Warehouse clubs -- good for your budget or not?

[bettymae1121]

I agree with the others, it depends on how you shop at regular stores (heavy into coupons) and how much will power you have to ignore the really neat stuff they have that isn't on your shoping list.

I shop at Costco and A) only shop when they send me coupons in the mail and B) stick to the list. Now I do buy things there I don't get coupons for (ground beef for example) but unless I'm out of something and I can't wait for another round of coupons, I just stay away. I save enough just in coupons to cover my $50 anual fee the first one or two trips a year, on top of savings from their lower prices. For the things I buy, I definately get a better price, especially since I don't do heavy couponing at regular retail stores. Plus their meat department is top quality, even if their steaks are more $ per pound (i'm not sure if they are or not, i've never checked), it's worth the cost, seriously it's THAT good.

For example, I just went to Costco yesterday. I have a PUR faucet mount filter and I bought a six pack of filter replacements. A six pack usually runs about $60 at a normal retail store, it's $46 regular price at Costco and they sent me a $9 coupon, so final cost was $37 for six filters. That's $6 per filter vs. $10 per filter, not bad!

You do really have to know your prices but it can save you money.

 

[AmandaRG]

We had let our membership to Costco expire, but our fall allergies are kicking in. I was looking for generic Claritin. At CVS it was $32 for about 200 tablets. At Costco it was $12 for 365. Considering DH and I both take them, that alone could just about cover the cost of our membership. For us that is where some of the biggest savings come in.

We joined Sam's a while back ot get the Disney gift cards. I was a college student, so I was able to get a membership for $25. Considering we got $340 in Disney Store cards, it paid for itself easy!

I am a heavy couponer, but now we have one major grocery retailer so I will probably begin buying our meat at Costco again.

 

[miralys]

I think it depends on your area and your family's purchasing habits. You might want to visit each store and note the prices of items you frequently buy.

Over the years we have been members of Sam's Club and BJs. I preferred BJs. They take coupons (manufacturer and store coupons) and it is a much more pleasant experience shopping (Sam's always seemed to be packed no matter the time of day).

Then our household changed (number of people in it and our dietary needs), so now we don't save money on warehouse clubs. Aldi's shopping or couponing will almost always net us a better bargain on items we use in our house. Even gas, now that I am commuting to another county, is cheaper than club price.

 

[thomas998]

Sams can be cheap on some items but you can also get ripped off in them as well... I've seen items that were sold in bulk at our Sams that was actually more expensive than buying the same items individually in the local Walmart.

The one thing you have to do is always know the prices before you go into a sams. To often you just assume you are getting a good deal on stuff because it is bulk, but that isn't always the case.

The other thing to remember is that when you buy in bulk you have to make sure you will actually use it before it goes bad, my family has bought the big tray of biscuits that have something like 24 biscuits in a tray already cooked you just reheat... well it is a good deal if you compare them to the price of making them from a can... but when you factor in that I think we only managed to go through half of them before they started to mold... well it wasn't quite the deal we thought it was... this tends to be very true of the backed goods that come in huge quantities.

 

[almburr]

This may seem like an odd question.sorry. But it has been ages since I was in a Sams Club (we are looking to join). What forms of payment do they take? When we were there they took only Discover card. If that is ture I wouldnt be able to use my Debit card which has the Visa logo on it? I could just take in cash and pay that way, that alone would keep me on a planned budget.

We are a large family 7 of us. we eat a lot of Vegetables, and Chicken breasts and boy do we go through laundry detergent and all of those types of items.

Oh another question I understand pretty much everything is in bulk, so would feminine hygine products be sold in mass quantities (3dd's plus myself)

Like I said my question is an odd one.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

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).

YES! I hate those Costco milk containers. The shape is awkward, they are hard to pour and one leaked out all over my trunk.

I belong to Costco and it saves us quite a bit on money, especially on big ticket items, such as car tires. One is about 5 minutes from our house, so it's really convenient to shop there.

 

[KarenAylwood]

We've found it more than worth it for us (and we're a family of 2). We are strict in what we purchase there though and do not often fall into the Target trap (I don't even go into Target anymore because I'm definitely one of THOSE people).

We buy:

-generic omeprazole for DH (I'm pretty sure this alone pays for our membership)
- toilet paper
- paper towels
- lite babybel cheese
- garbage bags
- dishwashing detergent (ditto what a previous poster said- it's a great deal)
- honeynut cheerios
- olive oil
- soda (when they're a coupon it's usually $8 per 36 cans)
- feminine products
- rogaine (another big saver)
- razors both mine and his (another saver)
- softsoap for our dispensers

We also bought all of our wine and beer there for our wedding about a month ago (more than paid for itself there too!).

We also buy xmas gifts there sometimes- but we always shop around before checking them out.

Just yesterday we were there and bought a heated mattress pad for $69.99. I was going to buy the same one at BB&B that day as it wasn't bought off our wedding registry and it's gotten cold here. BB&B had it for $150! Earlier in the year we bought a stainless steel trashcan for $50 that would have cost us $100 anywhere else. These were great deals on things we had already committed to buying- just don't fall into the trap of "oh that's a great deal! I should pick it up!" - my MIL is famous for that one

Oh and how could I forget photo printing! I'd get their membership just for that- I'm always getting prints and enlargements as I'm an amateur photographer. I've talked to many photographers who swear hands down that Costco is the best quality for a commercial printer and they cost about a quarter of what mpix charges.

 

[Jey12]

After reading about BJ's I wish one would come to our town!

 

[AnjieNet]

This may seem like an odd question.sorry. But it has been ages since I was in a Sams Club (we are looking to join). What forms of payment do they take? When we were there they took only Discover card. If that is ture I wouldnt be able to use my Debit card which has the Visa logo on it? I could just take in cash and pay that way, that alone would keep me on a planned budget.

The only Credit card they take is Discover but they will take Debit cards with either Visa or Mastercard.

 

[dd50]

I belong to BJ's as it is the closest one to me. I think it is worth it for me because I buy mostly all of the paper products and many of the cleaners.

The cakes (birthday) would pay for it the membership by it self and they are good.

Gas is always a few cents cheaper than every where else and I just bought tires and saved $100+.

Mine has good cold cuts.

I also love the coupons because I can save even more. When I go I usually have a list of what I want and don't go looking at the clothes and other things.

I have found some nice Christmas gifts in there also.

I think it depends on how you shop and if you will go enough. I know when it was just Costco here that I wouldn't go there enough because it is a 40 minute ride but when BJ's opened it is only 5 miles away.

 

[cbg1027]

If you shop smart, you can definitely save.
Go with a list, and stick to it. The non-essential items are not competitively priced and can be budget busters. Just because they're selling it in a wholesale store doesn't mean it's a deal.
Do some research and be familiar with the prices of the items you buy from a regular grocery and/or supply store.

I recoup my membership cost and save about $10 after that per year at Costco in cat litter alone (I have five cats, so I go through a ton..yes, crazy cat lady, I know).

But I try to watch what else I buy. For example, when I went the other day I was thinking it would be good to stock up on pasta. Costco had packages of 7 boxes of various shapes of Barilla brand for a little over $7. Sounds like a deal, and it is somewhat, but I can get the Barilla pasta cheaper at Publix when it's on buy one get one free.

 

[NYEmomma]

Thanks for the input, everyone! I think I'll go get a trial membership to BJ's and see if I like it. My parents are members at Sam's Club though they do their shopping at one that's quite far from my house -- but it'll be easy enough to convince my mom to come up to the one near me to do her shopping so that I can get in with her & check it out.

To all of those that mentioned allergy medicine: DH & I are big allergy sufferers as well, but we take the generic Claritan-D. Does anyone know if they have that there (and if so, what the pricing is like?)

We're a family of 3 and I do think I'm pretty aggressive with my couponing & searching for deals so I do fairly well grocery shopping (we have an $80 budget every 2 weeks). We're currently TTC right now though so I anticipate having to start buying diapers again in ~1 year.

 

[torinsmom]

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.

Do you know if they have generic Allegra and how much it is there?

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

here is what i found on their web site about claritan.

http://www.bjs.com/webapp/wcs/store...Size=40&currentPage=1&searchKeywords=claritan