I have managed to go for a year w/o going to Costco...and I have to admit I kinda miss it.

Does anyone think that Costco is something that really helps save money?

and...

Do you prefer Sam's Club over Costco (I live close to both)?

TIA

Hmmm, we dropped COSTCO, but just because we got our Sam's membership for free. DH said I didn't need the temptation of both.

Sometimes I think COSTCO gets in more new prducts than Sam's.

I need to evaluate the savings factor for what I buy there vs. grocery store w/ coupons. My membership expires this month, I know we will renew, and we do buy gas there a lot. Saving a nickel a gallon times my 25 gallon tank, hey every penny helps right now!

There are deals to be had, you just have to know if you will use up the items before they go bad. I do like the meat dept., and Sam's has a good bakery for cakes. My kids only eat like 2 flavors of Pop-Tarts for instance, so it doesn't do me any good to get a variety pack there. You have to know your prices, and right now I haven't been shopping there, money's been tight this summer.

We dont have a Sam's Club just a Costco. We dont shop there all the time but when we have some extra money like this week (dh is working out of town and gets paid travel) then we try to stock up a bit. I like the bigger sizes as they last longer and are a bit cheaper overall cuz you arent having to buy the same things week after week.

we used to belong to sams(we don't have costco here) we quit going after we tracked our spending for 6 months and realized how much money we were blowing there. if there is something we want dh's parents have a membership and we go with them and pay them when we are done but that only happens like once a year i do better with sales a coupons at the regular store.

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Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money.

We live 1 mile from each. We started w/ Sam's, but when Costco opened, they gave us a free membership & we started going there. We strongly prefer Costco (never mind the fact that they are not associated w/ Walmart is a big plus in my book). Just the Rx costs alone save me a lot of money. I don't buy everything there, but we are there nearly every week. And there is just 2 of us - no big family to shop for.

We don't have a Costco or Sam's close, about a hour away. I go to BJ's. I seem to do really well there. they take coupons and they also send you books of coupons every month. I would like to go to sam's to just see what the difference is. I love our new bj's it's clean, not crowded.

We belong to all three, Costco, BJ's and Sam's Club. We get a promo rate thru DH's work. I don't know that I would join all three if we had to pay the full membership fee, definately not Sam's Club. It's the furthest from us and I don't go there all that often. I really like Costco, ours has great produce and meats.

The thing that I also like with Costco and BJ's is that you don't need to use cash or check. At Sam's Club you can still only use cash or check and I don't carry cash with me all that often and definately not checks, so it's not the kind of place for me that I can just kinda run into on the fly.

We belong to Costco. I think they have better meat than the groceries around here. We go everyother week for yogurt, milk, eggs things like that are better deals also their coffee. We have been splitting meat packages with brother and sil, this way we dont spend to much on just one thing! I like their salad selection, and thier cakes are to die for! The only thing I liked at BJs were that they took coupons. You also can save on gas! I just wish their was one just a little closer to me!

Leighann (lee on the old board)

I signed up to Costco after about 4 years of not having it., i use it for milk, bread, eggs and bananas! everything else I find it a waste to buy in bulk and can get cheaper through sales and coupons at Target /Walmart and grocery stores.
I do like to have the card for the big ticket items, digital camers and TV's and gifts .

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We buy things we dont need,
with money we dont have,
in order to impress people
we dont like?
(Ramsey, D)

We have a Sam's Membership. There is a Costco and BJ's in town also, but we don't leave anywhere near all three of them. We use to go about every 2 weeks mainly for milk, eggs, and one of the trips was used for meats and stocking up on toiletries (ie...toilet paper, paper towels, diapers and wipes, etc...) Since I have been seriously using coupons a lot more frequently and watching out for sales, I've noticed I can get about the same price, and even sometimes less, at other places closer to home, like Target, CVS, and Walgreens. And now that I know that our Dollar General takes coupons, there are some really good major deals going on there. This past month, I've been able to stockpile pretty well without going to Sam's at all.