6 ms·

That trick only works if you have lots of money. And lots of space. Do you apply it to other things too, like garbage bags? Or olive oil? What about hand soap?

That trick only works if you have lots of money. And lots of space. Do you apply it to other things too, like garbage bags? Or olive oil? What about hand soap? All of a sudden you're spending 2x normal for a while. Not a lot of people can do that.

tsm 6y ago
> All of a sudden you're spending 2x normal for a while. Not a lot of people can do that. Then stagger it—an extra box of dishwasher tablets this paycheck, an extra box of garbage bags next paycheck. Overall consumption doesn't double. The space concerns are very real though and probably harder to solve…that's my bottleneck
- davidivadavid 6y ago
  Yes, that's the reason why shopping at Costco isn't the solution to everything. I don't want to store 300 toilet paper rolls.
  - rootusrootus 6y ago
    Also, Costco isn't always automatically the best price per unit anyway. Especially for staple items, I find that Fred Meyer (Kroger) is frequently less expensive on a per-unit basis for really common household items. It's deeply ingrained that buying in bulk must be cheaper, but pricing in grocery stores isn't always that intuitive.
    - codetrotter 6y ago
      Don’t know how it is in America but here in Norway, stores are required to list per-unit price on the shelf for all articles. Makes it quite simple to compare stuff. So for example milk has the price for a carton on the shelf along with the price per liter, toilet paper has the price for a pack along with the price per meter, detergent has the price for a box along with the price for the portion required for running one machine, etc etc. This makes it trivial to spot cases where the bigger bag is actually more expensive per-unit when you’re at the store. I guess to compare between different stores you’d still need to make note of the per-unit prices that are listed but still it is helpful even if you went as far as that. I usually buy everything I need at the store closest to my home because they are very competitive on average even if one or two items might be cheaper downtown.
      - rootusrootus 6y ago
        I am not certain what the law is, but stores here in the U.S. routinely list the per-unit price on the shelf tag. Costco certainly does, Kroger does, but I don't know if all stores must. I wouldn't be surprised. I don't often look at per-unit when going between stores, I more often use it to gauge the value of upsizing at the same store, or comparing to other brands of the same product that are on the shelf nearby.
    - glxxyz 6y ago
      Costco shoppers know that they don't always get the 'best' price, but it's a good enough price and it's likely to be good quality, so it takes the hassle out of the shopping and decision making process.
hangonhn 6y ago
That's a fair point but if you can afford two, buying twice the amount is actually cheaper since you can buy it at Costco, etc. I do have two rolls of garbage bags, etc. but I also recognize it's not doable by everyone. GP's tone is a bit off putting even if it is a valid suggestion for some people.
colonwqbang 6y ago
Ah, the garbage bag. This elusive luxury item which throughout history has been reserved only for people who have lots of money.
- cryptoz 6y ago
  I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. But yes, waste disposal has been done much better for the rich historically than the poor. I listed garbage bags specifically because I've noticed recently that the "good" ones (like, large, or strong) are actually quite pricey and often only are available in large quantities (40 count or something). So the price to buy trash bags might be like $20 or something. Buy 2 at once? $40 on garbage bags while grocery shopping? I mean that's a lot, no? To get the good version of something, twice? Not exactly an item for the poor to double-up on. And suggest the poor buy the less good trash bags that are cheaper? Well then we have shown that garbage bags can indeed be a luxury item even today.
  - Johnny555 6y ago
    If $40 to buy two is a lot of money, then $20 to buy one is also a lot of money (since, after all, it's the same price per unit), are you sure you can afford to spend 50 cents/bag for garbage bags? We buy the big store brand box ($15 - $20 for 200). The box is a bit too big to put under the sink, so we put half in another smaller container under the sink. When we refill that container and the box is empty, then it's time to buy more.
  - colonwqbang 6y ago
    You do realise that your consumption of garbage bags does not double because you buy two rolls at a time. If you are wealthy enough to save up for a one-time investment of 1 roll of garbage bags, you are able to implement the scheme suggested by the original poster.
    - cryptoz 6y ago
      Yes I realize that consumption does not double simply because you buy double. I am not commenting on garbage bags (the topic is detergent); I am commenting on the strategy being used for more than 1 thing. If you use this strategy for 1 item, okay, I get it, the expense is fine. But if the trick is used for other things (as seems logical) then the initial expense of starting to do this could be large.
davchana 6y ago
Its not twice always, its just twice once. Its like getting ahead of the usage schedule. When you start, buy one. You assume its good for 20 days. Buy next one on Day 10. Voila, you have the backup now. Now buy next ones, one at a time on 30th, 50th, 70th day. You are 10 days ahead of usage, you always have at least 10 days of runway ahead of you. Yes, I do it for Grocery, Ice cream, Watet, Olive, Garbage Bags, Dryer Sheets & anything I use regularly. The ones in use are required in their place. The spare ones can be stuffed at upper shelves, under the sink, under bed or such. I have seen second toilet roll in many offices & homes, almost every car has a spare tyre, & many other things.
- PostPlummer 6y ago
  With a little planning like described it gets even better since you can buy stuff when it's on offer, which is never when you suddenly need it.
loco5niner 6y ago
I figure I'm buying my time back with very little upfront cost. That also leaves more energy to do things like... earn more money/manage my space better.
fortran77 6y ago
Many poor people don't even have dishwashers! Perhaps this whole topic we should refrain from discussing.
- newforms 6y ago
  Or take it to the other extreme - buy two dishwashers A and B and use A for dirty items whilst using B as storage for clean items. When the dirty one A is full, run it and put dirty items in the formerly clean washer B. This way you save on cupboard space which can be used to store faberge eggs instead.
  - fortran77 6y ago
    Yes!
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    At which point the frumer-than-thou will need four dishwashers... After the eggs, don't forget space for wind-up travelling salt servers. (We actually have one of the latter. Not as fancy as the ones in the Hermitage by a long shot, but then again, we're intending to come to a better end than the Romanovs, so we're certainly not going to just cargo cult their flexes.) As far as I can tell, this HRE example is so posh a salt cellar that it's even useless for actually holding salt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Galleon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Galleon
  - war1025 6y ago
    My father in law had a running gag about wanting to do this for a couple years. Replace all the cabinets with dishwashers and just cycle between them.
ekianjo 6y ago
> That trick only works if you have lots of money. And lots of space. No, detergent is cheap nowadays, and detergents are way more compact now (thanks chemistry) than they were 50 years ago. So space should hardly be an issue.

tsm 6y ago

> All of a sudden you're spending 2x normal for a while. Not a lot of people can do that. Then stagger it—an extra box of dishwasher tablets this paycheck, an extra box of garbage bags next paycheck. Overall consumption doesn't double. The space concerns are very real though and probably harder to solve…that's my bottleneck

davidivadavid 6y ago
Yes, that's the reason why shopping at Costco isn't the solution to everything. I don't want to store 300 toilet paper rolls.
- rootusrootus 6y ago
  Also, Costco isn't always automatically the best price per unit anyway. Especially for staple items, I find that Fred Meyer (Kroger) is frequently less expensive on a per-unit basis for really common household items. It's deeply ingrained that buying in bulk must be cheaper, but pricing in grocery stores isn't always that intuitive.
  - codetrotter 6y ago
    Don’t know how it is in America but here in Norway, stores are required to list per-unit price on the shelf for all articles. Makes it quite simple to compare stuff. So for example milk has the price for a carton on the shelf along with the price per liter, toilet paper has the price for a pack along with the price per meter, detergent has the price for a box along with the price for the portion required for running one machine, etc etc. This makes it trivial to spot cases where the bigger bag is actually more expensive per-unit when you’re at the store. I guess to compare between different stores you’d still need to make note of the per-unit prices that are listed but still it is helpful even if you went as far as that. I usually buy everything I need at the store closest to my home because they are very competitive on average even if one or two items might be cheaper downtown.
    - rootusrootus 6y ago
      I am not certain what the law is, but stores here in the U.S. routinely list the per-unit price on the shelf tag. Costco certainly does, Kroger does, but I don't know if all stores must. I wouldn't be surprised. I don't often look at per-unit when going between stores, I more often use it to gauge the value of upsizing at the same store, or comparing to other brands of the same product that are on the shelf nearby.
  - glxxyz 6y ago
    Costco shoppers know that they don't always get the 'best' price, but it's a good enough price and it's likely to be good quality, so it takes the hassle out of the shopping and decision making process.

hangonhn 6y ago

That's a fair point but if you can afford two, buying twice the amount is actually cheaper since you can buy it at Costco, etc. I do have two rolls of garbage bags, etc. but I also recognize it's not doable by everyone. GP's tone is a bit off putting even if it is a valid suggestion for some people.

colonwqbang 6y ago

Ah, the garbage bag. This elusive luxury item which throughout history has been reserved only for people who have lots of money.

cryptoz 6y ago
I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. But yes, waste disposal has been done much better for the rich historically than the poor. I listed garbage bags specifically because I've noticed recently that the "good" ones (like, large, or strong) are actually quite pricey and often only are available in large quantities (40 count or something). So the price to buy trash bags might be like $20 or something. Buy 2 at once? $40 on garbage bags while grocery shopping? I mean that's a lot, no? To get the good version of something, twice? Not exactly an item for the poor to double-up on. And suggest the poor buy the less good trash bags that are cheaper? Well then we have shown that garbage bags can indeed be a luxury item even today.
- Johnny555 6y ago
  If $40 to buy two is a lot of money, then $20 to buy one is also a lot of money (since, after all, it's the same price per unit), are you sure you can afford to spend 50 cents/bag for garbage bags? We buy the big store brand box ($15 - $20 for 200). The box is a bit too big to put under the sink, so we put half in another smaller container under the sink. When we refill that container and the box is empty, then it's time to buy more.
- colonwqbang 6y ago
  You do realise that your consumption of garbage bags does not double because you buy two rolls at a time. If you are wealthy enough to save up for a one-time investment of 1 roll of garbage bags, you are able to implement the scheme suggested by the original poster.
  - cryptoz 6y ago
    Yes I realize that consumption does not double simply because you buy double. I am not commenting on garbage bags (the topic is detergent); I am commenting on the strategy being used for more than 1 thing. If you use this strategy for 1 item, okay, I get it, the expense is fine. But if the trick is used for other things (as seems logical) then the initial expense of starting to do this could be large.

davchana 6y ago

Its not twice always, its just twice once. Its like getting ahead of the usage schedule. When you start, buy one. You assume its good for 20 days. Buy next one on Day 10. Voila, you have the backup now. Now buy next ones, one at a time on 30th, 50th, 70th day. You are 10 days ahead of usage, you always have at least 10 days of runway ahead of you. Yes, I do it for Grocery, Ice cream, Watet, Olive, Garbage Bags, Dryer Sheets & anything I use regularly. The ones in use are required in their place. The spare ones can be stuffed at upper shelves, under the sink, under bed or such. I have seen second toilet roll in many offices & homes, almost every car has a spare tyre, & many other things.

PostPlummer 6y ago
With a little planning like described it gets even better since you can buy stuff when it's on offer, which is never when you suddenly need it.

loco5niner 6y ago

I figure I'm buying my time back with very little upfront cost. That also leaves more energy to do things like... earn more money/manage my space better.

fortran77 6y ago

Many poor people don't even have dishwashers! Perhaps this whole topic we should refrain from discussing.

newforms 6y ago
Or take it to the other extreme - buy two dishwashers A and B and use A for dirty items whilst using B as storage for clean items. When the dirty one A is full, run it and put dirty items in the formerly clean washer B. This way you save on cupboard space which can be used to store faberge eggs instead.
- fortran77 6y ago
  Yes!
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  At which point the frumer-than-thou will need four dishwashers... After the eggs, don't forget space for wind-up travelling salt servers. (We actually have one of the latter. Not as fancy as the ones in the Hermitage by a long shot, but then again, we're intending to come to a better end than the Romanovs, so we're certainly not going to just cargo cult their flexes.) As far as I can tell, this HRE example is so posh a salt cellar that it's even useless for actually holding salt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Galleon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Galleon
- war1025 6y ago
  My father in law had a running gag about wanting to do this for a couple years. Replace all the cabinets with dishwashers and just cycle between them.

ekianjo 6y ago

> That trick only works if you have lots of money. And lots of space. No, detergent is cheap nowadays, and detergents are way more compact now (thanks chemistry) than they were 50 years ago. So space should hardly be an issue.