Buying in Bulk to Save Money

I’m a great proponent of clawing one’s way up the financial ladder, however it can be done.  I run several small businesses, and make money that way, as well as trying to limit what I spend.  Happily, there is a way that the two things can complement each other wonderfully:

The Cash ‘n’ Carry Warehouse.

I don’t know how these things work on the Continent, or in the US and Canada, but here in good old Blighty,  if you run a business and want to get supplies cheaply, the place to go is the Cash ‘n’ Carry.  They stock catering goods, food and alcohol mainly.  For things such as toys, electrical goods, tools, decorations etc., there is the “Retail Warehouse”.  Both of these institutions sell items at rock bottom prices – you have to remember that their core market is the small business owner, who needs to be able to re-sell the stock at a profit, therefore the warehouse pricing is usually a good 10 -25% cheaper than a regular retail outlet.  Yay!

I’ve been a member of a retail warehouse for quite a while (I use one called J.T.F., and I use it ostensibly to buy supplies for my holiday cottage – cleaning supplies, duvet covers, towels, ornaments (you wouldn’t believe how many visitors steal *ornaments*!) etc.  It has saved me a lot of money in running my business.  I haven’t been a member of a Cash ‘n’ Carry before now because I don’t use much in the way of consumable catering supplies.  However, I have recently changed a strategy at the cottage to supply visitors with a complimentery tea/coffee/biscuit supply when they check in, and so I needed to find somewhere that sold the individually wrapped tea making supplies (individually wrapped as I wanted it to have that “hotel feel”).  A friend who does semi-commercial baking suggested I try Bookers.  I did so, and was blown away.  I did buy all the business supplies that I needed, but I also bought several bulk items that I will be using at home to feed my family – all at a *huge* discount.  I highly recommend this as a good money-saving strategy.

However, there is no such thing as a free lunch (as Heinlein – and many others – said), so what are the drawbacks?  Well,  first of all, you have to run a business in order to use these places.  In order to get a card, you will need to show a company cheque book and headed notepaper to verify that you do run your own business.  If you’ve been following the advice in this blog and setting up your own micro-businesses, then this shouldn’t be a problem.  (If you’re worried about getting a business account and the charges therein, get ye hence to The Co-operative Bank, who offer free business banking and are Jolly Nice People to boot.  Plus they haven’t gone even *slightly* bankrupt, so they have to be a good bet!).

The other problem is a more thorny one – space.  Not many of us live in huge houses with walk-in pantries and storage rooms, into which to put our hundredweight of dried pasta.  My current house, for all that it is quite large, has absolutely zero storage and a kitchen that has to have been designed by a man who never cooked, helped by a man who didn’t actually *eat* either.  I found myself staring at 12 kilos of plain flour with a creeping sense of dread.  Where was it all going to go?

If you go the Cash ‘n’ Carry path, you need to resign yourself to the fact that you are likely to have packets of … stuff… sitting on the side in the kitchen for a long time.    The 1kg drum of coffee*was* half the price of the cheapest Lidl alternative, but it’s still not a very beautiful thing, and I’m going to have to look at it for a very long time whilst my darling husband slowly consumes it.   On the plus side, we did discover that a lot of the fresh produce and meat freezes excellently, and is a fraction of the price that we have found it anywhere else – the meat was cheaper than we last bought it from the abbatoir, for example!  With this in mind, we are working on eating the contents of the freezer, some of which have become like old (if somewhat chilly) friends.  The plum crumble last night was *particularly* good, and I’m looking forwards to seconds today!  The freezer is half empty and we can fill it with cheaper meat options, and lots of seasonal veg (winter vegetables freeze particularly well).

If, like me, you don’t have a pantry, larder or cellar, the next best option is to look at practising a little bit of pro-active community building, and start a food co-op.  Ask around your local area and see if there is anyone who might be interested in sharing the savings, and splitting the large amounts of food.  Storing 5 kilos of sugar at 30p a kilo is a hassle (although terribly cheap), but if 5 people each want a kilo at 30p?  Sorted.  Put a little bit on the price for your petrol and time in fetching it, and there are *still* big savings to be made for both you and your co-operative friends.

Added to this, you can also sleep well at night knowing that you’ve struck a blow for sustainability as only one car trip has been made, instead of 6, and you’ve taken the money out of the big supermarkets’ pockets (always a positive thing in my book!).

Cheap, green and community-building – it’s all good!