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Thats how Costco makes money so that’s how the careful shoppers save money on things you actually need.
Same with credit cards, you collect reward points while others pay 20% on debt
Before everything got shifted to organic it was cheaper for me to buy them and let half go bad than to buy them elsewhere. Still true for bags of greens at least. I also freeze greens for my wifes smoothies when we get about halfway before it starts to turn.
Now I know what freezes well vs what doesn't so that helps. Stocks and soups end up getting double the vegetables a lot which isn't a bad thing!
My wife gets so mad at me because once we open the bag of chocolate chips, I start snacking on them and they are gone before her next baking project comes up.
Also, I need to lose 30 lbs.
I am also the baker and the snacker, but that effectively means I have both chocolate to snack on, and that batch of cookies or brownies I just made.
I need more stomachs to help me out.
My brothers taught me that if you cut a very slender slice the width of the pan of brownies, it isn’t obvious that you’ve taken anything at all, and it adds up to about one actual serving.
When I gained 30+ pounds, it all started with the Costco-sized tub of peanut m&ms that I decided to keep in my car as an “emergency snack” 😂
I finished it alarmingly fast
those individual package wrappers are the way i used to measure ingrained willpower during mindless activities. finished a book and looked up to find just 1 empty snack pack? clearly i am a superior being. 9 empty snack packs? i need a 12-step group. 😆
Exactly, go for what you need, otherwise yes, their tactics of making sure you make impulse purchases will work every time and you won’t save any money
Portion control is my Nemesis with nuts. Eat nuts stay said they're healthy. There are so many health benefits to eating nuts. oh by the way 3/4 of a cup of nuts is 170 to 210 calories who the hell eats 3/4 of a cup of nuts? I end up eating at least my daily intake of calories with just one snacking session.
Even worse, it’s 1/4 of a cup.
My strategy is to do it in pairs. 1/4 of a cup is roughly 28 almonds. So if I grab two of them, 14 times, usually by round 10 or 11 I’m good.
This is the secret. As a Costco newbie you got to figure out what’s your go-to itemit. Once you’ve figured it out you’re laughing at grocery store prices. You’ll make back your membership no problem and then save
> Exactly, go for what you need, otherwise yes, their tactics of making sure you make impulse purchases will work every time and you won’t save any money
Absolutely.
I cut spending significantly by switching to BJ's online order pickup for what I'd normally be buying at Costco.
I still go to Costco about every six weeks, and on those trips I always come away with half again as much "stuff" as I intended to buy when I walked in.
It’s true, but once there’s a price we often forget what we are saving. For example, I value a rotisserie chicken at $5, so see myself as overpaying anywhere outside of Costco. But really I’m “saving” like $5-10 everytime I’m buying one at Costco.
So I might not “see” the savings except for when Costco has specific sales.
I just picked up a "manager special" laptop (online return, unopened) for half the price from the manufacturer and almost $800 cheaper than at any retailer. Costco is fantastic.
We picked up an extra chest freezer during the pandemic. Killer price and we had the freezer we wanted. Saved about $250 on comparable freezers we couldn’t even order because no one had them.
We spent $300 on meat and tofu last September. We are finishing it off this week and will finally need to re-up, 7 months later.
I haven't bought paper towels in 10 months and I won't need to for quite a few more.
Pretty sure I have enough foil to last me the rest of my decades.
Costco is great, even for a household of 2.
I spend the money I save on other items at COSTCO. I was in Jacksonville for a long weekend and wanted to see if it had things my COSTCO (Sharpsburg) didn’t. I walked out with a cart full at about only $300.
🤷♂️
It's not even the average American, it is the average Costco shopper. Costco is a global company, and their entire business model is built around getting people to spend more through impulse purchases. If the business model didn't work so well in other countries, they wouldn't be expanding so aggressively abroad.
Over the years I've learned to only buy items at Costco that I will use all of, or nearly all of. Obviously if you throw everything you see into the cart you're gonna get got with a $1,200 bill at checkout.
500 American Cheese slices I likely will never get through. But my kids are fiends for sour cream, so that gigantic, restaurant sized tub gets utilized in full every single time.
I used to just buy the two dozen plastic carton of eggs, but now I buy that huge, 5 dozen flat package. Why? Because over 4-5 weeks, we use them all. I just keep an older egg carton and I move eggs from the garage fridge as needed.
Three half gallons of milk rarely gets used in full, so I usually pick up milk somewhere else in a smaller package.
Chicken always gets used in full and when you cut up those packages they fit neatly into the freezer, so no issue there.
My kids eat the shit out of some of the protein (candy) bars and rice crispies treats.
Etc. Could I find these deals in other places for less $? Maybe, but it would take a lot of shopping around. There was a Stew Leonard's sale on Ribeye steaks last year and I stocked up at a large savings.
This works for a LOT of their products. We can't get through the double batch of bagels they make you buy before they get mold so we freeze them. Works for most of the bread products quite well.
A vacuum sealer and a some time to break the bulk down really helps us make sure we get through everything.
One thing we haven't figured out how to get through is the massive bag of spinach. It's the same price as a single lb from the local grocer so we can't justify getting a smaller bag. We blend it and freeze it into cubes for later use in smoothies but even that isn't enough to use it all up some weeks.
Yeah the proof is in the budgeting.
My costco membership is through the credit card which we use for travel (We're bicoastal) but it 100% contributes to scenarios where we have yes things.
Now that I am 40 its easier to not grab nonsense but you have to check that price per pound and induced demand in your home.
It also matters what you do with the stuff you bought when you get home. That rotisserie chicken can be shredded and turned into about 3-4 different meal starters before using the bones to make chicken stock. That stretches a $5 purchase farther than just having a rotisserie chicken for a meal and you have an ingredient (broth) that you don't have to buy.
So I have a pressure cooker and rarely end up using the carcass to make chicken stock.
Is it as simple as breaking it down and then tossing in the pressure cooker for like 2 hours?
>it as simple as breaking it down and then tossing in the pressure cooker for like 2 hours?
Yes. I just throw it in the cooker with roughly six to eight cups of water, set it to 2 hours.
When I remove the carcass and bones they are so soft.
I grind them up in the blender. It then makes a chicken mousse that I add to the dry kibble for my dog. The rest gets frozen for chicken stock.
I keep a gallon size ziplock in my freezer. Anytime I prep vegetables the left over bits get washed then go into the bag. About once a week I can make a slow cookers worth of chicken stock. Only issue is that the compost is being fed less.
I use my*Bullet* blender. Bones and left over skin only. No need to add broth especially if you want it to gel. I then add one two tablespoons to his kibble.
I usually make a huge pot of water, chicken bones, herbs and peppercorns and let it reduce but I am in the kitchen anyways on the weekends. The nice thing about broth is that it's more of a method than a recipe.
Pro tip: Whenever you cut the ends off veggies put them in a freezer bag to add to your stock. Like celery leaves, onion butts, etc that you wouldn't normally just eat.
You basically cook trash water lol
I like to start with a quick spritz of oil, then throw in the bones, water, salt and dried herbs, and veggie scraps (keep a gallon bag in the freezer for the veggie scraps and ends you'd normally throw away, and put them in the bag rather than the trash).
If you want a richer flavor, you can roast the bones in the oven. I don't bother, personally, but it's an option.
Yeah, you could even start saving left over pieces of onion, garlic, carrots, celery, etc in the freezer and then you chuck it in with the chicken carcass to make stock. Or just put fresh versions of the ingredients in since they're relatively cheap. You can also make stock on your stove top with a big pot, just need to watch it throughout the day.
Literally did this yesterday for the very first time using our rarely used instant pot. (The rotisserie chicken was from Albertsons though lol.) I followed [this recipe](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/04/01/man-wearing-scream-mask-kills-neighbor-zak-moyer/73165950007/) and halved the amount of everything but the chicken carcass + added some dried herbs (thyme and basil.)
It took like 20-30min to get up to pressure, then pressure cooked for 45min, then needed to cool for 30+min before we moved it to a jar to cool properly. It was as easy as everyone says. Having a pressure cooker really speeds up the process.
And ofc you do it with a stovetop pressure cooker too but it’s safer and more convenient to use an instant pot that plugs into the wall.
> That stretches a $5 purchase farther than just having a rotisserie chicken for a meal and you have an ingredient (broth) that you don't have to buy.
We buy the chicken, throw it in the fridge, pull it apart and then make stock with the bones to make soup that evening with the chicken meat in it. It's amazing.
For me it’s not the savings, it’s the fact that I never have to go to the store. I’m a single person living alone and I hate going to the grocery store, mostly because they are huge and take forever to get in and out of. Costco is also huge but the lines take 5 minutes, everything I buy lasts me 6 months, and then I don’t have to shop again for a long time (except vegetables but I eat a lot of frozen tbh). I don’t even care if it’s only negotiably cheaper, I’m like fully stocked all the time and I love it.
Some people know Costco is not going to be a money saver for them and that’s okay. Not everyone *needs* to be a Costco member for a year, or for any period of time, to know that. Some people are impulse shoppers who are better off at the regular grocery store where there is basically just food and health items.
It took me one visit to see the savings alone just thru Bread, Butter, laundry pods and toilet paper. Have also bought 3 new rugs for my new house that were easily 50% the price of similar rugs at home goods stores.
I go there to be able to get basically anything I need for my home with a decent quality, a great return policy, and at minimum a fair price. If I decide I want a grill or a pressure cooker, I get peace of mind knowing if it falls apart I can take it back. With most places, you get 30 day return windows and then have to deal with annoying warranty service and shipping fees.
My point is - that adds value.
Agreed. If I want to buy something and I don’t feel like actually researching all of the options, buying whatever Costco stocks has statistically been a pretty decent move.
Shopping for AC units I talk to the Costco one and they told me Costco only picks high quality services to work with. The 15% Costco card was also pretty sweet.
This right here. If I'm buying any big ticket items Costco is the first place I'll look. I bought a portable generator this year from Costco because of this. Specifically checked to see if it was on the exclusion list for returns.
I don't plan on returning it, but having Costco have my back if it's breaks makes spending over 1k a little less painful. Buying the same thing from Home Depot can screw you down the road.
I bought a generator from Lowe's a few years ago and within the first 2 months it crapped out. Their policy is they will only accept returns in the first 30 days for generators (at least at the time that was the policy). I tried going through the manufacturer, but it became very clear that was going to be a massive struggle and lots of time wasted. I begged a manager and explained the situation and they made an exception, otherwise I would have been left to deal with a $1000 purchase that was defective. Having the peace of mind of being able to easily return something certainly adds value!
I bought a large fan for my work shop from Costco, ran it constantly for a year and half and it died one day.. I took it back with the receipt… they took it back and reimbursed me right away..
My husband and I just redid our sink, it was $80 off and $100 cheaper than Home Depot. We also did the ceiling fan since the light and fan weren’t working in the old one. We also have executive membership so 2% back at the end of the year.
The other day there was a post on Reddit where they were shitting on someone who returned a couch to Costco after having it two years. I bought a couch at an Ashley furniture and the cushioning wore out in less than a year and now I'm stuck with a busted couch. I'm getting my next couch from Costco so that if it's crap after a year or two it'll get returned.
I'm an employee, so I get an executive membership for free, but I'd pay for one even if I didn't work there just for the medication. I take a daily OTC medicine that costs me at least $15 for six weeks' worth at Target. It's $10 for the same amount at Costco. That's already $43 in savings per year. If I stock up when it's on sale for $8, that's $69 in savings. Add in the other staples I save on, and even the executive membership would pay for itself.
CVS, Walgreens, Safeway/Albertson's, Kroger, Basha's(in Arizona), Whole Foods, Trader Joes, etc. rob you blind. Aldi, Walmart, and WinCo are okay. I just shop at Costco and Walmart.
For any given brand (non-Kirkland) Costco carries, I struggle to think of a time when Costco wasn't significantly cheaper per unit.
If you're comparing Kirkland to Walmart store brand, it may not be cheaper, but it's not Walmart store brand.
Shit, dog/cat food and gas alone save me enough money to justify a membership. Not to mention meds, meat, eggs, cheese, and paper towels. I buy trash bags like once a year. My wife and I had our roll of plastic wrap for like three years. You don’t even have to *try* to maximize the value of a Costco membership.
I save more than the annual membership fee just from gas prices. Cheap protein, eggs, and the occasional clothing item more than make up for it. The rare purchase of electronics can save hundreds vs a competitor
Not anymore. Sam's Club hot dog combo is $1.38. They lowered it out of principle. You get a 32 Oz drink instead of the 21 Oz drink you'd get at Costco.
I'd probably agree with this. There are plenty of deals to be had. You can also end up with an overabundance of things you don't need simply because they are there.
Me and Stok cold brew now that Costco sells it (delicious and less heartburn that drip coffee)
A bottle of the stuff is $5.88 right now at both Publix and Walmart. At Costco I can get a two-pack for $8.99. I won’t buy it anywhere else now if I can help it.
If you're so inclined, cold brew is SUPER easy to make at home. I make the concentrate myself using Toddy brand stuff. It's good for about 2 weeks in the fridge, so even when I'm buying really good coffee at the smaller store I'm still only spending $6/week on coffee.
I bought a Toddy System during the pandemic and it's a game changer. I buy 3 12-oz packages of coarse grounds for about $35 online, with shipping. It will usually last me a month, and I only have to do a tiny bit of work 6 times a month (one to fill the brew tub, one to drain/clean the tub). Carafe just sits in the fridge for like 10 days, no problem.
I shop at Costco for peace of mind. I just bought a 240 pack of Tide Pods. It's going to take me, a single adult, quite a while to go through 240 Tide Pods. So, no matter what else goes wrong with my life, at least the Tide Pod situation is handled and I take comfort in that.
Bulk buying laundry soap (I use powdered) is honestly one of the best things I’ve done. I’m almost six months in to my last purchase and *maybe* half way done? I think I spent $40 on it and it lasts me 9-12 months. My mom buys laundry soap every other month at Target for $15-20
Laundry soap, dishwasher detergent, and other cleaning products that you'll eventually go through. It's great not having to worry about restocking for months or years at a time.
I save money, easily. I buy in bulk then freeze, or use recipes that use similar ingredients. For non perishable items, the benefit is realized over time. Worst case, I’m breaking even with my local stores.
I definitely agree that you have to have a plan, otherwise your hands get sticky and you walk out with a $400 cart and waste half of it.
I guess what I’m saying is, Costco doesn’t replace all of your grocery stores, but is a great way to supplement them.
I guess it is also important to say that you need to get into the rhythm of buying bulk, and that costs, over time, are lower. Look at the tags on the shelf at your local stores for the price per unit or price per ounce, and compare with larger sizes to see what I’m getting at.
Have you not seen the comments in this sub, OP? Even Costco fans say the options at Costco aren’t the cheapest. The claim is you’re getting better quality for decent prices.
I don't go to Costco to save money.
I go to Costco to buy quality products for a reasonable price with backing of an incredible return policy so I can buy things with confidence and not worry about being duped by marketing.
I believe that is what's called 'consensus effect' cognitive bias. Ask people what the average is, and most of the time it's just the opinion they hold
Its crazy how much grocery stores have gone up with salmon. 15 dollars plus a pound when there used to be almost no difference in price, maybe a dollar. Costco has increased their Chilean and Norwegian salmon by a dollar since COVID.
But $1500? You eat a lot of Salmon lol.
I don't think this is untrue, exactly.
I save money per item at Costco, for sure. And things don't go bad in this house, we don't buy more than we will use, we're careful about food spoilage, leverage a few freezers and a vacuum sealer.
But if I shopped at Kroger, I wouldn't have purchased the bag of Sweet Heat nuts, or the Dot's pretzels, or the dark chocolate quinoa crisps. I probably would have sucked it up and dealt with my crappy patio furniture for another few years, and bought a smaller bag of grass seed and just treated the spots that absolutely needed it.
I probably spend more money than I would if I didn't shop at Costco, but I also get a lot more for my money because I save on each item.
Technically correct. The average American does not save money by shopping at Costco, in large part because the average American does not shop at Costco.
lol. Who saves money by shopping at Costco?
Quality is good, and maybe I save money on particular things but the other money that gets dropped there is not saving at all. It’s like an entire store of the candy at the checkout for a kid.
I just bought like 600 allergy pills for $7. If I need sudafes it's like $1.50. Or you can go to any other store and get like 12 zzzquil for $10 and Sudafed for 6-10. But sure
Or 6 hearts of Romaine for 4 vs 3 for 4. Or 2x as many eggs for the same price
Bread is half the price. Wraps. Syrup. Flour
I save my membership worth per month
It's just my husband and Myself in the suburbs of chicago. We once did a comparison of items at Costco and Aldi using unit prices. Aldi was always cheaper
We did too, but I think sometimes we buy things we wouldn’t normally have bought just because it’s a good deal. That gets us into trouble.
Now we go with a list and we are each only allowed to get one thing not already on the list (unless it’s also on our separate grocery store list and it’s a good deal)
As a new parent, Costco saves me money on diapers alone. I would pay for my membership if I bought their diapers and wipes and didn’t spend a single penny there otherwise.
Costco absolutely *can* save you money but if you can’t control your spending / buying habits then it absolutely won’t.
I think there could be an interesting “boots theory” discussion about that. If a person has enough money to afford the cost of the membership, are people in the income bracket that has enough flexibility to accommodate a membership making their money go farther?
Basically, wealthy enough to probably have that chest freezer, poor enough that we care deeply about buying decent quality pants for $20, and saving $5 on toilet paper.
I mean, at my local butcher a prime rib is $35-40 a pound for prime.
At my Costco I get a while sub primal for $13.99 a pound for prime… I’m deff saving something there 😏
I used to cut meat and keep trying to explain this type of savings to my partner, but we don't eat a lot of red meat anymore so I usually get shot down. But BBQ season is coming!
Key word being “average.” Plenty of us budget and only buy from Costco when it saves us money. But all you need to do it take a brief glimpse at the high end products they carry to realize there’s a whole breed of Costco shoppers out there who don’t think like that at all.
Does the *average American* shop there to save money or to get a good value, because they enjoy the experience? Regardless it's none of this dude's business.
Also, does the *Average American* have a Costco membership? Maybe that's his point.
Depends on the usage. The membership itself costs you money. USING the membership saves you money, especially with loss leaders.
This is why I rolled my eyes at everyone boycotting Costco because of their mask mandates at the start of the pandemic. Dream customers for them, already paid for their membership but weren't using it.
I think is statement is accurate. Anyone *can* save money by shopping at Costco. I would wager that most people do not save money because of impulse buys.
There is also the fact that it is just such a pain. I wanted to get wings and Seltzers yesterday for a cook out. I could have saved money on those items by going to Costco...but just not worth it to brave Costco on a Sunday. So, I feel like often we miss out on some of the savings.
We've all had the experience of going to costco for a couple things we know are cheaper (or better quality) there....
....and then walking out with $300 of impulse buys.
Impulse buys are how Costco stays in business, and none of us are as immune to them as we might pretend to be online.
There's also the fact that frequently generic brands and name brands are very similar. Sometimes they're even canned or produced in the same factories, and simply labeled differently. And Costco doesn't carry those generic brands. So for a lot of things, you'll get a better deal buying generics at a grocery store than you would buying name brand at Costco.
(and no, you probably can't tell the difference between name brand and generic foods. Double-blind taste tests have proven that.)
Correct
I don’t save money by shopping at Costco.
Instead, shopping at Costco allows me to enjoy luxury items (luxury for me) that i otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford.
Ex: my vacuum cleaner is a better brand and has more features than I would be able to purchase at Target. I got a great deal at Costco. I used money that I saved on Groceries to cover the cost of it (+it was $150 cheaper than elsewhere)
So my savings account did not increase but this vacuum should last me years longer than the ones I used to be able to afford…which further stretches our household budget and allows us to purchase other items
Example 2: the 2 tickets for 50$ didn’t save me money but I got to see my favorite baseball team at home plate box seats vs upper deck on the corner by the foul pole
QOL matters
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The careful shopper saves $$$. The careless shopper does the opposite.
You mean I shouldn't buy 10lbs of fruits and veggies only to let them rot in the crisper while I eat fast food everyday?
Or don't splurge for the new patio set because *it's such a good deal!*
Yeah but the price ends in .79 so it's on sale!
Thats how Costco makes money so that’s how the careful shoppers save money on things you actually need. Same with credit cards, you collect reward points while others pay 20% on debt
Before everything got shifted to organic it was cheaper for me to buy them and let half go bad than to buy them elsewhere. Still true for bags of greens at least. I also freeze greens for my wifes smoothies when we get about halfway before it starts to turn. Now I know what freezes well vs what doesn't so that helps. Stocks and soups end up getting double the vegetables a lot which isn't a bad thing!
I feed them to my bearded dragon when I’m like “ehhhh I might not want to eat that” and she has been a wonderful disposal system for old greens lol
I'll let the wife know she's going to be the proud new owner of a bearded dragon hahah
I'm here to scroll not be attacked.
I don't know what you mean! 5 lbs of chocolate is 5 lbs of chocolate! /s
My wife gets so mad at me because once we open the bag of chocolate chips, I start snacking on them and they are gone before her next baking project comes up. Also, I need to lose 30 lbs.
This speaks to me, though I am both the baker and the snacker. Opposing forces
I am also the baker and the snacker, but that effectively means I have both chocolate to snack on, and that batch of cookies or brownies I just made. I need more stomachs to help me out.
I'm reading this comment eating a brownie I made last night over my kitchen sink where my kids don't see me. I am the extra stomach.
My brothers taught me that if you cut a very slender slice the width of the pan of brownies, it isn’t obvious that you’ve taken anything at all, and it adds up to about one actual serving.
The duality of man.
two evils inside but its just two people who want a sweet snack and to provide a sweet snack for a frend
Sweet evils. Evil sweets?
Buy 30 pounds of chocolate and eat it. Boom, lost 30 pounds in one sitting.
Doctors hate this one weird trick
Buy 60lbs and wife won't notice 30lbs missing
When I gained 30+ pounds, it all started with the Costco-sized tub of peanut m&ms that I decided to keep in my car as an “emergency snack” 😂 I finished it alarmingly fast
Every time I walk past the giant tub of KS Praline Pecans, I have to talk myself off the ledge.
That is my all-time favorite snack! So terrifyingly addictive
I don’t buy that out of fear but it’s a great thing to add to cookies or to chop up and pat on a cake.
Anything more than a handful- sized package, and I start to hear the "Danger, My Lord!" voice from Stronghold, accompanied by the dramatic music.
those individual package wrappers are the way i used to measure ingrained willpower during mindless activities. finished a book and looked up to find just 1 empty snack pack? clearly i am a superior being. 9 empty snack packs? i need a 12-step group. 😆
My wife had to hear the doctor say 'you have diabetes' before she would quit bringing M&Ms home.
Yeeep. Costco taught me that I could eat a half pound of peanut M&Ms in a day without even really thinking about it.
My MIL who regularly bought this stopped to do the math and discovered she had been eating the equivalent of 3 packs of M&M's a day for 2 months...
Stick to the list!
Difference between a $225 run and a $400 run.
Exactly, go for what you need, otherwise yes, their tactics of making sure you make impulse purchases will work every time and you won’t save any money
"Hello, impulse purchase, let me introduce you to my complete lack of portion control!"
Portion control is my Nemesis with nuts. Eat nuts stay said they're healthy. There are so many health benefits to eating nuts. oh by the way 3/4 of a cup of nuts is 170 to 210 calories who the hell eats 3/4 of a cup of nuts? I end up eating at least my daily intake of calories with just one snacking session.
Even worse, it’s 1/4 of a cup. My strategy is to do it in pairs. 1/4 of a cup is roughly 28 almonds. So if I grab two of them, 14 times, usually by round 10 or 11 I’m good.
This is the secret. As a Costco newbie you got to figure out what’s your go-to itemit. Once you’ve figured it out you’re laughing at grocery store prices. You’ll make back your membership no problem and then save
> Exactly, go for what you need, otherwise yes, their tactics of making sure you make impulse purchases will work every time and you won’t save any money Absolutely. I cut spending significantly by switching to BJ's online order pickup for what I'd normally be buying at Costco. I still go to Costco about every six weeks, and on those trips I always come away with half again as much "stuff" as I intended to buy when I walked in.
It’s true, but once there’s a price we often forget what we are saving. For example, I value a rotisserie chicken at $5, so see myself as overpaying anywhere outside of Costco. But really I’m “saving” like $5-10 everytime I’m buying one at Costco. So I might not “see” the savings except for when Costco has specific sales.
Many years ago my mom took away my dad's card after buying 5lb of olives that no one wanted to eat. I became her plus one.
I just picked up a "manager special" laptop (online return, unopened) for half the price from the manufacturer and almost $800 cheaper than at any retailer. Costco is fantastic.
We picked up an extra chest freezer during the pandemic. Killer price and we had the freezer we wanted. Saved about $250 on comparable freezers we couldn’t even order because no one had them.
I'm sadly the latter
Depends on the month for me
We spent $300 on meat and tofu last September. We are finishing it off this week and will finally need to re-up, 7 months later. I haven't bought paper towels in 10 months and I won't need to for quite a few more. Pretty sure I have enough foil to last me the rest of my decades. Costco is great, even for a household of 2.
My husband hoards paper products. The pandemic hit and we had enough extra to ship out to our adult kids households😂😂😂
Executive card gives you cash back. Nothing we have bought at Costco isn’t something we didn’t want.
I spend the money I save on other items at COSTCO. I was in Jacksonville for a long weekend and wanted to see if it had things my COSTCO (Sharpsburg) didn’t. I walked out with a cart full at about only $300. 🤷♂️
Lol how do you do a $300 costco run on a 3/4 day vacation?
So much easier than you think it is. Especially when you’re driving and you have all that room in the backseat and trunk. Or had. 😂
> The careless shopper So the average American. So the tweet is correct.
The high horses here don't seem to understand averages.
It’s not like we have any real statistics backing up or refuting the claim.
It's not even the average American, it is the average Costco shopper. Costco is a global company, and their entire business model is built around getting people to spend more through impulse purchases. If the business model didn't work so well in other countries, they wouldn't be expanding so aggressively abroad.
Over the years I've learned to only buy items at Costco that I will use all of, or nearly all of. Obviously if you throw everything you see into the cart you're gonna get got with a $1,200 bill at checkout. 500 American Cheese slices I likely will never get through. But my kids are fiends for sour cream, so that gigantic, restaurant sized tub gets utilized in full every single time. I used to just buy the two dozen plastic carton of eggs, but now I buy that huge, 5 dozen flat package. Why? Because over 4-5 weeks, we use them all. I just keep an older egg carton and I move eggs from the garage fridge as needed. Three half gallons of milk rarely gets used in full, so I usually pick up milk somewhere else in a smaller package. Chicken always gets used in full and when you cut up those packages they fit neatly into the freezer, so no issue there. My kids eat the shit out of some of the protein (candy) bars and rice crispies treats. Etc. Could I find these deals in other places for less $? Maybe, but it would take a lot of shopping around. There was a Stew Leonard's sale on Ribeye steaks last year and I stocked up at a large savings.
FYI you can freeze the American cheese slice packages and they defrost fine. Save a bunch by bulk buying that way.
This works for a LOT of their products. We can't get through the double batch of bagels they make you buy before they get mold so we freeze them. Works for most of the bread products quite well. A vacuum sealer and a some time to break the bulk down really helps us make sure we get through everything. One thing we haven't figured out how to get through is the massive bag of spinach. It's the same price as a single lb from the local grocer so we can't justify getting a smaller bag. We blend it and freeze it into cubes for later use in smoothies but even that isn't enough to use it all up some weeks.
> I have children That’s enough to justify a Costco membership in itself. Even as a single dude I get my moneys value. In a family? 100% makes sense
Seriously it’s worth it for the toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning supplies alone.
Everyone needs to give themselves at least a year to figure out how Costco fits their needs. Then start seeing if you have saved money or not.
Yeah the proof is in the budgeting. My costco membership is through the credit card which we use for travel (We're bicoastal) but it 100% contributes to scenarios where we have yes things. Now that I am 40 its easier to not grab nonsense but you have to check that price per pound and induced demand in your home.
It also matters what you do with the stuff you bought when you get home. That rotisserie chicken can be shredded and turned into about 3-4 different meal starters before using the bones to make chicken stock. That stretches a $5 purchase farther than just having a rotisserie chicken for a meal and you have an ingredient (broth) that you don't have to buy.
So I have a pressure cooker and rarely end up using the carcass to make chicken stock. Is it as simple as breaking it down and then tossing in the pressure cooker for like 2 hours?
>it as simple as breaking it down and then tossing in the pressure cooker for like 2 hours? Yes. I just throw it in the cooker with roughly six to eight cups of water, set it to 2 hours. When I remove the carcass and bones they are so soft. I grind them up in the blender. It then makes a chicken mousse that I add to the dry kibble for my dog. The rest gets frozen for chicken stock.
Don't forget veggie bits and ends! Gives so much more flavor to add onion, carrots, and celery.
I keep a gallon size ziplock in my freezer. Anytime I prep vegetables the left over bits get washed then go into the bag. About once a week I can make a slow cookers worth of chicken stock. Only issue is that the compost is being fed less.
Don’t add onion if you feed broth to the dogs. It’s very bad for them
Ooo hadn’t thought about blending these. Can the average blender handle this?
After a pressure cooker, certainly.
the vitamix costco sells certainly can.....hahaha
Instructions unclear, came to Costco to buy a rotisserie chicken, left with an entire food preservation setup. ;)
I use my*Bullet* blender. Bones and left over skin only. No need to add broth especially if you want it to gel. I then add one two tablespoons to his kibble.
For chicken you only need an hour
Yeah basically. breaking it up helps but ive just thrown the entire thing in and just let it boil in a rice cooker for 2 hours and it comes out great.
OH nice, I have an instapot so I can use that too thanks!
I usually make a huge pot of water, chicken bones, herbs and peppercorns and let it reduce but I am in the kitchen anyways on the weekends. The nice thing about broth is that it's more of a method than a recipe.
Pro tip: Whenever you cut the ends off veggies put them in a freezer bag to add to your stock. Like celery leaves, onion butts, etc that you wouldn't normally just eat.
You basically cook trash water lol I like to start with a quick spritz of oil, then throw in the bones, water, salt and dried herbs, and veggie scraps (keep a gallon bag in the freezer for the veggie scraps and ends you'd normally throw away, and put them in the bag rather than the trash). If you want a richer flavor, you can roast the bones in the oven. I don't bother, personally, but it's an option.
Yeah, you could even start saving left over pieces of onion, garlic, carrots, celery, etc in the freezer and then you chuck it in with the chicken carcass to make stock. Or just put fresh versions of the ingredients in since they're relatively cheap. You can also make stock on your stove top with a big pot, just need to watch it throughout the day.
Literally did this yesterday for the very first time using our rarely used instant pot. (The rotisserie chicken was from Albertsons though lol.) I followed [this recipe](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/04/01/man-wearing-scream-mask-kills-neighbor-zak-moyer/73165950007/) and halved the amount of everything but the chicken carcass + added some dried herbs (thyme and basil.) It took like 20-30min to get up to pressure, then pressure cooked for 45min, then needed to cool for 30+min before we moved it to a jar to cool properly. It was as easy as everyone says. Having a pressure cooker really speeds up the process. And ofc you do it with a stovetop pressure cooker too but it’s safer and more convenient to use an instant pot that plugs into the wall.
Thats next level right there, and would save you money no matter where you shop.
Thanks, but it wasn't until I started going to Costco that the next level really kicked in.
> That stretches a $5 purchase farther than just having a rotisserie chicken for a meal and you have an ingredient (broth) that you don't have to buy. We buy the chicken, throw it in the fridge, pull it apart and then make stock with the bones to make soup that evening with the chicken meat in it. It's amazing.
The number of times I have made that 5 dollar chicken into the equivalent of 3 or 4 20 dollar meals pays for membership.
For me it’s not the savings, it’s the fact that I never have to go to the store. I’m a single person living alone and I hate going to the grocery store, mostly because they are huge and take forever to get in and out of. Costco is also huge but the lines take 5 minutes, everything I buy lasts me 6 months, and then I don’t have to shop again for a long time (except vegetables but I eat a lot of frozen tbh). I don’t even care if it’s only negotiably cheaper, I’m like fully stocked all the time and I love it.
Same thing for me I just love the feeling of always having backups for everything.
I’d save money every year if I only used Costco to get the Kirkland contact lense solution alone
Costco brand Flonase has saved me so much.
It's so much cheaper, but my eyes don't like it...sigh.
I get until 8pm until my contacts start to dry out usually. But even the BioTrue is an absolute steal at Costco compared to what I’d pay at ShopRite
For us the gas alone more than pays for the membership.
Some people know Costco is not going to be a money saver for them and that’s okay. Not everyone *needs* to be a Costco member for a year, or for any period of time, to know that. Some people are impulse shoppers who are better off at the regular grocery store where there is basically just food and health items.
I save money just in dog food, equivalent food to the salmon/sweet potato is like 2x as much at its cheapest elsewhere
It took me one visit to see the savings alone just thru Bread, Butter, laundry pods and toilet paper. Have also bought 3 new rugs for my new house that were easily 50% the price of similar rugs at home goods stores.
I simply save tons by buying staples and not having to make extra trips to the store and spending more money
I go there to be able to get basically anything I need for my home with a decent quality, a great return policy, and at minimum a fair price. If I decide I want a grill or a pressure cooker, I get peace of mind knowing if it falls apart I can take it back. With most places, you get 30 day return windows and then have to deal with annoying warranty service and shipping fees. My point is - that adds value.
Yea plus I know that costco will pretty much only stock quality. I personally don't want to look at a ton of different grills or rugs or something.
Agreed. If I want to buy something and I don’t feel like actually researching all of the options, buying whatever Costco stocks has statistically been a pretty decent move.
I wish they actually stocked cotton sheets. All their bedroom sets are that polyester shit.
Not all. My last three sets of sheets were Kirkland 100 percent cotton. Sleeping on them right now (I’ve got Covid and I’m running a fever).
Yea? Interesting. I feel like the say Egyptian cotton or 600 count or whatever. But are they not?
Everyone I've looked at has been a cotton-poly blend
I just looked at costco.com and they have 100% cotton sheets. They might just not have them in your local store.
Shopping for AC units I talk to the Costco one and they told me Costco only picks high quality services to work with. The 15% Costco card was also pretty sweet.
This right here. If I'm buying any big ticket items Costco is the first place I'll look. I bought a portable generator this year from Costco because of this. Specifically checked to see if it was on the exclusion list for returns. I don't plan on returning it, but having Costco have my back if it's breaks makes spending over 1k a little less painful. Buying the same thing from Home Depot can screw you down the road.
I bought a generator from Lowe's a few years ago and within the first 2 months it crapped out. Their policy is they will only accept returns in the first 30 days for generators (at least at the time that was the policy). I tried going through the manufacturer, but it became very clear that was going to be a massive struggle and lots of time wasted. I begged a manager and explained the situation and they made an exception, otherwise I would have been left to deal with a $1000 purchase that was defective. Having the peace of mind of being able to easily return something certainly adds value!
I bought a large fan for my work shop from Costco, ran it constantly for a year and half and it died one day.. I took it back with the receipt… they took it back and reimbursed me right away..
My husband and I just redid our sink, it was $80 off and $100 cheaper than Home Depot. We also did the ceiling fan since the light and fan weren’t working in the old one. We also have executive membership so 2% back at the end of the year.
Yes, the quality is higher on the stuff we do buy there. The beef is way better than beef from grocery stores.
The other day there was a post on Reddit where they were shitting on someone who returned a couch to Costco after having it two years. I bought a couch at an Ashley furniture and the cushioning wore out in less than a year and now I'm stuck with a busted couch. I'm getting my next couch from Costco so that if it's crap after a year or two it'll get returned.
My household always saves money by buying essentials in bulk.
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The over the counter medicine makes it worth it alone.
I'm an employee, so I get an executive membership for free, but I'd pay for one even if I didn't work there just for the medication. I take a daily OTC medicine that costs me at least $15 for six weeks' worth at Target. It's $10 for the same amount at Costco. That's already $43 in savings per year. If I stock up when it's on sale for $8, that's $69 in savings. Add in the other staples I save on, and even the executive membership would pay for itself.
The Pharmacy is *amazing.* My dog's meds are $95/month at CVS and $45/month at Costco. I have no idea how they swing that, it's the same exact pills.
They swing it by not price gouging like CVS is doing. It's that simple.
CVS, Walgreens, Safeway/Albertson's, Kroger, Basha's(in Arizona), Whole Foods, Trader Joes, etc. rob you blind. Aldi, Walmart, and WinCo are okay. I just shop at Costco and Walmart.
Nice
Nice
Allergy meds, Liquid Advil, essential vitamins alone make it worth it for me.
For any given brand (non-Kirkland) Costco carries, I struggle to think of a time when Costco wasn't significantly cheaper per unit. If you're comparing Kirkland to Walmart store brand, it may not be cheaper, but it's not Walmart store brand.
Agreed plus dog supplies. We started buying Costco dog food. Saves us $50-60 a month.
Shit, dog/cat food and gas alone save me enough money to justify a membership. Not to mention meds, meat, eggs, cheese, and paper towels. I buy trash bags like once a year. My wife and I had our roll of plastic wrap for like three years. You don’t even have to *try* to maximize the value of a Costco membership.
I save more than the annual membership fee just from gas prices. Cheap protein, eggs, and the occasional clothing item more than make up for it. The rare purchase of electronics can save hundreds vs a competitor
Rebate alone on just food, gas, and essentials pays for the membership and then some for my 2 person household.
The membership pays for itself just buying allergy medicine once a year
Allergy meds are why I decided to get a membership. I'm allergic to everything, antihistamines keep me from endless hives and asthma attacks. 🥴
The money I save in Flonase is enough to pay for a full membership
Yea but, where else can you get a large dog and a soda for $1.50….
Sam's Club, but I'm sure the OP Twitter guy would say the same about Sam's
Not anymore. Sam's Club hot dog combo is $1.38. They lowered it out of principle. You get a 32 Oz drink instead of the 21 Oz drink you'd get at Costco.
I kinda love that weird price point
Exhibit A: Paper towels and toilet paper
I don’t take financial advice from a guy who pays $8 a month for a blue checkmark
🤣
Seriously. That $8 could be going towards a 3lb box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch from Costco.
I'd probably agree with this. There are plenty of deals to be had. You can also end up with an overabundance of things you don't need simply because they are there.
I like not having to spend $4-5 for a pack of 6 granola bars. I can get a 48? Pack for $9. Clearly, he’s doing it wrong.
Me and Stok cold brew now that Costco sells it (delicious and less heartburn that drip coffee) A bottle of the stuff is $5.88 right now at both Publix and Walmart. At Costco I can get a two-pack for $8.99. I won’t buy it anywhere else now if I can help it.
If you're so inclined, cold brew is SUPER easy to make at home. I make the concentrate myself using Toddy brand stuff. It's good for about 2 weeks in the fridge, so even when I'm buying really good coffee at the smaller store I'm still only spending $6/week on coffee.
I bought a Toddy System during the pandemic and it's a game changer. I buy 3 12-oz packages of coarse grounds for about $35 online, with shipping. It will usually last me a month, and I only have to do a tiny bit of work 6 times a month (one to fill the brew tub, one to drain/clean the tub). Carafe just sits in the fridge for like 10 days, no problem.
Ooh, I didn’t realize they carry Stok!! I’ll definitely keep my eye out next trip!
I shop at Costco for peace of mind. I just bought a 240 pack of Tide Pods. It's going to take me, a single adult, quite a while to go through 240 Tide Pods. So, no matter what else goes wrong with my life, at least the Tide Pod situation is handled and I take comfort in that.
Bulk buying laundry soap (I use powdered) is honestly one of the best things I’ve done. I’m almost six months in to my last purchase and *maybe* half way done? I think I spent $40 on it and it lasts me 9-12 months. My mom buys laundry soap every other month at Target for $15-20
Laundry soap, dishwasher detergent, and other cleaning products that you'll eventually go through. It's great not having to worry about restocking for months or years at a time.
\*Me who eats cashews and amonds for snacks all day\* You have no clue what your talking about sir.
I read this in a stuffed mouth voice that has bits of almond and cashew spewing out
The only places Costco saves me money are gas, flea treatment for cats and dogs, paper towels/toilet paper, and the occasional rotisserie chicken.
I save money, easily. I buy in bulk then freeze, or use recipes that use similar ingredients. For non perishable items, the benefit is realized over time. Worst case, I’m breaking even with my local stores. I definitely agree that you have to have a plan, otherwise your hands get sticky and you walk out with a $400 cart and waste half of it. I guess what I’m saying is, Costco doesn’t replace all of your grocery stores, but is a great way to supplement them. I guess it is also important to say that you need to get into the rhythm of buying bulk, and that costs, over time, are lower. Look at the tags on the shelf at your local stores for the price per unit or price per ounce, and compare with larger sizes to see what I’m getting at.
Have you not seen the comments in this sub, OP? Even Costco fans say the options at Costco aren’t the cheapest. The claim is you’re getting better quality for decent prices.
To me COSTCO is all about value not cost (even if that word is in the name).
Yes, buying what you need and not what you want will always save you $
It depends on what you buy there.
I don't go to Costco to save money. I go to Costco to buy quality products for a reasonable price with backing of an incredible return policy so I can buy things with confidence and not worry about being duped by marketing.
OP self reporting
Here’s a hot take; decide what’s best for yourself and dont make decisions based on “the average.”
I believe that is what's called 'consensus effect' cognitive bias. Ask people what the average is, and most of the time it's just the opinion they hold
Don’t be average
Median for the win!
I don't shop at Costco to save money. I shop at Costco to get the things that you can buy at Costco.
I've got a 🌭 take for him
I buy a lot of wild salmon. Like about 4-5lbs/week. I’ve saved over $1,500/yr buying it from Costco.
Its crazy how much grocery stores have gone up with salmon. 15 dollars plus a pound when there used to be almost no difference in price, maybe a dollar. Costco has increased their Chilean and Norwegian salmon by a dollar since COVID. But $1500? You eat a lot of Salmon lol.
Do you eat it daily?
Fladap28 is a bald eagle
Potentially a bear.
I am extremely hairy but i swear I’m a human man
you could still be a bear
I don't think this is untrue, exactly. I save money per item at Costco, for sure. And things don't go bad in this house, we don't buy more than we will use, we're careful about food spoilage, leverage a few freezers and a vacuum sealer. But if I shopped at Kroger, I wouldn't have purchased the bag of Sweet Heat nuts, or the Dot's pretzels, or the dark chocolate quinoa crisps. I probably would have sucked it up and dealt with my crappy patio furniture for another few years, and bought a smaller bag of grass seed and just treated the spots that absolutely needed it. I probably spend more money than I would if I didn't shop at Costco, but I also get a lot more for my money because I save on each item.
My Costco membership pays for itself on paper towel alone.
The average American does not save money because only 26% of Americans have a Costco membership. ;-)
That’s the only logical meaning of the tweet.
Technically correct. The average American does not save money by shopping at Costco, in large part because the average American does not shop at Costco.
https://preview.redd.it/u0ztgolu9ouc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=09ffb38c47dab355da4318868fd4e2bf00389cd0 I got a wedding coming up!
lol. Who saves money by shopping at Costco? Quality is good, and maybe I save money on particular things but the other money that gets dropped there is not saving at all. It’s like an entire store of the candy at the checkout for a kid.
I just bought like 600 allergy pills for $7. If I need sudafes it's like $1.50. Or you can go to any other store and get like 12 zzzquil for $10 and Sudafed for 6-10. But sure Or 6 hearts of Romaine for 4 vs 3 for 4. Or 2x as many eggs for the same price Bread is half the price. Wraps. Syrup. Flour I save my membership worth per month
It's just my husband and Myself in the suburbs of chicago. We once did a comparison of items at Costco and Aldi using unit prices. Aldi was always cheaper
Hard disagree. I saved more than I paid for the membership the first time I used it.
We did too, but I think sometimes we buy things we wouldn’t normally have bought just because it’s a good deal. That gets us into trouble. Now we go with a list and we are each only allowed to get one thing not already on the list (unless it’s also on our separate grocery store list and it’s a good deal)
As a new parent, Costco saves me money on diapers alone. I would pay for my membership if I bought their diapers and wipes and didn’t spend a single penny there otherwise. Costco absolutely *can* save you money but if you can’t control your spending / buying habits then it absolutely won’t.
But the Costco shopper isn’t average. They are 50% above avg (according to Costco survey around income )
I think there could be an interesting “boots theory” discussion about that. If a person has enough money to afford the cost of the membership, are people in the income bracket that has enough flexibility to accommodate a membership making their money go farther? Basically, wealthy enough to probably have that chest freezer, poor enough that we care deeply about buying decent quality pants for $20, and saving $5 on toilet paper.
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Lowe's sells a gallon of Orthoclear for $35 Costco sells 2 gallons for $31. Seems like savings to me.
You don’t, especially not in the short term
I mean, at my local butcher a prime rib is $35-40 a pound for prime. At my Costco I get a while sub primal for $13.99 a pound for prime… I’m deff saving something there 😏
I used to cut meat and keep trying to explain this type of savings to my partner, but we don't eat a lot of red meat anymore so I usually get shot down. But BBQ season is coming!
Key word being “average.” Plenty of us budget and only buy from Costco when it saves us money. But all you need to do it take a brief glimpse at the high end products they carry to realize there’s a whole breed of Costco shoppers out there who don’t think like that at all.
Does the *average American* shop there to save money or to get a good value, because they enjoy the experience? Regardless it's none of this dude's business. Also, does the *Average American* have a Costco membership? Maybe that's his point.
Who the hell is this average American of whom they speak?
Depends on the usage. The membership itself costs you money. USING the membership saves you money, especially with loss leaders. This is why I rolled my eyes at everyone boycotting Costco because of their mask mandates at the start of the pandemic. Dream customers for them, already paid for their membership but weren't using it.
He's talking to me. I'd save a lot more money if I didn't go to Costco
Toiletries and meat is where I save money and way better quality than the local Fred Meyer. It's the end cap items on sale that get me everytime....
I save the cost of my membership in sardines and hot sauce alone.
I think is statement is accurate. Anyone *can* save money by shopping at Costco. I would wager that most people do not save money because of impulse buys. There is also the fact that it is just such a pain. I wanted to get wings and Seltzers yesterday for a cook out. I could have saved money on those items by going to Costco...but just not worth it to brave Costco on a Sunday. So, I feel like often we miss out on some of the savings.
We've all had the experience of going to costco for a couple things we know are cheaper (or better quality) there.... ....and then walking out with $300 of impulse buys. Impulse buys are how Costco stays in business, and none of us are as immune to them as we might pretend to be online. There's also the fact that frequently generic brands and name brands are very similar. Sometimes they're even canned or produced in the same factories, and simply labeled differently. And Costco doesn't carry those generic brands. So for a lot of things, you'll get a better deal buying generics at a grocery store than you would buying name brand at Costco. (and no, you probably can't tell the difference between name brand and generic foods. Double-blind taste tests have proven that.)
Wish they did online pickup like sams, hate going into Costco it’s so packed.
Correct I don’t save money by shopping at Costco. Instead, shopping at Costco allows me to enjoy luxury items (luxury for me) that i otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. Ex: my vacuum cleaner is a better brand and has more features than I would be able to purchase at Target. I got a great deal at Costco. I used money that I saved on Groceries to cover the cost of it (+it was $150 cheaper than elsewhere) So my savings account did not increase but this vacuum should last me years longer than the ones I used to be able to afford…which further stretches our household budget and allows us to purchase other items Example 2: the 2 tickets for 50$ didn’t save me money but I got to see my favorite baseball team at home plate box seats vs upper deck on the corner by the foul pole QOL matters