Costco - Not to Be Missed

Kirkland diapers were the only ones that did not leak for DS. The wipes are also great. I bought tires there until they stopped carrying the ones for my car. Best price on formula. I also buy fruit and vegetables there. Their whole grain sandwich bread is also very good - not mushy like Wonder bread style and 100% whole grain.

Toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, dog food, juice/flavored waters, baby belle cheese, cereal, smoked salmon - those are mostly the staples I go there specifically for, but always pick up other deals too.

Currently two 18 packs of eggs for a 1.57. You could egg your neighbor and still do better than the grocery store! I do not allow egging, that was a joke, okay?

Just about everything is cheaper if you can handle the bulk aspect.

Our staples are the Kirkland brand (the Costco brand) toilet paper, paper towels, wet wipes and free and clear liquid laundry soap. We keep a flat of water in the car and always buy the Kirkland brand. We buy a flat of Gatorade as well to have when needed. I buy white vinegar and Arm & Hammer baking soda in bulk because I use them in my laundry and for cleaning. We buy our trash bags there. When we had a kid in diapers we bought the Kirkland brand diapers and they were the best and really cheap too. They typically have a good price for eggs. We use Vanilla Soy milk and buy the box of Kirkland brand which is cheaper and we like the taste better. We buy Honest Company shampoo for the family. We like the clothes they get in and the prices are great.
My list could go on for days. We do as much of our shopping at Costco as we can so it's done at one place and we don't have to drag ourselves all over. You don't always save as much as you think if you are running around to multiple stores trying to chase those few extra pennies once you factor in the cost of gas, wear and tear on your car and your time which does have value.
I absolutely recommend going through the Costco car buying program!! We've gotten 2 different cars through them over the years and it makes the membership worth it just for that! Our most recent car was purchased last year and we went through Costco. We got the best price possible, we got several discounts you wouldn't otherwise get and it was really quick and easy. If the car dealer tries to mess with you they could lose their contract with Costco and they absolutely do not. Costco holds them to an outstanding standard and they don't mess around.
Plan some time to look around at what they carry. The membership is worth it's weight in gold and more!

(My goodness I sound like a commercial for the place LOL)

We go to Costco frequently. We're those weird people, in line among people with pallets laden down with hundreds of water bottles and 600 rolls of toilet paper, and we're just holding two small items.

What we buy all the time: authentic Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Costco sells the real thing, imported, stamped on the rind, for less than half the price of the same thing at Whole Foods or other stores. We also buy Prosciutto di Parma, the real imported prosciutto. Again, less than half the price per pound than at the Whole Foods deli department.

Also, our 2013 SUV has nitrogen-filled tires, not regular air tires. Many later models have nitrogen-filled tires. Costco has a nitrogen air pump (not for direct use by customers - the shop guys do it), and even though we did not purchase the vehicle from Costco, or the tires either, Costco will top off our tires with nitrogen for free. Garages and mechanics or dealerships can provide nitrogen for tires, but sometimes at a cost of up to $15 per tire. I've had my tires filled twice at Costco and figure my savings on that is more than the cost of our membership. I don't need an appointment, I just pull up and they fill my tires from the special, separate, nitrogen pump.

The photo department is another huge savings. I do digital scrapbooking, and the price of a 12x12 page at many photo development shops can run more than $25. Costco's price is less than $3. I upload my photos digitally to the Costco photo department. I can get enlargements, scrapbook pages, regular photos, Christmas cards, for ridiculously low prices.

My go to's for Costco trip are:

Kirkland Paper towels
Kirkland Toilet paper
napkins
tissues
foil
saran
Clorox
vinegar
Kirkland butter
huge chunk of Jarlsberg cheese
Hellmans mayo
peanut butter
Kirkland brand of Zyrtec
Kirkland baby wipes (my baby is 21 but I never knew how much I could use the wipes. I have a pack in every room, I clean the blinds and ceiling fans with them and more.. love them)

I do despise going to Costco because I can never find a time to go without crazy crowds and long check out lines. The last time I went, I got PO'd because I didn't have my card, we used daughter's card since she was with me and they gave me a hard time when I wrote my check. I had to prove I was on the account. Geesh... I set up the account and paid for it :(

I'm about to join one even though it's a bit of a drive. I just love their corporate policies and how they treat their employees. I've stopped shopping at Walmart and therefore won't go to Sam's Club (not that there's a Sam's too close to me anymore). I let my BJs membership go a few years ago but I think it's time to get back on board. But it will be Costco this time.

The things I miss the discounts on are sunflower seed (for our feeders), beer/wine (not sure if Costco has that), meat (I break up the big packs and freeze in portions), party appetizers, fruit & desserts if we're having a crowd, and toilet paper. I don't buy much in the way of paper towels (I use washable cloths) or bottled water (environmental disaster, unnecessary budget-buster), but I will buy seltzer for parties. Eggs, cheese and butter are good buys and they keep well.

Loved it when the kids were younger and we actually had room to store things in bulk (like detergent, dog food, toilet paper, etc.) but living in a smaller place, and eating more fresh foods now, it doesn't make sense anymore. So I gave it up.
ETA: we usually got pretty good deals on TVs/electronics, though the choices were slim, and photo developing too, it you actually print photos.

I get all my meat and fish at costco. I break it into meal portions and freeze it. We're very big veggie eaters so I'll get bags for fresh veggies which we use before it goes bad. Their mixed greens are excellent since we eat a lot of salads too.

Spices are cheaper, rice, toilet paper, paper towels, olive oil, cheese sticks, dried cherries, nuts, baking supplies like flour, sugar. I've ordered sandwiches and cake for events and they always were well received.

I save enough on just cat and dog food to pay for our membership.

I don't go as much as I used to because there is only a few things I like to get there and I have been living without them but may go stock up again soon. Thanks for the reminder. lol

Anyway, I get the canned chicken, generic Benadryl, muffins, veggie sticks (chips) and dino nuggets. But I haven't been in probably 2 years. I try not to go because when I used to I'd wander the isles and come out spending $400. If you don't go you don't spend. =0)

My office gets cake every month from Costco, for the monthly birthdays - they're to die for! They have one that is white cake with this cream cheese filling stuff. It is SO good. I'm actually thinking of using it as a wedding cake.

We've loved Costco since way back when they were PriceClub.
We like the chicken breasts, the stuffed salmon, the pizza, the meat and bakery sections in general, the frozen cheese ravioli, cleaning supplies, clothes/pajamas were good when our son was a baby.
We've used their pharmacy and eye center too.
We've compared them to Sam's every so often but even though it's a little farther away from us than Sam's we still prefer Costco.

Oh, oh, oh, don't even get me started. LOVE Costco. Love it too much. Sometimes I call it the $500 club because it's hard to walk out of there without spending $500. I would say that most Kirkland brand items are quite good, for the most part. Their toilet paper and paper towels are the best. The cheddar cheese in the black wrapper. The romaine lettuce. Any of their breads. Unfortunately, in New York State we can't buy their wine, but the beer can be quite reasonable. I've heard that NYC bodegas are buying beer from Costco to sell on their shelves - completely illegal, of course. Many of the meats are excellent. Oh, and the gas prices. If you have one with a gas station, nothing in the area can touch it. At some point this spring I filled up for 1.63/gallon - on Long Island!!! Unbelievable. I won't go any further on my list in interest of time, but just price compare. You'll find some things are a tremendous bargain and others aren't at all. Totally worth the membership price though, in my opinion. Sometimes my 9-year old and I will just go in on a Friday to try all the samples.

We were there just yesterday actually. I like the generic Benadryl for so much less! We go through a lot at our house. My daughter likes the croissants from the bakery, and the cakes are killer. I like the huge bag of gluten free crackers I can get for twice the price of Natural Grocers, but I get about 6 times more. Baby wipes are a good one, I buy the Huggies because kids are reactive to others. Cheezits are a good one to buy if you want the individual packed ones. I love my frozen veggies from there, but they just had a Listeria scare, so the aren't back yet. (part of that whole recall last month). Dog food and Cat food are awesome! Oh, and we buy the almonds and chocolate covered raisins too. I hope that helps. Seasonal buys are good too, like Christmas chocolate, bathrobes, toys, camping chairs, etc.

My favs are almonds and chocolate covered almonds!

We also found the tv we wanted there for the best price and they doubled the 1 year warranty. The warranty alone was a great deal, because many new tv's seem to experience failures between their first and second year.

Love Cosco. Their bakery is good. I ordered my daughter's graduation cake from them. YUMMY and fresh!

Paper towels, toilet paper, napkins, ziplock bags, salad stuff and veggies. Fruit wasn't bad. Flowers, coffee, soda.

Now that the kids have grown, we don't go as often. =(

Basically everything.

Here's some of what I like to buy at Costco:

Kirkland brand diaper wipes
Beef, all sorts -- beef for stew, ribeye, new York, organic ground beef
Organic eggs
Simply brand OJ
Organic apple sauce pouches for kids
Emergen-C
Honest brand juice boxes
Water
Rotisserie chicken
All free and clear laundry detergent
Shampoo/conditioner
Vanilla extract and other spices
Toothbrushes/paste
Restaurant gift cards to use ourselves
See's candy gift certificates
Amusement park tickets
Books
Glasses/contacts

Hi F.,

We used Costco at least every other week when my DS was baby/toddler/littler kid. I recall my staples there were diapers, formula, Ziploc bags large and small, dishwasher soap, Kleenex, batteries, Pam spray, granola, crackers, graham crackers, sometimes I'd buy and freeze steak or pork chops but that works better if you have a vacuum sealer system which I've never bitten the bullet and bought, frozen chicken breasts, chicken nuggets, hotdogs, butter....I'm wandering around Costco with my mind's eye......coffee, splenda, shampoo and conditioner, pepto bismol, aspirin, pads, tampons.

what else?? I tended to stay away from the clothes and the center areas except at the holidays....for Chanukah/Christmas presents.

that wasn't my list every single shop but that about covers it. as my darling boy got older, we seemed not to need it quite so much but it was a real money saver during his earlier years.

have fun with the flatbed...... Hehehehe. S.

Tires. They have a great program for tires. Plus, I got them on sale.

I buy Kirkland brand toilet paper and Bounty paper towels, and my Tide. Meat is usually a good deal, and I buy and bring home to wrap separately and freeze.

I love looking around and seeing what they have.

Peanut butter, toilet paper and Keurig coffees were our go-to items there. They also have quality dog food. Haven't been in a while, though, because I can't stand the crowds. The fact they don't take AmEx anymore and only take Visa is also a problem.

Tires, Contigo cups and bacon.

Their pharmacy! Hours are great and pharmacists/techs have always been super nice.
Pizza. Freakin DELISH and cheap.
Rotisserie chicken. Best deal ever. I buy a couple every week and make several dinners with them.
I also like to buy pricey items like Dyson vacuum, tent, camera, etc. there because they have such a wonderful return policy if something goes wrong with the item.