We're a 2 adult household, no pets, no kids. I'm trying to convince my partner that $400 in groceries a month is waaaay too much (we're down from a whopping $600 for a couple months last year, when I put my foot down and we managed to bring it down a bit). I suggested we look into a Costco membership, and she's very open to it right now. I have a feeling we may save a lot going there. What I hear people get a lot of there is kitty litter and diapers, neither of which we need. Is it still worth it for other items? We eat a lot of:
Chicken (no red meat)
Rice
Oats
Nuts
Craisins
Fresca (ughhhh. NOT me. I think it's nasty. This is my partner's habit and she drinks a lot of it. And loves it.)
etc
Also, any tips for keeping a not-quite-yet-mustachian partner from falling into the pitfalls of bulk shopping? You know, like buying stuff we usually wouldn't buy, eating more of something just because it was cheap, that sort of thing. I could use some ideas for gentle uhm... "education..."
Thanks a lot!
BEHOLD, our costco spreadsheet.We are 2 city dwellers, no kids, no pets. The spreadsheet there will show you how prices stack up compared to our two other grocery stores which we would normally buy our stuff from. We're in NYC, so it's a pretty dramatic difference. We generally go to Costco about once every 6-8 weeks and spend about $300. We get fresh veggies when needed from the local stores, as well as occasionally other things, but we really try to push the bulk of our shopping to costco because the savings are so good.
That spreadsheet is from our first trip - we spent about $650, if I recall. There were lots of things from that trip (pasta, olive oil, rice, ziploc bags, cleaning supplies, flour, sugar, rice) that we bought once and are still using five months later, so it's not 'normal' for us to spend that much.
All in all, we are confident that we save massively over the local grocery stores. We have repeated this exercise on two other trips and the results are similar.
You may find that local stores just aren't as pricey as where we are, so your savings will be less dramatic. However, it's also worth pointing out that since shopping at costco, we go out to eat / order dinner WAY less. A fridge, freezer, and pantry full of good food makes it easy.
As far as avoiding over spending?
-Make a list
-Don't buy huge quantities of stuff that you cannot freeze or leave out without it spoiling
-Don't be tempted into buying stuff that you didn't plan to get. Seriously. Put it back. Every extra thing in your cart is going to be like $10, at a minimum
-If it DOESN'T spoil, and it's a good price/you have room for it: BACK UP THE TRUCK. Seriously, buy 6 tubes of toothpaste or whatever. Stuff like toothpaste or laundry detergent - you're gonna be surprised at how much cheaper it is.
-Before you check out, go through your cart again. Seriously. Remember that if you don't REALLY need what you're buying, you're about to drop $10-$20 or more on a VERY LARGE SUPPLY of that item. So think twice.
The first time you go to Costco, set a limit of like $200 or whatever. Get stuff that you're DEFINITELY going to use, and then make a spreadsheet like mine. I'd be willing to bet you find that you save quite a bit, but I'm obviously biased because my results in NYC are nothing short of spectacular.
Hope this helps!