Introduction

This is one in a series of money-saving tips. For more information, please visit my home page.

Buying Clubs

My wife and I have a membership at Costco. As I write this it costs $50 per year for a family membership. That seems like a lot of money to pay for the privilege of shopping in a store. But big savings can be had that way more than make up for the cost of membership. I'm sure that's true of the other discount buying clubs as well.


As an example, Costco sent out some coupons, one of which was good for $15 off of TurboTax Deluxe. Naturally I checked their regular price of $36.99 to see if that was inflated. It wasn't. Scanning the internet turned up prices the same or higher. The only one I could find that was less was at Sam's Club. So I paid just $21.99 plus tax for it.


Where you really save money, however, is on the household items you use on a regular basis like paper towels, toilet paper, facial tissue, laundry detergent, etc. Yes, you have to buy a really big package of the item. But you can really save big. Here are some examples from a recent shopping trip.


Charmin Ultra Soft was $18.49 at Costco but an equivalent amount at a local grocery store was $25.00. Bounty paper towels was $16.99 at Costco but an equivalent amount at a local grocery store was $23.31. I had to extrapolate the prices at the grocery store as the products came in smaller packages. Total savings on these two items was $12.83 (plus a sales tax savings).


I know that we could buy cheaper toilet paper and cheaper paper towels but my wife likes these. And that's the point of this web site. Buy what you like but pay as little as possible for it.


Some Costcos also have gas stations. Their prices are generally lower than any nearby stations. So before you stock up on goods you can fill up your tank. Need passport photos? You can pay $15 at your local post office or $4.99 at Costco. These prices are obviously subject to change and may vary by location.

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