Bulk buying to, hopefully, beat inflation.

YoungBlueEyes

One thing to be careful of - depending what kind of himself you have, don't let him find your stocks. My one started using up his shower gel etc at an alarming rate once he found out how much of it there was. "There's loads of bottles in there, it's fine!" can rapidly deplete your stores. 

mumtoomany

Hi, @YoungBlueEyes, fortunately OH prefers soap to shower gel. A bit old fashioned, but difficult to overuse. I use the gel, but not lots ad it can affect my skin. Must remember to buy more soap. Hugs, mumtoomany.xx

Quantaqa

@mumtoomany, I am loving this thread.  I was away on holiday and wanted to contribute when I got back as I find it easier typing on my laptop. I think most things have been covered.  Only other things I'd add to list would be Tin foil if you use it. 

DH and I just came to the end of our laundry liquid stock up.  We got the shock of our lives when we went to purchase the same one in Lidl only to find the bottle is now about 2/3 the size we had been using.   I love to stock up when things are on offer and this thread now has a wealth of ideas.  I'm going to sit later and go back through ll the posts and make up a list for myself.  

jackrabbit123

This thread is brilliant, it's got me thinking of items we take for granted. I already bulk buy flour, sugar and rice. I have always done so since being married 30 years ago now. The only other items that come to mind that you may have written and I may not have read are female products, and any over the counter meds you may need such as paracetamols etc. 

Suffolk_lass

Great for all the products, but what is your approach to where from and when you buy them? I admit to using the big river subscription for some things where I am brand-fussy and buy them regularly (coffee, tea, laundry gloop) - although with the miniscule amount of laundry detergent we use (we do use washing soda too), I realise I skip every other six-monthly delivery. In the SM I check and buy six of something (non-perishable) on offer and if I run out before the next promotion I buy one, to be going on with, or an alternative product so the SM algorithm knows it is losing brand loyalty.

The spreadsheet of things helps me to understand how often we use things up and a separate marker to show when the offers pop up but it isn't infallible and I am interested in whether anyone has a better system, if others are willing to share what you do - mine was developed to inform my "stores" heading in the Grocery Challenge, which I have been doing for maybe 14 years now

CapricornLass

I've thought of something else you may wish to mull over (although my example is too late for mumtoomany) and that is to think about investigating and using alternatives to the normal supermarket/chemist offerings.  My particular one is using rock crystal as a deodorant (I use Salt of the Earth).  It cost me almost £7 to buy, which I accept is not cheap.  However, the one I'm using now has lasted me 2 years.  Its effective - it coped with that period a couple of years ago when the temperature was over 40C.  But I 've also saved myself a considerable amount of money.

Similarly, some of the old cleaning methods are just as effective as using anything from the supermarket and tend to use the same few chemicals, washing soda, baking soda, lemon juice and washing up liquid.

mumtoomany

Hello all, still here, just busy! The last barn roof is now fixed, until the next storm at least! This one, the barn that houses the tractor,  is only around 10 feet from the ground. So OH and I have fixed it between ourselves. Used  some of the tin sheeting that came down off the Dutch barn in storm Darragh. OH also replaced some of the slates on the brick barn, while he was up there. Also busy planting seeds and potting on seedlings. Planted out some stuff in the polytunnel, which seems to have been taken over by sparrows. Each morning there are more in there than the day before. 

Pension goes into the bank tomorrow, so we will probably go shopping next week. Don't need anything at the moment, so pointless to drive into town until we do. 

@Suffolk_lass, we don't tend to buy anything branded, other than deodorant and razors for OH. Most everything else is the cheapest available, so never on offer unfortunately. 

@CapricornLass, the rock crystal sounds interesting, I'll have to look at that. I agree with cleaning products. I use washing up liquid for almost everything, even top up the hand wash container with it. Never bought hand wash, but I find it easier to use in the kitchen.  The container was left by the previous house owners, 12 years ago. Vinegar to clean windows. And sometimes citric acid to descale the toilets.

Of to finalise my list for next week, hugs to all, mumtoomany.xx

mumtoomany

Reporting in to tell you all, if you're interested, I did a big shop on Tuesday. Filled the car, even the poor dog was squashed coming home. Bought loads of tinned tomatoes and chopped tomatoes. 120 tins I think. 12 tins for £3.99 in Farmfoods. Also 2 x 10lt bottles of cooking oil at 2 for £24 and 12 tins of corned beef at £1.99 each. Tins of pineapple at 70p each, princes i think. With the other bits i needed, milk etc, total was just over £100 in there. So I got £9 of the total by using a voucher. Also bought lots of toilet roll, more washing up liquid, loads of baked beans and more coffee and tea bags in Aldi. The pantry is now almost full. I have used part of the wardrobe and the barn has a huge pile of tins. Need to see what else I need. 

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xx

Rosa_Damascena

mumtoomany said:

Reporting in to tell you all, if you're interested, I did a big shop on Tuesday. Filled the car, even the poor dog was squashed coming home. Bought loads of tinned tomatoes and chopped tomatoes. 120 tins I think. 12 tins for £3.99 in Farmfoods. Also 2 x 10lt bottles of cooking oil at 2 for £24 and 12 tins of corned beef at £1.99 each. Tins of pineapple at 70p each, princes i think. With the other bits i needed, milk etc, total was just over £100 in there. So I got £9 of the total by using a voucher. Also bought lots of toilet roll, more washing up liquid, loads of baked beans and more coffee and tea bags in Aldi. The pantry is now almost full. I have used part of the wardrobe and the barn has a huge pile of tins. Need to see what else I need. 

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xx

Almost full? How big is your pantry??!

I haven't had a FF leaflet (consequently no vouchers) lately but I think it might be a good time to stock up on tinned goods. 

GillyLucy

Rosa_Damascena said:

I haven't had a FF leaflet (consequently no vouchers) lately but I think it might be a good time to stock up on tinned goods. 

Farmfoods If you click on the voucher circle they send you some.