Costco Shoppers, I need advice

I am a new member to Costco and wanted some advice from you savvy shoppers....

How are their brand products such as:
Toilet paper
Paper Towels
You name it...

Are they cheaper than buying at grocery stores with coupons?

What other things should look into at Costco?
Anything to avoid?
Oh, and I will be checking my prescription prices.

We prefer the Charmin TP, actually...

They are really good for large quantity items...

You know, stuff you want lots of!

I haven't coupon price compared, so I can't help you there...

I love shopping with them...

They are a Blue company...give to Dems, and treat their employees well!

Have fun!

:hi:

Salmon filets, yogurt, milk, spinich, .... Hell they are the best... Also look for gas prices to be the lowest (or very close to it).. I shop Costco Canada and US and they are great...

Their products and services are great, they pay their employees well, and I've never had a bad Costco experience.

Stuff you buy in bulk like you mentioned are definitely a better deal than the usual grocery store chains.

... I also keep a supply of the white terry-cloth utility towels. Costco sells a pack of 24 for around $8-10 and I use them for all cleaning and utility purposes ... and even keep a small basket with the cleanest and stain-free ones in the lavatory for guests. (I'm a guy ... and I HATE the embroidered "guest towels" folks lay out.) So, I don't go through paper towels like some folks do and one pack of them will last me far longer than a year. (I hate shopping, so that's just fine with me.)

I think their meats are the best bang-for-the-buck around. Their OTC pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen, toothpaste, etc.) are what I buy. Books, CDs, and DVDs are nicely-priced.

for about $12. They can be used instead of paper towels for most cleaning needs. You can even cut them in half and used them over and over with a Swiffer mop or duster.

I use them for all kinds of household purposes, from utility handtowels to glass cleaning to ... well almost everything except making a sandwich and then wrapping it in a papertowel/napkin for walk-around munching.

But for the most part it is cheaper, and I think you do save a lot since you're buying bulk. I'm single, living by myself but I'll still buy that gallon jar of ketchup and try and use it up within the expiration date. You can't beat 36 Kirkland brand AA batteries for $9.99.

We bought a foam mattress topper from them, but the smell was absolutely atrocious and after a week, hubby marched in and gave it back.

That has cured me for ALL foam mattresses -- I've got to take my chances with innersprings.

good. Also some canned goods. If you eat beef, their steaks are great and fresh fish is wonderful.

They seem to treat their employees well too.

You might be able to buy paper products cheaper with coupons in your regular store, but I doubt they will match Kirkland brand quality. Which really translates into savings, for things like paper towels, becaise they go further.

Their hard good Kirkland products are guaranteed forever. I recently returned a piece of luggage that I had used hard for about ten years. Gave me a new and improved one as a replacement, no questions asked.

I think the one area where I have found better buys than at Costco is in more expensive consumer electronics. Things like stereo components, HDTV's etc. .... if you know where to look on line, you can get better buys than you will find at Costco. But you could also do a lot worse, so if you want something to take home now, Costco is fine for this stuff.

For pretty much everything else, Costco is great. It's a great place to shop.

On edit: Kirkland brand vitamins and various kinds of aspirin, cough syrups, ibuprofen, etc, are great products ..... usually less than half the price of the brand names for the exact same thing!

Costco's own brand "Kirkland" is always exceptionally good and usually deeply discounted.

I can't remember the reason.

Either fragrance or allergy, not sure.

My husband goes there with the grandkids and loved their hot dogs with sauerkraut. The kids like the free snacks (taste-testers are usually there in the afternoons).

most of the kirkland/costco brand stuff it is actually name brand name items re-labled... for example their luggage is the same as eddie bauer. the only problem with costco is that you have to spend money to save money since you have by most things in bulk... its still always a good idea to shop around since a good sale and coupons can get you a better deal.

good (except for pet foods. Actually it's Iams, which is crap. I only feed my pets human grade foods, but I did buy a ton of the Kirkland/ Iams food to send to the areas hit by Katrina). Their organic produce is cheaper than a lot of non organic stuff at the regular grocery. My Costco shopping tip: buy a food vacuum sealing system (from Costco) and shop with a bunch of friends and neighbors. You can split up packages of stuff over the year and save a bundle-even earning money back if you have an executive membership (the best deal, because you get the price of the membership back even if you don't shop there very often). The Costco.com site has different items than the store, and shipping is often free-so check there also if you can't find what you are looking for. Watch for the coupon books which are sent out once a month and stock up on those items when the sale comes around. Also, I think that if a price ends in a six or seven (not sure which) it means that the item may be discontinued soon. Just something to keep in mind.

do you consider human grade? Or do you make your own?

it here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=243&topic_id=4388&mesg_id=4388

"feed grade" or "pet grade" foods do not display the USDA label and are certainly never organic. The vast majority of pet foods at the grocery store are feed grade (made from food manufacturing by-products which are illegal to market for human consumption). A large corporation like proctor and gamble (maker of Iams) can make a bundle off of what is essentially it's industrial waste by turning it into pet food. One simple way to tell the good stuff from the bad; if corn, corn products or brewer's rice are among the top five ingredients listed on your pet's food, then you are basically feeding them garbage. Look for meat (and not just meat by-products) as the first ingredient. Brown rice is fine, especially in dog foods, but for cat's try to feed them grain free foods if possible. Brands include Wellness, Merrick, Innova Evo, Prairie, Before the grain, Natural Balance, Wolf Creek, a Taste of the Wild, Solid gold, and many others.

They improved my cat's health very much. It is spendy, but they are tiny and need pure food.

it's distributed by Diamond, and comes off the same production lines as Science Diet. Certainly the dog food is not Iams. Not so sure about the cat food.

I am off from work tomorrow and was hoping to make the trek to Costco to use my new card!

the business card -- costs $100.00 membership, and we get back a few dollars at the end of the year. There are additional benefits for travel, but we never use them.

Yes:
peanut butter
frozen food (cheap edamame!)
pine nuts
OTC meds (some)
shampoo/conditioner
razors
juice
canned goods

No:
wine
most produce (unless you're having a party or splitting with someone)
books
paper goods (lousy selection of recycled stuff)


It's good to go in with a list and not stray from it.

Cosco generally has all current books at 1/2 off.

There's a local chain called Half Price Books, and I generally go with them. They have a better selection, and fewer remainders in the ratio--and they're cheaper.

Nothing against Costco, I just feel like I can get a better deal and a better selection.

Gasoline, charmin, pedigree, fancy feast,coffee, bounty, tires, batteries, coffeemate, tea, all that cheaper. They even send you coupons, so pay attention to those. I have stayed away from their eye glasses, reportedly they don't make them so well, alcheehol cheaper most times, also the guy with the fresh shrimp and lobsters mmmm.mmmm.m. and you can eat all their samples for free on weekends. :toast:

items. A lot may go to waste. Costco quality is good and their return policy is excellent.

Some canned goods are more expensive than buying store brand, if the brand Costco carries is a name brand (my local store brand may be cheaper than Costco name brand). BUT, if you get Kirkland, the Costco store brand, is cheaper. Some things are not found in Kirkland brand, so are cheaper at regular store, sometimes, with their store brand.

Not sure about coupons, since I do also shop local store's sales and they have one of those obnoxious cards vs coupons.

Cheese (used to be $10 for 5# cheddar, has gone up and I found the cheapest cheddar is in 2# blocks over in the deli area near the expensive cheese), sour cream, used to have portabella's for inexpensive, romaine lettuce, canned milk, tp, 25# dried pintos, rice, flour.

The only issue is make sure you will use up the amount before it goes bad. We have a freezer which helps, used to have teens which also helped. Avacados. I wish they'd get those big portabellas again since they were a good deal.

Edited to add, vitamins and ibuprofen are a good deal there also. Beware though, difficult to leave under $100, what with most things running in bulk at $10-15 per item. But you'll be set for a long time with whatever. It took me a while to buy things, since could only afford so much at a time, but now am set and replenishing works fine.

I watch the sales at the grocery store and buy it by the case when it's $5.

Stuff that's cheaper, at least as far as we're concerned:

Kirkland brand batteries
sliced cheese
organic milk
DVD's/CD's/books (watch out for this aisle; it's a black hole!)
condoms
cat/dog food and kitty litter

Definitely check your prescription prices; I'll bet Costco's cheaper.

Kirkland brand products are very, very good.

If you're in the market for holiday gifts later in the year, Costco has some tremendous bargains on toys, gift baskets, etcetera.

The only caution? If you don't have a big family, the perishables don't work out well. We have to shop carefully because whatever we get has to be eaten up by two of us.

We love to visit the "food court" at Costco -- used to be called "Cafe 150" because everything was a dollar-fifty, not so much anymore. We can still dine for less than $10, so it's a fun visit for all.

Julie

I couldn't live without a huge bag of Kirkland almonds and rainforest blend organic coffee.

The membership pays for itself on this one.

because Costco items don't usually go on sale - so, for example, their ground beef is $2.49/lb all the time, but Safeway currently has it on sale for $1.49/lb. Same goes for TP, and other items.

Also as mentioned, the Kirkland brand is good stuff - they usually go for the best brand in the category and have it rebranded. For example, I'm almost positive that the Kirkland mayo is actually Best Foods/Hellmans. I never hesitate to buy Kirkland branded stuff.

I also always and only buy romaine lettuce at Costco. It's like $2 for a pack of 5-6, there's just no way to beat that at any grocery store. Same for their bag of cut up broccoli, best value (if you can use it all, and if you can't then why not? you should eat more broccoli! :D )

It's hard to resist some of their bags of fruits and veggies, but I often have to because they easily go bad before I can use them.

Bread, also a good deal. Eggs too. And milk. And cream. And butter, and cheese. And bacon. Basically all the high cholesterol items are good to get at Costco.

I get my dog food there (the big 50lb bag). And my coffee. And batteries. And laundry detergent (they used to carry the Ecos brand which was awesome, but recently switched to something else that I'm not quite as impressed with).

You'll soon learn which items are your Costco items, and which you should browse the supermarket flyers for.

Welcome to the Costco family!! :hi:

a six or a seven, but if one of those numbers appears at the end of the price then it's usually been marked down for clearance (happens mostly with seasonal items). Also, using the coupons in their monthly coupon books can save you huge amounts of money, especially on office staples like tape, toner, and paper.

laundry detergent (well, not in frig). I keep writing a request to get big portabellas back, maybe should start a DU activist thing doing it and they would? And their sour cream is the best, no gelatin or other crap in it. Difficult to use it up since the teen swarm left, but still cheaper than grocery store.

Since there's only the two of us at home now we have to be a bit cautious about the size of some things. Mr. H loves garlic, and bought what must have been a half-gallon of the marinated stuff -- or maybe that was the time he got artichoke hearts. Regardless, the containers took up a huge amount of space in the fridge and lasted about forever.

Storage space at home must be considered. Some people split what they buy with a friend -- Costco knows this, and will subtotal your receipt at the register if you push through certain purchases first, so you can settle later with the other person. I do that when I pick things up for my MIL.

We love the quality of what they sell, the prices, and their VERY generous return policy. We now look there first for small appliances (haven't needed any large ones lately) and electronic items.

Their pharmacy also has competitive prices.

Hekate

I thought they closed at 9 PM on weekdays. But the other day (Friday) I got there at 8:30 just as they were closing.

There is going to be a Costco opening up in 6 months that's only about 5 miles away from where I live. Right now, the closest one to me is about 50 miles...too far to drive IMO.

you can probably find some stuff at other places that is cheaper on occasion, but that required reading all the ads and inserts and then driving to the different stores. So what you may save in money you lose in time and effort.

I shop at 3 stores, Costco, Trader Joe's and the local fresh produce market. I buy the meat and divide it up and freeze it. I find that the Kirkland brand to be of good qualaity on all the products I've tried.

I shopped around and this one is under $80, stand up model and so much better than the others I've had.

My cousin goes regularly to Costco's. Since there are only two at our house, my cousin gets items for me. I save lots of money/

I also like to order my checks on line with them.

Since my Costco is a 2hr drive round trip, I only go about every 3 months. Luckily I have a large upright freezer and plenty of storage space. About the only thing I don't buy there are canned fruits/veggies bc I can get a much better deal at SaveALot. Plus beauty products I can get free with CVS bucks so rarely get those except for the Kirkland shampoo. The Kirkland brand is great and you can always try it and return it if you aren't satisfied. Granted I can't go under $200 most times but that isn't bad for the time between trips and the huge carload of stuff.

To list all my buys would take forever but I really love their organic milk, bacon, and flash frozen individual chicken breast/thighs. Hubby's favorite is the Kirkland chocolate covered raisins.

I try to pay for any business expenses on my business card but Costco doesn't accept it (Visa Platinum). I like their politics and their products and prices but it's a pain to pay in cash and I don't want another credit card. This keeps me from buying Costco gas which is tough right now.

I still shop there though.

I prefer the new "choose a size" paper towels -- they are perforated twice, so you can just pull 1/3 towel for a small spill instead of a whole towel. It seems much less wasteful. They don't sell them at Costco, so I buy the generic version at Safeway.

Otherwise, I like Costco and go there about every other month to stock up on things like dog food, granola bars, etc. Many things they sell are too bulky to store in my house, but they have some good deals. I also think they have prompted regular supermarkets to sell more bulk products and reduce some prices.

The clothes are mostly ugly (IMO), but a few times I've found some good cargo shorts for my hubby. Once they had Chuck Taylors on sale for $30 (I have a Converse fetish).

it online i also would have had to pay for shipping so i saved around $10 total, i also bought my favorite cookies which can be difficult to find especially in the tub o but Costco always has them and they are always cheaper there for the biggie size then any place else for the normal size.

You need to hang on to grocery store receipts and then bring them with you to see if the stuff at costco saves you money, that's the best way imo. Some things for me at Costco are the same price as the grocery store so not everything is a super deal but some things are a few dollars cheaper.

It is made by Phoenix and looks like this one (but is a different model):

http://evapcool.com/cooltool/

The register fits between 16" studs, so it's easier to install. $449.99.

I will be using this instead of the AC often to lower my electric bill.

Cat food- never saw my cat healthier until I started giving him the Kirkland brand of dry cat food.

Coffee- whole bean, fair trade, $10 for two pounds. Enough said.

OTC medication- 240 Zantac-style tablets for $6. A bargain.

Thier tortilla chips are the bomb. $3.49 for a 2-pound bag.

You can get an x-large pizza from their snack bar for $9, which beats the crap out of chain pizza like Papa John's or Domino's.


Yes, overall, they are comparable or cheaper than store-brand items at other locations. They only drawback is the large volume.

I've tried OTHER toilet paper and towels and have come back to it

Their dishwaher powder is great,

I could go on

And yes, you do save money

I can't eat them anymore for medical reasons

But I remember they were YUMMY

And their nuts are very good too

swear to zod i would have eaten the entire thing tonight if had bought them.

and so does my dad... I should go get some... for birds and dad