Buying in Bulk – The Warehouse Club Savings Myth
Posted at 4:08 pm on May 17, 2012 by JamieMartin
Have you ever driven around your neighborhood in the dead of winter and noticed how many people park their nice cars outside their 3-car garage? What’s the garage full of that keeps them from parking in there? I’ll tell you what’s in there! Old junk their family no longer needs and bulk purchases from warehouse clubs!
I don’t understand the logic behind buying say, toilet paper or paper towels, in bulk so you can save a few bucks and then parking your $25,000 (or more!) car out in the elements. Is the $5-$10 you save each year buying toilet paper in bulk worth displacing your nice car? And who wants to scrape the ice off of their car, especially if they don’t have to?
I have also had clients who have had to purchase storage, like shelving, to house all their bulk purchases that they saved money on. I’m not sure the logic makes sense there either.
And then there’s the time that you have to spend managing your bulk purchases: driving further to get to a warehouse store, making room, reorganizing so the oldest stuff is consumed first…Oh, wait, you don’t rotate your perishables? Pantry so deep you don’t know what’s back there? Then you’re wasting money on OTC drugs, canned goods and boxed items that have gone bad. But, hey, you got a good deal so…I’ve seen this at client’s homes plenty of times.
Back to your time. Your time is valuable, right? Isn’t “more time” something we all wish for? Why spend your free time finding places to stuff your paper towels or 10 cases of soda? I’ve never heard anyone wishing for more paper towels.
Are you a warehouse club shopper? Do you find yourself throwing away club items that have gone bad?
Jamie Martin, Destination Organization founder, has a passion for helping others simplify their lives. She specializes in helping over-committed, stay-at-home parents and serial entrepreneurs.
She has been a professional organizer for over 6 years, is a member of The National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and NAPO-Chicago. Jamie has been married to John and living in Glen Ellyn for 18 years. They have one son, 8-year-old Lucas.
You can find Jamie @ www.destorg.com, Email, Twitter or on Facebook.
I have to wholeheartedly disagree! (at least for my family). Even when my husband and I lived in a 700 sq ft apartment with one bedroom, no garage, a galley kitchen (ie, no cupboards to speak of, and certainly no pantry) and no storage unit we shopped almost exclusively at Costco. Now we have much more room, still shop almost exclusively at Costco, and never, ever throw anything away. In fact, if you were to check my facebook page you’d see that we let our fridge get down to literally one or two things before we head back out.
I’m truly baffled by the packaging waste and carton sizes at other stores. If I were to buy a brick of cheese or a carton of yogurt there, my kids (two preschoolers and a baby) and I would eat the entire thing at one lunch. And then where would I be? Back at the store. Costco.
In the meantime, Costco has saved me so much and provided me with better quality, while allowing me to shop twice a month and not twice a week. My eye glasses and prescriptions and Christmas greeting cards alone more than make up for the membership cost.
But then, no one who knows me is surprised to hear me singing Costco’s praises. I’m perfectly happy to believe it doesn’t work out so well for other families. But it works for us – without lots of storage (we still don’t have a garage) and without waste.
But, I should also say, I’m very much a “lay” professional organizer myself, which probably adds to our success. I literally organize our cupboards for fun. If I were to even one time see a pantry (which I still have never had) look like the one you pictured, I’d probably change my tune!
Hi Catherine – Thanks for commenting! I think the fact that you’re a more organized person makes Costco work for you. But most people cannot or will not manage their bulk purchases like you do! Great work!
I love Costco. I have 5 kids, they polish off a box of costco strawberries in two days etc. I am not an organizer. But we have so many people in our family that things get eaten quickly.
FWIW we have a one car garage- our car is not parked in there because of kids toys not pantry items
I guess I’m in the minority on this one so far! Having a large family does make it easier to get through all the bulk purchases for sure. We’re a family of 3 so it wouldn’t make sense for us.
A one-car garage and a family of 5 does make it difficult to have space for a car! Just bikes alone could make it impossible to fit a car!
I am on the fence about Costco. I never buy anything we can’t store easily or that will expire before we use it. I think you have to have a plan when you go in there! I love certain items. They have great quality items.The huge container of cashews are such a good deal and my family goes through nuts much too fast otherwise. The storage and organizing aren’t the biggest problems for me it’s the distance to the store and the limited hours. I definitely can not make it there and back before my little one gets out of preschool.
I only shop there 8-12 times a year because of the inconvenience. So we constantly debate I’d the membership is worth t. The premier is definitely not worth it for us.
I have plenty of other organizing problems with my garage–although I mange to squeeze my car in every winter. But yeah, it’s mostly kids toys and old junk I haven’t sorted yet.
I agree though about the time commitment stuff. You gotta weigh the costs/benefits including your time.
I have to agree with Heather regarding the time spent driving there and back. My time is limited and I just can’t justify driving to Oakbrook to get to Costco. (Or Addison to get to Sam’s!)