No More Excuses For Not Buying In Bulk

I’d like to thank my husband for today’s post. If it weren’t for him, I would have never realized the need for buying in bulk. Yes, it can seem overwhelming at first, but once you start, you will see a difference in your grocery bill.

No More Excuses for NOT Buying in Bulk

Are you guilty of these three excuses for not buying in bulk? I was until I followed my husband's lead.

Are your excuses for not buying in bulk, better than your neighbor’s excuses? Let’s check it out. Your neighbor’s excuses are: the store is only 5 miles down the road , not enough storage space , and my favorite; I can’t afford to buy in bulk.

If we look at each one of these excuses, we will find reasons we should be buying in bulk.

• Distance

Your stores may only be 5 miles down the road, but does that mean you can always get there if you need to? To answer that question all we have to do is take a look at the recent flooding in South Carolina. How many people did without because they ran out of items and couldn’t make it to the stores because the roads were closed from the flooding? If those people had a bulk supply of things such as rice, flour, beans, sugar and canned goods they sat down to good meals each evening. If not, then some had to deal with the stress of feeding themselves and their families. Hot meals help in keeping the spirits up while waiting out a disaster.

• Storage Space

The next excuse sounds valid on the surface, I don’t have enough space. You will have to get creative on how you store your bulk items, but don’t worry I’m not talking about storing food for 50 years like you see on TV. I am talking about short term storage on items you use regularly. I bought a 25-pound bag of sugar at our local store when it was on sale, and a woman in the checkout line asked me what I was going to do with that much sugar.

In the South, I may have been suspected of being a moonshiner :) . I told her I was buying it to save money since it would last for several weeks. She asked how I stored it and I replied in a 5-gallon bucket. When I told her that she seemed to lose interest in the idea, she even told me she lived in a small apartment and didn’t have room for any buckets. I pointed out to her, that she could buy a case of quart Mason jars and store the sugar in it. I explained that you can pack about 2 pounds of sugar in a quart jar, and she would only have 9 or 10 jars to store after she filled her sugar canister. If you spend a few minutes thinking about ways to store things you will be surprised at how many ideas you come up with.

• Affordability

The last excuse is the worst excuse of all,  I can’t afford it. When I hear that, it tells me either they have never checked the prices or they are not a math whiz. Let’s stay with sugar, since it is something that every family buys and uses on a regular basis. When I buy a 25-pound bag of sugar at regular price it is around $13. If I buy the 4-pound bag (that used to be a 5lb bag) it is around $3.50 a bag. That means I can buy 4 bags for $14 and only have 16 pounds of sugar, compared to the 25 pounds I can get for $1 less. For the non-math whiz that is an extra 9 pounds of sugar for $1 less, see the savings?

How do your excuses hold up for not buying in bulk?  Still need a little help in getting started, I shared 7 Tips to Buying in Bulk earlier this year.