Do you belong to a warehouse club like Costco or BJ's?

[Gailete]

Okay, I got stuck on the terminology of a waste basket, which I grew up as the little thing by desks and things for paper trash, not garbage.

[~bs]

Okay, I got stuck on the terminology of a waste basket, which I grew up as the little thing by desks and things for paper trash, not garbage.

sorry, youre right my terminology is probably wrong. haha

[Gailete]

sorry, youre right my terminology is probably wrong. haha

I've lived in a whole bunch of places and it always means new terminology. College in Canada was the worst. I tried to buy a pair of sneakers once. I had to go through every type of shoe description for sneakers and finally had to give in and ask for running shoes! Whether you ran or not, that was the only thing they called sneakers, tennis shoes, Keds, canvas shoes, etc.

I'm old enough to not get embarassed at asking for explainations and I just couldn't figure out the sense of an electronic wastebasket that you would only be throwing a piece of paper in once in a while!

[Mandy63]

We have a Costco membership and it has saved us a lot of money over the years. With 3 kids is saves time and money to buy some things in bulk.

[Captain Save]

Those clubs are not a good fit for me... I don't need bulk purchasing.. their forte is bulk foods ... and we try to eat fresh produce and unprocessed foods which last time I check ..none of these clubs had a good selection

unfortunately I'm stuck with WHole foods and the likes

[Gailete]

Even though it is just the two of us, I found during the few trips that I got to make to a Sam's club, that so many of the bulk items were not bulk of all the same items, like 36 of the same flavor granola bars, but a box of 3 flavors - 12 bars type of thing and at least one of the flavors we either didn't like or wouldn't be used. I also found that many snack foods were incredibly tempting, but I didn't need to buy that much at a time. And of course, having a teenage step-son asking if we could buy a big box of Rice Krispy treats not knowing that they really can be made at home was the kicker. I think for that one slim moment in time when I told him I could make them, he had great respect for me. My grocery bill went up shopping there. I found it was much more cost effective to search out the specials at the regular grocery stores and stock up on them then especially if I had coupons.

That plus we wasted so much time as we had to check the whole place for bargains whether we needed something or not.

[disneysteve]

Those clubs are not a good fit for me... I don't need bulk purchasing.. their forte is bulk foods

Certainly, the warehouse clubs aren't right for everyone, but I also think the whole "bulk food" thing is a bit of a misconception. These places sell way more than monster packs of M&Ms.

On today's visit, we saved over $12 on my wife's OTC medication.
We saved $2 on a bottle of bourbon.
We saved $2 on dish washing liquid.
Last trip (our first), we also saved a bunch of money on tissues, toilet paper, Brita filters, and a number of other non-food items.

Just in 2 visits, we have already saved about 3 times the cost of membership and much of that savings was on non-food items.

We also went to plan out what we are buying to sponsor a dessert reception at our synagogue in 2 weeks. If we had the synagogue do it for us, it would cost $200. Buying everything ourselves at BJ's will cost us about half that, so we're saving $100 on that (and the food will be better).

The $25 membership fee is looking better and better.

I didn't look today but I want to check their tire prices. My wife's van needs tires soon and I suspect their price will beat the dealer's. I know I can order them online but if I can do nearly as well in person, I'd like that better.

[Gailete]

Sounds like you are getting good deals Steve, and that is great! I have never been a shop till you drop kind of woman. I HATE with a passion shopping for shoes and clothing almost as bad, but the one type of shopping that I have always enjoyed is grocery shopping. I loved it back in the days when I was healthy and felt good to be double couponing, going to 4 different grocery stores in one day, sending in for rebates, the whole thing. I loved always being stcoked ahead with the essentials like shampoo, soap, toothpaste, so I never ran out. Even school supplies were fair game like those spiral bound notebooks. At one point I got an entire box of them for 10 cents apiece. They don't have any expiration date and I am only now at the tail end of that purchase! Those same types of notebooks I noted today were selling at the Goodwill for 49 cents.

I think that was one of my problems with the warehouse club stores. I didn't get the rush of saving oodles like I did via the coupons, loss leaders, and all the rest. Groceries, were one thing that for some years of my life, very difficult to afford, but my shopping got us over the hump. But you HAVE to have groceries. You can get away without a new pair of shoes usually, but you have to feed the family. My ex, a total jerk, never once said a kind word to me about how I worked so hard to save and get groceries on the cheap, etc. I guess he thought you really could by groceries and those others things like Toilet paper, for $25/week. Three weeks after I was out of the house due to the divorce the boys told me he was clipping coupons like crazy! LOL.

[scfr]

My ex, a total jerk, never once said a kind word to me about how I worked so hard to save and get groceries on the cheap, etc. I guess he thought you really could by groceries and those others things like Toilet paper, for $25/week.

I'm sorry to hear that. You deserved to be appreciated for your efforts and the positive impact on the household's financial situation.

[Gailete]

Thank you. I'm out of it now with a husband that appreciates frugality, creativity and all the things the ex wouldn't even acknowledge. I have full control over the family finances and savings/investing. The last year of the marriage to the jerk he wouldn't even let me cash his paycheck for him. His mom would come to where he worked to get it and then deposit it in the bank! I think he was scared I would 'steal' a penny of it. His way of us working together on 'budget' was him showing me what he was doing with the money each week - no input needed from me.

I think that is why it is so hard for me to see some of the young ladies show up here and in their great 'love' for their boyfriends, they are using their own money to help him pay off bills and then they talk about how he doesn't seem to interested is cutting back, etc. I just want to grab them and them the to run as fast as they can away from him. Of course, we also see the reverse. Money issue are huge in families and they can reflect problems in so many other areas of a marriage. I had this silly expectation of what a marriage is and what a husband's and wife's role in it would be and that as a wife I would be working/traveling together on the same path as he. Wasn't like that at all. But it taught me a good lesson. Because I always felt free to talk about the problems I would have women seek me out and tell me all the sadness that was bottled up in them while they looked for some comfort, support and guidance.

Sorry didn't mean to go off topic.

[Gailete]

>>We also went to plan out what we are buying to sponsor a dessert reception at our synagogue in 2 weeks. If we had the synagogue do it for us, it would cost $200. Buying everything ourselves at BJ's will cost us about half that, so we're saving $100 on that (and the food will be better).<<

Steve now that sounds like my kind of get together. I remember someone bringing some miniature cream puffs to a party one day from I think Sam's Club (the only warehouse blub in our area). Don't know if they are Kosher, but boy were they yummy! They come frozen and just need to thaw a bit as they tasted great cold.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

DS on the tires I find Costco the BEST!!! Everyone knows that we are huge costco proponents but we only buy tires from Costco. I don't care that they cost more and usually they are cheaper to boot!

I can prove they are WORTH every penny. DH was driving cross-country 2 years ago. His tire got a nail the day he was supposed to leave. He put it into the trunk with spare and at 10 am was at costco. They didn't have the tire in stock so he said tell me a costco with it in stock along his route. They did. 2 hours later he was eating lunch, having his tire replaced at costco. He waited a couple of hours and bam was on his way to our new life.

Not to mention they credited him for the life on his old tire and have when we bought and all mileage. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE costco. Also along his road trip and ours 2 years ago we filled always at costco, we tended to stay at hotels near costco and it was cheap hotels and gas.

Did I mention this was in another state? They converted us a long time ago.

Also anyone who shops amazon probably does it for convenience not money. Because laundry detergent, paper towels, etc are ALL Cheaper at costco especially if you wait for their 8 week on and off sale prices. Pullups are cheaper per pull up. I price shop hard and I have tracking prices per oz etc and I know costco is always a better deal than even subscribe and save. Now that means going to costco.

But for the savings I'd get a membership and go once a month and still come out ahead of amazon. Now does it beat coupons at grocery store? Usually but depends on where you live and if they double or what stores you have where you live. Where I've lived and that's both coasts and hawaii I've never beaten costco for prices in the grocery stores. I have using CVS about 10 yers ago when they were doing ECBs but since the program is so stingy now it's harder.

Plus gas alone savings pays for our membership. This weekend I bought 2 small trash containers for the bathroom for $19.99. On Amazon same thing is $24.99. Tell me how it's cheaper? It's not. But it probably is nice to click a button and have it delivered. $26.14 for all free and clear on amazon is $14.99 at costco I think. I buy costco brand.

I only say this because so many people shop online and tell me it's cheaper. it's really not but how to argue with people who don't have a handle on money?

[Gailete]

Some things I buy on line and especially at Amazon as I have my business card that gives me reward points so that takes the bill down. I buy stuff on line because some things are just too much to haul around - taking myself to the store, going around, getting home and then getting it in the house again.

I used to love to shop, double coupon, refunds, the whole deal and I did good. Don't have the oomph to do that anymore. Now I need a helper to get groceries, haul them to the car and then haul them to the house. Or I can let the mail lady bring them right to my door!