Abou how much do you spend per month on groceries? (New York: for sale, employment)

[omigawd]

Originally Posted by KarenBo

Is a membership at BJs or Costco worth it? Do people who have these really save enough to offset the membership fee? If so, which seems better?

I have a membership at BJs and it is absolutely worth it!! On your first trip, you'll more than make up for your membership in savings.

I used to have a membership at Costco, too, but I just found BJs to be more convenient and a little less expensive. Plus, BJs takes coupons (costco doesn't) and you can use credit cards at BJs (costco, you can't)

The only things I've found to be a bit more expensive at BJs/Costco were the paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, paper plates, etc).

There are a lot of times when BJs gives out free membership passes. You can either get a one day pass or sometimes you can get a 30 day pass. Why not call their customer service line (I think their actual name is Berkley & Jensen) and ask them to mail you a pass? This way you can check the store out and, if you like it, sign up. If not, then don't.

[omigawd]

Here's a link to a free one-day pass to BJs:

Join the Club - BJ's Wholesale Club

Looks like they will charge you 15% above member prices for whatever you buy during the free pass day, but you get that deducted from your membership price when you join. Either way, it's competely worth it.

[Samrai309]

Originally Posted by KarenBo

Is a membership at BJs or Costco worth it? Do people who have these really save enough to offset the membership fee? If so, which seems better?

I actually split my membership to Costco with a friend so I think its worth it for me. As for whether Costco in general is worth it, you need to really know your prices and know what is a good buy or not. In my opinion, most of the household stuff is not really a great deal. Detergent and stuff can be had for better deals if you catch sales at stores and stock up. Meat are big packages so its a good deal if you split packages with a friend. I have been happy with the quality when I do buy. Produce--sometimes I get a real good deal on some seasonal stuff. Other items depending on what you need may or may not be worth it. I was just in Costco this past weekend. Some things I noticed: BountyPaper towels were a better deal in Stop and Shop this past week. Scott toilet paper was high priced IMO but it appears you now get a 30 pk of toilet paper as opposed to 20pk in supermarkets and what Costco used to carry. I would have to do the math to see if thats a good deal and I wasn't prepared for it. Cases of water or soda are hit or miss. Beer is no great deal. Cheeses and Appetizer stuff you get some nice things. I have found some cheeses to be good buy; things like Feta and those little Laughing Cow cheeses. Sometimes they have some unique stuff there so sometimes I bite. Milk and half and half are usually slightly cheaper. I was finding frozen goods and snacks to be bit pricy for the size package you get a while back but I do not eat that much of the stuff anymore so I don't pay much attention to it. I do not use their pharmacy so I can't speak for it. I also rarely buy shampoo or stuff like that. Overall I am happy going there but on a regular basis, there are only a few things I usually buy in Costco that I think are really worth it from a savings standpoint. Costco does have really good garbage bags. Kirkland Signature is their private label. A previous Poster mentioned BJs and they do offer some services Costco does not. They have gasoline at some locations, they do take coupons and they are more flexible with payment options. This is of course, all just my two cents.

[Malishka31]

BJs is great if you have infants, they have Pampers and other brands of diapers where as Costco only has Huggies and Kirkland brand. Then the coupon thing for diapers and the fact that BJs gives a 5 dollar coupon every month for diapers makes it even cheaper. You can use both manufacturor and BJs coupon for everything, so for diapers you easily save like 9 dollars per box and have a wider option of diaper brands.

In terms of prepared food, Costco wins, but I personally do not buy prepared foods much, if at all. Additionally if you want to shop at Costco without a membership you can ask a friend that has a membership to purchase a COSTCO CASH card for you, and you can go into any Costcos to get whatever you want and not buy the membership.

Also BJs has smaller packages for al ot of things which I prefer.

[KarenBo]

Thanks for the info! The BJs in Valley Stream would be closest to me - How is that one? Or is it better to go to the one in Levittown or Westbury?

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by KarenBo

Thanks for the info! The BJs in Valley Stream would be closest to me - How is that one? Or is it better to go to the one in Levittown or Westbury?

I don't know either of those (go to Farmingdale), but once you're a member, you can go to anyone you want, you're not locked in. Try each one
The one in Farmingdale sells gasoline as well - always at least 20 cents/gal less than regular gas stations! Maybe there are other BJs that sell gasoline...

Oh, and you'll get a second card free for a family member.

[allison931]

If anyone is interested in saving money email me at hacablt@frontiernet.net and I will give you a link where you can join to save money and if you are interested in making money along the way you can do that and I will show you how.

[longislandmike]

What's interesting is, you can't go to just ONE place for ALL of your food needs ? You try, but, Gee, what a coincidence, you just can't do it, realistically.

Generally high prices, just dictate that.

To get around this, lately, we tend to gravitate to one store near us for everyday stuff, basics like milk, bread, butter...and one specialty store, somewhat a great distance from us, for our food needs.

What's interesting is, the specialty store, can be changed to our specialty store, because there is one moving near us, and the prices, we see, comparatively for this specialty store are, slowly, becoming the same as the everyday stuff store.

When this large, specialty store moves near us, it's going to replace the everyday store.

I'm guessing that SOMEONE, is figuring out that 1) people shop at mulitiple locations, and 2) they are closing the price gap. When this store moves to our locality, they will "cut into" this niche, and give the everyday store, a run for the money !

Competition is good for finding comparative bargains. But spending your day off chasing down alleged bargains is too tiring and NOT cost effective in the end...you have to REALLY do some thinking, to give justification to traveling around, EVEN your immediate area to shop.

In this case, of going to multiple stores, it's getting silly !

The well known "everyday store" is going to recede it's saturation, in the market. And they don't seem to be budging, price wise or product wise. It used to be, we used to be...surprised...if we found bulk items in a supermarket, but not now. They have to offer MORE in terms of price reduction, or they are going to die. Good riddance !

[cottercutie]

We go to the Farmingdale BJ's and since it's on DF's way to work he gets gas there too. With a baby and a car requiring premium, that membership has paid for itself over and over.

You just have to be conscious of what other stores charge because not everything is a bargain.

I estimate we spend about 100/wk on food and stuff, we're actually redoing our budgets now and I won't have an accurate figure til the end of the month *sigh*

[dman72]

The money I've saved on milk justifies the BJ's membership cost. My son drinks a lot of milk, and I've decided to only give him organic. It's about $1 less per carton compared to shop and stop. We buy about 3 per week. The same savings can be had with gallons compared to Supermarkets.