How do you plan ahead to buy in bulk? | I've Paid For This Twice Already... http://www.paidtwice.com/2007/09/13/how-do-you-plan-ahead-to-buy-in-bulk/#comment-2074 Heather Fri, 14 Sep 2007 16:56:26 +0000 http://www.paidtwice.com/2007/09/13/how-do-you-plan-ahead-to-buy-in-bulk/#comment-2074 I was in a similar situation when I started Sam's club shopping. I had a membership card from my employer at the time (and although now I have moved on and have to pay for my own membership, after looking at the costs, it still saves me money yearly to have the card.) But, I digress.. This is how I started and stayed within my $150/two weeks grocery budget. On the first shopping trip, I bought 1 thing (chicken breasts in my case), spending only about $20, but which lasted for almost 9 meals. And then did the rest of my shopping at the grocery store. On the second shopping trip, I bought 4 things (beef, mac & cheese, green beans, corn) spending $40 (the same $20 out of my budget as the last time plus the $20 i would have been spending on chicken if I had to buy it at the grocery store again this week), all of which was enough to last about 2 months. And I just kept going from there. Now every time I go grocery shopping, I spend approximately $75-100 at the warehouse store and $75-50 at the grocery store. This are the two things to remember, DON'T buy it if you are not going to use it, and make sure that is is worth buying in bulk. Compare the per unit price to that of the regular grocery store. On a rare occasion, I have found one or two things where there is no benefit in buying in bulk (usually milk is similarly priced). Hope that helps!! :) I was in a similar situation when I started Sam’s club shopping. I had a membership card from my employer at the time (and although now I have moved on and have to pay for my own membership, after looking at the costs, it still saves me money yearly to have the card.) But, I digress.. This is how I started and stayed within my $150/two weeks grocery budget.

On the first shopping trip, I bought 1 thing (chicken breasts in my case), spending only about $20, but which lasted for almost 9 meals. And then did the rest of my shopping at the grocery store.

On the second shopping trip, I bought 4 things (beef, mac & cheese, green beans, corn) spending $40 (the same $20 out of my budget as the last time plus the $20 i would have been spending on chicken if I had to buy it at the grocery store again this week), all of which was enough to last about 2 months.

And I just kept going from there. Now every time I go grocery shopping, I spend approximately $75-100 at the warehouse store and $75-50 at the grocery store.

This are the two things to remember, DON’T buy it if you are not going to use it, and make sure that is is worth buying in bulk. Compare the per unit price to that of the regular grocery store. On a rare occasion, I have found one or two things where there is no benefit in buying in bulk (usually milk is similarly priced).

Hope that helps!! :)

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