Financial Education

What I want to focus on right now is the last one, buying in bulk. There are many options when you are buying in bulk. Here are a few tips for buying in bulk.

1. Always keep in mind what you need. Don’t buy more than you can eat or use. You can quickly waste away those savings if you end up throwing away ½ of the item that you buy.
2. Never buy something you haven’t tried. Buying a bulk food might seem like a good idea, but if you get it home and realize you or your kids do not like it. It could turn into a big waste.
3. Make sure you have storage space, refrigerator or freezer space for the bulk items.
   1. Make storage space at home, organize pantry with some extra shelves or buy an extra shelving unit to store bulk in the garage.If the items need to be frozen determine it if would be in the best interest to invest in a freezer for the garage.This really works well when you bulk buy meats from a local farmer, plus sourcing locally and organics add additional benefits.You can save a lot of money by buying a ¼ or ½ a cow, however for most people that amount of meat will not all fit in your regular freezer.
4. Limit purchases of perishable goods, unless you are going to process them immediately.
5. Shop for bulk not only in bulk stores. You can find some amazing deals at your local retail or grocery store or even farmer’s market. They too will get overstocked items and that is time to supply up.
   1. To make sure you keep up with all the deals check local ads every week.
   2. Combo bulk shopping with coupons, depending on the store you can add manufacturer coupons on top of their in-store bulk specials.
   3. When you attend a local farmer’s market ask the vendor if they offer bulk buys of certain products you are looking to buy.This works very well when it comes to buying meat and even some canned or jarred items.I suggest going towards the end of the event or day as some of the vendor’s might be more open to giving you a bigger deal on a bulk purchase.
6. Test the membership before you join a member only bulk store, such as Sam’s Club or Costco. Make sure you will get enough value out of the membership fee to make up for the cost.
7. Go in on the bulk purchase with a friend or family member.This is a great way to save on cost and worry over buying and not using all of what you purchased.

If you are looking at saving and have thought about bulk buying we hope that some of these tips help you.  Let us know in the comments section below if you have any tips that may have worked well for you regarding buying in bulk to save money.