Common Household Items You Should Be Buying In Bulk To Save Your Money

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Whether you're living as a single person or as a member of a large family, it can be expensive to run a household. Buying certain items in bulk quantities can help to stretch your budget. It pays to do some research to find retailers that sell products in bulk volumes, and you want to be selective about the types of supplies that you purchase in large quantities.

Take note of the items that you buy and use most frequently, and assess your available storage space. Additionally, you should consider the expiration dates and shelf lives of the products. Don't buy anything in bulk unless you know you'll use it before it expires or goes bad. Things like paper products, dry pantry goods, and toiletries are sensible bulk purchases. With careful choices and the willingness to spend a little more upfront, you can save money in the long run with bulk buying. The key to making smart decisions is to always calculate the unit price when you're comparing costs of bulk and non-bulk purchases.

We use and dispose of multiple household paper products every day, including toilet paper, facial tissues, dinner napkins, and paper towels. It's a frustrating scenario when you don't realize you're out of paper towels until you finish your last roll and reach for a replacement. With bulk buying, you can ensure that you always have plenty of supplies on hand. In fact, paper products are the perfect candidates for buying in bulk. They don't have expiration dates or shelf lives. The only downside might be having enough storage space to keep bulk quantities of paper products in the house.

To get the best deals on these products, you'll want to calculate the unit prices for paper products. For example, Costco sells a package of 12 rolls of Kirkland paper towels for $22.99. Each roll includes 160 sheets that measure 11 inches by 7 inches, each. This translates to 1,026 square feet. Conveniently, Costco states that the unit price per 100 square feet is $2.24. That's only 2 cents per square foot.

When you're shopping for bulk quantities of paper products, don't purchase a product of inferior quality simply because it's on sale. Shop around to get the best deals on products you'll be satisfied with. If you live in a small space with limited storage capacity, consider partnering with friends or family members to buy paper products in bulk and divide them between two or more homes.

Although we're conscious of the environment and try to cut down on our use of plastics, many of us continue to use plastic bags for trash disposal as well as storing food and household items. You can save money by making bulk purchases of plastic trash bags in various sizes, sandwich and snack bags, food storage bags, freezer bags, plastic wrap and aluminum foil.

You can make a bulk purchase of 200 kitchen trash bags in the 13-gallon size at Costco for $20.49. The unit cost is 10.2 cents per bag. By comparison, a box of 40 bags in the same size costs $9.79 at Wegmans, representing a unit price of 24.4 cents per bag. Looking at the per-bag unit cost, you can see that the purchase of a smaller quantity costs more than twice the amount of the bulk purchase.

Similar to paper products, plastic bags have indefinite shelf lives with no expiration dates. On top of that, the bulk quantities of plastic bags are packaged in compact boxes for storage. With these characteristics, plastic bags and wraps are the ideal products for bulk buying.

We use more and more electronic devices in our daily lives, and we frequently find ourselves rummaging through drawers and cupboards to find replacement batteries. To solve the frustrating problem of running out of batteries, you can buy in bulk and keep them on hand. Before you buy, take note of the types of batteries that you use most frequently. In most households, these include AA, AAA, C, D, and 9V batteries. Bulk buying makes sense because alkaline batteries have a shelf life of 5 to 10 years, and lithium batteries are good for 10 to 20 years. 

The Home Depot sells a 4-pack of Energizer AAA batteries for $4.87, a unit price of $1.22 per battery. If you pay more up front, you can buy the bulk pack of 48 AAA batteries for $29.98, a unit price of 62 cents per battery. By making the bulk purchase, you'll save 60 cents per battery.

While you're stocking up on batteries, don't forget to purchase light bulbs for the lamps and fixtures in your home. You can save money by purchasing the most-used types of bulbs in bulk. For example, Amazon offers the Sylvania LED 60W light bulb in a 4-pack for $5.79, a unit price of $1.45 per bulb. But if you opt for the 24-pack at a cost of $29.99, the unit price is $1.25, and you save 20 cents per bulb.

Approximately half the population uses feminine hygiene products for around 40 years of their lives. Additionally, many adults depend on incontinence pads for sanitary absorbency needs. These items have indefinite shelf lives with no expiration dates, making them ideal for buying in bulk. Although you'll need to spend more money upfront, the bulk purchases will save you money in the long run. 

Consider these price comparisons when buying feminine hygiene products from Amazon. A pack of 44 Always Ultra-thin feminine pads costs $13.75, representing a unit price of 31 cents per pad. On the other hand, if you order the 3-pack quantity, you'll get 132 pads for $16.85, and the unit price drops to 13 cents each. That's a savings of 18 cents per pad over the non-bulk price.

For incontinence and postpartum absorbency and protection, you can purchase the Amazon Basics underwear in size Medium for $14.34 per pack of 20. This price represents a unit cost of 72 cents per pair. Spending a bit more money up front, you can buy the 60-count package for $39.87, and the unit price drops to 66 cents each, saving you 6 cents per pair.

Are you planning a celebratory event where you'll serve beer and wine to a large group of people? Or, perhaps you want to stock up on your favorites when they're on sale in bulk quantities. Unopened beer lasts 4 to 6 months at room temperature and 6 to 8 months in the fridge. Wine boasts an even longer shelf life. Unopened white wine lasts 1 to 2 years past its expiration date, while unopened red wine is good for  2 to 3 years past the recommended drinking window. 

Consider Walmart's prices on Bud Light beer in cans of 12 fluid ounces each. A 12-pack sells for $12.48, representing a unit price of 8.7 cents per fluid ounce. If you select the 24-can pack of the same product, the unit price drops to 7.3 cents. Opt for the 30-can pack, and you'll get a unit cost of 6.9 cents. You save almost 2 cents per fluid ounce when you choose the 30-can pack over the 12-can pack.

When it comes to beer and wine storage, you should keep unopened cans and bottles away from air and light to preserve the flavor until you're ready to consume the contents. Beer is best kept in the refrigerator with bottles stored upright, not on their sides. On the other hand, you should always store unopened bottles of wine horizontally. You do not need to store unopened wine in the refrigerator, but it should be kept in a dark place at a steady temperature between 45 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can save money by buying meat in bulk when it's on sale in the grocery store or at warehouse membership clubs. Alternatively, you can buy meat in bulk from local farms or stock up through a monthly subscription service that delivers frozen meats to your door. All these methods are good only if you have enough freezer space to store the meat safely until you're ready to use it. Additionally, it can be expensive to buy meat in bulk, although you'll save money in the long run.

If you have available space in your freezer, buy meats in large quantities to save money on your weekly grocery bills. For example, Wegmans sells a family pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $15.84. It weighs 6.36 pounds, yielding a unit price of $2.49 per pound. Unless you're feeding a big family, you can split up the contents of the large package and store the chicken breasts in smaller packages of two or three. That way, your purchase will provide the basis for several meals over a period of weeks or months.

Use a vacuum sealer like this one from Amazon to store meat safely in the freezer over a long period of time. It's a small appliance that removes the air from inside a plastic bag and seals it, using heat to fuse the bag shut. The sealed plastic bags prevent freezer burn, adding months or years to the shelf life of the meat stored in your freezer. However, FoodSafety.gov recommends that most meat should be used within a year and ground meat should be used within 4 months for optimal food safety and quality.