Staying In

4 Things To Buy in Bulk with Your Flatmates

Hello FlokqJune 11, 2020

Living with flatmates can be either something you cherish and be thankful for or completely abhor. Think of the stuff that happens in Friends when Phoebe met Rachel, her new flatmate, or in How I Met Your Mother where Ted and Marshall got to experience dangerously crazy nightlife adventures. The level of fun or fear that you get while living with flatmates depends greatly on your already existing relations with them or on how you act on those relationships. One thing for sure is that, by living together, you will end up having more opportunities, and those aren’t just for fun. Those opportunities can easily be used to help your wallet stay healthy!

Just because living together means that you get limited space, it doesn’t mean that you have to spend more to get more. On the contrary, a lot of advantages can come from living together! You just got to be more creative and resourceful for your daily life with your flatmate. Modern life is not always complicated or pricey, it just seems like that because people are generally lazy to do their fair share of research! Buying in bulk, or in large numbers can help you out if you do it right. So, here are four things to buy in bulk for better spending with your flatmates.

read more about tips on grocery shopping in Jakarta here

Food

We often take for granted how easy it is to get food nowadays, with all the options of takeaways and the types of food you have. It doesn’t always have to be pricey, especially when you live with friends. One way is to make sure to buy your carbs (e.g. rice, bread, potatoes) in bulk as it is often cheaper. It would also help those who need help with gaining or losing weight as your flatmates can help you out in avoiding avoid food waste.

Other consumables that you should buy in bulk include cereal, milk, and meat as they also have the same rules as to when buying carbs. By doing this, you can avoid expiration dates by consuming it faster because there are more people to eat them.

Not in the mood to cook after class or work? Ordering food is now just a few clicks away! Takeaways can also feel cheaper as you can buy bigger portions and pay smaller delivery fees. You can even get better deals if you know where to look for promo codes and discounts! Just try not to get too caught up in the black hole of online takeaways too much as it often costs you more significantly than cooking.

Laundry stuff

Laundry is the less-talked-about part of modern life, yet they can even cost you much if you’re not careful. Sometimes you’ll have your place providing laundry services, while others need to find self-service laundries or other types of laundry services. In any case, try to talk about it with your flatmate on the most efficient option. Some might resort to simply buy a supply of detergent together, some might get a bigger laundry package deal, while others might want to simply use the existing laundry service in the building.

Some people might find laundry to be an affordable expense, but the truth is it also takes up valuable time when you pick an option that doesn’t suit your lifestyle. Who knows, maybe your flatmate washes his/her clothes as often as you so that you can cut costs. So again, try to talk about this with your flatmate to find out better deals and laundry options!

Office supplies

Office supplies here refers to things related to printing, your stock of pencils or pens, and your stock of papers. If you and your flatmate have the money, having a printer around would be super helpful. It can be more cost and time-efficient than having to always print somewhere else. Because printing services usually charge by the type and amount of paper, having your own printer would make it more convenient and cheaper too! Having a stock of pencils or pens would help you and your flatmate when there’s a sudden burst of ideas flowing around. 

Buying office supplies in bulk can help so much especially when you and your flatmate(s) have the same tendency to take your work home. It would especially come in handy when you have urgent matters to work outside of your office. So stock up!

Streaming subscriptions

While not necessarily ‘buying in bulk’ in the more literal sense, paying for streaming subscriptions with a packaged family deal can be considered as such since you’re buying service for multiple people. With the advent and rise of the popularity in streaming services, even being easier than online pirating, the companies behind these subscription services made it possible to spend less on them.

Paying family packages and multiple user subscriptions can give some significant price cuts in the long run. “But doesn’t that violate the terms and conditions?” Oh, yes it might, but some streaming services might not. And it’s important to note that this is still perfectly legal since some streaming services companies are now eyeing for a location-based, “under one roof” definition of family. Hence, your flatmate would technically count, and you can spend those discounts on food and other things! Watching your favorite series, movies, listening to music, or podcasts have never been cheaper and easier.

Bottom-line, these four things are only a few suggestions out of the many things you can buy in bulk with your flatmate. Whether you really need to cut costs or whether you can afford to buy just for yourself, it’s always a good measure to talk to your flatmate since it can make your life easier. Just don’t be too strict about it since your lives may become more or less dynamic as time goes by. So just agree to adjust accordingly!

read also: The Ultimate Guide to Sharing an Apartment