Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The membership fee is a little over $1 a week.. so if you save, say $2 a week because of Costco, you've come out ahead (assuming the wait in their lines is reasonable.) Now if you get their executive membership, you'll need to save $3 a week.
No. Costco has about 4,000 SKUs, while Walmart has 145,000 SKUs. What this means is that your trip to Costco is an additional trip over what you already make to Walmart (or Target, supermarkets or whatever other stores you frequent which have these other SKUs you use).
So membership in Costco has not only to cover the cost but the time. So a once a month trip which takes an extra couple hours and your time is worth $20/hour means Costco is costing you $480 worth of your time.
No. Costco has about 4,000 SKUs, while Walmart has 145,000 SKUs. What this means is that your trip to Costco is an additional trip over what you already make to Walmart (or Target, supermarkets or whatever other stores you frequent which have these other SKUs you use).
So membership in Costco has not only to cover the cost but the time. So a once a month trip which takes an extra couple hours and your time is worth $20/hour means Costco is costing you $480 worth of your time.
To pick on someone else, Caladiums Oatmeal squares for $2.50 off. I don't buy oatmeal squares. I just buy steel cut oats for .68 cents a pound at WinCo.
That's great if you can eat oatmeal that way. When I was younger I could, but I have digestive problems with oatmeal these days. We don't have problems digesting the squares, however. Which leads to the golden rule for frugal living, whether you're shopping at Winco, Costco, or some other place--it's only a bargain if you like the food you buy. There's no bargain in buying something in bulk if it's not something you want to use/eat multiple times.
No. Costco has about 4,000 SKUs, while Walmart has 145,000 SKUs.
A good point for those people who buy every single item for sale when they shop somewhere. We're more boring--we don't really care how many SKUs a store has as long as they have the specific items we buy time and time again. In other words, whether we shop at Costco, Walmart, Food Lion, etc. we buy the same things. So we can comparison shop and choose the store that ha the best prices for the items we want.
A good point for those people who buy every single item for sale when they shop somewhere. We're more boring--we don't really care how many SKUs a store has as long as they have the specific items we buy time and time again. In other words, whether we shop at Costco, Walmart, Food Lion, etc. we buy the same things. So we can comparison shop and choose the store that ha the best prices for the items we want.
This.
I don't get the mentality of buying food items that I don't actually want. People do this?
Sure, sometimes I'll see something new and try it out, but I don't stockpile anything just because it's on sale, unless it's something I always use.
And as much as I'd like to one-stop-shop all my food, it's not happening unless I severely downgrade the food I buy. So I don't know why Costco would be singled out as a 'time waste' if I'm going to three stores anyway? In fact, if I were to break down my shopping time, Costco is a net time saver because bulk buying I do there enables me to make smaller, quicker shops elsewhere.
Those seem to be a legendary Costco item. LOL. I've read a lot about their rotisserie chickens there and how the price has not gone up in years.
I do not have a Costco membership myself but I do have Sam's. I'm single and I manage to save money there, the club is only a few miles down the street and I save money with items I use a lot of: baby wipes (don't ask, it's an Army thing), V8 juice, Brita water pitcher filters, bananas, q-tips and bath soap.
No. Costco has about 4,000 SKUs, while Walmart has 145,000 SKUs. What this means is that your trip to Costco is an additional trip over what you already make to Walmart (or Target, supermarkets or whatever other stores you frequent which have these other SKUs you use).
So membership in Costco has not only to cover the cost but the time. So a once a month trip which takes an extra couple hours and your time is worth $20/hour means Costco is costing you $480 worth of your time.
That assumes that a Costco trip takes you 2 hours. (It's usually around 1 hour for me.) It also assumes that you're doing just as many Target/Walmart/supermarket trips with a Costco membership as without. Since I've been a Costco member, I find myself going to Target/Walmart less, and I often combine trips with Costco and the supermarket. Simply put, estimating the time costs of going to Costco is much more complicated than just taking 40 dollars times the number of visits per year.
I'm new to Costco, but we were able to get a discounted membership so we're trying it out. I plan to visit Costco, Sam's Club, and two chain grocery stores to make another price book and see where we can save money. I saw a few items at Costco that seemed to be money saving, but not sure it will be cost effective over the long term. I noticed a trend towards more upscale and organic type items. I'm not into the organic movement. Junk food is still junk food. Same for processed foods. We did buy a huge bag of brown rice and flour and some basic ingredients for other meals.
I'm not into the organic movement. Junk food is still junk food.
Junk food?
We bought a huge container of organic strawberries at costco 60% cheaper than elsewhere.
We buy organic quinoa at costco, same deal.
Coconut oil too.
All stuff we use tons of. I think it's often almost cheaper than non-organic.
Am I missing something about organic junk food?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
