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What’s the Best Value: Buying Big vs Buying Small?

What's the Best Value: Buying Big vs Buying Small? | Families.comSometimes you have to buy big and sometimes you have to buy small if you want to get the best value for your money. It all depends on the circumstance.

At the grocery store, you want to buy big when buying in bulk will save you the most money. Of course, it doesn’t always work that way. Always check unit price and do a comparison of your various options. Usually this works well on items that aren’t otherwise on sale, don’t have coupons, can be used up before they expire or are purchased at a bulk warehouse store where normal savings is near 30 percent.

There are times to buy small at the grocery store, usually when you have a coupon. Applying your coupon to the smallest sized version of that item allowed usually yields you the greatest savings. In some cases, you may even get the item for free! For example, if you have a coupon that is good for a dollar off, navigate over to the travel or sample sized in your store. If your product comes in a travel size, chances are that it only costs one dollar or less. Applying the coupon cancels out the entire cost!

There are other times when buying big makes sense, such as with services. Often you can get a discount. At these times, enlisting a friend or neighbor and then splitting the cost may save you more money than simply buying half of the amount of service. For example, a handyman will often charge you less if he is already in the neighborhood.

Buying big doesn’t ever make sense if you don’t have the cash flow to cover it, no matter if it is a bargain or not. Spending more money by buying small, just want you need, can pay off because you won’t be paying interest on debt. it used to be that general advice, for example, was to buy the biggest house you could afford (well, you could get loan approved), but now we know better. Buying small now often means you can buy big later.

Photo credit: bloomberg.com

This entry was posted in Shopping (See Also Deals Blog) and tagged by Mary Ann Romans. Bookmark the permalink.

About Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, online content manager, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania in the middle of the woods but close enough to Target and Home Depot. The author of many magazine, newspaper and online articles, Mary Ann enjoys writing about almost any subject. "Writing gives me the opportunity to both learn interesting information, and to interact with wonderful people." Mary Ann has written more than 5,000 blogs for Families.com since she started back in December 2006. Contact her at maromans AT verizon.net or visit her personal blog http://homeinawoods.wordpress.com