There is a Sam's Club near me and I shop there quite often. My town has had a Sam's Club for almost ten years and it is one of the best stores they ever built in the area. I don't know if I can even calculate how much I've saved over the years. I've been able to stock up on groceries by buying in bulk and it really does wonders for my grocery bill. They have everything from bath and body to cat liter in the store and they are always adding new products. It's great because the prices are often better than what I would pay at many of the stores in the area. I don't know if I was too excited at the beginning to buy items in larger quantities but I've gotten used to it. I don't have a Costco close to me but there is one that is about an hour away. I would be curious to see what they have in stock and see how it compares to Sam's Club. Do any of you have memberships to stores like Costco or Sam's Club? Do you feel it's worth they money that you spent for a membership?
There aren't any near me so I'm not a member. I would try it out if there was one though. Id love to save money buying certain staples in bulk. Plus I heard they give great vision discounts. My parents have a membership and they like it.
I think they are great for families and also for small businesses as they can buy in bulk and budget. For single people they aren't really cost effective membership wise, but I know friends that have membership so if you need a particular item on special then they can get it for you. Clubs, churches and schools benefit and makes running events affordable especially tailgates and fairs so they are very useful.
As a single parent, I don't fell like buying mass quantities of items would save me money. 5 pounds of rice lasts me a month, so I don't need 50 pounds of rice. If I had a large family, I would definitely join a warehouse club.
Cosco is great for large families and small business. They are not great for smaller families or individuals. The whole savings process at Cosco has to do with buying in such large quantities. It really is set up for small business. My parents had a Cosco card for a while but gave it up after a while because they just weren't buying enough there to make it worth it. If you go there regularly for most of your major shopping for several people, it is going to be worth it. Cosco also has a lot of other thing besides food, so you can get things like office supplies, books, DVDs, even clothes sometimes depending on what they have. You might want to visit the store and check out what they have and then evaluate whether you think a membership is something that will benefit you.
Funny that you should mention this one, we actually just went to Costco yesterday . I feel like overall they have a better selection of things than Sams Club, though I haven't been in a Sam's Club in *ages* so I'm not sure how the prices stack up. I also like that Costco treats their employees well. We don't get very often, but when we do we stock up massively and I feel like it saves us a lot of money- the family living with us is small, but we go with my grandmom as well and split things up between our houses, so it works out for everyone.
Our nearest Costco is 1-1/2 hours up the road but we go there about every 6 weeks because the savings on our pharmacy items more than pay for our gas and lunch. We do buy in bulk for our two households, a bale of this, a barrel of that, and it saves us money over the long term. We do buy all of our meats there and pack it in our icebox for the trip home. The meat isn't much less expensive but it is much better quality than that of the local supermarkets. We can't chew the locally furnished meats.
We have been members of Sam's Club for the past few years and I really like it. I have a bunch of items I buy on a regular basis and then I pick up random things when I'm shopping as well. My favorite thing about the store is their bakery. They are so inexpensive when it comes to cupcakes and birthday cakes. With having 4 kids that means a lot to us. I also love to shop in bulk with our large family and this store allows me to do this and save money too. Danyel
Sams club is good for what it is meant for. Wholesale prices on quality items. A lot of mom and pop convenience stores and restaurants go there to fill in the gaps where they can't have delivery trucks bring in the products. I enjoy the once a month household shopping In the grocery and meat section I buy bulk meats and then take them home and portion them out for the month. One pork loin will normally yield around 30 boneless pork chops for around $25.00. Up till mid summer the cost was around $15.00, but all meat prices everywhere went up by July.
