You can bring almost anything back to Costco at any time for any reason – even without a receipt.

Large Jar of Pickles cost less than small Jar at the grocery.

I buy all meat at Costco. It is a higher grade than all grocery meat. All the beef is Choice for the same price (or better) than the ratty Select (or Angus, which is not a grade) at the grocery. Chicken and Pork is great. Even the precooked Roasted Chicken is $5 and double the size of the $8 one at the grocery.

$10 wine (skip the expensive stuff).

Great produce, but you have to be willing to eat a lot and fast. Good for families with kids.

Cat litter, dog food

kirkland Paper towels, napkins, toilet paper.

Cleaning supplies

Heinz Ketchup

$1.50 hot dog and drink and pizza slices.

Some yard supplies and landscaping plant deals (some not all) in the spring.

Soap, shampoo, vitamins, tylenol etc…

Baby supplies, diapers, wipes, and formula.

eyeglasses and contacts

best price for big screen tv’s anywhere. electronics are hit and miss but they extend most warranties.

As far as the lines, the checkers are incredibly fast and if it’s really busy they have people that will total you up ahead of time to expedite the checking out process.

I also love the $1.50 hot dogs.

I also use the AMEX and costco true earnings business card for 5% back on gas and 3% on restaurants.

I just got my membership so Im sure I will discover some more good deals soon.

I am hoping I can stay out of the store for a couple more months, until my youngest turns two. I’ll be ordering the cake from Costco since it’s by far the cheapest place to buy a half sheet cake ($15 when I bought my oldest’s cake six months ago, I suppose the price has probably gone up since then along with the cost of wheat, etc.).

Whether you’ll save money will depend an awful lot on your consumption habits, I think. If there’s something you consume in bulk quantities, it can really be worth it. My friend’s daughter has two teenage boys, so she buys her many of her weekly groceries at Costco, because she goes through so much of it. (This may well be me in a few years!) But otherwise, I think you’ll find that you can easily save just as much money shopping wisely at non-membership stores.

Cathy @ Chief Family Officer’s last post: Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef

But we’re 5 people and waste isn’t usually a problem.

@ Ladybeams: The line part scares me. I love saving money, but it’s very easy for me to take the two kids to the neighborhood grocery store and be in and out in a short amount of time.

Erroll’s last post: Kirkland Signature Sauvignon Blanc

Also, I bought a GPS for the car which had some problems after 3 months – I brought it back to Costco without a receipt, box, or instruction manual – they took it back without any questions and refunded the money, I bought a new one that was on sale and ended up saving $50 dollars!
Now I buy all of my electronic equipment at Costco.

If you measure toilet paper by the square foot like I do (2-ply, so many feet vs. price)their brand is usually a great buy. Since the news has come out about bottled water being processed tap, their Kirkland cases of water are a good deal also.

If you buy your meat at a high-end market than Costco’s prices will look good to you. For the lower end market they are outstanding. Ground beef for the lean stuff is exceptional. It’s a big package, but I just bring it home and break it into the amounts I normally use and freeze seperately. Their pork chops are beautiful and very reasonable. I do the same with those as I do with the ground beef. Pork tenderloin is usually several dollars under the typical grocery store prices.

I could ramble on forever. If you’re looking to save money and have a little bit of storage area at all, it’s well worth the membership. And yes, milk comes in a 2-gallon pk so you can buy milk a couple gallons at a time.

The one thing I will tell you over and above all else, is that once it catches on where you’re at, you will not want to stand in the long lines for one or two items, although I’ve seen people do it.

One has a baby at home, and buys milk, diapers, meat and assorted whatnot.

They will pick up stuff on request, so I’ve had big bags of the most delicious almonds, and 24-can cases of diet Red Bull equivalent. Good prices, good products. If I didn’t live in an apartment (read: no space), my lady and I would be members.

Also, you can sneak into Costco very easily (or flash an old card like I do), if you ever just want to kills some time. You just can’t buy anything.

MMmm….hot dogs…