Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The interest being paid to me by my pantry is indistinguishable from the interest being paid by my bank.
I've got things in my pantry that I bought a year ago, and the price has gone up since then, but my savings have not. The value of rice is going up faster than the value of savings.
A 20-pound bag of rice is a lot better investment than a CD. In fact, the credit card I buy the rice with is giving more more cash-back bonus at the end of the month than my bank would give me for saving the money for two years.
Essentially, I was going to say this, but jtur88 beat me to the punch. In times of high interest, this analysis would no longer hold, but right now it's right on.
My Walmart Supercenter, in rural Minnesota , has unit prices listed on all grocery items.
Thank you, Walmart.
No Wal-Marts very close to me and all things being equal I would rather do math and shop somewhere else. Every Wal-Mart within a 10-mile radius of here is skanky and disgusting.
No Wal-Marts very close to me and all things being equal I would rather do math and shop somewhere else. Every Wal-Mart within a 10-mile radius of here is skanky and disgusting.
All of the Wal-Mart's that are near me, are clean, neat, and the employees are very helpful. I guess it depends on the area.
Time is money to me. While coupons at stores on sales items are cheaper than bulk stores, I can't be bothered to religiously clip and scour for deals for hours on end, then drive to 3 different grocery stores to get everything. That said, I do spend a quick couple minutes every sunday flipping through the coupons and weekly ads. Figure out what items are deeply discounted and plan ahead. That way you hit the grocery store 1 time instead of making many trips.
As someone mentioned, the bulk benefit is greater with a bigger family, since you can literally pack a cart in Costco for a few hundred dollars in one trip and be done versus driving numerous trips in a couple weeks to various stores for deals. Not everything at Costco is a good deal, but not everything is bad either. You just have to do some quick calculations to figure out what is cheaper in terms of cost and time/effort.
I always found it hysterical that former neighbors of mine justified their purchase of a new Ford Expedition, which they bought by re-financing their house , because they could buy so much more at Costco and save money. Uh, right.
I buy in bulk what carries a long shelf life. It's just the two of us, so I see no point in buying too many perishables in bulk if we can't freeze them.
I buy powdered milk in bulk mostly for my baths (smooooth skin, baby!).
Not real thrilled by the article, but I will say that the times I've tried Costco and Sams I ended up on the short end of the stick more than not. I could always get better deals at regular stores, and if a 500lb can of coffee is bad, there is a lot more lost than if a 1 lb can isn't good.
It all depends on what bulk is defined as.
We do a fair amount of shopping at Sam's Club with the best deals being paper products in bulk (toilet paper does not spoil) and then watch what you purchase for price. We eat very little red meat but we do like Sam's for the frozen chicken breasts and salmon fillet. It is just my wife and I so we pick up one package of each, between $20 and $30 each, and we have our main course for a month.
We go to the dollar food for canned goods often getting deals that our unbelievable if you watch. Named brand and we do check dates but I have found deals where I walk out with several cases. Also very good for laundry soap, shampoo, bath soap, deoderants and laundry products almost always beating WalMart or Sams club by a wide margine.
I know, what a pain to shop like this but to lessen some of the pain what we do is go "bulk up" shopping every three or four months. Instead of buying one shampoo we'll see a good deal and purchase six. Once I found Mennen Speed Stick, whcih is what I use, for $0.69 and we bought all they had... I had deoderant for a long time (several years). Same with shampoo. If you are prepared to spend $500 it is well worth the shopping.
Do never purchase crap food in builk. In fact we don't purchase crap food at all. Potato chips and like garbage we do not purchase.
Eggs we purchase from a local poultry farm. Excellent quality, top fresh and good price.
The key is... do the math. There are bargains at most stores, but you have to know your prices and take the time to do a little addition and subtraction. Buying in bulk pays off on certain items. You just have to decide if there are enough items for your family, that makes it worth the membership.
I use the calculator on my cell phone to find the price per amount or weight. Example: Kraft box of 72 slices cheese cost more per slice than buying the 24 pack of the same cheese. You can do it per pound, per ounce, per serving, etc.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
, because they could buy so much more at Costco and save money. Uh, right.
