings adds up to about $32.45 per year if you switch from the smallest box to the largest(as of the prices I checked today). Times that savings by 40 years and you’re looking at a savings of $1298.00. Now do this with everything that you use regularly and you’ll see why the rich have some extra money to throw around as they please.
I wanted to give you an example at a regular(Wal-mart) grocery store to see how you can save money even if you don’t go to a Bulk Store. However, we buy our garbage bags at Costco because it is even cheaper than this example…I think we usually spend less than $40.00/year at Costco (I like to use the Costco monthly coupons and stock up whenever I can). Anyway, just the savings of buying in bulk for one or two items will pay for a Costco membership…. just a thought.
My suggestion, go through and list all of the items that you use regularly (especially non perishables) and start pricing things out. Being aware of what is a good price on a particular item is half the battle to saving money. Here are some things that I like to buy in bulk:
- Toilet Paper
- Feminine Hygiene products
- All hygiene products (or ingredients to make some of your own)
- Detergents (or the ingredients to make your own)
- Water Filters
- Printer Cartridges
- Freezable Foods
- Paper Towels (only for making wipes, we don’t use them otherwise)
- Tin Foil
- Saran Wrap
- Ziplock Bags
- Socks
- Kids underwear
- All Cleaning products (or replace them all with one awesome product that you can also buy in bulk)
- Dry foods (like flour, sweeteners, and herbs)
When first starting, buying in bulk is really expensive. It can even be overwhelming. It may be a smart idea to use either a tax return, Christmas money, Birthday Money, a bonus at work, or even work some extra hours to come up with some of this start-up money (or go without a few luxuries for a bit) $500 to $1000 should be enough to get you going. Bulk buying will pay you back within a few months. Plus, when you’re buying in bulk you go to the store much less often, which saves you money in gas and also on impulse buys (also a ton of time). You will also have a bit of a stock-pile in case of an emergency.
Bottom Line…
you have to buy in bulk,
because you will literally be throwing your money away if you don’t.
(especially if it’s on trash bags;)