Is buying in bulk always a great idea??

So, is buying in bulk at stores like Sams and Costco always better? That depends on what you are buying. I have found that there are certain things that are better to buy in bulk, for instance I buy cake flour in the 25 pound bag. It costs roughly $7.00 at the Sams I shop at for the 25 pound bag. I have found this to be a really good deal, because a 4 lb. bag usually costs between two and three dollars. I bake most of our breads and biscuits from scratch, along with cookies, cakes and other treats. Needless to say we use a lot of flour.

I have also found that buying sugar in the 25 pound bag is also a good deal. However if you are going to buy a quantity this large, you need to have somewhere to store it. We went to our local grocery store and asked them if they had any buckets from the bakery that they would sell us. They ended up giving us one 5 gallon bucket and a couple of smaller buckets that they no longer needed. This works perfectly to store our flour and sugar.

There are, however, things that are not really that great of a deal when buying in bulk. Depending on how brand loyal you are, and we are not brand loyal at all, things like laundry detergent I would not consider to be a good deal. Many times at grocery stores you can find laundry detergent on sale, and when combined with a coupon you can get a bottle for around $1.00 to $2.00 dollars. Shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, and other personal items I would not consider a smart buy either. If you are a CVS shopper, it has probably been a long time since you actually paid for toothpaste. It seems to be on sale every week, with coupons and Extra Care Bucks.

So, in my opinion, shopping in bulk is a good idea if you price things by the unit or pound, and find that you will not find a lower price on the item elsewhere.

photo source: alaskaval