Warehouse clubs -- good for your budget or not?

[NYEmomma]

I've been tossing back and forth the idea of joining a warehouse club. There's no Costco in our area so the only options are Sam's Club or BJ's.

I'm just wondering whether I'll *really* save money by going there or if it's one of those situations where I'll be tempted by all their STUFF and end up over-buying... kind of like I do anytime I go into a Target.

Has being a member of a warehouse club been good or bad for your budget?

Do they take manufacturer's coupons? I've heard that BJ's also has their own store coupons.

 

[funnygarcia]

Sharing a membership helped a little for the initial cost, but not sure how much we actually "saved".

I can do better with careful shopping using coupons, or even going to Aldi's, and the farmer's market than shopping at Sam's Club. You're right, it is too easy to buy stuff you don't need because it "only" cost this much... plus all the seasonal fun stuff and big ticket items to browse.

 

[woodkins]

I am a BJ's member, we have Costco or Bj's...there are no Aldi's in our area. On milk alone I save enough to cover my membership and still save a significant amount. A gallon is about $2.59 at BJ's and over $4 at our supermarkets. so if I save an avg of $1.50 per gallon and buy at least 2 per week (normally I get 3) I am saving a min. of $100 per year (the membership costs $50/yr). I also get good deals on cold cuts (cheese is $3.99 vs $6.99/lb), coffee, meats and bread. They do offer in store coupons as well.

 

[crisi]

It is going to depend on how you shop. If you can limit yourself to the things that you NEED, they can be a good deal. We do really well with Costco grain free dog food, olive oil, butter, half and half.....I have a friend who says she pays for her membership in Cheerios.

 

[jcano]

It depends on what you buy and how far you have to travel to shop there. We find that the savings on their generic Zyrtec pays for our membership on its own. I do have to watch that I don't impulse buy stuff that we really don't need.
It helps that my dd has dance right across the street, so I'm there every week with an hour to kill.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I use Costco and find that my savings are significant. I will only purchase items that I know I will use.

Non-food items the prices are fantastic. For example, their house brand of dishwasher gel rates (in Consumer's Reports) equal to Cascade; they sell two jugs for the price they charge for one of Cascade.

On food I will use my shopping at Publix as a comparison. For example, Zeigler's Fresh Apple Cider is $2.99 for a 1/2 gallon at Publix, $5.49 for a full gallon at Publix, but only $3.49 for a full gallon at Costco. (And this, on the label, said the gallon is made from ten pounds of apples.)

 

[dis-happy]

A lot depends on family size too. We are a family of 6 (with 5 living at home full time) and we definitely save with BJ's. However, prices are going up and quantities are going down even there. Recently they downgraded the milk too---it used to be gallons of Land of Lakes milk and now they sell the generic stuff in the horrible container that Costco also uses (the top is square and it's so easy to spill). Still, I can do the majority of my shopping at
BJ's and they do take coupons.


In the meantime they just opened an Aldi's near me, and there are prices there that can't be beat anywhere. Generic barbeque sauce was 60 cents a bottle the other day, and even the Sweet Baby Ray's Sauce was only 99 cents (same bottle selling at Wal-Mart for around $3.00). That was some special they were having, not sure if it's an everyday price though. Still, many things are cheaper there.

 

[momof1princess]

it depends on what you buy. i save a lot of money buying meats and snacks there. i also get my vitamins and calcium pills super cheap. if you know the prices of what you usually buy and avoid the impulse stuff, you can save a good bit. my DMIL pays for a membership for her and me, and i'm the one who makes the trips to buy everything, so, since it's about an hour trip, it works out much cheaper for her, lol, but i only go about once every 2-3 months.

 

[kimberlym322]

There was a coupon in yesterdays paper for a 60 day free trial membership to BJ's. I would say use it to go into BJ's and look around. I would make a list of things that you buy, what you pay at the regular store and see what they sell it for. Once you do that then you will know if it will be worth it to get a years member ship. Sometimes you will do better at a place like BJ's then the regular store. I know that we buy things that we use a lot of that we can get in bulk...like flour, sugar and such. BJ's also has a coupon book that comes out every so offten and they also take coupons out of the sunday paper.

 

[Eeyore98]

Being a family of only 2, I'm under no delusions that Costco saves us any real money.

BUT it seems to be the only place in our area with decent frozen chicken breasts at a reasonable price. Everywhere else (walmart, local grocery chain, etc.), when I buy their chicken, I end up having to cut ridiculous amounts of fat/tendon/etc. off of before I can use them, and they are tougher to boot. Yeah, I could probably go to Whole Foods or some place like that, but they are even more pricey - not worth it.

And in the meantime, it allows us to stock up like crazy on stuff like TP, dishwasher detergent, etc.

I just have to be watchful, because they so often have stuff that I'd like to try, but it's in such big quantities that it's a huge waste of money if we end up not liking something. For example, last time I was there, they had buffalo filets...but in a pack of 16!

 

[Jey12]

As everyone is saying it depends on how you shop and what you shop for. We share a membership with my mother at Costco so that helps a ton, $25 a year vs. $50. Although we did upgrade to Executive last year when we needed to replace a TV and laptop. Your earn 2% back on every purchase, and if you do not earn back the $50 cost for the upgrade you are refunded that at the end of the year. Right now we are actually $75 ahead and Christmas is still coming.

I do not buy on impulse there. It is very easy and it will cost you tons if you're not careful. We buy their grain free dog food (we have a dog with severe allergies and this kind of food would cost double what we pay anywhere else.) Meats can be a bit tricky but if you are aware of prices at your local grocer you can save. Often the warehouse cuts are twice as thick as what you'll get at a grocery store. We cut these in half, no way we could eat a steak that's almost 2" thick. Ok hubby would try. For example 6 pork chops usually costs around $8 at the grocery store. At Costco they are 12 for $15, but the cut on these is at least double that of the grocery, if not more. We cut these in half and have 24 pork chops, if we were to buy 24 pork chops at the grocery store it would cost around $30. Healthier snacks you can save on, as well as things that store for longer periods of time, such as pastas, dry soups, beans, rice, etc....As long as you are able to properly store these items in bulk. Tide is also the only laundry detergent I've found that I don't break out with, the Kirkland brand (costco's) seems to be almost the same. The huge value 120 load detergent of this brand is only $14. The biggest size of Tide does only 90 loads and is $18 at walmart.

I don't know about other warehouse stores but Costco books Disney trips. Just the local non Disney hotels and tickets. I totally forgot about this service when we booked our upcoming trip and could have been earning 2% back on the trip! Oh well I'm sure there will be a next time.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

If you decide to join, I would join BJs since you have one in your area. BJ's accepts manufactur coupons!

Just recently when our membership was about to expire I got an email reminding me. Well in that email they listed how much we saved over the past 12 months and it was $455!!! They print how much you save each shopping trip but not a running total for the year boy were we shocked at the savings. Not to mention there are only two of us in our household.
I shop for things like health and beauty items, toilet paper, kleenex, laundry soap/softner, lunch meat, bread so I don't buy a lot of things but the things I do buy I usually use a mfg coupon or a BJ coupon from the booklet they mail out. For example in their booklet you will typically find coupons for $3.00 toilet paper, $2.50 off cat litter, $3.00 off bounce. Bread priced are about 5O% off verses the grocery store. Ink for our printer is $10 cheaper at BJ.

So our yearly savings more than covers our membership.
You can get a 60 trial membership to see how you like shopping there. Then if you join you will get the coupon booklet in the mail.

 

[Swimalie]

It is going to depend on how you shop. If you can limit yourself to the things that you NEED, they can be a good deal. We do really well with Costco grain free dog food, olive oil, butter, half and half.....I have a friend who says she pays for her membership in Cheerios.

I agree. I have Costco and BJs memberships. I don't go to BJs as often as it's 30+ min away and Costco is a lot closer (but BJs is building in my town ). I prefer BJs coupons. They often have ones that say "buy X of these products and save Y". The items to chose from are often cereal or the Fiber One bars we eat a lot. So if you buy 5 of the products you save $10. That's a good deal.

We went to BJs on Sat and spent $65 (cereal, pasta, Fiber One bars, Christmas present, etc) and saved over $9. I went last month and spent $230 and saved an additional $30.

Also, if you are thinking of buying a new car, tires, house, etc, they are great for things like that as well. We got our mortgage and new car through Costco.

Oh and the cake at BJs is awesome!! And a great price.

 

[DawnM]

I could not afford all the organics I get at Costco if I were to buy organic items at the local grocery store.

I love Costco. I think the meat is good quality and the quality stuff at Earth Fare is far higher priced. Sure, I could get some ground beef cheaper at Walmart but the quality would be far different.

We buy the bulk of our food at Costco. Their produce better priced for sure. We buy at least one 6 head romaine lettuce package ($3.60) per week as well as tomatoes still on the vine, organic carrots, organic spinach, etc....

Dawn

 

[crisi]

We buy the bulk of our food at Costco. Their produce better priced for sure. We buy at least one 6 head romaine lettuce package ($3.60) per week as well as tomatoes still on the vine, organic carrots, organic spinach, etc....

For us, Costco produce means either a Costco buddy or a lot of waste. We can't go through six heads of Romaine. But having a Costco buddy - someone to buy half your produce off you, can be a great way to deal with five pounds of grapes or six avocados.

 

[momof3ds]

We are a family of 5 and go to BJ's.

Gas is cheaper as well as milk and coldcuts.

Yes, BJ's sends out a coupon book every month, plus the occasional catalog that has coupons and they always have random coupons in the store. You can also pair a manufacturer's coupon with a BJ's coupon.

We get our birthday cakes from the BJ's bakery as well. And, also they have great deals on glasses too.

We also got our flat screen TVs from them last year.

We have the rewards membership which costs extra each year but we always make back the membership fee plus an extra 100-200 a year.

 

[eliza61]

Generally it's not a huge savings for me. I do save enough to justify the 50 membership fee but I only go maybe once a month. I have a Sams membership

On a weekly basis I prefer my local markets. first, I don't like how the fresh fruit is packaged at the food clubs do I really need a 10lbs bag of lettuce? next, with my coupons and weekly specials I tend to do better than Sams.
Lastly, I like the variety and quality better at my local supermarkets.

I generally use the clubs for detergant and bread. If I'm in the market for electronics it may come in handy but truthfully, on line still beats Sams for electronics and TV's, and I don't buy that type of stuff every year anyway.

 

[mrudman]

I'm also in NE Ohio, so looked at the same Sam's Club and BJ's that you are. About a month ago, I decided to join Sam's Club for the first time ever, and will say it has saved us some so far on products we definitely would buy either way... and haven't even looked into the meat/bread/chips/etc, which seem to be cheaper also.

I joined with the idea that I was only going to get certain items there, so so far that's been the only things we go for when we go.

Before I joined, I went to Walmart and Giant Eagle (the main 2 stores we shop at for these certain items), wrote down their prices for exactly what we'd buy, then went to Sam's Club, found those exact items as well, wrote down their prices, and compared. This is what I came up with (first price is walmart or GE (whichever was cheaper), price in parentheses is Sam's Club.. and since packages were always different sizes, on some things I broke it down into loads or bags, etc:

Advil (500 count) - 6.98 (4.43)
Tylenol (500 count) - 6.98 (4.43)
Era - 10.4 cents/load (9.8 cents/load)
Downy - 8.9 cents/load (6.5 cents/load)
Cascade packs - 21.6 cents/pack (17.3 cents/pack)
Kleenex (200ct box) - 1.74 (1.29)
Trash Bags (generic drawstring) - 11.6 cents/bag (6.7 cents/bag)
Bounty Paper Towel (select-a-size) - 2.7 cents/sq ft (2.3 cents/sq ft)
Charmin T.P. - 2.58/sq ft (2.36 sq/ft)


So even buying just these 9 things as we need them, we'll definitely be getting our $40 back for our membership fee (I got it for $10 cheaper through my work).

 

[rszdtrvl]

Our Costco membership expires next month, and DH and I have been trying to decide if we want to renew it. I think we will end up renewing it though.

We purchase :

Kirkland Brand Small Bites Dog Food $14 for a 30lb (I think....) bag
Garbage Bags $12 for 100 bags
Cold Lunch snacks/drinks for DS
Allergy medicine (although you can purchase without a membership online for an additional surcharge)
Frozen foods

We are a small family of 3, and have enjoyed our membership. We originally got it because we were selling items at a concession stand. But came to realize we liked the bulk buying and the quality of items offered.

 

[monorailsilver]

Our membership to BJ's expired in August & we opted to not renew.

I do think it saved us money when our kids were in diapers & we were buying lots of them & wipes along with everything else.

But our youngest is 5 & no longer in diapers & hasn't been for a few years but we kept the membership because my IL's were paying. Well they didn't renew us for some reason (I think we told them not to) & we renewed for 15 months.

I don't think I went to BJs often enough to justify the $60 or whatever the cost is for membership. BJs is a 25 min drive away & I would only go just to shop there & a quick Target trip.

So now I just buy at Walmart or Super Walmart.

But if I had babies I would of kept the membership.