To have buyer’s regret at Costco?!

[mynamechangemyrules]

I got a discounted (but still a little wedge) membership of Costco via work, joined and now slightly panicking… I am on quite a tight budget and am more used to buying little and often, I hoped I’d save money but it seems to be mostly big ticket items/ fancy foods which we would only get as a treat anyway (eg good value manchego cheese but not really a necessity and I would’ve just bought a little wedge instead as a treat…?!)

AIBU? If so please tell me good buys/ how to use it alongside my ‘normal’ shopping. (Eg is the car section a good discount as I have an old banger who often needs work done?)
AINBU- it’s a waste of membership money, return in in the cool off period (not sure they actually have this but will check!!)

I find veg very reasonably priced compared to supermarkets, lemons, potatoes, peppers, broccoli. We buy all fresh meat there too but have a large freezer to store it all.

It’s good if you buy laundry detergents in bulk, tea bags or coffee, bin bags and toilet roll. Sometimes there’s offers on things you’d usually use so it’s good.
They also sell clothes which are at quite good prices.
Bought crocs for my DC at £22 which is cheaper than anywhere online - and he would need the next size up in a few months.
Oil is a good purchase.
Tinned food - tuna, sardines, tomatoes
I find I wouldn’t use the bakery as there’s just too much food
Bulk buying toiletries and hand wash also

Frozen is good - frozen berries for example
Chilled isle can be good too.
I always check against what I pay at the supermarket and don’t purchase if it’s cheaper at the supermarket.

Yabu it's great for taking the kids as a day out - wander round, eat all the samples, look at the stuff. then have a jacket potato/1 pound slice of pizza/hot dog/ice cream

I used to go in regularly just for the rotisserie chicken - v good price and tasty
I also buy the colliers cheese as good prices chicken nuggets are excellent at about 11/12 quid - massive and 100% breast
Also cheese strings and bread/yogs come in a massive pack so good for lunchbox stuff

Just need to be smart about not buying crap for the sake of it and thinking of what you actually use. Take pics of price per kg in ljdl/aldi/your normal shop and compare to in costco
Ie baking, is it actually cheaper to buy bulk flour when multiple lidl flours would suffice. Or huge Nutella/hot sauce/heinz Ketchup. If you like a certain brand it's good

Yeah as we operate on a tight budget and buy little and often Costco isn’t for us. I can’t afford to bulk by nor do I have the space to store it all if I did ! Tbh these days the prices aren’t massively money saving either. They do have some nice stuff tho !

Also seasonal items will be on better offers than other items.
Also think about what you eat and use and then pop to Costco and just browse the aisles. You don’t need to buy when you go. Although bulk buying and paying at the end can look shockingly expensive but you have to think of it as longer term - it’s not a weekly expense.

Sometimes I go to Costco just to buy the huge shell on prawns and the truffle flavoured crisps which are delicious.

Also, there are usually so many tasting stations, if you work your way round you can eat enough to not need lunch when you get home. 😬

Sorry, that wasn't very helpful really.

Every time I take my mum to Costco she walks round pointing out the things that are cheaper in Tesco because they’re on offer at the moment. Drives me mad because that’s really not the point, most things are significantly cheaper per 100g or whatever but you do need to buy in bulk.

if you haven’t much freezer space can you pair up with family or a neighbour to buy the meat and split it? Loo and kitchen roll can probably be shoved somewhere. The fruit and veg is good value but hard to use up. Cakes are huge and easy to eat the whole thing but that’s a whole other issue.

their customer service is excellent, you could explain and see if they’ll cancel your membership if you don’t think you’ll use it.

It works well for us, but we have the space to store things. It wouldn't work if we couldn't store what was on offer.

Our standard staples from there are

Cheese.
Yoghurts.
Oat milk.
Breakfast cereal.
Ketchup & Mayo.
Toilet rolls.
Shower gel.
Washing powder.

Fuel is also much cheaper if your local one has a petrol station.

Has the Costco you use got a petrol station as that is worth the membership alone probably otherwise I think I’d send it back . We go at least once a month but would go more frequently if our local one was closer but we do price match most things with what we’d otherwise buy and find it very good value but we have room for bulk buying toilet / kitchen rolls etc .

Ok mine has petrol so that’s an immediate good thing! Then my children eat absolute tonnes of snacks but I’ve gone down the Aldi/ non branded route so the Costco prices seemed high as it was branded stuff. Will just do a quote wander this week and work it out as I have till Friday to cancel I’ve found out!
we have a slight storage issue but I’m doing a v basic kitchen makeover (as the galley kitchen is doing my head in) and then I’ll be able to access the under stairs from the kitchen so that would be a good stash for washing powder etc.
Good call on sharing with my family on the meats (and booze!) etc. as I think they’d be in on it.

anyone had an MOT there?

I love a mooch around Costco but I dont think it’s a money saver. The Aberdeen Angus steak though is second to none for quality not price.

I always buy kitchen/toilet roll.

I like their meat, seems, IMO much more flavoursome than supermarket bought.
Fresh chicken thighs are good value for money, I buy boned and debone them myself.

Baked beans.
Breakfast cereal.
Robinsons orange squash.
Tinned tuna.
Mayo.
Butter.
Boxes of crisps.

Footwear, and books...pretty good value.
Clothing, especially socks are very good quality.

tissues, kitchen roll, loo roll, wash powder, dishwasher stuff, binbags

petrol

electrical goods

Yabu it's great for taking the kids as a day out

😂

The thing with the branded goods is that they're way cheaper when on offer, but not when they're not.

Things like chopped tomatoes and baked beans are considerably cheaper than even own brand, but only when on offer.

Depending how much fuel you use that may be worth the membership alone.

I think their meats and all are a good price for good quality, but they're not cheap. And I think that about lots of their stuff. If you're really on a budget it's not so good.

The meat is usually excellent.
I find the fresh fruit & veg good quality & usually bigger than local supermarkets.
Wraps, rolls, part baked ( rolls, ciabattas) good value, good quality.
Blocks of cheddar cheese lovely & good value.
Sausages & bacon good prices & freeze well.
Bottled water - own brand - really good price.
Washing powder good value.
Toilet rolls are good.
Bin bags superb quality. 90 approx £10.
Coffee beans are good prices as are big bottles of Robinsons squash.
Tins of chopped tomatoes nice quality & same price as supermarket value tins.
Big pots of Bonne Mamon (spell ?) jam good value.

Had membership for years. I think it's saved us thousands. We go approx once a month.
If you buy in bulk then you don't need to pop in to the supermarket all the time, and therefore don't pick up the impulse buys.
Just resist the big ticket items until you actually need them.
Keep an eye on the treat items, compare prices with supermarkets & just buy when it's a special occasion.
Costco can be tempting, but if you stick to just what you need & use it will save you money.
And their refund policy is brilliant.

Things to bulk buy -
Tinned tomatoes and beans
loo roll
kitchen roll
part baked bread
cleaning products

then there are things to buy, not because they’re cheaper but great quality -
meats, fruits and veg

there’s also the convenience of their ready meals like fajitas etc

also a cheap meal whilst you’re out!

but we didn’t like their pizza (from the fridge, not the hot food at the end)

The fuel could make it worth having a membership alone to be honest!

But there is definitely benefit financially long term to buying in bulk. My husband loves a spreadsheet and he keeps track of things like this because he finds it interesting and when he worked it out awhile ago and compared to the cost of buying in our normal shop, in a 3 month period he reckoned we had saved about £175 by buying some things in bulk from Costco. We don’t buy loads from there but the main things that I think he said were the money savers were things like toilet roll, kitchen roll, tooth paste, shampoo/conditioner/shower gel, the vitamins we both take, tins of food, breakfast cereals, some meat, bin bags, cleaning products for the house, crisps.

Also as others have said it’s a cheap day out for the family especially at christmas time, try all the samples, have a look at all the huge decorations and toys, then 99p hot dog or pizza slice lunch!

OMG! I had to read the OP twice to make sense. I misread Costco for Costa!

loo roll/kitchen roll
drink cans/bottles of robinsons
waters
bakery items for a treat
massive jugs of laundry detergent
cleaning products
kitchen stuff (tin foil/sandwich bags/washing up gloves)

from my experience they are the things that are worth buying for the prices
everything else is generally the same (sometimes more) than the supermarkets x

Worth it for the petrol alone.

If I lived close to one I’d have kept the card for the petrol but I would say nothing else is worth going for. I agree with pp’s mum, most of it is cheaper in Tesco.

As others have said, fuel makes it worthwhile. I usually go for own brand (Kirkland) stuff. Costco make the majority of their money on membership, so the rest is low profit margin stuff, but even then it is worth checking prices elsewhere. Some things are definitely cheaper in supermarkets if you can be bothered with the hassle of checking everything.

I find that the following are usually cheaper:
Loo roll
Coffee (depending on brand)
Coke (boxes not the slabs)
Kitchen roll
Fruit and veg
Batteries
Some clothes
Pain killers
Chili oil
Cakes