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I just want to reiterate - you don't need to buy huge quantities at Costco. My husband and I now live in a 1400 sf house with almost no storage - certainly without a pantry or anything. It's just the two of us and we shop at Costco all the time.
The largest things I buy are a 78 oz container of coconut oil, 18 ct eggs or large spice bottles (cinnamon, salt, pepper, chili powder...the things we use in quantity) and while they last a long time, they don't take up that much more room than a regular sized container. You certainly don't need to buy cases of mayo or anything. Maybe that's how these stores used to do it, but now most food things are packaged in a reasonable size. At most, something might come in a double pack (like ketchup) where you have to store one of the two bottles.
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My parents kept their Sam's membership after we moved out--it was worth the savings on gas, until my mom left her then-job for one that let her work remotely, and until my dad got a job in Boston. We still get giant packages of razor blades, allergy meds, toilet paper, cumin, oatmeal, etc from there and parcel them out between us (my mom, my sister and I).
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I do have the Target card & get the 5% off. It's a sweet deal.
But - with the Costco card - we do get a percentage off using their AMEX card. But I also get a percentage off on my Chase Visa & sometimes it's 5% on groceries, etc. So it's almost a wash. Plus there is the hassle factor. A Costco run can eat up a big portion of an afternoon, since I don't go in for just one thing.
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I don't shop at Costco or any of those places. My friends make fun of me, but I absolutely hate the whole concept.
Many years ago, (I was pg with my son who is turning 28), we joined Price Club, which I think turned into BJ's or one of those places. We ended up buying tons of stuff we didn't need, like giant bags of pistachio nuts. I think I went there 3 times, as DH was the one enamored of the idea.
I buy everything online, except groceries. I enjoy going to my local grocery store, which is fairly small and has almost everything I need. I do the rest at Trader Joe's and small local farms. We use our Amex for everything. In fact, I used Amex points to buy my family room furniture from Crate and Barrel when we moved into this house.
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I've never been to Costco but have heard good things. It was always a long drive from where we were living so just not worth checking out.
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We don't have a Costco here. We do have a Sams Club. I've never bought a membership though. Sometimes I'd go there with a friend who has a membership and buy a few things with her card.
Now, my workplace has a Sams Club Card that employees can borrow for personal shopping. Have to pay in cash though. I go periodically to buy a few select items that I can't find cheaper elsewhere.
At Sams Club you don't have to be a member to use the optical store or the pharmacy. I sometimes buy contacts there.
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We have a Sam's membership. (The basic one). Mostly use it for paper, razor blades, OTC meds, paper products stuff like that, and gas. It does save us a bit of money throughout the year. We don't have a Cosco's near us. (Or a BJ's for that matter).
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I used to have a membership at Sams - we do not have a Costco in our town. I found that I went there for only a few items that I felt were really good quality, etc. like some of the fruits and some of the meat. I found that if I shop the grocery stores in town and look for deals, I get what I want at a good economical price and I also get what I want, i.e. if I want organic low salt broth, I can get that and sometimes the Sams choices were too limited so that I would not be able to get low salt or something like that. It is just my husband and myself too so we don't really need large quantities of items.
