Let's Talk About Bulk Shopping.

Every time I talk to my friends about my love of bulk grocery shopping they always say the same things.

"Bulk shopping is a waste of time, it all goes bad eventually."

"I can't do it.. I always spend a ton of money and don't use most of it." 

Though I completely understand where they are coming from, after years of practice I've realized that all it takes is some creativity and you can actually save money and get more.

Here are some pearls of wisdom I've gathered by learning the hard way:

1. Never buy what you wouldn't normally eat:  

I've fallen into this trap plenty of times. You walk in to the store and see this new organic item that will make you super healthy and awesome and only for the low price of $15 for a pack of 8. You get home, put it away, and tell yourself you'll try it tomorrow for months until it finally expires. DON'T DO IT. If you see a new product you think would be worth checking out, get it at a regular grocery store in a small quantity first.   

2. Don't have a "snack attack": 

What I mean is don't fill your cart with nothing but candy and chips. We learned this on our first ever trip to a Sam's club. It adds up quick and you'll find yourself pretty hungry when you realize that snack cakes and chips aren't good ingredients for a satisfying dinner.

3. Consider your storage space: 

Sure, the freezer section is glorious but be realistic. Unless you're fortunate enough to own and have the space for a deep freezer you have a very limited amount of things you can squeeze in there. Stick to necessity. If you can use it more than once (Ingredients vs. prepared meals) then it's probably worth buying. It may not be winning points for convenience but you can easily find creative ways to stretch it. Not to mention prepared food will ALWAYS cost more than just making a meal yourself.

4. Set a reasonable budget and stick to it: 

This is a big one. For all of you who have ever stepped into a bulk food store, you know how much temptation lies in every nook and cranny. Think of your family size and income go from there. We feed 3 people (myself included), a dog and a cat. Generally, we go $100 a week (which wasn't saving us anything) BUT we've recently began doing step 4 and saving $100 to $200 dollars a month by just figuring out ways to preserve perishables. 

5. Research ways to make foods last longer: 

This part also doesn't win any points for convenience and isn't for everyone. There is tons of info about what foods to freeze and other great ways of preserving out there. Also, Almond milk has a longer shelf life than regular milk. I used this list Here to help guide me. Familiarize yourself with blanching if you haven't already. It will be your new BFF.

My freezer might be to capacity but we are good for 3ish weeks

Bottom line, bulk shopping is great for anyone willing to put in a little extra effort. If you do it right you could save yourself some money and trips to the store. Good luck and happy shopping! :)

 

Budget Friendly Savings Plan!

In an effort to revive our terribly sad savings account I've created an easy system for putting away money gradually over a two year period. This plan is something I just made up on paper but I am almost positive that something like it probably exists already. The great thing about the system is it's very easy to customize to fit whatever your budget can handle. I've broken it down into a few steps to help anyone who may be interested in giving it a try.


Start by grabbing a pen and paper or opening a blank document on your computer.

Select a time frame 

Choose something that doesn't allow you to think too far ahead and overwhelm yourself. The idea is to make saving easier and more efficient. We went with a 2 year period of time.

Choose a monthly dollar amount

This can vary depending on how much you have to work with. If you are just beginning start small. Choose something easy to divide into 4 weeks. We started with $20 and had it max out at $200. This sounds more complicated than it actually is. Take a breath and scroll down to my example at the bottom if you're feeling overwhelmed.

Increase by the lowest amount each month

For example if the first month is $20 for the whole month the next would be $40 (add $20 each month) and keep going up until you reach your max (the maximum monthly amount you chose).

Divide

Somewhere beside the monthly amount write how much you would have to put into savings each week (Just stick with 4 weeks to keep it simple). Example: $60 monthly = $15 weekly

Add it all together

You don't necessarily have to do this step but it's definitely motivational. Add together all of the monthly amounts in your time frame to figure out how much total you will save.


Here is an example of the finished product:

1 YEAR SAVINGS PLAN

Aug:  $20 ($5 weekly)

Sep:  $40 ($10 weekly)

Oct:  $60 ($15 weekly)

Nov:  $80 ($20 weekly)

Dec:  $100 ($25 weekly)

Keep gradually going up until you reach your max (say $100 for the 1 year time frame) and then start from the lowest all over again the following month

 Cont.

Jan: $20  ($5)

          Feb: $40 ($10)

Mar: $60 ($15)

Apr: $80 ($20)

May: $100 ($25)

Jun: $20 ($5)

Jul: $40 ($10)

Aug: $60 ($15)

Once you're done writing it out add all the monthly amounts together and that's your total saved for that period. The total if you were to do it exactly like the example would be $720 in 1 year.


The reason I chose to do it this way is living paycheck to paycheck has made it really difficult for us to agree on a fixed amount. Often times we don't put anything in to savings because we choose amounts that overwhelm us. With this it's all baby steps and you get relief from the larger amounts which makes it a whole lot easier to justify.

Happy Saving!