Working Moms
Explain Costco to me
I've taken over our household budget from DH and trying to find ways to both save money and time. Warehouse shopping never appealed to me, but I don't know anything about it except most people I know love Costco. Do you really save a lot of money by shopping there? Can it be a substitute for, say, Target? In other words, can I get all the major brands at Costco for beauty/care products and household items in addition to groceries. What about baby supplies?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Explain Costco to me
So, you're going to get some mixed reviews I imagine. I go back and forth on whether thinking our membership is worth it. Some days I think YES i love Costco the bargains are amazing. Other days we buy too much sh** and it's a waste.
I imagine if you have a really big family it's totally worth it. We have 2 small girls under the age of 3 so we're not buying much food here but some meat. What we do buy is:
Diaper wipes
butt wipes
booze
cheese
meats
big salads for parties
granola bars
I have now learned that supposedly you don't have to be a member to buy alcohol or pharmacy stuff. You should check on that. The membership is like $55 for a regular one or $110 for a better one where you get cash back or something.
Eh i'm not a HUGE Costco lover but it's got some good prices and good stuff. We just end up buying too much crap when we go and spend hundreds of dollars. So not sure it's really doing much for our family at this point in time.
http://balletandbabies.blogspot.com
You might get some different answers to this one. Here are my thoughts on the subject.
We got our membership when I was pregnant, thinking we would get diapers and wipes there mostly, with a few other things here and there. Now we almost never buy baby stuff there. They have formula as well, but I am still breast feeding, so have never had a need for that. The diapers are all Huggies. There is a Costco Kirkland brand of diapers, but they are essentially Huggies as well. We are not huge fans of Huggies in any form. I do like the Huggies Natural Care wipes that they have there, so have bought those a few times. As for savings on other types of items, you just have to know what you pay for things. Sometimes you get a killer deal, sometimes you don't. Also, they only have one variety of most things, so if you are brand loyal, or like a particular type of something, you may not find it there. Here is an example, my DH loves this one kind of Lubriderm lotion. He gets the one with SPF in it. Costco had his Lubriderm lotion, but not the kind with the SPF in it. We bought it there once, but he still prefers that we get his favorite from Target.
I do like buying vitamins there. The packages are huge so you don't have to go back and get more very often. This does save you some money in most instances. I save a TON on bread when I buy it there, but I do have to freeze one loaf because we don't go through that much that quickly. We saved quite a bit on AC filters last month. I buy milk there sometimes too, but that is not saving much money. If it is on a good sale at the grocery store, it is cheaper than it is at Costco.
So really it just depends on your needs and knowing what you pay for things at your usual shopping locations. I am still glad we have our membership, but we only go once every couple of months and get very specific items.
Thanks for the thoughts so far.
So we eat very little meat (me none at all), barely drink alcohol (still nursing, too tired), don't take vitamins and very few prescriptions. I am somewhat brand loyal (particularly picky about my face products and sunscreens. All this points to perhaps Costco wouldn't be worth it for us. That said, looks like an annual membership is $55 so perhaps we'll try it for a year.
We do save money at Costco, but we have to be vigilant about only buying what's on our list. We go every couple months for things we use regularly: Ground Turkey and Chicken; Contact solution; Asprin/vitamins; Olive Oil; toilet paper; paper towels; tabasco; ketchup. Some of the things are WAY cheaper than grocery stores- but they just don't fit in my cupboards- stuff like other condiments, baking supplies, canned tomatoes, etc. If I had a huge chef's kitchen I'd buy most of my items from Costco. The olive oil I store under my sink- it is so much cheaper than the grocery store that I have to get it there. We did love Costco diapers and wipes, too. Some things like shampoo and conditioner I could get there, but I prefer to change brands more frequently than those huge bottles. We get our glasses/contacts there and they are WAY cheaper. Tires, should you ever need them, will save you the cost of membership. Booze is much, much cheaper, too.
I will say during Christmas their toy selection is incredible- for e.g., a Hot Wheels set at Target would be 19.99- at Costco it would be 29.99 but would be 6 times bigger and have every bell and whistle you could imagine. Again, really only a good idea if you have a large house!
These are the 2 reasons I have a membership. Also not sure if you have family nearby but my mom and I split one membership so its less than 30/yr that way.
LOVE Costco, have the black card that earns us reward check each year.
Use Costco for diapers and to get my allergy meds for $5.75 instead of 19.99 a 15-pack.
Got DS's swing set there for 1/3rd of what the places by us were charging.
Love their food and selection of kids toys and books.
Their organic milk is MUCH cheaper than Stop & Shop and 3 pounds of bananas are like $1.5 versus 99 A pound at Stop & Shop.
I've been thinking about renewing my membership. I always found milk to be cheaper there and since DS will be on WCM soon that would make a difference. I would buy the two packs of bread and put one in the freezer.
I always liked that they had a big selection of organic foods. You can buy their meat and seafood and divide it up in the freezer and it's a good deal.
I wouldn't buy veggies there because we'd waste them, but fruits maybe. DS can go through a lot of fruit.
I might renew my membership just for DS' birthday party. LOL
We don't get there often as it's not super convenient, but we have a membership anyway. Not sure we're saving money. We keep the membership for certain items we really like, and for "special occasion" type needs. We consistently buy:
baby wipes. The Kirkland wipes are THE BEST WIPES. I don't like to use others now.
Napkins--I like the nice ones, not those thin tissue cheapies that dissolve into nothing.
Kitchen trash bags.
I got hooked on this Chicago mix popcorn that is horrible for us but now we can't stop buying it.
Other than that, we usually OVERspend on random specialty items, but it's kind of fun to go see what they have since we don't get there often. They have some interesting products. I do like it if we have parties--can get specialty deli, bakery, etc.
I don't think their prices are necessarily that great. I'd price compare if you want to seriously save money. For example, pasta on sale at the regular store can be cheaper or the same as the multi-pack at Costco.
They actually have decent, cheap pizza if you want a take-out dinner.
I've found decent deals on kids' clothing several times. I also think the housewares type stuff can be good. I got a really nice down blanket, too.
Add me to the I love Costco camp. I do agree with most of the negatives posted but they are not enough for me to not love Costco. I don't think that Costco would replace Target. BFing didn't work out for us so getting formula at Costco when DS was small was a huge savings for us. Now I go every 6-8 weeks. I always get paper towels, toilet paper, tissues, dishwasher detergent and Clorox wipes there. Beyond that it rotates what we are looking for. DS has been in a cheese phase and they have the big bags of mini baby belles for like $9, where as the grocery store is $4.50 for 1/4 the number of cheeses.
When we host large gtgs (DS birthday party, Thanksgiving, etc.) I always go. They have great deals on most things we need.
They also usually carry Carters for LOs and I love that. DS's whole wardrobe comes from Costco usually. For under $100 I can get 10-12 Carters outfits, enough for the season.
TTC#2 October 2011. June 2012 diagnosed with mild PCOS and both tubes blocked.
10/1/12 miracle BFP 11/12/12 missed m/c (9w2d), baby stopped growing at 7 weeks
1/16/13 BFP, EDD 9/27/13, m/c 1/19/13
2/12/13 BFP, EDD 10/25/13 Please stick little one
A stowaway on board!
If you are currently buying health and beauty brand name products at Target I'd suggest looking online for some sites that give you sale and coupon deals. When the brand you use is really cheap you can usually print multiple coupons and stock up.
Costco definitely won't replace Target for your smaller items, especially if you're particular.
I'm not too picky - I get my shampoo/conditioner there (Kirkland brand), whatever face wash is on sale, and Oil of Olay lotions. Makeup and what not, I try elsewhere.
We buy ALL our toilet paper, cleaning products, laundry and dish detergent there. The prices are great and I'm not running to the store every few weeks for more. That alone is enough to make me happy.
For diapers, we prefer pampers, so those are being bought on Amazon. Everyone I know says that once you're in size 4, Huggies are just as good as Pampers, and I've heard great things about Kirkland diapers for larger kiddos.
And the staples that our house can't live with out. Booze, meat, milk, and produce. And yes, in that order. You really can't beat their prices on those items.
Yeah, you definitely can't be picky about brands. That's a big downside to CostCo. But, in diaper wipes, paper products, water, sodas, and other household items (e.g., handsoap soap, ziplock bags, dishwasher detergent), it has made membership worth it for us. And, we've gotten some great meat there at good prices - but, you have to buy it in bulk so, for us, it's usually for parties, or we have to make sure we have enough freezer room. The other key - besides not being picky about brands - is stay out of the middle aisles! It's where they have the fun stuff - clothes for DS, books, toys, outdoor stuff. You can get great deals but it's usually not stuff I would have thought we needed if I wasn't in my CostCo haze of shopping! Basically, I'm usually proud of myself when I escape a shopping trip having spent less than $200.
Oh, and for booze - my husband does all the booze shopping and he says Total Wine is definitely cheaper; not by much, but enough that he goes there for beer and wine instead.
we love it, but i'm not sure I actually save money. As a PP said, I end up buying stuff I probably wouldn't otherwise (although I do love that stuff). Here's what we buy there - some of these are one-time purchases, others are monthly purchases:
- our dyson vacuum
- electronics
- bread (freeze 1 loaf) and sandwich rounds
- wine sometimes
- cheese
- chicken
- fish
- paper towel
- toilet paper
- bottled water
- laundry detergent
- dishwasher detergent
- dog food
- cat food
- some produce: this weekend I got asparagus and Brussels sprouts - we just have to eat a lot of them before they go bad
- hummus (and other dips if needed)
- frozen prepared food: pizza, veggie sausage, veggie burgers, bags of mixed berries, etc
- olive oil
- canned tuna
- some toiletries
- some baby clothes
Love love LOVE Costco! I totally disagree about not having healthy items. It's the complete opposite--tons of organic products at amazing prices. Organic chicken and beef, fresh organic spinach and carrots, frozen organic corn, mixed veggies, peas. I could go on forever. I've saved so much money on organic versus Whole Foods and even Meijer.
Another perk for me is all the natural foods and those with very few ingredients--pouches, dried fruits, 100% juice popsicles--seriously, I buy everything from Costco. And around Christmas the toy selection is the best.
We max out our benefits by using the Costco AMEX which gives you 2% cash back. You can only use debit cards unless you have their AMEX.
Can't believe no one mentioned COSTCO GAS!
I love hitting Costco Gas stations when we do our trips off Long Island.
Things we buy that are MUCH cheaper there:
Egg whites (Those are like $4 at the grocery store. At Costco you get 6 cartons for $9)
Produce is MUCH cheaper
Coffee
Freeze dried fruit (no sugar etc) for my 2 YO
Hot dogs
Lunch Meat
Some frozen food: fish, pizza
Special K breakfast sandwiches
Etc, etc. There are plenty of things I won't buy anywhere else.
I also wanted to ditto this and add that while other mentioned diapers, the Target brand is actually cheaper.
I didn't read the responses.
When our twins were born we joined BJ's. We had to feed them premade similac sensitive the whole first yr b/c they refused the powdered. For that reason alone plus diapers & wipes it was totally worth it and then we shopped there regularly for all the other stuff. Not a ton for food if it was at all perishable or took up a lot of space, but certain things. If you have extra freezer space, it can be great for that type of thing and for paper goods if you have the space to store them.
We moved to a different place where there was no BJs and joined Costco b/c everyone always insisted it was better but it was far from our last house. I never went back after the first time. They didn't carry the brands of things that we like/use (in particular diapers, we are pampers users & they only carried huggies & their own brand, but there were also a number of other things that they didn't have that BJs had that we preferred, certain brands of toiletries, etc).
So, we didn't renew when it expired. To me, if you're not a brand loyalist on the things you'd be there or they carry your brands, it can be good. It is also convenient b/c you have extras on hand when you run out of things for quite some time. But to answer your question (as others probably did), no you will not have the brand selection like at target in any way shape or form.
We are on a work plan so we actually don't have to pay for our membership, but absolutely would if we needed to. We are just a family of 3 and absolutely LOVE Costco. We buy most things from there and stock our freezer.
Food Items - Chicken breasts, hamburger meat, hot links, chicken nuggets, cheese, bread, soy milk, peanut butter, trail mix, fruit snacks, gold fish crackers, tri tip, cuties, apples
Other - Toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, paper towels, ziploc bags, garbage bags, diapers, wipes, clothes, vitamins, razors, qtips, stamps
That's all the things that come to mind. We also do a lot of holiday shopping there as well - like sheets, towels, blankets, toys, books...
DD 12.2010
I hate Costco. DH loves it. I would have cancelled our membership years ago, but he won't let me.
I have a small house and a small family. I don't need massive quantities of anything.
They change brands pretty frequently, so even if you are accustomed to getting your favorite brand in bulk, you might go for your monthly stock-up only to find out they now carry something else.
We love Costco, but I'm not sure we really save a lot of money there. I agree with those saying they actually have quite a bit of healthy food there - lots of organic meats, fresh fish/seafood, organic produce, dairy, etc. And they are VERY picky about what they carry in their store (for any Costco fans I highly recommend watching the show Costco Craze that they often show on CNBC). What we buy there:
Coffee
Organic Milk
Organic Chicken breasts
Organic ground beef
Apples
Berries
Spinach
Applesauce
Tortillaland uncooked tortillas (these are the BEST)
Pasta (filled and dried)
Pasta sauce
Soups (They carry the Pacific brands organic tomato soup)
Dave's Killer Bread
Crackers
Real maple syrup (way cheaper than the store)
Dog food
Toilet Paper
Paper towels
I've also bought Lululemon knock offs, Hudson jeans, and several great dresses. They carry great items each season - really good beach towels/umbrellas/chairs, amazing toys at Christmas, deals on books. We even actually bought a deep freezer there to house all of our Costco purchases.
We found the best price on a camera and laptop at costco a few years ago. So instead of paying the non-member price, we got the yearly membership, which definitely was cheaper in this case. Since Costco isn't very convenient for us, we only really went there when we had parties. It was good for an occassion like that. But we did not renew our membership, especially since they don't carry Pampers.
They do have a really nice bakery and some good deals on non-food items, but it wouldn't be worth the trip for us or the membership. And since we eat a lot of fresh food or produce, most of the bulk stuff wouldn't end up being a good deal. And we definitely can't go through a bag of 8 heads of lettuce or something like that before it went bad. When I have older kids who eat more, it would probably be worth it.
I also end up spending money on crap I don't need when I go there!
___________________________________________________________________________
Trying for #1 since May 2010 l DX ~ Unexplained Infertility June 2011
IUI #1&2 = BFN; IUI #3 = BFP, m/c @ 6 weeks
November '11 ~ IVF#1 ~ ER 11/18 (29R, 17F) ~ 5dt of one beautiful blast on 11/23 = BFP!!
Beta #1 9dp5dt = 116, P4 = 28 ~ Beta #2 13dp5dt = 700 ~ Beta #3 20dp5dt = 9500, P4 = 26
1st u/s 12/27 - hb of 156!! EDD 8.10.12
**TEAM GREEN!**
Sweet baby boy born 8.18.12
Trying for #2
FET #1 - October '13 - c/p l FET #2 - December '13 - cancelled
l FET #2.2 - 1.30.14 - BFN
~ More testing - hysteroscopy, endometrial biopsy & more b/w - all normal / negative~
Surprise BFP while waiting on FET #3 ~ beta #1 500; beta #2 1600; first u/s 4/3 - measuring 5w5d, no hb yet!; 2nd u/s 4/10 - hb 132, measuring 6w6d - EDD 11.29.14
**TEAM GREEN!**
Beautiful baby girl born 11.24.14
Excellent point on insurance!
We have our cars and home insured through them. A lot of firms are abandoning LI due to hurricane season but not Ameriprise.
Meh. For me Costco is just ok. We have a membership because we get the dog food there (the dog food is way better than commercial dog food and it's a great price.) Other than that we rarely shop at costco. The meat is great quality but expensive. They have produce and everything grocery but you have to buy in such large quantities.
The cakes are excellent. We got DD's cake their both for her christening and birthday and it was yummy and I think it was like 14.95 and it fed close to 50 people.
My IL's love costco and shop their weekly. But they buy a lot of frozen items at costco. They have a lot of frozen prepared meals at costco and appetizers for parties and stuff. Those are pretty cheap but I rarely buy that stuff.
I've heard from people that the prices for diapers are great at costco but we cloth diaper so I don't know.
Another added costco bonus is that they take everything back. Our dyson vacuum broke within 9 months and they took it back. I didn't need the receipt because they had the information on my account.
You can't beat the price of Halloween costumes and toys around the holidays.