Welcome to the Buy Bulk Club! Pasta is on sale for $1. So is soup, normally $2. Buying a flat of 12 now not only saves you $12, it saves you time and gas by fewer trips to the store. That's smart. It's easy if it's just you. Your cupboard is your store. You save even more if you buy deals to split with friends and family.

Any sort of item. One for $10, two for $15, five or more for $5 each. How do you get that good deal? A Buy Bulk Club. Informal, between family and friends, or at a bigger community scale. You want one. You find four others that want one. You could buy 5. But you could buy 6 and sell the extra one you bought for $5 at a price of $8.

Storage space may be an issue. It always is. If you're serious about saving money by buying bulk, you might want to make shelves in your garage or build an insulated shed. Now you've got a family store that will save you a lot over the years to come. For neighbors in rural areas that realize how much time, gas and money they all waste by driving to town for supplies separately, that shed could have storage lockers for each person's share of the dry goods. The next step is a general store, but if it's small you don't have to tend it. You just use a swipe card that records who went in when. And now you could buy wholesale, including screws and nails. A cottagers supply store. To save all those separate trips you're all making for the same things. 

There's other ways to think about buying bulk. A group of seniors, each needing house care, can pitch into the pot and affordably hire a support worker. That's bulk purchasing power. They could buy 50 fruit trees at the wholesale price and have that summer student they've hired plant and tend those trees plus 20 gardens. Now you can buy seed bulk, and get ahead of the game by starting early in a greenhouse. 10% to Climate Kids programs. Those programs include Green Teams focused on seniors care.

What do you want to buy bulk? Are you in?