Buy more, save more?

Normally, this is the conventional advice when buying items in bulk or large quantities. The reason is that, usually, you save more per ounce/package. Case in point: It's generally cheaper to buy a 24 pack of toilet paper than a 4 pack of toilet paper.

There is a problem with doing this, though.

First, if you were only going to buy a small amount because that's all you needed, buying the bigger size actually costs you money. Let's say you never eat sour cream or eat it only once every few months and now, the time has come for a loaded baked potato. So you go to the store where you can get the 16oz container that is, like $.15 per ounce (or something similar) and costs $2.95 or you can buy a 4 oz container that is $.45 per ounce, but only costs $1. So, what do you do? I would buy the $1 size because that's all that I'll use. If I bought the bigger one, the majority would go in the garbage and I would have wasted $1.95.

Second, you're encouraged to buy more. Take those 2-for-1 deals at the store. If you shop and you stick to a list, they blow your shopping budget out of the water, especially if it's something that you don't regularly use. Chips, soda, and juices are a great example of where I get sucked in often. (Ocean Spray Cranberry mixes are my downfall.) If you take advantage of 3 offers during one trip, it may cost you up to $10 per trip, $40 per month, and $520 per year. This also applies when shopping for other items: "Oh, its such a great deal, I have to get X!" (However, this can be an argument for flexibility in your budget, if you use the item frequently.)

Saying no to supersized savings can also be beneficial to your waistline. At one point, I was over-weight, so I had to cut back on the junk food. I only allowed myself to buy small bags of chips and cookies and the single-serve sodas, even though they were more per ounce. (My gf at the time could not wrap her head around the concept, encouraging me to buy a big bag and break it up into little sizes. But, my will power was zilch.). Plus, it was so much work to find the small sizes, that I rarely ate the treats at all!

So, save money and lose weight!

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