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Be wary of warehouse "Big Box" grocery pricing

Did you know that many people actually overspend at warehouse stores, and would actually save more money by shopping at their local grocery store? How can this be?

First, while the prices are lower for many products at the warehouse store, the sizes are larger - do you really need to buy that super sized container of pepper? Or enough spaghetti sauce to feed a school for a year? Probably not. And you would have saved money by buying the smaller quantity, especially when that smaller quantity would last you a substantial amount of time.

Secondly, you often have to buy in multiples to get the better pricing. So it might be regular priced for the gallon sized bottle of shampoo, but buy three or more and you can save about 30 per cent of the price. But do you really need to buy three bottles, when chances are one bottle will last you for at least six months?

You also have to keep in mind storage. If you have the space and your favorite toilet paper brand is the one your warehouse is carrying right now, it might be good to splurge. But do you really want to store 6 cases of tomato soup?

So while warehouse stores can be beneficial, chances are you would need a pretty large sized family to be able to get enough benefit from the membership when you take into account how easily it is to overbuy and overspend.

Also read: Hazards of buying groceries in bulk