Here’s a question from Christine, can you help her out?
Is the Costco membership worth the $50 a year and can you split it with another family?
Here’s a question from Christine, can you help her out?
Is the Costco membership worth the $50 a year and can you split it with another family?
I am single, no kids, just a few pets. I have an executive membership with a Costco AMEX. So worth it. Milk is cheaper than any other place in my city. Cereal comes in bulk. Fruits and veggies are always fresh. I always wait till there is a coupon to get items like toilet paper, paper towels, cleaner, detergent etc. And they’re so big they last forever. I also noticed that the difference btwn buying toilet paper from Costco and the same brand somewhere else, it may appear cheaper but the rolls are so much smaller. And every year I average $175 cash back btwn my AMEX and being an exec., member. If you have a family it would be even more worth it.
Absolutely – because we upgraded to the excutive membership connected to our home business we have been to share it. The big benefit is the excutive membership allows you to get earnback on every purchase, our membership is completely paying for itself since we upgraded plus extra to spend instore (snowsuits anyone!). Office and business supplies, computer stuff, food, kid stuff, its all a good deal, they don’t have traditional sales so you still need to know your prices on the staples. We always save on milk, lots of milk in our house. Plus we prefer the quality of alot the the costco brands staples, paper towel, meat, cleaners etc. Its not someplace I go every week, but the volume per trip means you don’t need to so 1-2 times per month is enough. We can wait for the new location to open closer to us for the gas station.
thanks for all your advice. We are a family of three one being a teenage boy. It sounds like if you buy in bulk less trips to the store and that can save alot. I will make sure to check prices. Thank you and again I am so thankful for this website Taya you are awesome!
Yes yes yes yes yes!!!!!
Just the gas savings alone will save you money. And a lot of the locations without gas are converting. They are typically 0.05 cents/ltr cheaper on regular gas. An avg tank is 40L so if you fill up once every 2 weeks (0.05x40x26 times a year) you’re saving $52 … Enough to cover just the membership. We have 2 cars and one is premium gas only and we fill up every week so we are saving a ton!
Plus a lot of thier stuff is cheaper…. Milk, eggs, prescriptions, photo, tires etc….
Also just 1.50 for a hot dog and unlimited pop is a nice lunch sometimes lol.
I also consider the $50 well worth it, based on meat and milk alone. The meat (both chicken, beef, and fish) are of such superior quality compared to my grocery store, AND cost less too, so I try and buy all our meat at Costco. Milk is the best price too, and rice, which we go through a ton of. Also junior Advil is consistently a couple dollars cheaper at Costco. Ooh, and Christmas gifts, like someone else said. Best selection, all in one store!
I don’t have a membership as I feel that many things I can get for less at stores like The Wholesale Club. If you want to save the membership, what you do is ask someone who has a membership and get them to buy you a gift card. You don’t need a membership and can still shop at Costco. With all the samples and things like that, you often end up buying items you normally don’t buy or buying on impulse. With bulk items, I would check the cost per unit as sometimes it is not cheaper to buy in large quantities.
It was more than worth it for us- we received a $1000 rebate from Ford when we purchased a new vehicle as well. I get carried away with the clothing and other items there more than food.
It depends on your family size and what their eating habits are. My husband and I have a card, but his Dad gets him a business membership every year because his Dad is a consultant and therefore has his own business. Even if we had to pay, we’d still get one. My husband is 6’3″ in socks and is a “meatatarian” so we always buy are meat there. To save the most money, we buy those huge packages of beef or pork tenderloin, and at home slice them up into pork chops and roasts, or steaks and beef roasts.
We also buy bags of chicken, Bags of Salmon, Bags of sole or Cod, Rice, Flour, Maple Syrup, Cocoa, Jam, and recently I’ve been able to save on items I need for my special diet. I buy Agave Syrup in Bulk, and Amy’s Organic Soups.
We also both buy clothes there. It’s a good place to get office supplies, and at Christmas they have a nice selection of gifts. If you have a friend who has a card, you can go with them, they just have to pay the cashier and you’ll give them the cash afterwards. Costco is aware that this happens and it’s not against their policy.
Things to avoid would be prepared food. If you start buying those things the cost ads up very quickly.
No, I don’t think so; just the 2 of us it is not worth it. They don’t take manufacture coupons either. I find I can buy what we need at stores like Walmart, Superstore and Shoppers DrugnMart much cheaper if I watch the flyer ‘s and use coupons.
Having said that, there are some great deals at Costco so I tag along with my wonderful neighbor when we crave Tiramisu cake, carrot cake or mini blueberry bran muffins.
Depends on what you buy and your shopping habits. Although you can get better deals with regular grocery sales combined with coupons, a lot of items are very good deals. We really like the Costco meats and buy a lot of our meats there. Also since we consume a lot of milk and they have the best milk prices in our area, we save a lot on milk alone. Our Costco recently added a gas bar which I know we will be using a lot. So worth it for us.
You really need to do your math–sometimes it really is worth it, other times not so much. Always pay attention to the unit price or per hundred grams price. If you know what they are in other stores, then you won’t get taken in.
It is worth it for milk, bread, eggs, nuts and some yogurts. The books are totally worth it and the rest, again, you need to know your prices.
YES YES YES… I have a growing family of 5 and I buy all my meat there (they have awesome quality meat) and I also have a pantry so I can get the larger quantity of staple food. I also have the executive membership and have always received enough to pay for my membership and then some. If you are a smaller family, maybe not… I just love it there though!
Yes, for sure. You get stuff there that you can’t get elsewhere. They sell quality items, not just food. Their return policy is the best. Online shopping alone is worth it. I recently saved so much money on custom blinds. Totally worth every penny!!
My mother has one and I occasionally go shopping with her. You need an idea of how much you’d spend there versus save there. If you spend $500 a year at costco and spend $50 on the membership, it is like paying 10% more on everything you purchase there, then is the stuff still a good deal? So items would have to be less than 91% off the best price you can get elsewhere to be a better price once you add on the fee for shopping there.
If you are buying a lot more than that, the membership is a much smaller percentage per dollar spent at Costco and might make a bigger difference.
I’d go with a friend or on their open house day to look around and see if there are items you’d buy there. Also make sure you know your prices/sale prices from other stores because many items are no cheaper than other places sales.
I find Costco very helpful. I buy staples, like bread, cheese, meat, pasta, etc. there. Also, they have cheap clothes. They also take anything back at anytime, no matter how old it is. We had a carpet cleaner that was not working right and they gave me a full refund after 3 yrs. I also get cheap photos printed, You can get them for 8 cents sometimes. You can also get deals on movies, magazines, etc. Great Christmas decorations and gift ideas, plus toys are cheaper around Christmas too. Plus who can say no to free samples
I don’t think so, well not for grocery and basic supplies. You can buy most stuff way cheaper on sale and with coupons.
It would depend on what you buy there. For my family of 2, it IS worth it, but we also have storage room. Do you have somewhere to put 12 rolls of paper towel, or 8 large cans of crushed tomato? Do you have freezer storage space? The meat at costco is of excellent quality and has a great price, but the packages are large.
Costco also carries things other than food that make the membership worth it to me. They have excellent prices on clothes, many of which are manufactured in Canada. They carry laundry detergent and cleaning supplies. If I need new dishes, I look at Costco first.
You cannot split a membership with someone in a different household, but you can go shopping with a friend, and divy up at home or in the parking lot.
I have an Executive Membership at costco. It costs more – $100 per year. But I get a yearly cash rebate which is a small percentage of my total purchases over the previous year. Last year, I got $79 back, which means my membership was cheaper than a regular one. The year before, I got more than $200, but we had made several large one-time purchases.
You can get a few cards but all the card holders have to reside at the same residence, so no, you can’t split with another family.
I have to admit I ask myself if my membership is worth it a lot these days. We are considering some renovations and are thinking of buying our laminate from Costco and that would help. Plus my local store has a gas station and I use that a lot, so that also helps. I try to stay away from buying lots of perishable food bulk because it either goes to waste or I freeze it and forget it (I am terrible for that). But their meat quality is excellent (I buy beef and chicken there). I would say if the store is in a convenient location for you then it might be good. But if it isn’t convenient that you could probably live without it.