Things are cheaper when you buy them together. After all, the more the company can sell the more money they make. As a result they make higher quantities a bit cheaper so that they can get you to purchase more of it. This can be great for big families who will use a gallon jar of pickles or the giant box of cereal before it expires. But for the rest of us buying a 3 lbs jar of peanut butter means that half of it will end up molding in the back of the cabinet. So how can a smaller family or a single person take advantage of these higher quantity discounts without having to actually eat 40 cans of tuna in 2 months?
The best way to do this would to split these items between yourself and a friend. For example, you could buy the giant bag of chips and give half to a friend and keep half for yourself. Now, the trick here is that everyone likes something different so the best place to start would be to ask your siblings since most people who grow in the same household end up with the same taste. For example, in my family my grandma buys her vanilla in about a gallon container and then sends my mom and I home with vanilla in smaller jars. That way we all are able to pay a cheaper amount for our vanilla and no one has to actually use all of the vanilla. Furthermore, doing this doesn’t have to be difficult. Pick a few staple items, breakfast food, flour, sugar, or anything else that you use a lot but that doesn’t go bad within a few weeks (such as milk). Then you can each pick which items you are going to be in charge of buying. This way you do not have to actually go grocery shopping together but you can still get a discount.
Buying in bulk can also be a good idea for other household items beyond groceries. For example, toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning products can all be cheaper when you buy them in bulk. While these products don’t really expire for someone with limited space some cannot purchase them in bulk because they simply cannot find space for them. Therefore, splitting these products with someone else can help them a great deal. Furthermore, people are usually less picky about their paper towels than they are about their food so it might be easier to find someone to split them with.
Last, sharing plans can be a great way to save money. For example, I was paying $60 a month for 450 minutes and my fiancé was paying about $40 for 250. We put ourselves on a family plan and now we get 1400 for $50 which is a much better deal than what we had before. However, I do not recommend doing this with anyone who you do not fully trust because you do not want to do anything that could hurt your credit history.