Taking bulk buying to an extreme! Strange behaviour.

swingaloo

Thanks for the replies. Just to answer a few points.

I do always check the dates on things such as Clover and I do buy when things are on offer. I buy Tescos own coffee and thats been the same price as long as I can remember. Tea bags I buy when they have the offers on so I am careful with what I spend.

I dont get too worried about the behaviour, my family just think Im nuts! On occasion I have let coffee get down to 3 jars (thats hubbys fault, he pours part of a jar into the coffee container and then puts the jar half full back in the cupboard) and Im uncomfortable then till its replenished.

As for collecting husbands- Im keeping this one, I quite like him! The last one passed away (of natural causes I may add!) so nothing under the floorboards or patio.

cellblockH

I have not bought a toilet roll for over 10 years, and think i still have 2 years left thanks to a bargin on ebay, however my cupboard did lack in space after.

Also had 3 years of washing powder in that same cupboard, but it goes solid if left too long.

GreyQueen

Even non-food items can lose their potentcy. Examples are washing-up liquid, laundry detergent and bleach. Bleach won't retain its effectiveness much past a year.

My lovely mother is a bit of a muddler and we've found bleach that won't bleach anything and which doesn't even smell bleach-y anymore and w.u.l that requires a huge amount of liquid to make the feeblest suds (and it was F@iry not some rubbish brand).

A few months ago, I could see Kerryg0ld butter at £1 a pack, which was a saving of about 30p. I bought several and stashed them in the freezer until I was ready to use them. Only one left in there now. Not as good a bargain as when I got a whole load of short-dated butter at 0.08p a packet and froze that.:rotfl:

Horses for courses, really, when it comes to stocking up. Oftentimes, the most efficient storage is to let the shop hold onto their stock whilst you hold onto your money.

LameWolf

10 of something in stock does seem a little OTT; I usually have "one in use and one spare" and when the spare is started, it goes on the shopping list for next time I'm shopping.

I'm also intrigued as to why it has to be in 5's or 10's; but if that's the case, could you possibly go to having 5 jars of coffee in stock instead of 10 perhaps?

My own obsession, if you can call it that, is with using up the opened one completely and totally, as in can't get even the tiniest smidge out of it any more, before the new one is opened. I keep two bottles of chilled tapwater in the fridge; and often Mr LW will grab the full one and pour a glass when the opened one still has some in it, and that I find disproportionately distressing.

VfM4meplse

I remember buying a huge bulk purchase of Tampax in my early 30s - I'd found packs of 20 in the 99p shop and cleared the shelves. I calculated it would take 7 years to get through them, and it did.

These days it is just one pack at a time.

Gers

The only items I buy in bulk is loo rolls from Cost*o. There's an unopened pack in the back steading and a nearly empty one too.

There's a shelf half full of 'emergency rations' in there too, mostly stuff which can be heated up on top of the woodburner in the event of a prolonged power cut. Tins of thick soup, beans and sausages, ready made pasta with sauce etc along with long life milk.

As there hasn't been a need for it over the last two winters, even the bad one of 2015, I may have to look at the BB dates. Trouble is that most of it is not something I'd normally serve or eat! Tins should be OK as well as some of the dried stuff, might have to use the milk up.

For a long long time my mother kept a very unnecessary stockpile until persuaded to 'let go' of tins from the 60s and 70s along with jars of unidentifiable things. I know that, for her, it stems from the scarcity of food during WW2 and the fear of not knowing when food became available again.

If you're happy with your stocks swingaloo then no need to worry. Each to their own!

System

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Strangely enough I feel happy when I reduce my supply of hoarded goods (coffee, tea, toilet roll, toiletries etc).

I'd much rather have the space these days.

Me too :)

katkin

Swingaloo (great name btw) do you collect/ stock/ hoard or whatever you'd like to name it, anything else? Does it make you anxious or feel bad?

For me that would be the difference between its problematic behaviour or just a personal quirk.

I like to keep stocks in, but not enough for a zombie aplocolypse just enough to meet my next month or so with a wee bit extra just in case. Storage would be an issue and I'm keen on menu planning etc.

swingaloo

katkin wrote: »

Swingaloo (great name btw) do you collect/ stock/ hoard or whatever you'd like to name it, anything else? Does it make you anxious or feel bad?

For me that would be the difference between its problematic behaviour or just a personal quirk.

I like to keep stocks in, but not enough for a zombie aplocolypse just enough to meet my next month or so with a wee bit extra just in case. Storage would be an issue and I'm keen on menu planning etc.

The only other thing I hoard/collect are scarves, I have dozens. Not thick wooly ones but the type you can wear over a jumper or tee-shirt. More decoration than anything. Mind you I get the all from charity shops, I wouldnt dream of paying a tenner for a new one.

Although another quirk- (people are going to think Im mad reading this thread). I collect the new £5 notes. I havent spent one since they first came into circulation. It started because I have childrens birthdays in October and November so decided to give them £30 each in new fivers. Ever since then I just keep them, I cant spend one and will change a ten or twenty before I will part with one.

Iv got them all stashed in a sock in my sock drawer (I tend to have a lot of socks too!) I try not to count up how much Ive saved but I was well over £200 about 6 weeks ago.

tootallulah

I quite often buy a years worth of things in Waitrose January sale, this year it was washing powder, dish washer tablets, tinned tomatoes, loo roll and coffee. I don't have a car so one big shop that gets delivered helps.