Surprising Benefits Of Bulk Shopping

Have you joined the #52WeekChallenge powered by M-Shwari? To join, set up an M-Shwari Lock Savings Account, start saving and you just might get a cash reward. As I post this, we are kicking off Week 4 of the #52WeekChallenge, use the MoneyBox App (for Android) to calculate how much you are supposed to save on a weekly basis and start today!

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I am a big advocate of bulk/wholesale shopping for household goods. For the last three years or so, I buy most of my home supplies in a wholesale shop. I started doing this to save money, and with time it has become second nature – and it still saves me money, especially now when the prices seem to be going up every other day.

I have a standard shopping list that I use to shop once every 3 months, which means I do major groceries shopping about four times a year. My major purchase groups are:

• Dry food items e.g rice (this I sometimes buy in Mwea when I travel home), wheat flour, pasta, spaghetti
• Condiments and spices e.g tomato paste, tomato sauce
• Bathroom supplies – tissue paper, bathing soap, shower gel, hand wash, lotion, toothpaste
• Kitchen supplies – serviettes, foil paper, cling film etc
• Laundry supplies – powder soap, bar soap, fabric softener

Basically, the only things I do not buy in bulk are perishable goods.

The obvious benefit from bulk shopping is that I save money. By buying things in bulk, the per unit prices are much lower, and I directly save up to 25% by buying in bulk as opposed to shopping in the supermarket as I explain in the experience video below.

There are three less obvious benefits. The first is that I save money indirectly by not spending much time in the supermarket. See supermarkets are designed to entice us to shop more. From the lighting to the way items are arranged, they are supposed to encourage us to walk around and just mindlessly add things to our shopping carts. I have not managed to avoid supermarkets entirely – I buy milk and bread weekly, and will sometimes buy greens from there. The difference between buying 3-4 items, from shopping for the month there is that I no longer walk around looking for stuff to add to my cart, and these basics can be bought from the neighbourhood supermarket which isn’t fun to explore.

The second indirect benefit is that I save time. By lumping up 3 months’ worth of shopping into one trip, I spend my weekends doing other things, and I also do not make unnecessary shopping trips to pick 1/2 items.

If you do not shop in bulk, consider trying it at the end of this month, and let me know how it goes. If you usually shop in bulk, which are you favorite outlets, and why? Do share in the comments section.