Is Bulk Buying an Aspie Trait?

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There was an episode of The Big Bang Theory recently where Sheldon thought it'd make sense for Penny to buy years' worth of tampons; buying them every month seemed like just a waste of time. Over the years, I've bought many items in bulk - 100 cans of ravioli here, 20 pounds of dried beans there, 50 cans of soup, etc. The bigger stuff I buy online because I don't drive these days and having UPS bring it is easier. My uncle, who may have been on the spectrum, used to keep hundreds of rolls of toilet paper in his tiny apartment at all times. The most I've had at one time has been 24. I'd like to buy more but that would be hard to carry from the supermarket. Is this bit of frugality an aspie trait?

I doubt it's directly an Aspie trait. Perhaps an indirect one to reduce the number of trips needed......

No. Buying in bulk is something that just about everybody seems to do.

"Big Bang Theory" is fiction, and Jim Parsons is playing a fictional character as his interpretation of the writer's script and the director's directions. However, basing real-world assumptions and sweeping generalizations on one actor's presentation of a fictional character does seem to be a trait that is common among Aspies.

OP did use himself and one suspected Aspie as examples, OP did'nt explicitly state he was extracting an Aspie trait from BBT, admittedly, I read it as such myself.

Particularly before a holiday when the shops are shut FOR A WHOLE DAY...

I don't really buy in large bulk, but I am known to buy the largest in the supermarket or pharmacy. For example, my vitamins last a whole year with the same bottle.

If you want to cut down on outside trips, it makes perfect sense to me.

No, it's a frugal trait. Some people are naturally more frugal, whether they're on the spectrum or not.

Another reason why I thought it might be aspie related is because of the fact that some folks on the spectrum eat the exact same thing day in and day out, week after week, month after month, year after year. It would then make sense to purchase what they consumed in bulk in case it runs short and their strict routine gets interrupted. Bulk buying wouldn't work for things like fresh vegetables, of course, but I can definitely see someone buying a large freezer and stocking it with the meats they ate (I've bought cubed goat meat in 25lb packages) or filling their pantry and shelves with nothing but hundreds of boxes of mac and cheese or spaghetti and canned spaghetti sauce. Seems kind of odd; but then again, that's what we're known for.

If I know I will use all of what I buy I will becouse I hate shopping and going out to these places, depending on how much I dislike the shopping experence at a givin outlet will increase the likelyhood of balk buying. For myself it is an aspie related thing, If I can save money doing it thats even better, but not a requirement.

Pretty much never buy more of anything that i need in a week.

Because i might get tired of some food suddenly, it just comes. Ill eat something for 5 years everyday and then get bored of it. Then it would be a huge waste having a huge stockpile.

I dont really fear the end of the world or zombie apocalypse. so i dont buy in bulk.

Take 1 day at a time.

For some people its actually a sickness. They buy and buy and buy and buy. such a old person lived near here and died. Ive never seen people carry out so much food. i mean that old women must have had food to like 20 years.

^ Funny you should mention zombie apocalypse. Two weeks ago the clerk at the supermarket wondered if that was what I was stocking up for with my 50 cans of Chef Boyardees. . I just told her I hated shopping. She seemed to understand.

I like buying in bulk. I work minimum wage jobs and don't always have good luck keeping them (or with my caregiving job that lasted 2 years there were times where I would only have a few hours a week - and then there were the times where I was close to time and a half. Occasionally over that.) I learned to keep food on hand for times where money was tight. Also a lesson that was reinforced by spending most of that time in the LDS church - food storage is something they promote. Our local grocery store has bulk bins. It makes it easy to buy small amounts of new foods (I'm about to test a new variety of gluten-free pasta) or huge amounts of staples - for me those are things like oatmeal and lentils and rice. And by huge, I mean huge for a single person.

I tend to bulk-buy some things, too, but for the last year or so I've been trying to suppress the urge to do so because I realized that I often don't use the things I have bought at all. I worry about running out of things that I may need later. That's what's behind my bulk-buying urge. Also, I tend to buy things that are on special. I fear the prices will go up and feel I should buy things while they are cheap. I often buy freezer bags, canned beans, tissue paper, napkins, toilet rolls etc.

I always think it's somehow anxiety-related. The anxiety itself might be related to some AS traits.

I'm quite certain that my mom was an aspie and she too always had tons of toilet paper and bought items in bulk. After us kids had moved out she had a two bedroom apartment. The second bedroom was her storage room for food items that would eventually expire. She kept stacks of newspapers. She was a coupon fanatic and tried to buy as much as she could for as little as possible. She was a self admitted pack rat.

Due to all the negative comments made by my siblings over this kind of behavior, I vowed to be the opposite of a pack rat. Although while packing up myself for a move I have about 10 big boxes of items I've collected over the years that serve no useful purpose.

Maybe it's an AS trait of ones that live very close to the Costco headquarters(like the OP).