Holy ape-@@$$ everyone! Costco is going to save us more than $1K per year!!!!

[nottoolatetostart]

You all weren't f'in kidding when you saved upwards of $1000 per year on shopping at Costco. I feel like I've been living under a rock!

So Costco is 65 miles from my house and I've been hemming and hawing over it would be worth it. Let alone the $55 membership fee (luckily, it is $29 after the Living Social deal). After doing more research on general pricing and the food selection there, it seemed like significant savings were to be had on even the organic chicken we purchase. Thanks to hownowbrowncow posting the Living Social deal over the weekend, I decided to take the plunge.

Went yesterday and actually created a price book between Costco and the 2 local stores I shop most of the time. I'm a management by fact kind of girl and wanted to have the proof to compare apples-to-apples. I was super careful to stay away from items that we didn't consume and only stick to my shopping list.

Between just 17 items that I've tracked thus far (chicken, ground beef, cheese, organic frozen vegetables, bacon, olive oil, organic whole wheat penne pasta, oatmeal, finish dishwasher tablets, etc.), I did an estimate on what our normal, very conservative consumption is of these products on a per-unit, per-oz, or per-LB basis. A pretty nerdy spreadsheet that I am going to continue to update, but the results are outstanding. For example, I bought a Tillamook 2.5 LB medium cheddar cheese for $8.39 at Costco ($3.36 per pound). Both of my local stores carry 8 oz for 3.95 or 7.90 per lb. If we eat 8 oz per week (my toddler loves cheese!), then we save $118 pre-tax a year alone on flippin' cheese. The biggest highway robbery was our organic chicken. My local store is 7.79 per pound and Costco is 5.99 per pound. If we eat 2 pounds per week, the annual savings is 187 pre-tax ($203 after tax)

I've totaled $1140 pre-tax for just the 17 items I've captured thus far. Let alone adding another 8.95% tax savings (my city + state suck....close to 9% on food is ridiculous! but that's another thread)....so that is more than 1200 saved out of pocket on just those 17 items. Furthermore, on the money that I do spend at this Costco (or in state, MO) the food tax is only 5.35% vs. the 8.95%, so more savings there.

Also, we are a 3 person household (soon to be 4) and have a chest freezer that we bought for breast milk for my first baby, so no additional start up costs there. So I bought a lot of stuff to put into our freezer so we only do trips to Costco every 8 weeks. Usually we have something at least once every couple months (or DH gets paid to be in that area), so we will merge trips as much as possible. Regardless, if we did 6 trips per year just for this sole purpose, we would still save money (yes, I did the math there too).

I was disappointed that they didn't have hardly any organic fresh produce, but I had a toddler with me and her patience was running out at that time. Will hope for more there next time.

Wanted to extend a public thanks to hownowbrowncow for pushing me "over the edge", so to speak, on finally getting this Costco membership. So pumped to be saving so much more on our grocery bill.

Edited for typos.

[Khan]

Make sure you fill up your gas tank while you're there as well. That should add a bit more value to the trips as well.

[Beridian]

Plus if you time it right and are lucky they will feed you as well!

Costco rocks.   After you sign up they will mail you a monthly coupon book, be sure to skim through it to spot the extra bargains.   To be fair not everything is a bargain at Costco.   One example was a package of 10 small cans of tuna for around $14, at the local grocery store similar cans were about $1 each.   So you still have to be an educated consumer and learn to sift the wheat from the chaff.   There is often a misguided presumption that just because an item sells at Costco it's a bargain, this is not always true.   Costco also sells a lot of silly unnecessary non-mustache-ian items, you have to discipline your self to ignore these.

Make it a point to browse the clothing, shoes, and linen/bedding aisles once in awhile, I have scored some awesome deals there, you just have to watch.

[golden1]

Question:

Are BJ's and Costco roughly equivalent as far as value savings and quality of food?  We have a BJ's very close by but our Costco is about 10 miles away (not terrible obviously but I wanted to see if there really is a big difference that is worth travelling for). 

[adam]

I noticed last week I was able to get two packages of the Kerrygold grass fed butter for the same price as a single one at my normal grocery store.

[mxer54]

My wife came across that deal and we decided to lock on a membership as well...Love the post!

[nottoolatetostart]

Beridian - you are right. There were a lot of things that didn't seem like a good deal or didn't fit what we would normally buy. Just sticking to list of basics like organic chicken, organic ground beef, Tillamook cheese, butter, coffee, vanilla, veggies, etc, I knew what the prices were on the those items at my local store, and of course, use my iphone calculator all the time while there or on any grocery trip. I tend to make a lot of stuff from scratch, so I am more prone to buying just staples. I will pay more attention to pricing at my stores so I can build a better price book database going forward. Maybe I will get fancy and print out something to keep track. My goal is to be under $4800 this year (includes dining out + toiletries) compared to spending almost double that in 2013. These Costco savings make this totally doable if I continue to hone the skills that I have learned here.

It's a good thing I had my toddler with me because I was really just focused on items on my list & quantities needed and didn't dilly dally. Plus, with the cold and frozen things, I wanted to get them home as quickly as possible (I did bring coolers with ice packs for the car ride home, but still).

Looking forward to my return in 2 months to see what else can be purchased.

Doing the "Eat everything in your house" gauntlet challenge over the last 6 weeks has also helped me hone in on what is critical to have vs. what we normally eat so we can reduce waste further. Also, menu planning is key to knowing what we normally eat.

Paying attention is huge....I am so thankful for all the tips from forums and blogs like this one as I continue to learn to get our costs down. It means the world because we get closer to retiring my keeping our costs down as our savings increase. Our plan for doing it before 40 is getting more realistic every time we knock out a few dollars here and there.

[NumberCruncher]

Question:

Are BJ's and Costco roughly equivalent as far as value savings and quality of food?  We have a BJ's very close by but our Costco is about 10 miles away (not terrible obviously but I wanted to see if there really is a big difference that is worth travelling for).

Hmmm depends on what you look for, I guess. We used to have a Costco's membership when we lived closer to one, and now we have a BJ's membership. The fresh produce at BJ's is usually a pass for us, as we can get it cheaper in the local grocery store. I seem to recall buying more produce from Costco's, but sadly did not make a price book at that time.

For items like paper, batteries, toilet paper - I've found them to be roughly equivalent. We don't eat meat, so no clue on how that changes.

[jrhampt]

Question:

Are BJ's and Costco roughly equivalent as far as value savings and quality of food?  We have a BJ's very close by but our Costco is about 10 miles away (not terrible obviously but I wanted to see if there really is a big difference that is worth travelling for).

Hmmm depends on what you look for, I guess. We used to have a Costco's membership when we lived closer to one, and now we have a BJ's membership. The fresh produce at BJ's is usually a pass for us, as we can get it cheaper in the local grocery store. I seem to recall buying more produce from Costco's, but sadly did not make a price book at that time.

For items like paper, batteries, toilet paper - I've found them to be roughly equivalent. We don't eat meat, so no clue on how that changes.

We use BJs.  I find that especially for dairy, it's a lot cheaper at BJs than at the grocery store - butter, eggs, milk ($2.50 vs. $3.50/gallon), and cheese.  Bacon is also usually a better deal.

[MrFancypants]

Yeah, the first thing we bought saved us enough over the closest price to pay for our membership.  It's a great place to shop if you have enough room to store bulk items.

[hybrid]

Mustachian Buddy and I have a simple system that works well for us.  I have a Costco membership and he has a Sam's Club membership.  While I would prefer to spend every cent at Costco if I could (they take far better care of their associates), the simple reality is there are some very specific things Sam's carries that Costco does not and vice versa.  So a couple of times a year we go on joint trips to both places to stock on the items we need from the other place.

My adult daughter often goes with us to Costco and this has worked out really well when it comes to splitting up some of the larger fresh food items that either of us would have a hard time going through otherwise.  I highly recommend getting a Costco buddy so you can take advantage of their pricing this way.

Oh, and like a previous poster mentioned, Sundays around 1:00 are a great time for us to go to Costco.  They feed us lunch with all the free samples!

The next thing you should look into is the upgraded membership and a Costco AMEX if you don't have a similar cashback card in place already.  We use our AMEX like a debit card, pay the full balance each month, and get a big check back every February (Hey, it's February!!!) and a 2% refund check to Costco for the upgraded membership, which mostly offsets the $100 we spend on the membership in the first place (to the tune of about $80, meaning we spents about $4000 at Costco last year, mostly on groceries and household supplies plus whatever daughter and Mustachian Buddy bought).

[MrFancypants]

Not to further divert the topic, but another place where you can get good deals is, surprisingly, CVS.  My wife, being the deal sniffing coupon ninja she is, frequently gets stuff for free by abusing their ExtraBucks system.

[hybrid]

Not to further divert the topic, but another place where you can get good deals is, surprisingly, CVS.  My wife, being the deal sniffing coupon ninja she is, frequently gets stuff for free by abusing their ExtraBucks system.

There are a few ladies at the office who game this as well, which I find to be rather impressive, as I have always thought just about everyhting at CVS was convenience-store priced.

[Self-employed-swami]

In Canada at least, the cat litter is super cheap at Costco, compared to everywhere else.  If I never bought anything but kitty litter at Costco, our membership would pay for its self, and also save us an additional $300 a year.

[Self-employed-swami]

And laundry soap too.  The big 110 load Gain I buy is routinely on sale for $13/jug at Costco, but is over $20 at Superstore.

[Miamoo]

Just signed up at Costco using a deal thru "My Points".  Paid $44, wish I'd known about the Living Social deal!!!!  DIL and I went last week and between the 2 of us, the membership is more than paid for in one trip.  Amazing.  Love it!  Wish I'd signed up sooner.

[CommonCents]

Not to further divert the topic, but another place where you can get good deals is, surprisingly, CVS.  My wife, being the deal sniffing coupon ninja she is, frequently gets stuff for free by abusing their ExtraBucks system.

Yep, I do this too.  I stopped because I had too many stores of things that I wanted to work down.

[zachd]

This is great info.. going to start the price book soon.

I'm curious if people write on paper, then transfer to spreadsheet or use a phone?
I think trying to input all that data on phone would be too frustrating..

Although if there was an app for that, it might be good!  I've never had a lot of luck scanning bar codes with a phone but in theory that would be the way to go for packaged items.

We were debating if it were worthwhile or not to renew our membership.. probably should if we use some of these tips like find a buddy.. I can never drink those 3 cartons of milk in time :(

To play Devil's Advocate, it can be pretty easy to get more than you need at costco they have a lot of great things.

[nottoolatetostart]

Right now, I wrote down brand, size, and price for that size on my "Notes" app on my iphone. When I got home, I put everything into a spreadsheet since the volumes were different and required some thinking on our average monthly consumption. There are now only 3 stores I go to, including Costco, so the tracking is not hard. Since I only did 17 items so far and our most often consumed items, it did not take me but a few minutes. Well worth my time for the dollars I uncovered. I don't want to over-engineer this. Maybe others have some good ideas on price books....

[Evie]

Interesting, I actually had the opposite realization.  I buy most of my grocerries at Trader Joe's and Farmer's Market, and when I priced against Costco I found that I was getting the same or higher quality foods for basically the same price per pound, only in smaller packages.  We don't buy crackers, processed food, and try to buy hormone free meat and organic produce.

I definately agree with buying paper towels, toilet paper, trash bags, and vinegar, and frozen organic fruit. 

But I can buy bread cheaper (and in smaller quantities $1.99 per loaf instead of 2 for $5); I don't buy farmed fish (would rather eat less meat but wild caught salmon); milk is a good deal (but we don't drink that much); the sliced sandwhich cheese was a great deal (if you can eat that much before it goes back); but the fresh spinach was the same price (and not organic). 

It really reinforced what a good deal TJs can be.  Costco is only a mile from my work, so I am lucky it is close, but it is still such a pain to wait in line there and I find that I overbuy, and didn't save much if any on a per pound/ounce/unit price.  I have a free membership through a relative.

Guess it depends on where you live and what you buy.  We spend about $400 for groceries (and feed guests a few times a week).

[_C_]

Interesting, I actually had the opposite realization.  I buy most of my grocerries at Trader Joe's and Farmer's Market, and when I priced against Costco I found that I was getting the same or higher quality foods for basically the same price per pound, only in smaller packages.  We don't buy crackers, processed food, and try to buy hormone free meat and organic produce.

I definately agree with buying paper towels, toilet paper, trash bags, and vinegar, and frozen organic fruit. 

I've wondered this too. I have some things that really make sense at Costco (the above, plus dog food) but I wonder if I could save much on actual food vs. Aldi and my local supermercado.

[lexie2000]

Not to further divert the topic, but another place where you can get good deals is, surprisingly, CVS.  My wife, being the deal sniffing coupon ninja she is, frequently gets stuff for free by abusing their ExtraBucks system.

I played "the game" using coupons and rolling drug chain rewards for several years  to "purchase" household and toiletry products at CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid.  I guess I was an "abuser" too because I only "bought" when a product that we would use would be free (spending no money out of pocket).  Slowly, over the years, I added to my "stash" of the non-perishable products that we use on a regular basis - toilet paper, laundry detergent, dish liquid, razors, and even Q-tips - just to name a few items. 

And just because we have a "stash" doesn't mean we are wasteful.  For years, I've used many of the mustachian techniques that I've read here on MMM for stretching the use of products like dish liquid, laundry detergent, etc.

I "retired" from playing the drug chain game cuz we had what I felt was plenty and  it was going to actually start costing me money!!

[ketchup]

I noticed last week I was able to get two packages of the Kerrygold grass fed butter for the same price as a single one at my normal grocery store.

It's 3 for $7 at Costco for us, and $3.49 elsewhere for one.  Coconut oil is stupid cheap there too.  This exact container is $16 at Costco. Our house pretty much runs on Kerrygold and coconut oil, so that alone pays for our membership and then some. 

[Cwadda]

Not to further divert the topic, but another place where you can get good deals is, surprisingly, CVS.  My wife, being the deal sniffing coupon ninja she is, frequently gets stuff for free by abusing their ExtraBucks system.

Yeah, my mom does this. I'm not sure exactly how this works, but she goes on Saturday nights when the deals from the previous week crossover and a lady there allows them to "stack". Plus there are ExtraBucks which are basically cash. The system screams abuse.

[lexie2000]

As far as the savings at Costco is concerned, we recoup the membership fee with the savings we get by getting our eyeglasses there. 

Since we don't need non-perishables (see my previous post), we mostly buy food items at Costco, but only when we can't find them elsewhere cheaper.  Tortillas are ALWAYS cheaper at Costco as are other types of bread products.  A lot of dairy products are USUALLY cheaper at Costco.  If you eat beef, it's usually a higher grade than what you can get at the grocery store.  When we want to splurge, we buy lobster tails at Costco as an alternative to going out to eat.  It is much cheaper and DH knows how to steam them to perfection.

I have a couple of places where I can get groceries at a deep discount so I shop them first and fill in with stuff from Costco and/or what I can get on sale at Safeway.

[lexie2000]

Not to further divert the topic, but another place where you can get good deals is, surprisingly, CVS.  My wife, being the deal sniffing coupon ninja she is, frequently gets stuff for free by abusing their ExtraBucks system.

Yeah, my mom does this. I'm not sure exactly how this works, but she goes on Saturday nights when the deals from the previous week crossover and a lady there allows them to "stack". Plus there are ExtraBucks which are basically cash. The system screams abuse.

If the cashier is allowing stacking outside of the CVS coupon policy and/or any restrictions printed on the manufacturer's coupons, then it is, in fact, abuse.  Otherwise, it's just a matter of taking all of the discounts available from CVS and the manufacturers, and combining them to pay the lowest price possible on the product.

When I shopped there the "game" was to find a product that you use that was on sale AND offering Extra Bucks. Then you would reduce your out-of-pocket cost using CVS coupons, manufacturers' coupons, and pay the balance with Extra Bucks that you already had.  Then you would take the Extra Bucks that you "earned" to buy the new product and rinse and repeat on another product.  Extra Bucks don't expire for a month so you have a long time to do this before they expire.

CVS and the manufacturers make the rules.  If you "play" within the confines of those rules, there is no "abuse".

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

We buy a lot of things at Costco... but the closest grocery store to our house is Walmart. Lots of things are just cheaper at Walmart, even for less-giant sizes. Do other people find that as well?

[jordanread]

I'd love to see that spreadsheet. Maybe even make it a collaborative one so people can add their cost differences. Personally, I haven't looked to far into this, but I know that between the gas and the goat cheese, I at least break even with the membership cost, even when taking into account the lost rewards of not being able to use my credit card.

[greaper007]

Very nice.   I find organic eggs, chicken and whole bean coffee are my biggest costco savings.    Have you considered buying chicken by the whole bird?   It's only $2.50 a lbs here for a whole organic fryer and chicken is pretty simple to cut up.    And you get all the leftovers to make stock with.

[jordanread]

Very nice.   I find organic eggs, chicken and whole bean coffee are my biggest costco savings.    Have you considered buying chicken by the whole bird?   It's only $2.50 a lbs here for a whole organic fryer and chicken is pretty simple to cut up.    And you get all the leftovers to make stock with.

^ This. Beer can chicken with a rub is pretty awesome too.

[KimPossible]

the sliced sandwhich cheese was a great deal (if you can eat that much before it goes back)

I've found that the best way to deal with this is to put at least half of the cheese in a separate ziplock bag (with clean hands!) as soon as I open the package.  I put the separate bag in the back of the fridge and leave it there until I've used up the first half.  Once I started doing that, I was able to get through the entire package without any molding (before that, it molded every time).

[greaper007]

the sliced sandwhich cheese was a great deal (if you can eat that much before it goes back)

I've found that the best way to deal with this is to put at least half of the cheese in a separate ziplock bag (with clean hands!) as soon as I open the package.  I put the separate bag in the back of the fridge and leave it there until I've used up the first half.  Once I started doing that, I was able to get through the entire package without any molding (before that, it molded every time).

You can freeze it too, though sometimes it starts to taste a little funky.

[Rural]

We buy a lot of things at Costco... but the closest grocery store to our house is Walmart. Lots of things are just cheaper at Walmart, even for less-giant sizes. Do other people find that as well?

I do. I bought a Costco membership a couple of months ago to get the free hearing test (which was fine), and walked though the whole store while I was there. I know my prices well, by weight, and not one single item there that we use was as low as the Walmart price. Sav-a-Lot is usually cheaper than Walmart, too, for the things they carry.

[samdbtto]

We buy a lot of things at Costco... but the closest grocery store to our house is Walmart. Lots of things are just cheaper at Walmart, even for less-giant sizes. Do other people find that as well?

I do. I bought a Costco membership a couple of months ago to get the free hearing test (which was fine), and walked though the whole store while I was there. I know my prices well, by weight, and not one single item there that we use was as low as the Walmart price. Sav-a-Lot is usually cheaper than Walmart, too, for the things they carry.

Same item, brand and quality?  Apples to apples example would be 24 oz Dunkin' Donuts Coffee for $13.88 at  Walmart and at Costco its 15.99..... for a 40 oz and its like 2 bucks off every few months too.

Costco bread prices aren't good, I will admit. I get Wal-mart or Aldi bread. Af ew other items too but its extremely rare it would be same brand Costco is carrying (alot of items brand name just doesn't matter at all).

[dragoncar]

We buy a lot of things at Costco... but the closest grocery store to our house is Walmart. Lots of things are just cheaper at Walmart, even for less-giant sizes. Do other people find that as well?

I do. I bought a Costco membership a couple of months ago to get the free hearing test (which was fine), and walked though the whole store while I was there. I know my prices well, by weight, and not one single item there that we use was as low as the Walmart price. Sav-a-Lot is usually cheaper than Walmart, too, for the things they carry.

Same item, brand and quality?  Apples to apples example would be 24 oz Dunkin' Donuts Coffee for $13.88 at  Walmart and at Costco its 15.99..... for a 40 oz and its like 2 bucks off every few months too.

Costco bread prices aren't good, I will admit. I get Wal-mart or Aldi bread. Af ew other items too but its extremely rare it would be same brand Costco is carrying (alot of items brand name just doesn't matter at all).

A lot of stuff at Costco isn't straight up cheap, but it's a better value for the quality you get.  A good example would be the beef and cheese.

[Rural]

We buy a lot of things at Costco... but the closest grocery store to our house is Walmart. Lots of things are just cheaper at Walmart, even for less-giant sizes. Do other people find that as well?

I do. I bought a Costco membership a couple of months ago to get the free hearing test (which was fine), and walked though the whole store while I was there. I know my prices well, by weight, and not one single item there that we use was as low as the Walmart price. Sav-a-Lot is usually cheaper than Walmart, too, for the things they carry.

Same item, brand and quality?  Apples to apples example would be 24 oz Dunkin' Donuts Coffee for $13.88 at  Walmart and at Costco its 15.99..... for a 40 oz and its like 2 bucks off every few months too.

Costco bread prices aren't good, I will admit. I get Wal-mart or Aldi bread. Af ew other items too but its extremely rare it would be same brand Costco is carrying (alot of items brand name just doesn't matter at all).

Same item and quality. Brand matters not at all and only applies at all if you are looking at processed foods.

Location may also be a factor in the price differences I observed -- the Costco is in a much higher cost area. The prices I saw there likely reflect that. Whatever the reason, well, I got a good deal on the hearing test and now I know I don't need to bother.

[oldtoyota]

Interesting, I actually had the opposite realization.  I buy most of my grocerries at Trader Joe's and Farmer's Market, and when I priced against Costco I found that I was getting the same or higher quality foods for basically the same price per pound, only in smaller packages.  We don't buy crackers, processed food, and try to buy hormone free meat and organic produce....

It really reinforced what a good deal TJs can be.  Costco is only a mile from my work, so I am lucky it is close, but it is still such a pain to wait in line there and I find that I overbuy, and didn't save much if any on a per pound/ounce/unit price.  I have a free membership through a relative.

To the OP: Yay! That sounds great. =-)


I found the above to be true too. I'd be curious to go back to Costco and check the prices specifically against TJs. So far, I've found some cheaper items at Aldi's. Oatmeal at TJ's is expensive, for instance, yet TJ's has great prices on GF flour mix, organic frozen fruit, rice milk, and organic yogurt.

I'm in the midst of tracking prices at TJs and seeing where I can find our staples for less, so maybe it's getting to be time for me to revisit the Costco idea.

We cut a lot just by actually USING what we BUY. Genius, right? lol

[Simple Abundant Living]

I've had a Costco less than a mile away from me for the past eight years. We have a Costco Amex and get all our gas and most of our food. But I just barely found out about another benefit!

I have never used Costco pharmacy. I have good insurance and just filled at target to get coupons and discounts.  Lately I'm just not getting the value out of my extra 5% off days at Target. So when I needed to refill my son's Rx, I dropped it off at Costco. I had NO idea that you get cash back from your Rx's, even if you use a HSA card to pay for it!  I have been missing out on cash back all these years!  I'm just happy I discovered it now!  Sweet!

[4alpacas]

I don't shop at Costco, but one of my friends posted this to FB.  I hope this helpful http://queenbeecoupons.com/costco-price-list/

[greaper007]

I have to disagree with a few of the posters on Costco prices.   I don't really buy packaged food, and I find that Costco has the absolute cheapest prices on a few of our staples.   They also treat their employees better than just about any other store in America, that matters to me.

Organic AP flour comes in at $.70 a pound, I only wish they carried organic whole wheat which I use much more of.   Grade A maple syrup is about $12-$13 for 33.8 oz, the only place I've seen it cheaper was at a farmers market in Vermont.

Free Range organic eggs come in at about 3.65 a dozen and whole organic chickens are only $2.50 a pound, approaching conventional prices.

I also buy rolled oats and honey for a substantial savings over the bins at Sprouts and the honey is local and unprocessed.

I almost never buy produce at Costco because the prices aren't worth it.   Though onions and potatoes are generally a good deal.   I think I paid ~$.30 a pound for onions and potatoes. 

Aldis is ok if you like eating horse meat mixed with your cow (I'm not opposed to eating horse meat, I just want to know I'm eating a horse).   And I try my absolute best to never shop at the evil empire othewise known as Wal-Mart, I'm sure we all know what's wrong with that store.

[momo5]

I love costco! we are a family of 7 and we have a costco about 3 miles away, so its good good good.
we buy all of our milk and cheese there, plus many other things. I like their kids pj's, swimsuits, jackets, they carry hannah andersson clothes which hand down well and have good resale value as well.
shearling 'ugg' type boots are cheap there too and so warm! you have to know your prices though, often my local supermarket comes in way cheaper on items like ketchup, and paper goods, and dont forget store brands. for example, quaker oats are cheaper in costco than in the grocery store, but the grocery store carries a less expensive no-frills brand which is cheaper than costco's price on quaker. I find the quality to be identical.
I only shop their with a list otherwise it gets dangerous and I avoid the book and toy aisles. I like their return policy too. although I have never done this (we are a family of 7 so we pretty much consume everything we buy before it goes bad), I have seen people returning half eaten cartons of strawberries and half full cartons of milk, etc, claiming that it had gone bad. they get their money back. I have returned moldy cheese but to be fair, it went moldy two days after I opened it.

[samdbtto]

We buy a lot of things at Costco... but the closest grocery store to our house is Walmart. Lots of things are just cheaper at Walmart, even for less-giant sizes. Do other people find that as well?

I do. I bought a Costco membership a couple of months ago to get the free hearing test (which was fine), and walked though the whole store while I was there. I know my prices well, by weight, and not one single item there that we use was as low as the Walmart price. Sav-a-Lot is usually cheaper than Walmart, too, for the things they carry.

Same item, brand and quality?  Apples to apples example would be 24 oz Dunkin' Donuts Coffee for $13.88 at  Walmart and at Costco its 15.99..... for a 40 oz and its like 2 bucks off every few months too.

Costco bread prices aren't good, I will admit. I get Wal-mart or Aldi bread. Af ew other items too but its extremely rare it would be same brand Costco is carrying (alot of items brand name just doesn't matter at all).

A lot of stuff at Costco isn't straight up cheap, but it's a better value for the quality you get.  A good example would be the beef and cheese.

Agreed.

Location may also be a factor in the price differences I observed -- the Costco is in a much higher cost area.

 Most people might not have noticed but Costco's are always in higher income areas or at the very least, are in very close proximity to one.  Costco doesn't raise prices due to being in a higher income area.

[oldtoyota]

Aldis is ok if you like eating horse meat mixed with your cow (I'm not opposed to eating horse meat, I just want to know I'm eating a horse).   And I try my absolute best to never shop at the evil empire othewise known as Wal-Mart, I'm sure we all know what's wrong with that store.

I rarely eat cows (and never eat horses), so I think I'm good there. ;-) I also do not partake of the pig.

I would not buy ground meat at Whole Foods either. It's too easy for the them to switch the freshness dates or mix who knows what into the meat. I'd rather grind my own.

[Rural]

We buy a lot of things at Costco... but the closest grocery store to our house is Walmart. Lots of things are just cheaper at Walmart, even for less-giant sizes. Do other people find that as well?

I do. I bought a Costco membership a couple of months ago to get the free hearing test (which was fine), and walked though the whole store while I was there. I know my prices well, by weight, and not one single item there that we use was as low as the Walmart price. Sav-a-Lot is usually cheaper than Walmart, too, for the things they carry.

Same item, brand and quality?  Apples to apples example would be 24 oz Dunkin' Donuts Coffee for $13.88 at  Walmart and at Costco its 15.99..... for a 40 oz and its like 2 bucks off every few months too.

Costco bread prices aren't good, I will admit. I get Wal-mart or Aldi bread. Af ew other items too but its extremely rare it would be same brand Costco is carrying (alot of items brand name just doesn't matter at all).

A lot of stuff at Costco isn't straight up cheap, but it's a better value for the quality you get.  A good example would be the beef and cheese.

Agreed.

Location may also be a factor in the price differences I observed -- the Costco is in a much higher cost area.

 Most people might not have noticed but Costco's are always in higher income areas or at the very least, are in very close proximity to one.  Costco doesn't raise prices due to being in a higher income area.

Then I guess they just cost more than the alternatives for some other reason. :-)

[MacGyverIt]

I recently joined Costco after MMM's many glorious words and a harsh realization while dealing with my CVS. My 'cannot live without them medicines' went up insanely in price -- one went from ~$57 to $104 and the second went from ~$42 to $73. (That's just two scripts, shudder to think what my additional scripts would run...)

The poor kid at the drive through window started out by apologizing to me, he'd clearly been reamed by many a disgruntled customer (as though it's his fault??). Whether this recent price gauging was ACA, big pharma or CVS I don't know but I got online and did my homework, quickly realizing that Costco's pharmacy provides substantial savings b/c unlike a standard pharmacy (i.e. CVS or Walgreens) Costco does not run their pharmacy as a profit-center.

One of many links on the issue: http://www.businessinsider.com/prescription-drugs-cheaper-at-costco-vs-cvs-2013-4

So with the insane amount of spending I do on pharma this was a no-brainer. Plus the 3 minutes I chatted with the woman at Costco's pharmacy was so much more pleasant than standing at the register while the CVS "pharmacist" berated the staff for ruining her "chances for a bonus". Yeah, that fills me with confidence.

In addition, like many folks in this thread I'm big on whole food/non-processed and preferably organic foods. I've developed out a spreadsheet on Costco, the nearest local grocers and Whole Paycheck, Mrs. Green's and Mom's Organic in my area. Costco wins hands down in almost all departments.

I agree with some posts here about CVS deals. Like a local grocer in my area, Harris Teeter, they run some great BOGO deals on occasion and you can ask for rain checks if they sell out of those BOGO items. I just bought enough paper towels and dish washing liquid to last the next two years at HT on a BOGO deal, so shopping the sales for (ONLY) these non-perishables are great options.

Costco provides me with great savings on organic coffee, detergent, chicken, eggs, butter, ground beef and some great non-organic items like butter lettuce (can't find this anywhere else!), KIND bars, wild caught salmon, macadamia nuts, Marathana (sp?) almond butter, etc. and another nearby Costco (seriously, near two Costco stores, it is an embarrassment of riches...) has the glorious Kerrygold butter (if you haven't, you MUST).

Bummer though, the closest Costco does not have a gas station :-(

[Fireman]

The next thing you should look into is the upgraded membership and a Costco AMEX if you don't have a similar cashback card in place already.  We use our AMEX like a debit card, pay the full balance each month, and get a big check back every February (Hey, it's February!!!) and a 2% refund check to Costco for the upgraded membership, which mostly offsets the $100 we spend on the membership in the first place (to the tune of about $80, meaning we spents about $4000 at Costco last year, mostly on groceries and household supplies plus whatever daughter and Mustachian Buddy bought).

IIRC, Costco will make up the difference if your upgraded membership doesn't pay for itself. 

Also, and I mentioned this on another thread I think, the price of contacts compared to 1800-Contacts will cover a membership and then some.  I bought a year's supply in January and saved $55 and i'll get a $25 rebate check in the mail. 

[zachd]

We went back to costco for the first time in 1.5 years.  We ended up spending $300 which seems crazy, but I think once we sort it all out and compare the prices it's going to be a good deal.  We bought some non grocery stuff like toilet paper, kitty litter, dog food, RX for allergy medicine, pro-biotic pills, etc. 

They said they do RX for pets also which we did not know.

I was pretty excited about the huge bag of protein powder.. it was $30 and usually we get about half that amount for $40 in the large tub.

I think if you don't go crazy with all the cool stuff they have, it's going to save you money on a lot of typical items.  They do always have some really cool and tempting stuff there.  They had a lot of new things and they tend to cater to what the people in the area want...  in Austin that means giant bags of chia seed and quinoa, stubb's bbq sauce (I prefer Austin's Own, which they didn't have this time, but haven't been bbq'ing much yet anyways).

It is hard to buy produce there, you have to buy so much unless you have someone to split it with or you had a larger family.

[Cassie]

If you live somewhere that has a Winco it is worth checking out. We got rid of our Costco membership because Winco was cheaper.