Despite the fact that my visits to warehouse clubs have slowed down to a trickle, shopping at these stores is still a necessity for me. There are two types of items my family still purchases at the warehouse stores to save money:
Items we are brand loyal to
Even though we have become quite good at being able to switch between brands for a lot of the things we use and consume, there are still items that we have not been able to find a suitable replacement for. A perfect example of this is ketchup. My husband loves Heinz ketchup and unfortunately no other brand will do. In the one year that I have been using coupons I have not been able to find a coupon for this product. As a result, I usually have to pay full price for it. Except that now I pay less per ounce than I used to. In the past I would buy a small container at Walmart, now I buy a big tub at Sam’s and just refill the small bottle with it.
Items we consume a lot of
Either my husband or son eat oatmeal for breakfast everyday. As a result we go through lot of it on a monthly basis. Even when I am able to find a good sale at my grocery store I can never stockpile enough to lasts us until the next sale occurs. So a long term savings strategy has been to switch to buying this product at the warehouse store.
Those are the top two reasons my family shops at warehouse clubs. Do you shop at warehouse clubs? if so what kind of items do you usually buy?
We shop at Costco about 1-2 times a month. We go for the 16 count egg 2 packs, lunch meat, cheese slices, cleaning supplies & toilet paper. We pick up occasional meals out of the freezer section too. We just had a delicious chicken & rice w/ veggie meal, and even though our family of 5 didn't finish it, I took leftovers to work for 2 days!
Wipes, Wipes, Wipes! we go through so many at our house, and the Sam’s club ones work nicely for the price. Diapers too, if I need some and there is no good sale going, but I am liking the Walgreens Brand and you can usually find a decent sale to stock up on them. I love the Sam’s diapers – almost as good as Pampers, but WAY more affordable. Paper goods, too, when the stockpiles/sales are not helpful. A case of paper towels for $13 isn’t bad. Oh, adn bottled water. Yes, it’s a luxury item, but we use a lot of it (our water isn’t good) and it’s much cheaper at Sam’s. Finally, batteries. They are way cheaper to buy in bulk and are not something I have found a good coupon for as yet.
Milk, eggs and batteries. I can’t beat the prices on these items anywhere else. There are a few other items I will get, bread prices are pretty good, but those are the staples. Well, unless you count gasoline!
Just wanted to comment on the Heinz ketchup- I am in the same predicament as you! My husband says he’ll divorce me if we ever run out of it in our house! Of course, he’s only joking……I think! 🙂 Anyway, just this week I found an AWESOME deal for it. Do you have a Marsh nearby? If so, you need to hurry over- it is on sale for 2/$5 for the 42 oz bottles. If you purchase $15 worth, you get an instant credit of $4. So I got 6 42 oz bottles of ketchup for $11. If my math is correct, that’s $0.04 an oz. How does that compare to Sams?
At any rate, looks like I don’t need to worry about a divorce for at least a few months now!! lol
LOVE your site! Thanks!
Kelly,
At Sam’s I pay 1 cent per ounce when I buy the huge container. It doesn’t last very long anyways.
I buy milk, bread and eggs at either Costco or Sam’s Club on a pretty regular basis. I haven’t found those three items anywhere chepaer.
I also found that buying diapers at those stores is about 6 cents per diaper and even with sales/coupons/rebates, I’ve never been able to get them lower than 12cents anywhere else!
Mercedes, I’m the same way your DH is – I have to have Heinz ketchup – don’t give me anything else! 🙂 The only time I had a good coupon for Heinz was when they redid their bottle design to better fit in the fridge door. I emailed them because I was having issues opening the bottle – they thanked me for my feedback and sent me a coupon for any size free. I got the huge jug at Wal-Mart (the one that’s $4.99) LOL – hey, the coupon said ANY size. 🙂
We buy ketchup, trash bags, boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced cheese, frozen ravioli, flour and sugar (I bake *a lot*) oh and gas – cheapest in town and we get a 5-cent discount w/our membership.
We shop at Cash & Carry (sometimes called Smart & Final). There's no membership fee, and the prices are generally really good (usually less than Costco).
Paige,
where is this Cash & Carry? I have never heard of that store. Must be out west.
Mercedes
I shop BJ’s and Sam’s for our favorite brand of toilet paper, snack items ( rebag the large amounts in single servings), milk, some frozen vegetables, batteries, greeting cards, tires, trash bags, apples, and some clothing.
We buy our chicken in bulk. I like the chicken that Sam’s has. I tried buying frozen chicken at Publix but it’s isn’t the same. I also buy olive oil, tomato sauce and now salmon patties at Sam’s. I wish they carried Pampers wipes but they don’t and we can’t use huggies wipes on the baby!
We buy Ketchup, downy, trash bags, huge can of nacho cheese, dressing, bread is cheaper at our Sams but I only buy when were there, we also buy our Dog Food Natural Lamb and Rice for $25 for a 40lbs bag thats a great savings compare to Purina One
I do my grocery shopping twice a month and a majority of the budget goes to Sam’s. You can’t beat the deals on milk, eggs, meat, apple juice, wipes, paper goods…I seriously could go on and on!
I also buy a rotisserie chicken there once every two weeks. It is at least a dollar cheaper than the grocery store!
We have a Costco membership, and I like to purchase milk and bread when it’s not on sale at the grocery store. I also get snacks that we go through quickly when I run out of the stockpile, like graham crackers, granola bars, goldfish. We will sometimes also get their turkey wraps or pizza for dinner.
I used to buy toiletries there when they came out with the coupons….but not now! Why…when they’re free or practically free at the drugstore :-).
They also usually have the best gasoline prices, too.
I have tried a couple of wholesale clubs and have stuck to BJ’s- the major reason being that I can use MF Coupons and BJ’s Coupons (we get them in the mail and there are additional ones in the store) for the same product. Similar to the stacking of coupons we do at Walgreens, I can do at BJ’s too. I buy many of the staples that we need very often and cannot be stocked up monthes in advance such as milk, eggs, yogurt, bread etc.
Also stacking the BJ’s coupons with the manufacturers coupons on sale items at BJ’s can end up making the product much cheaper. The other day I bought (2) cases of Dunkaroos (childrens snack) for $5.99 a piece (each case has 4 individual boxes) and used a BJ’s coupon for B1G1 Free and paid $3.00 per case (4 boxes)! Each small box usually cost $2.70+ at my local supermarket and I paid $0.75! So basically great savings if you take advantage of the coupons. Also BJ’s mails coupons $10/$100 etc and are an added benefit.
I go to Sam’s once a month. My baby is on the Kirkland brancd formula, because his little tummy handles it better than anything else the dr. tried. Which is fine by me $19 for a 3# can is right up my frugal alley.
I also buy Christmas toys at Sam’s. We will buy electronics there if we can’t find a better deal elsewhere.
I try to shop by myself when I go, if I take my hubby I generally wind up with about $250 worth of stuck in my buggy!
I LOVE Costco! I shop there once a week. I actually just did a price comparison between Costco and Aldi to see how the two compare and Costco definitely did pretty good. Especially when you consider that you are typically buying name brand stuff at Costco. The cheese(sliced or shredded) and sliced turkey meat at Costco are huge savings over the prices at Aldi. Also baking supplies are typically cheaper at Costco.
I will only buy my meat at Costco. I also get milk, cheese and eggs there as well.
I was just at Costco today, and in my price comparison I found that flour, sugar, and rice are by far much cheaper there than at my local grocery store. Now if I can just find enough room to store everything…
I am an hour from Sam’s so I don’t get there often, but when I do I buy 10-12 loaves of bread to put in the freezer, and paper for our printer.
Most other things I do well stocking up on when they’re on sale at the grocery store. I just went a month without buying any groceries except milk because my pantry and freezer were well-stocked and there were no good sales for items I’d use.