This morning I looked out my hotel window and was amazed to see SNOW on the ground! I never thought of Nashville as being “north,” but I guess when you live in Florida everywhere is north.
Besides a storm delay and getting lost trying to find the hotel, my trip so far has been relatively uneventful. The highlight was getting stuck between “Random 1″ and “Random 2″ on the airplane, two great guys who kept me entertained the entire flight with new ideas for saving money & investing. I have a feeling I haven’t heard the end of either of those two.
I am so excited to go to Blissdom today I can hardly stand it, (so wish me luck!), but I got up early this morning thinking about a question from a reader a few days ago, wondering whether I ever shop at the club warehouse stores.
Before I started couponing, I used to shop regularly at Sam’s Club and Costco and think I was saving money by buying in bulk. I’d go about once a month and “stock up” on all the things we liked (and more than a few things that just looked good) and by the time I made it to the checkout line, my cart was full and my total was rarely less than $300.
The first time I visited Sam’s after using coupons for a while, I saw things in a whole new light. I was stunned to realize that most of their prices are much, much higher than the prices I can get on items by using coupons at my local grocery store.
For example, a 6 pack of Progresso soup is $8.50 at Sam’s club, which is $1.25 a can. At Publix, that same soup is around $2.25 a can. Obviously, without coupons, Sam’s has the better price. However, as you know, with coupon shopping the goal is always to buy things at their lowest possible price, which means I don’t buy Progresso soup until it is BOGO (making it $1.13 a can) and I have a coupon, making it $0.63 a can with a $0.50/1 coupon, half of the Sam’s Club price.
Still don’t believe me?
The next time you are at Sam’s or Costco or BJ’s, I encourage you to pick a product, calculate the per-item cost, and then quickly figure out what the same product would cost on BOGO sale paired with a coupon. If you are still a club shopper holdout, you’ll be amazed. (And if you are already a couponer, you probably don’t need any convincing.)
But that is not to say that I NEVER shop at Sam’s or Costco. I do. I usually go about once every 4-6 months, because there are still a few items I buy there that I haven’t been able to find cheaper anywhere else.
1. Flour
I love to bake so I buy the 50 pound bag for around $6.00. Flour rarely goes on sale at the grocery store, and even a good sale price at the grocery store can’t compare to $0.12 a pound. In case you are wondering, yes that is a LOT of flour.
2. Blue Cheese
Husband and I both adore blue cheese. A giant bucket sells for around $8.
3. Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese
Similarly, a giant tub of parmesan cheese is around $8 as well. This is such a great staple to have on hand!
4. Dog Food
Dog food rarely goes on sale and when it does, it is usually the small 5 pound bags. A 50 pound bag of store-brand premium dog food at the warehouse clubs is around $16.
5. Vanilla
Because I bake, I go through a lot of vanilla, which rarely goes on sale. At around $6, a giant bottle at the warehouse store is cheaper than a tiny bottle at the grocery store.
6. Frozen Pre-Cooked Shrimp
This does go on sale occasionally at Publix, but I prefer the quality and size of the warehouse frozen shrimp.
7. Fresh Produce
I don’t make a special trip just for produce, but if I am there I will generally check out the produce section to see if there are any good deals. Not everything is cheaper, but there are usually a few things that are priced very well and the quality is usually outstanding.
8. Heavy Cream
This never seems to go on sale and it is half the price at the warehouse stores than at the grocery store.
9. Milk
Again, I won’t make a special trip just for milk, but because it is a full $1 or more less than the grocery store price, I will generally pick up a gallon of milk if I am there.
10. Furniture and Electronics
If we are making a major purchase, we always check out Sam’s Club and Costco. Their online stores have a huge selection and shipping is usually included.
Here is a list of things that are almost never cheaper at the warehouse stores:
1. Cereal
2. Shampoo & Conditioner
3. Razors
4. Toothpaste
5. Canned Goods
6. Dishwasher Detergent
7. Cereal Bars
8. Soda
9. Juice
10. Chips
Of course, when factoring in the cost, you also need to consider the cost of membership. If you get a free membership through work (as we do with our Costco membership), then it is a no-brainer. However, to justify paying for a membership you need to really consider whether the savings will make up for the cost of joining.
For my family, even though we don’t shop at the warehouse stores as regularly as we used to, we have still found it to be worth keeping the membership.
Happy Shopping!
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Laura @ Frugal Follies January 27, 2011 at 6:44 pm
I hadn’t belonged to a warehouse club for years until last October, when I had back-to-back dinner parties for over 50 people and bought some of the food there. Here are some things I find cheaper there:
- milk (until ALDI showed up to town, this was by far the cheapest)
- yeast (I bought 2 1-lb. packages. I keep the open one in the freezer. I use it twice a week at least for pizza and challah, and I still have 1.5 lb left)
- kosher chicken (much cheaper than the kosher supermarket)
And that’s about it! Though I use flour a lot, I don’t really want to buy 50 lb at a time, and the smaller packages were, per pound, about the same as Walmart (or ALDI now).
– Laura from Frugal Follies
Sylvia January 28, 2011 at 6:03 am
This is my first time to visit your website, after reading a quote from you on allyou magazine, and I couldn’t have visited at a more perfect time. I am new to couponing and had been wondering the past few days about exactly this topic – warehouse vs. coupons! In fact, I was seriously thinking about doing a spreadsheet to compare prices. Thank you for generously sharing your expertise and your tips!
P.S. As much as I love to bake, I don’t think I would ever buy a 50lb bag of flour, unless I have a bakeshop. I hope you are storing it in the freezer!
Crystal L. (Crafting & Rambling) January 31, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Very interesting. I have found that our Jif peanut butter (the only kind I’ll get) is about the best price at Costco, even more if I wait for their coupon to come out…which is what I always do. Starting to get worried however…they’d better bring out that coupon SOON! lol
There are other things that I prefer to get there, but I find that I don’t go crazy there. Things have to be a good price, or the only place that I know to get them at.
I find myself scouring the Rite Aid / Walgreen ads a little more thoroughly since reading your blog…thinking up possibilities for cheaper bills.
Keep up the great work – you’re an inspiration!
tiffany January 31, 2011 at 11:41 pm
Where do you store all the flour? I want to see pictures!
And ditto on the parm cheese. We buy the huge bags of parm, shredded cheddar, mozz cheese and string cheese at Costco. Yes, we get strange looks, because when we go, we pretty much buy buckets of cheese and cat food.
Melainie February 2, 2011 at 9:42 pm
Good post. I think warehouse clubs are for the most part overrated. I had a membership to Sam’s and after a year I realized we weren’t saving enough for the cost of membership.
Cindy May 13, 2011 at 7:45 pm
For us, one of the best reasons for joining Costco is their gas. We don’t have to go out of our way — it’s literally on the way home from most of the places we generally go and within a few miles of our house. It’s consistently cheaper than every other station around by at least several cents. With two minivans (another story), we easily go through at least one tank each a week. Figure that’s about 38.5 gallons (if they’re each bone dry), for a total of just over 2,000 gallons per year. If we were to save just 3 cents per gallon (and I think it’s generally more), that totals $60 without buying anything else. So that alone is more than worth it. And, we also have an AmEx card through Costco, and they automatically charge our membership to it each year. Doing it that way, we don’t pay a separate fee for the AmEx. And, while we really are trying to cut credit out of our lives for the most part, we also understand the importance of having one for emergency situations.
Joey August 19, 2011 at 10:35 am
One thing you can’t get at the grocery story is gasoline. A Sam’s membership lets you buy gas about .20 cheaper than the name brand stations. This alone is worth the membership if you drive much.
Andrea Henke September 26, 2011 at 1:29 am
This is very true. I’m thinking of letting my Sam’s Club membership lapse as I can use a guest pass if I want to occassionally go, my MIL is a member at Costco, and I rarely go to either. As far as gas goes, I know that Sam’s Club gives you the membership discount if you use a Walmart/Sam’s Club gift card to buy gas, so you don’t need a membership for that. I’m not sure if Costco does the same, but you’d need to buy a Costco gift card, which may be hard to do without a membership.
Melissa Torres October 28, 2011 at 4:25 am
FYI BJs has their own store coupons you can pick up at the door, coupon books (once monthly) that get sent to you or you can pick them up at the service desk, plus they accept Manufacturer coupons. Since it’s a multiple pack you can also use the coupons where you need to buy multiple items.