The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: tomatops on July 25, 2016, 11:28:15 AM
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I'll be putting down some apartment roots soon with enough storage space to get me some bulk items.
Thing is, it's just me and my roommate (mid-twenties). Do you think in a year two guys could purchase enough groceries and supplies to merit the $55.00 cost?
More than anything, I can see myself going once to do a massive shop of "household essentials" and then basically going for incremental purchases of groceries since the closest Costco is 25 minute by car!
In my last apartment when I was a student, 3 guys didn't even finish one of those massive Kirkland toilet paper packages over a 4 month term period...
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It depends a lot on what you buy there, but it's very much worth it now for just my GF and I (also mid-20s). Was previously worth it for a household of four (two couples).
Figure out hard numbers what your yearly savings are/would be on staples and go from there.
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It depends on what you buy there. Certain things are a huge savings. Cereals and almonds are generally way cheaper. Meats are usually a pretty good deal, but you live a ways from there.
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Two guys, maybe not. You can always ask a friend with a membership to go with you for a shopping trip if you want to go to Costco. That's what a friend of mine does.
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I save quite a bit buying my gas at Costco also, so it's just not groceries. Check the price of gas on Gasbuddy.com for your Costco and any other local stations to determine whether it is worth it.
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It depends how often you'd go, and thus whether you would buy most of your groceries there. For us, that distance would be prohibative. If you only plan on going a few times a year and you have friends with a membership, they can buy you a small gift card that will let you shop there without a membership.
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I am a huge Costco fan, but that's quite a distance away. Do you have any other reason to be in that vicinity? If not, I'd just use a workaround as others have suggested.
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I ask a friend to take me when I want to go to Costco. That amounts to about 3x a year.
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http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/30/is-a-costco-membership-worth-the-cost/
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Dont forget if you have the Executive level membership you 2% back a year.
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If you live in a city where instacart is available, you can order your groceries online and have them delivered, without the need to have a membership. Right now you get one free delivery if you are a new user of instacart. You could buy a lot of basics non refridgerated or freezable and store them to use over time to make most use out of the free delivery. Also check if any of your friends or their nearby family have membership to shop with them every once in a while.