Costco - is it worth it for the average family?

Lizbetty

Hi! My husband has just gone self employed and for the meantime, we're brassic... we have 2 kids, and the food bill is bound to get even higher when the youngest starts weaning in 7 weeks time!! I wondered about joining Costco, but we're so skint I daren't just join up in case we find it's cheaper in Lidls, Aldi, etc, for the stuff we tend to buy.

We have a breadmaker so bulk buying flour would be good, same with pasta and rice and tinned tomatoes, and cartons of pure orange, etc. Stationery stuff would be useful, and we need a shed (for child related paraphenalia and storing recycling stuff!), I understand they sell those cheap, lol!

Has anyone with the same sort of set up family wise (2 adults 2 kids kind of household!) found that joining has saved them money? All comments welcomed!

Thanks, Lucy

mclaren_2

costco is a cash and carry - not for genral household shopping. If you buy in bulk (like 60 loo rolls, or 10ltrs of sauce or huge gallon drums of oil) then yes, but if not, then i wouldnt bother. Cost of £25 to join aswell.....

cheap for some items, but not for everything - tesco when you buy in moderation are prob cheaper

Harrietxxx

Hi,

We have belonged for about 3 years now but I wouldn't say that I do the bulk of my shopping there. I get a few bits that are cheaper in bulk and they do send books of special offer coupons sometimes so you can stock up on toilet rolls and kitchen towel etc but I find it better to use Tesco or Asda and make use of as many money off coupons as I can. I try to get about half off any shopping I do in Tesco by using coupons.

Could you club together with a friend to join and share the cost, My MIL has a card on our membership. If you do it through your husband then I suppose it would be tax deductible and he could maybe claim back the VAT.

And remember you can't pay be credit card, only debit card or cash or cheque?

Try to go with someone who is already a member and see what you think. If you are near me then I will take you, pm me your location if you like. oops just noticed your location, nowhere near me, sorry.

HTH

babyangel10

Hell no-don't waste your hard earned £25 on their joining fee!

Stick with Asda,Tesco etc(if you use them now?) because Costco is way dearer than them IMO. The wash powder and cat food ain't bad priced, but most single item stuff is cheaper elsewhere - unless like mclaren says you buy in bulk A LOT. Don't get me wrong, there is some great stuff in there, but it's not competitively priced. If there wasn't a membership fee then I'd say yes, but £25 is way too much IMO.

I'm sure I read somewhere that they do day passes for those who want a nosey at the prices prior to joining - can anyone confirm this?

Each to their own of course, but it's a no from me - but if you can get a day pass then at least you can see for yourself.

I only go in for the free coffee and samples now - my card expired last year, but I can still go in for freebies!

mclaren_2

If you really want to - join Makro - just as cheap and costs nothing to join

ZootHornRollo

we use costco for bulk purchases too. They do great offers on toilet and kitchen rolls in their discount 'passports'. we also buy most of our petfood there - we have 2 dogs and 3 cats so its worthwhile for us to buy in a months supply at a time. they sometimes have some bargains in their clothing section - but most of the stuff is hideous!!! i suppose their best money saving feature is that by the time you have wandered round the shop you don't need to buy your dinner as you have eaten so much of their free samples on the way round!!! lol!!!

TokyoJoe

I would say it is woth joining although you do have to be prepared to buy fairly large quantities. The passport offers ( 2 for 1 etc can often save you the joining fee in one go ) . We saved the joining fee this year buying 4 car tyres which were at least £50 cheaper than the next offer. We also tend to buy a years worth of kitchen rolls , hankies, washing powder etc when they have the offers on . The other great thing about Costco is that you can take back pretty much any electrical item within 3 years if it goes wrong without a receipt ( they have your purchases recorded on the membership card) . They also tend to have special offers on for odd items that tend to be good quality and price. Oh and asa real money saving on Sat / Sun they give free food samples and you can pretty much feed the whole family if you visit all the stalls.

wyebird

We joined originally because we wanted to buy a Kyak :rolleyes:
They do have really good offers on thing like that from time to time and, as other posters have said, bulk purchases on things like kitchen roll. Also odd food and drink bargains that you have to look out for..paid £1.97 for 12 bottles of appeltize the other month and 89p for 12 boxes of Ainsley Harriot soup ( good for student daughter).
Why don't you ring them up and ask if you can have a look around? They gave me a leaflet about an open evening in Bristol where people could come and preview and see if they want to join so I'm sure that they do it elsewhere.

Sui_Generis

Don't breadmakers make only a 1lb loaf at a time? Far better having a big bake fill the oven and then freeze the loaves until you need them.

Sui_Generis

wyebird wrote: »

Why don't you ring them up and ask if you can have a look around? They gave me a leaflet about an open evening in Bristol where people could come and preview and see if they want to join so I'm sure that they do it elsewhere.

You can go in at any time just report in on arrival and they'll give you a pass. That's what I did and decided it wasn't worth it for me as I couldn't really buy in the sort of quantities that would make it worthwhile.

phatbear

Every year I wonder if its worth re-joining and every year I come up with the same answer which is yes, myself and my good lady both buy our tyres there for our cars and to date I havent been able to get anywhere near CostCo's prices on michellins, so the money saved on them pays for the membership, i also recently popped in there on the way to buy a new lcd from a local electrial shop and found the one i wanted £200 cheaper, of course this was a fluke cos it had a tiny scratch on the surround so therefore they knocked £200 off the price, of course this was unusual but i kinda see it as another £200 saved.


all the best

the bear