Thinking about buying in bulk

[fudgecat]

First of all I mean like buying a 5L container of shampoo rather than hoarding all the loo rolls. For context we are a family of 6 and with the current financial situation I'm trying to work out if buying bulk is worth it for the initial outlay. Also need ideas of where to shop? I've already contacted a local catering supplies company but they only sell to registered companies.

Costco?

I do it. It helps with organisation but also saves money.

Every January I do a large household shop. I buy cleaning products, general household items like matches, lightbulbs, bin liners, hoover bags, washing powder, toilet roll etc and then also toiletries and pet food. It definitely helps me (I hate running out of things) but you do obviously need storage space. I have a large pantry, a laundry room and a utility room so lots of cupboard storage space. In my old house I kept it all in the loft though.

Amazon sometimes have bulk sizes for good prices. If you aren't fussy about your favourite brand you can get a bargain.
Assuming you can store it. Get a refillable pump dispenser for shampoo too so the enthusiastic squeezers don't negate any savings.
I buy dried veg for cooking and stock paste from there too you can make decent savings on cupboard stuff.

We buy in bulk. We use our local wholefood store for 5 litre bottles of washing up liquid, loo cleaner, multi surface cleaner etc and they can be refilled. I buy my washing powder and loo roll in bulk from Aldi/Morissons, I just go there over a couple of days and get one or two things. I get things like tea, coffee, baked beans from Suma. I have an Ikea big chest of drawers that holds the tea, coffee, pasta etc. The tinned goods are in the attic and the toiletries in the airing cupboard.
Op next time you need shampoo for example, buy 5 instead of 1. Do that over a few weeks with different bits and pieces and you will soon have a good stock. Check out if you can get a Suma delivery to your home. They wont do home delivery if they already deliver to a business nearby, hence we buy our Suma bits through the wholefood shop. I have a regular order for Oatly milk and my favourite coffee and rooibos tea.

I would also like to bulk shop. Aside from Costco, does anyone have any websites they would recommend?

Juat had a look but SUMA is for business customers only

Have you got something like a country stores nearby like Scats or Mole? (They might be the same now actually). I did this way back at the beginning of Covid as I thought if I could only get in to the shops occasionally I’d want to only getting essentials and food. So I went to Scats and got absolutely mahoosive washing powder, fabric conditioner, washing up liquid, loo roll pack, anti bac cleaner etc. it worked quite well tbh and definitely saved some money too (although that wasn’t the primary reason at the time).

The food warehouse is good for bulk. I got 32 velvet comfort for £11. I used to have a maximum individual price I'd buy items for eg loo roll 33p, kitchen roll 50p, dishwasher tablets 10p.

The kitchen roll I can't do now unless I buy cheap stuff which means I need more than 1 sheet so not worth it. Loo roll is now 34pish and I can just about do dishwasher tablets either at food warehouse or Sainsburys own brand.

They also do washing powder in large 130 wash boxes. So do farm foods with the added bonus you can get money off vouchers from their website.

Costco is good for toilet rolls, some canned goods like beans and tomatoes.

You have to be careful with things like drinks and snacks if it means you just use them faster.

But it depends what you buy and how you can store it. If you eat a lot of meat some farm shops will sell 10 kilo size packs far cheaper than normal sizes.

Or sometimes it's just best looking for offers jn the supermarket and buying a few when you see it on offer, eg pasta sauces, laundry stuff

You can have a Suma order as a private customer if there is no local delivery hub to you.

Suma is primarily a trade wholesaler, and so only supplies direct to the public in areas where there is no Suma stockist within reasonable traveling distance. To find out if we are able to supply you, enquire with New Business:

Enquire here

+44 (0)1422 313861

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eBay is great for this. I've been bulk buying loo rolls and laundry detergent. I'm looking at other stuff now mainly to avoid trips to the shops because you never just buy what you went for.

I have been doing this for years, and it came into its own in lockdown. We have a cellar and store a lot in a large Kallax unit down there. Washing up liquid, water for steam iron, sacks of bread flour, cat food and bird seed don't fit on it, but it's good for organising tins (tomatoes and beans), baking supplies (sugar, flour, nuts, seeds, dried fruit etc) and other items such as large bags of rice, pasta etc.

Some things are on subscription (cat food, loo rolls etc) but bulb buys tend to come from Amazon or ebay. Often, things like olive oil and balsamic are cheaper from Aldi, but I still buy half a dozen at a time to avoid running out.

Yes, previous bulk buying saved us during the first lockdown.

We never needed to queue at the supermarket for more than a few minutes and was almost never without anything essential. If the queues were too long, as they often were, we just got bread, milk and a few other fresh bits from the village Co-op instead and used up stocks of other things so could largely avoid the shops during the first few weeks of madness.

We'd bought a big pack of Costco toilet rolls, probably in January or February 2020 and it lasted us until about May, when stocks had just about got back to normal. I think we had to have 2 trips to Costco to get another pack, but as we weren't quite out the first time, it wasn't a disaster.