Starting A "Buyer's Club" With Your Friends, Family, And Neighbors

One thing that can save an enormous amount of money on groceries is to buy in bulk, at wholesale if possible. The problem, though, is that many people can't afford to spend hundreds of dollars all at one shot--not to mention the fact that they might lack the space necessary to store all of it.

One way of getting around these problems is to start a buyer's club with some of the people you know--in this way, costs can be split, and it's not necessary to attempt to store as much stuff all at once.

Here's a few ideas for ways a buyer's club can help save money:

...Buy certain kinds of produce directly from local farmers in lots consisting of several bushels at a time--such as corn, tomatoes, green beans, etc. and split the cost with the members of your group. Often, you can talk farmers into giving you a slightly better price if you buy a lot at once. You can freeze, dry, or can anything you can't use up right away.

...The same thing goes for meat. Go to a livestock auction, and buy a whole hog or cow, and have a local meat packing plant cut it up it for you. You can save hundreds of dollars on the retail price by doing it this way.

...Buy stuff by the case from wholesalers. Note, however, that you will have to be able to make a minimum order of at least $300 or more with most of them. In addition, most of them require that you have a tax I.D. before they will sell to you. The ones that market to dollar stores are not the cheapest, but they are easiest to work with. Note that these products are often "off-brands" and much of what these places sell probably comes from China. In addition, shipping charges may make some of these items cheaper to buy at local stores--in my experience, anything that costs more than 65 cents per piece probably isn't worth it. Here are a few links to dollar store merchandisers who have relatively low minimum orders:

Dollar Item Direct
Kole Imports