Does anyone use Costco?

[singinjeannie]

We just got a Costco membership. Does anyone use this store; and if so, what are the real bargains they've encountered?

I'm going to certainly be buying laundry detergent there, as I go through sooooo much laundry detergent.

Anyone know what they have that's a good deal and a decent product?

-Jean

[terry1156]

I shop at Costco - I buy my gas there as it is about 10 cents a gallon cheaper than any other gas station in my area. I usually do my party & BBQ shopping there since I need to get a lot of stuff in a short period of time and their bulk items usually work out cheaper than local grocery stores. Also get my photos printed there and most of my over the counter medicine.

[baselle]

I use Costco too, but I monitor Costco with a price book just like I do any other grocery store. Some surprises for my area: canned tuna and brand name soda are not cheaper at Costco.

The deals: AA and AAA batteries, staples like sugar, tomato paste, chicken and beef stock, aspirin, firelogs, dish and laundry detergent. Clothes sometimes, but you have to really paw to find your size.

Just make sure you keep a price book on Costco, then you really learn the deals.

[singinjeannie]

How do you keep your "price book"? I've never heard of this. Sounds like it'd be a great idea!

-Jean

[baselle]

Jean -
I have Handy Shopper on my Palm Pilot that does it for me. My price book is high end fancy, but the idea is so simple that all you really need is a little notebook and a cheap calculator.

Pick 10 or so items that you go through a lot of. (more if you are ambitious) Write item on the top of the page. Make four columns - name of store, date including the year, price, unit price. Unit price is like price per ounce, price per pound, price per can size, etc. This is big - you don't want to get fooled by packaging.

Then fill in your columns. Use your receipts to start with, but I use the grocery flyers too. If you see in-store specials, write those down too. Its a fair amount of work to start with, but after awhile, you only write down the deals.

Now when you see a price at the grocery, whip out your price book and compare what you see with what you have seen.

FYI - don't limit yourself to groceries. Works for gas, too.

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/990208m.cfm
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/971124a.cfm
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/971013b.cfm (Read this one first - its a classic)

[niki_the_tiger]

Those were interesting articles (thank you for sharing them!). I will have to get a notepad and keep track of all the prices of everything. A price book is a very good idea!

We have one big grocery store and two small ones in the area, and I know some things are cheaper to buy at the small ones, but I never keep track of which ones. This way I could. (One I did recently learn to remember is Hood Chocolate milk... $2.69 at the local store - it comes on "sale" at the big store for $2.99 at the cheapest!)

[baselle]

Remember that you can not only track prices by place, but also by time. Its why writing down any good price and look at the flyers for the things you use is a good twist.

Lots of items cycle on a 6 wk to 3 month basis. With stockpiling, you match your consumption with the sale cycle.