Go Greener Tips

Go green easily and buy in bulk with friends at a grocery warehouse.  You save time, money and fuel just for starters.  Most grocery warehouse stores charge $45-50 for a yearly membership and allow up to three people to be on the main member’s non-corporate card.  When split three-ways it comes out to a little over $16.00 per person to join.  The average savings buying in bulk from these kinds of stores is 33 to 38% on fresh vegetables and fruits, up to 43% on fresh meats or poultry or fish and up to 55% on canned goods and staples such as flour, rice, sugar and coffee.  These discounts include the organic foods more of these stores are carrying.  While these stores keep a basic inventory of popular items in stock, they do switch brand names, quantity sizes and rotate seasonal items quickly.  Most send out flyers in the newspapers or put on their website special deals or things being offered for a short time so check those out before you go.  

Go green easily buying in bulk with your buddies and keep your friendships enriched.  One of the beauties of bulk purchasing with people you like is how you spend more time together just by doing a necessity.  You get to hang out writing the shopping list, making the purchases and then dividing it all up.  The other nice thing about shopping together is that impulse purchases are kept at bay.  Having a friend there to remind each of you that it’ll be harder to separate out the cost and taxes on that cute bird feeder or the complete Beatles compilation keeps everyone feeling more on task.  The free food samples can be a bit distracting but if you go there hungry, after 15 minutes of wandering the aisles, you’ll be full; we all know how important it is not to shop on an empty stomach.  

Go green easily buying as a co-operative with neighbors, family, or even coworkers.  What’s not to like about something that saves you money, strengthens your bonds of friendship and helps the planet?  Your bank accounts stay as full as your cupboards, you can reuse containers from past purchases (good for the earth) as you divvy up the goods, take one car and turn a boring chore into a fun day.  There’s strength and savings in numbers so round up your posse and get your “green” on.