Is it really worth getting a Costco or Sam's Club Membership? (fees, grocery)

[FLGAL76]

Does shopping at Sam's or Costco save you a good amount of money? Is it really worth getting a membership vs shopping at Wal-mart or like SaveAlot? What are some of the reasons you shop there or don't?

[PNW-type-gal]

Since we're a small family (just the two of us) we don't make back the yearly $50 membership in savings. If you can buy and use in bulk and IF you know the standard store cost for items you can save money at Costco, but they count on those impulse buys. A lot of stuff there isn't any cheaper than other stores, per unit cost.

It's also 75 miles from our home, which adds cost and just makes it not worth it.

[Huckleberry3911948]

yes it is.
.................
when you know what you want no sense in buying in small quantities.

[firefightermom]

We have a Sam's Club membership which we started when we had kids. The prices on diapers and formula was much better than all the other stores, including Walmart. The kids are out of diapers now but we keep our membership mostly for the reduced gas prices.

We moved and live about 30 minutes away as compared to 10 minutes at our old location, so we shop there less often now. My husband stops on his way home from work now. Things we regularly buy at better prices are: milk, eggs, cheese, lunch meat, Tyson chicken patties, Laughing Cow cheese, bags of small sweet peppers, orange juice, Tylenol/Advil, kids vitamins...that's all I can think of now.

Sometimes they have clothes at great prices...Carters for the kids and Disney brands at better prices. Seasonal items can be a good deal...plus then there's the film developing if you still do that--always been the cheapest for years.

I am very cheap and only shop sales and use coupons constantly, so I usually don't buy canned/boxed goods there since I can get them cheaper elsewhere, plus I really don't want 6 cans of something.

Our membership fees are $40, or $35 for small business owners. So if you sell Avon or Mary Kay or any other home sales based business, you can use that and shop extended hours too!

[TexasHorseLady]

I tend to stock up on their meats at great prices. Buy a HUGE pork loin, for example, and cut it into four reasonably sized ones and freeze them. Same with the big packages of chicken breasts and pork chops and such. I only buy when I know the price is below what I can get at the grocery store, but when it is, I stock up.

[iluvcj]

I definintely get back the money in savings and buying in bulk keeps me from having to buy the same stuff over and over. I also save money on trips, funiture and other stuff they sell.

[mamom1]

It depends on what you need. I have a day care in my home so I go there and stock up on plastic cups, utensils and some frozen foods. I did some simple math and found out that the cups and utensils I buy come to around 0.2cents per cup/utensil. I couldn't find a better deal than that anywhere else. However, I also go to sav-a-lot and walmart too. I pretty much buy the same things every time, so I know which store has the best prices on the items I need. A few years back, I let my membership expire and they would send me a 60 day free trial every year around Christmas. I tried to buy as much as I could during that free trial but found out that I was running out of things by April.

[FLGAL76]

Thanks for all the great responses. I will be moving around June and I noticed there is a Sams Club that wasn't far from the area we will be living around about 30 minutes I believe and we are a family of four so I was thinking that it might help save some money. We been eating alot of microwave dinners, sandwiches & fast food since Dh has been gone working in another state and I always used to make dinner every night and we always had a sit down meal at the table and he said he can't wait for some home cooked meals again. I just want to make sure it would be worth it. It sounds like it would. I just don't want to have to shop there and get so much then turn around and shop another store or two to get everything we need.

[redwhiteblue]

Yes especially for meats, it really pays for itself. I have a membership to both Sam's and Costco.

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I tend to stock up on their meats at great prices. Buy a HUGE pork loin, for example, and cut it into four reasonably sized ones and freeze them. Same with the big packages of chicken breasts and pork chops and such. I only buy when I know the price is below what I can get at the grocery store, but when it is, I stock up.

I don't buy their packs of pork shops, I just cut one of those pork loins up. Did one today and it yielded 30 nice sized 3/4 inch thick chops. I paid $11 for the loin, meaning chops cost 37¢ each. Grilled couple for dinner tonight, most in the freezer.

Our membership is $35/year. At one time I figured it out based on one item, toilet paper, compare to the same brand in grocery stores. We save more on that one item to more than and pay for our membership. I figured paper towels, name brand, and grocery store price is about 2¢ per sheet, 1¢ per sheet at Sam's Club.