Is Bulk Buying an Aspie Trait?

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I do think buying things in bulk is more efficient . Once I went to the supermarket just to get 60 liters of milk.

I buy and bulk and often get really, really excited about doing the algebra and finding out how much cheaper I'm getting things than normal. I've noticed that people seem to view this with a certain amount of amusement and consider it "quirky", so I think maybe obsessing over the mathematics of bulk stuff is an aspie thing? ( posted the math I was doing on facebook and was a bit disappointed when other people didn't get really excited about it too.)

I also have tea as one of my special interests and buy that in bulk, (I have like 20 or 30 pounds of different herbs and spices and kinds of loose-leaf tea and would have more if I had money and space) so I would think that in other situations where people have special interests in purchasable items that bulk-buying might not be uncommon.

I think keeping loads and loads of one thing in a tiny place is a bit over the line, but bulk shopping in general is nothing out of the ordinary. Most people get bulk shopping, depending on their routine and work and so on. Why else do they supply big-sized trolleys (shopping carts) in supermarkets?

Most people that I know always go for the bargains they see in stores, and using money as principle, for example ''I will not pay 20p more, so I will get this instead''. They get really good at it. When I go into a shop, I don't even look at the price. I just think ''ah, yes, they've got the item I wanted, I will get it'', and I use a £5 or £10 or £20 note to buy it (and get change). Obviously if I was really poor then I probably would have to be more aware of the prices, but I'm not absolutely skint so I don't care how much something is, as long as I can get the item I wanted. Not many people do this.

But I don't think AS really affects how you do shopping. It depends on the person. I've gone around shops with all sorts of people in my life, and all of them do their shopping in their own different ways.

Last edited by Joe90 on 24 Apr 2013, 1:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It can be a form of OCD. I know because I do that sometimes. I think that what some call an aspie might be more likely to engage in this kind of repetitive behavior. The behavior can also be practical, depending on the circumstances.. That is one problem. There may be a practical basis or some kind of logic, but the underlying reason the OCD person is doing it is really not that, so ultimately it does not bring real order but results in disorder.

I would like to write more, but frankly it is too painful to talk about....maybe some other time...

I and several family members do it.. could be AS/OCD, could be just being frugal & doing the math on the savings of being an ant vs. a grasshopper. (Which I've been far too grasshoppery w/ certain things over the years & still am, working on it though!)

I just ordered 15lbs of hemp protein powder & 15lbs of hemp hearts due to a 35% off earth day + free shipping on orders over $100 sale. 5/5 are for my sister, but the 10/10 will last me probably a good ~4 months or so. I can't really afford to spend that much on single food items, however, I can't really afford not to either. It put a dent in my food budget for sure, but will save me quite a bit over the next 3-4 months due to a) 35% off. b) not buying more expensive alternatives.

I do this too. I figure much per ounce/diaper/wipe it calculates to be and I get the most I can get to make it worth the savings (taking into account offsetting any amount for shipping if I'm ordering online).

I do it mostly to get the best price and out of sheer laziness of not having to buy things all the time.

I bought about a dozen tubes of toothpaste that my husband and stepdaughter were using exclusively. Then suddenly my husband decided he liked MY toothpaste better and then his daughter followed suit (she's a little mimic of him). I got pissed off--REALLY bent out of shape--because now I had all these other toothpastes that were left over and wouldn't be used and now MINE were being used in 1/3 the time which meant I'd likely have to buy more toothpaste sooner rather than later. I got into a big argument about it. It tipped my world out of balance and I reacted very unpleasantly to it. Finally my husband agreed to use his other toothpaste until it ran out. In my ridiculous head though, the Listerine is still *my* toothpaste and I feel resentful over the two of them infringing upon my brand choice, as ridiculous and immature as that sounds. Sometimes I realize I haven't really ever grown up

most of the things listed in these posts are things ive seen most nt people do, like look for cheapest items. i know some that shop at the same supermarkets because they are famililar with their store bargains, even if there are other approachable supermarkets in their area.

It depends if it ultimately leads to order or more disorder. If you use everything you buy and have room for it, and it saves money, then that leads to order, but the feeling of scarcity can be interconnected with great anxiety, and when the person sees this buying as a way to ward off anxiety and feel safe, then, though there may be some rationale behind what a person buys, it can become a form of disorder, and at times the anxiety overrules the rationale, though there still may be some kind of rationale there. I did this with supplies for my crafts business and on one level it did make a lot of sense, as now I have materials no one can get anymore, and this helps my business, but some of these products, many of them, are now out of style, and if I hadn't taken this approach I may have been able to retire by now, and/or be doing something I really love. This is just a sketch of my personal situation, and does not really describe the suffering caused by it for me.

If it was only AS/ASD that bought in bulk, Costco & Sam's Club couldn't stay in business.

I like to buy toilet paper in bulk too as I feel at little embarrassed buying it. I try not to buy everything in bulk though as I'm not working at the moment and shopping gives myself a reason to go out each day.

My mum does bulk shopping by the way. She's NT.

It depends why you do it, i'll give an example of when it does for me, Theres a steel retailer I get steel from, an industral supply place so therefore its really good for price. Bad thing is there is no showroom, just an industral shop and makeshift office and all is cut to order so it is really load and overwhelming for someone like me. These guys always look at me funny and I know its becouse i'm always in a partial shutdown when i'm there, non-verbal slow to respond to commands etc. not fun at all, feeling really stupid here. So if I need 6 feet I just 12 or the full 24 cut in half becouse I know I will use it all at some point. I also buy far ahead if I know what I am going to need later. I only have go to this place once or twice a year due to bulk buying compaired to 4-7 times and I pass the job off if I can also.

This is the exception not the rule as my avoidance of shopping is shared be meny, my step-mom has 3 freezers to store her cheap food for a later time.

Currently there is no proof of AS being genetic, but from which side do you think you would have inherited your AS? Mum or Dad?

Probably my mum's side because every person on my dad's side seem to all be extroverted NTs with this really confident trait in them, even distant relatives seem to have it, so I definitely don't take after any of them.

There are one or two people on my mum's side who have been diagnosed with AS, but they are distant relatives. All my first cousins (ect) are all NTs too.

And if you're trying to make me believe that my own mum has got AS just because I might have inherited AS from her side and she does her bulk shopping once a week (which seems to be another Aspie trait here), it probably won't work on me.

I'm sure the big-sized trolleys at the supermarkets aren't specially designed for Aspies, whilst 95 percent of NTs use small shopping baskets because they do their shopping in smaller bits.

What's next? ''Is wearing shoes an Aspie trait?''?

maybe working mums

You don't actually have to have AS and be socially bad to show a few strong traits although your moms buying habits are likely not effected by it.