Costco may be my favorite store ever. I have to be careful though, because things are so affordable, but I think I tend to buy stuff I don't need, especially more processed things. We bought two big boxes of Ritz crackers last week since they were 4 dollars with the store coupon, which is great, and we do use them occasionaly, but with that big a box, we're eating them everyday!

Costco is like 40 mins away from where I live but we have a bjs with gas near by and a sams club. I like to buy in bulk its such a money saver on certain items.

We go about 2X/year, about 4X/year when $ isn't tight. Really, we will let our membership expire when Sept. hits. We love to buy some things there in bulk, but don't save enough $ to warrant the $50/year. I will miss it, but I'm sure we will survive.
:o) Rachel

Do you all feel that Sam's club is just as cheap as Costco? We have a sam's but not a costco and I was just wondering the price comparision.

What staple items would you say are actually cheaper at a wholesale club than at Aldis? I would be going to Sam's, but I'm assuming they are pretty equal with there prices.... I am awful at figuring up those types of things. Thanks in advance, JIll

I don't live near a Costco but we have a Sam's in town. There are six of us (4 kids left at home) It's nice to get what you need in a large enough size for the family size but I don't shop there as often as I used to. I found that even in smaller amounts, ounce per ounce, there are many things that I can get at our Aldi or grocery outlet cheaper. I just have to buy lots of multiples. Like sour cream, it's much cheaper at Aldi than Sam's, I just have to buy several bowls. Cottage cheese and dry pinto beans are probably the biggest purchases as far as food that I get at Sam's. I'm blessed enough to live within 2-3 miles of several different types of grocery stores so I can shop for better deals easier than most.

There isn't a Costco within 50 miles of us. We do have a membership at Sam's Club. But, since almost everything there is name-brand, even with buying in bulk, many things can be bought more cheaply if you stock up at good sales. Our Sam's Club doesn't have the dried beans someone mentioned. The main things we buy at Sam's and save money on are yeast, baking powder, cocoa powder, spices/herbs, nuts, raisins, honey, and Jif peanut butter (one thing we splurge on).

I have a Sam's Club membership instead. We have both in town and we price checked eat for the items we buy and the difference in cost for the membership and Sam's won for our family. It is nice getting items in bulk :)

I love the quality for the price ratio at Costco. In addition, I get my prescription medication there because it's cheaper than Walgreens. Over the course of a year, just on buying the price difference on this one medication alone, I'd break even with the Costco membership card. So any good deals I score - orange juice, organic eggs, etc. - are gravy. :)

We have a Sam's Club, but we choose to go to an Amish bulk food store about an hour from us a few times a year. Their stuff is extremely affordable (you're not paying for the fancy packaging), excellent quality, and no membership fee!

Brittany

I have the "Executive Membership", too. I get back 2% of my purchases. I just got a check for $88, so membership only costs me $12 this year. I get in an hour early, too, so I can make my Costco trip in and out. I have a large family (my husband, myself and our eight children) so the larger portions make sense for us. I buy cheese, tortillas, butter (the best price anywhere), gas, and other basics. I do not get all their wonderful specialty items, like muffins, 'healthy' chips, etc. You have to have self control in there!

There are only two of us here (soon to be three!) but the money we save on generic organic milk, my contact solution (which doesn't have a generic and I'm allergic to all other brands), generic Prilosec, and Benefiber makes up the yearly cost for us. Then there are things we can splurge on b/c they're cheap at Costco, like fancy dishwasher detergent (otherwise we'd just buy Walmart's generic).

Hubby loves an excuse to have pizza for lunch for cheap, from the snack bar.

I work with toddlers and I've been impressed with the quality of the Costco brand (Kirkland Signature) disposable diapers, but we're going to use cloth ourselves.

My father in law had us on his business account, but he switched it to an executive account when we he realized our family purchases, plus his single purchases made it much cheaper when you add in the rebate. He is single, so he put me as his second member so we pay nothing. In Alaska, we buy our car tires and batteries at Costco, and every spring and fall we have to switch between our studded winter tires and our regular summer tires. The price of the "changeover" is a third of the regular tire shop. When we use disposables, Kirkland Signature brand are far better than Huggies any day. We buy butter, 1/2 and 1/2, tortillas [locally made], 5 lbs of Tillamook, plus occasional splurges of extra sharp. The milk is 7 for two gallons, so we just buy the local Alaskan milk for 4.39 at Fred Meyer and use it very sparingly. We buy bread flour and all purpose in 50 and 25 pound bags, but I don't like supporting ConAgra, especially because it's bleached and probably genetically modified, but at the moment, it's what we can afford. Canned tomato products, since we haven't had the heat to grow more than a few tomatoes in our garden. Spices are high quality and inexpensive. I could probably talk about costco all day. It's also important to me that their employees are paid a livable wage with benefits. And like Tammy said, I think the quality is high. :)

I do shop there, but I only buy a few things there......I buy milk, sometimes cheese, butter, #10 cans lettuce etc there. But otherwise I leave without much. If i did not share a membership then it would not be worth it for me, but because i do, I am able to shop there. Otherwise, I just went when my mom went and that worked out fine too!

Here's what you do. If you can scrape up the extra $ when you sign up, get the executive membership. It costs more to start with, but you earn back a percentage when you shop. For us, the check we get each year is enough to get our next year's executive membership, so no more money out of pocket.

If you get the Costco credit card, you earn even more back.

Jennifer
jennysjabber.blogspot.com

I just used our rebate check of $138.00 on Thursday. Costco is like our regular grocery store with a family of 7, almost 8 (in September).