Finding The Value of a Costco Membership

I really struggle with anything that has a “membership” fee. If you are already spending money why do you have to pay a fee to do it? There are a few exceptions and I make one exception for Costco.

Julia, The Frugal Find, has shared with us why she bought a Costco membership earlier this year.

We had a membership for almost 8 years through my husband’s employer, but when he left his job we lost it.  We hadn’t gone there much in the last year we had it, but we did go for a few things.  It had been a whole year without it, and we were missing it.

Here are my reasons:

Paisley Farms Four Bean Salad –  You can buy 1/2 Gallon of  their 4 Bean Salad in a jar for just over $5, I haven’t been able to buy the beans to make my own for anywhere near this price.  It’s my absolute favorite too never tasted a bean salad as good as this one.

Will’s San Francisco Potato Salad 5lbs worth for only $5.69!  We’ve never found another that we like more.  You see most of our favorite meals come off the grill, my husband is great out there and if all I have to do is put the sides in a dish, then that’s my favorite meal. Sure I could possibly make this cheaper, but I’d NEVER be able to make it as good.

Costco Gas it’s almost always cheaper.

Electronics Time and time again we’ve been relieved to know our electronics were covered by the longest warranty around.  Knowing that you’re getting the top-of-the-line product at the BEST price too can’t be beat.

Executive Membership So this was new to us, we had our minds set on getting the cheapest membership at only $50, and when she tried to talk up the Executive membership we had our “car dealership” faces on.  BUT then:she said $25 cash card today:and we listened a bit more.

Turns out that with our $100 membership, we’d get 2% cash back and IF we didn’t get the full $50 we paid above the normal Costco membership they’d pay us back the difference.  Plus we were already ahead a $25 cash card that day, which we used to buy the above bean & potato salad.   So overall it worked out to be a great deal and we’re now proud Costco Card holders.

Here is my “Buy and Don’t Buy” list for Costco.

Thank you Julia!

There are three items I buy at Costco every week. organic milk, organic eggs, and gas. With the money I save on just these three items, I pay for my membership. Just don’t fall into the trap of buying more than you need. And don’t go on an empty stomach!

Here are the items that I buy at Costco and feel that the price is competitive:

• Gas
• Gift Cards
• Maple Sryup
• Organic Milk ($4.25 a gallon vs. $5.99)
• Organic Eggs
• Seasonal fruit/veggies

These are items of course that I would NEVER buy at Costco because you can get them free-almost free when you use coupons:

• Cereal
• Toothpaste
• Shampoo/Conditioner
• Deodorant
• Razors
• Yoplait
• Coffee-Mate
• Lotion