Whether to join Costco? Advice please!

mummytothomas

Hello all,

I was just looking for advice on joining Costco, whether it's financially worth it.

I can get a membership through work for £25 a year and just wondered how the product quality/prices compare to the supermarkets?

We're a young family of three and aside from food I'd be buying toys, baby products such as nappies (if they sell them!), and general bits for my sons upcoming 1st birthday!

Althoigh I live 20 miles away from the nearest one (Milton Keynes) if i joined I'd plan to go every couple of months and bulk buy.

Any advice on whether Costco is any good/worth it for me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

leandygandy

I also live 20 miles from the MK costco and have a membership.

They do sell nappies, not the same amount of variety as a supermarket though. If memory serves me correctly, last time I was in there they stocked Pampers Baby Dry and Pampers New Baby - no good for us as we are an Active Fit family - but the prices weren't that competitive when compared to the two big packs for £16 my local Sainsburys has been doing recently.

Baby wipes are a steal - I bought a box of 12 packs of Johnsons wipes and I think it came to approx 50p per pack. They also sell the Simple ones and some other brands.

Our biggest saving is £2 per large bag of Catsan. This alone over the year offsets the cost of the membership.

My MIL has a second card and buys 5L of Comfort at a time. As she uses one of these per week (don't ask!) she is saving massive amounts compared to supermarket shopping.

On my last visit I bought 1600 PG Tips pyramid bags for £18. Being married to a tea fiend who will not entertain the thought of any other brand, this is also a huge saving.

I buy the boxes of 48 Walkers crisps for hubby's packed lunches, I can't remember how much they are but they're the best deal I've found anywhere.

Not everything is cheap at costco though, so you have to have a good idea of how much things would cost in the supermarket before you go.

Hope that helps!

leandygandy

In fact, I am planning to go to Costco some time next week - so if you want to pm me a list of things you'd be likely to buy I can check the prices for you?

bylromarha

Why not take a trip there and ask if you can have a preview visit? You won't be able to buy anything, but they'll let you in for a look round.

Ring to check they still offer them before you set off though - mine was over a year ago!

yazzine

You would have to bulk buy any way as they sell mainly in bulk, what will make a difference is the amount you get through if you are planning on going only every few months.

BUT if you took people with you it should also help get your costs back or even if you split goods with them.

Quality wise they are very good - however things can be on offer elsewhere cheaper you just need to be aware of this.

Personally I love looking at the toys before christmass but would never buy - would wait for the sales or offer at tesco / sainsbury / asda or even see what comes up on the lidl and aldi websites.

Wipes are cheap when on offer, as are many household items.

IT all comes down to what you want to buy and how much you want to spend on each item (thats why we have such a range of difference between mse members who choose to buy from one place over another).

leandygandy wrote: »

In fact, I am planning to go to Costco some time next week - so if you want to pm me a list of things you'd be likely to buy I can check the prices for you?

This is a good idea if you don't want to go down yourself, you can then sit in comfort and compare what you would normally have paid to what you may now pay.

HTH

dasophster

I think it really depends; we did used to be costco members but our local branch was so carp it just wasn't worth continuing to be members-we used to use them mainly for things like big packs of 12 1 litre fruit juices, big packs of tins of tuna; and nappies and wipes and most times when we visited they had absolutely none of the fruit juices in the store at all,nor the tuna and other tins we liked to buy and the nappies didn't turn out to be all that good value considering offers in supermarkets. We also liked the fruit and veg but again many of the things we liked to buy were never available when we went-necessitating another trip to another supermarket. Also with things like the giant boxes of laundry detergent and giant bottles of fabric conditioner-these sometimes seem like a great idea but they are rarely cheaper than buying smaller sizes in the supermarket, particularly if the smaller sizes are on offer and you use money off coupons. For example I have recently been able to get that amount of comfort (5l) for £1.75 in total-its true it is in several little bottles but still. They did have some nice stuff at costco that you can't really get elsewhere such as big packs of 3m scotchguard microfibre cloths for not much more than the cost for 1 in the supermarket but they weren't really good enough to keep us going there IYKWIM? I'd personally go along with someone who is a member and take a look. xx

billywhizz

Have a look through this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1603897

Just in Toilet Roll and 5600ml Bottles of sparkling water we save well over the £25 a year. Nappies and wipes are not cheaper than supermarket own brands, but the quality of meat and veg is much better than a lot of the supermarket stuff.

Darren_G

The basic membership is well worth having for most people who are eligible.

As a family of 5, we get through lots of consumables, and there are some items that are as cheap on a regular basis as most supermarket deals (large tubs Lurpak spreadable were as low as £3.99 last year but even now only around the £4.99 mark, 4X2litre milk under £4). I wait for deals on things like branded dishwasher tabs and stock up - they come around fairly regularly. My nearest store is more or less on my way home from work, so I pop in quite often. As they also have a hot food counter, it is sometimes cheaper to buy a cooked chicken there than to buy and cook one - and they are much larger than the supermarket equivalent!

Some items are not such great value, but are easy enough to spot. I usually have a 'cost per unit' - eg, per toilet roll or per box of cereal - in my head or on a list when I go in so any impulse buys are considered ones.

julietiff

We are members and upgraded our membership this year.
2 four pints milk are only £1.69, we buy lots of meat in bulk
and divide into portions. 1.2 kg grade A frozen chicken breasts
are about £11.30 ish- we divide that up too, no salt or water
added and everything is excellent quality.

Lifeforms

As a whole combined family we occasionally go, maybe once, twice a year. With all of us wanting items, it does seem to cover savings as well as the yearly cost. But some things we buy there are more because we prefer them, even though we could get them cheaper. Like the toilet roll, and kitchen roll especially.

SnowBelle_2

We are members of Costco Cardiff and I love it!
Even though it is a fair way from us we always combine it with visits to the family so go roughly once every couple of months.
Our next visit is due March 15th as there are loads of good things in this months coupon book.
There is a website called 'addicted to costco' which is run by an American girl who lives here, she posts the coupon book pdf for UK offers as well.
I have a look at the booklet and do a basic comparison with mysupermarket.
But remember Costco does add the VAT as well after but it is clearly marked on the price labels.
Personally we find that there is always plenty for us to buy....loaf cakes which I cut up and freeze
Milk...I freeze
Blocks of cheese,wraps,pitta breads and part bake rolls are a steal.
washing stuff
and Mushrooms! as we seem to go through loads in this house.