Buy In Bulk To Save Dollars
July 13, 2008 | Filed under Money
It sounds ridiculous, but: Buy more of something, to save money.
This obviously applies only to non-perishable goods where the item doesn’t have an expiry date (or at least one within the next year), but it works! if you keep an eye out for when such items are on sale, and buy up in bulk so that you don’t have to buy them when they’re at the full retail price, you could potentially save lots and lots of dollars.
To take a family staple as an example: rice. You can certainly buy it in smaller quantities if you wish (e.g. one kilogram, two kilograms, five kilograms), but it’s incredibly expensive in this manner. Averaged, a one kilo bag would be $4AUD per kilo, a two kilo bag would be $3AUD per kilo, etc. If however, like my family, you buy your rice in thirty kilogram bags, you save countless amounts (at $28AUD per bag, it comes to about 93 cents a kilo!). Rice isn’t something that has an obvious expiry date – as long as you keep it stored correctly (airtight containers!), you can keep it indefinitely. And right there, just on rice, a food staple, you’ve saved approximately $92AUD per thirty kilograms!
This type of thinking, of buying up big whilst things are on sale, can obviously be applied to other non-perishable foodstuffs (pasta, teas, coffees, etc.), but also to other household and personal essentials. Think toilet paper, toothpaste, toiletries, dishwashing liquid, washing detergent.
A few months ago, Priceline (a bathroom goods chain in Australia) had a sale on toothpaste. 300gram Colgate Triple Action (with a bonus Colgate toothbrush!) was only $2.99AUD. By comparison, a 200gram tube of the same brand is usually $3.99AUD, and a toothbrush would be at least $2AUD. That’s a saving of $5AUD, per tube we bought. We ended up buying forty tubes of the toothpaste on sale (with free toothbrush!), enough to last us well over a year. That’s a total saving of $200AUD, just on toothpaste and toothbrushes!
I employ this same tactic with all my toiletries and personal hygiene, buying multiple bottles of products when they’re on sale. My parents do the same – all our toilet paper, shampoo, soap, and the like is bought in bulk on sale, and stored for later use.
It’s not a hard concept to grasp. Buy necessities in bulk, when things are cheap, to save your dollars throughout the year. You could find yourself richer by more than $1000AUD (or, the equivalent of a week long holiday!) per year!
14 Responses to Buy In Bulk To Save Dollars
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This is a good idea, although not when my dad employs this method, because he only buys perishable items in bulk, and then we’re stuck eating blueberry muffins for 3 months.
Shen-Shen on July 14, 2008 #
My roommate does this…with chocolate. Hm. I think I’ll keep this advice in mind the upcoming term. You make saving money look so easy! ;)
Mari on July 14, 2008 #
All very well IF you have the room to store all this stuff. I do buy in bulk when I can, but as a student you’re often quite limited for space…
Ruth on July 14, 2008 #
haha, we do this all the time. I think we bought like…50 boxes of tissues a few months ago.
marilyn on July 14, 2008 #
Some of your money advice is common sense, and some of it is just plain ol’ crazy Amanda logic. I think today’s advice is the former.
Jennifer on July 14, 2008 #
Well, excelent article! I have to add clothes too. Buying clothes when they’re on sale, specially jeans and shoes make you save lots of money afterwards.
Not everyone of us follow fashion trends religiously. Many of the trends at the moment may not suit you at all, so why not storing clothes you like and that fit you nicely too? Buying them on sale is of course cheaper, and having quite a few items ensures you’re gonna find the item you’re looking for in your wardrobe when you can’t find that item in the stores.
Regine on July 14, 2008 #
I do it too, especially with shampoo, tampons or sanitary towels. If you see what you save on those things when they’re on sale than it’s crazy NOT to buy it
Chans on July 14, 2008 #
Buying personal hygiene products in bulk is good but not so much food. There are huge stores here like Costco where you buy in bulk to save, but I watched a documentary once that families who tend to buy food in bulk actually go through more food = GAINING MORE WEIGHT AND EATING MORE JUNKFOOD than people who don’t buy food in bulk.
Katy on July 14, 2008 #
Why is it that Asian families automatically do this, it’s almost like we have a built in ‘economic’ radar lol.
My family does exactly the same thing as you’ve outlined. I laugh at dad because of how much effort he goes to, to buy economically. He’ll visit the Asian markets near us first, go through the different food shops, then visit Woolies and Coles, then go back to whichever one had cheaper items. To be honest, he’s pretty pro, for remembering exactly how much cheaper every store is in particular items and buying correspondingly. If he forgot one thing, TOO LATE, we buy it the next time we go shopping because the fuel to drive down there isn’t worth the saving on the item. Lol! My dad always brags his guide to purchasing is – “I only purchase S labels”… as in Specials.
When there’s big savings on toiletries, I don’t understand why people wouldn’t buy in bulk. You know, at Woolies and Coles how they have the sales stuff in the front of the aisles? There was a huge toilet paper sale, and it was the good toilet paper, with that golden retriever mascot. The sale price meant the good toilet paper was the same cost as the cheapest brand toilet paper for the same amount, we almost cleared out the whole thing lol.
We don’t seem to notice that we save a heap of money, because we’re used to buying this way. But for people around us who don’t shop that way, you can almost see just how much money is draining away.
Jess on July 14, 2008 #
In my family, we’re still using the small packets of tissues we bought when we immigrated from HK – and that was like….. almost 17 years ago? And I think we just used up the toilet paper we also brought over from the same shipment a couple of years ago as well…. @@ I don’t know how much more extreme it can get!!!!
kat on July 14, 2008 #
When Pepsi Max is on special, I buy two dozen rather than just the one.
That makes me as awesome as you, right?
(Jordie and Ambie would say it makes me awesome because it’s Pepsi Max!)
Nellie on July 14, 2008 #
Yep, we do that too! But sometimes, we don’t save as much as we should be saving because my parents end up buying pastries in bulk… and then we have to throw them away after awhile. lol
Felisa on July 14, 2008 #
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