People ask all the time if I shop at Sams Club or Costco. The answer is…. sometimes. The first few kids we had we shopped at Sams club all the time. I always bought in bulk just like my Mom had with my large family growing up. But after I started couponing and paying attention the cost per ounce on items, I quickly found that I was paying less at the grocery stores with coupons. For 5 years we didn’t have a membership. My parents still had theirs and occasionally I would tag along to see what I was missing, especially on Saturdays to get the samples. 🙂
These are the things that I buy personally at Sams Club because I think they are cheaper.
1. Gas. At our Sams Club here the gas is a good $.10 cheaper. This would be my #1 reason to have a card again.
2. Twin Mattresses. Weird I know, but in our experience we have gotten the best deals consistently at Sams on mattresses for our kids. If you figure a mattress and box spring for 7 kids we have bought a few! I always do my research and we always find the best deal at Sams Club. We paid $119 for a nice pillow top twin in June.
3. Honey. We use A LOT of honey around here. Price per ounce Sams has the best deal. Plus, there is not always coupons for honey and when there is, they are the more expensive brands.
4. Dinner Rolls. I buy the big bags of 25 for around $2.50. We use these all year long for school lunches. They are the perfect size for sandwiches for the kids. Probably not worth the membership alone, but I always grab a bag when we are in.
5. Tilapia Fillets. Price per pound I can’t beat the price for the individually wrapped frozen tilapia fillets. We eat a lot of fish so I watch for it to go on sale, I can’t beat the everyday price at Sams.
Do you shop at the warehouse stores? What do you buy?
Stay tuned for the 5 things I will NOT buy….
Part comedian, part Dad, part athlete. He will boss around your children while they play ball.
Just as angelic as she looks, this girl could easily raise a Village by herself, and all the children would grow up to be President.
Self proclaimed, she would be a webkinz dog. Because, "they're cute, and puppies are too. And they're sweet and they always get along with other puppies."
This mini-Martha Stewart can handle ANY craft you send her way. She isn't all bows and rainbows, she's got karate kid moves!
Not "Pick-Me-Up" like caffeine, she wants you to pick her up! AND NOW!
Anything that can be destroyed WILL be destroyed!
Practically Perfect in Every Way for now! Nicknamed "The Panda" she is rolly polly and lives by the motto, "the little one, is KING!"
The resident Labradoodle, Miller got his name because Mom won and got to name the baby! Need something chewed up? He'll take care of it. Especially if it's expensive..
We shop at Sam’s Club and buy our cheese sticks there. They are sooo much cheaper. We have also found frozen burritos to be cheaper there too and peanut butter.
I have a small home based business and buy the big bags of flour and sugar. I also always get my powdered sugar at Sams because I can not beat the price anywhere else.
I used to get sugar and flour at Costco – but I found I can get a 50 lb bag of sugar at Winco for $23.
I purchase a lot of dairy and produce at Costco. Milk, cheese, and butter are consistently cheaper at Costco for me as stores in my area do not usually discount those very much. Costco’s produce is generally really high quality and most of the time they beat my local grocery stores on price per pound, especially in the winter!
We buy the 10 pound bags of chicken breast. It is 20 bucks for organic meat. For my small family it stretches pretty far!
I have a Sams membership for 2 things, gas & Redbull. At the store Redbull runs $2-2.50 a can, at Sams by the case it’s $1.38! Generally I don’t buy much else because I’ve noticed many items VERY close to expiration.
I dont’ shop there as often since i started ocuponing, but i have a baking business also and still buy Vanilla, Flour, butter, and Powdered sugar (until i can stock up around the holidays, i just got lots of 5# bags of C&H sugar with the coupons recently)
Also Whole chickens they’re the cheapest around (even with sale prices).
I go there for my meat. I know I can sometimes get it cheaper at the grocery stores, but their quality and taste is well worth it for my family. And gummy bears too.
I buy TP, paper towels, frozen broccoli, green beans and diary there. The frozen broccoli costs the same as other stores and it has only florets. I also buy their coffee syrup. A bottle costs $4.50. I can make a month’s worth of lattes with one bottle. Saves me a TON of money.
We go through a gallon of milk a day and even with coupons I can’t beats Sams club price co Milk, Real butter cause we always use real butter and being low carb I use a ton, sour cream . YOu can’t beat there sour cream price even with sale and coupons and gas
Have you tried Target for milk? The regular grocery store’s milk prices run between $2.38+ at Target I can get it for $1.99.
what target are you shopping at?
We also buy our kid’s mattresses there. I try to tell people to check there and they look at me like I’m crazy … but they are inexpensive, quality mattresses!!!
Thank you! That is what i think!
The main thing we buy at Sam’s club is gas. It is much cheaper. We also found that they had the best deal on an eye exam and the service was great. Jim insists on getting his tires there because they give you a free balance and rotate for the life of the tire. We sometimes find some good deals on clothes there as well.
We buy rolls too! And produce, butter, and cheese. Also big items like electronics, bikes and such. We have an executive membership at costco and get $ back at the end of the year. Plus we like their return policy if something breaks.
Members Mark Contact solution. 6 bucks for 3 bottle. You can’t beat that!
I have found that Organic fruit and salad is usually much cheaper at Costco. I usually go with my friend and we split it.
I buy blouses and jeans there. You can’t beat the prices on the vitamins if you are looking for quality product. Also can’t beat their gas prices.
Cheese Heads string cheese is my fave! It costs about $5-6 (reg price) for a 12 pack at most stores, but about $8-9 for a 60 pack at costco!!!
Honestly, I buy rotisserie chicken at Sam’s. They freeze well and make for excellent chicken salad or a quick meal. It may be cheaper to make my own, but many days I am consumed with other tasks and in the summer in Houston I try not to turn my oven on much. LOL Also, chicken & fish because of quality and price. Lastly, I always buy Member’s Mark zyrtec tablets. 400 ct for $17.98 is hard to beat especially when 4 of us take it daily.
BTW, we have purchased several mattresses from Sam’s in all sizes. They are great! All our over-night guests rave about the queen pillow-top we got a few years back at Sam’s. And, my parents still thank me for getting their king mattress & boxspring set last year from Sam’s. The savings on mattresses is worth it.
pepsi, gatorade, clorox 2, bottled water and trash bags … things i won’t buy … toilet paper, paper towels, cereal, condiments , and anything too big to fit into the refridgerator
I don’t have a Sams membership but a close friend does. Is it just good deals on the twin mattresses? I am in need of a very good queen matress. I have severe back problems right now and trying to find the cheapest way to go on an awesome comfortable mattress..any suggestions?
I have bought twin sizes at Sam’s just fine but I went to Mattress Firm (national chain) to price my queen, they sold it to me for an online sale price from another seller didn’t even make me prove my claim – price matching is awesome, so you can price match to Sam’s Club too I’d imagine if you go to Mattress Firm. Try pricing a set you like at Sam’s rates when your friend goes in.
I agree with Amy about Mattress Firm. If the mattress you buy at Mattress Firm goes on sale withing 90 days, they will refund the difference. We bought two mattresses in April. Memorial Day they had a huge sale on most mattresses. I went into the store and told them our mattresses were on sale and they credited our account for $750! I didn’t need any paperwork they looked up everything in their computer system.
I buy 3lb bag of almonds for $10. At other stores it runs $6-$8 for a 1lb bag.
We shop at Costco and have found gas, infant formula, butter, pre-washed salad mix or spinach, some but not all produce, and organic foods cheaper. Also, when Costco has their coupons, the prices of baby wipes, toilet paper and paper towels are comparable (better in the case of wipes) to using coupons at other stores (we calculated) – with so much less hassle.
I mostly buy my trashbags there since we go through them way too fast. But I will cruise the store to see if there is something thats cheaper. I usually only find one or two things though.
I have a female cat that is about 2 years old. We found her discarded on the side of the road as a kitten very early in the AM so we named her “Morning”. We took her to the vet to get checked out, shots etc and then has been spayed and declawed. She is very sweet and affectionate. She is very vocal. She will actually carry on a conversation with you. I need to find her a kind and loving new home. The reason is that I have another cat that is a Male and very old. They have not been getting along and I really need to separate them. I will miss her but she will be much happier away from Tigger.
I Love Costco!
Coffee!
I agree that gas is around $.10 cheaper.
Produce and meat is high quality. When raspberries are in season I can get a 12oz package for a little over $3.
This past winter I bought a Calvin Klein Pea Coat for $50!!! That was my favorite deal of the year, but they usually have some really nice clothing items. My husband and I go to the movies frequently and you can get two tickets for $15.99, at our ticket counter that would be $20.
I buy the 5lb blocks of cheddar. they range from 10.50 -12.50 depending on the price of milk. That ranges from 2.10-2.50 per pound. We do NOT buy shredded cheese and we love how this tastes! (I buy two- four blocks at a time as I do not get to sams too often, we use it for everything) I also buy the huge jug of cottage cheese. Best price in town. We also get the almonds. I only buy those things BUT even just the savings on the cheese makes up for the membership fees. (in our region the price for cheese even at aldi is $5 per pound)
We have a Sam’s membership because my hubby does some catering. It’s a great place when doing banquets. I like getting salmon and tilapia there. The prices are usually better. Our Sam’s has fresh chciken breasts for $1.97/lb. that’s usually a better deal then King Soopers. I also like their bags of romaine hearts. I can get 5 hearts for under $3!
We buy prescription medication at Sam’s. We have a cap on medicine coverage and we have been able to stay under the cap because of Sam’s. We also buy electronics, bakery items..rolls, tortillas and the Members Mark boneless skinless chicken breast. They are huge and extremely juicy making them perfect for grilling or baking. They stay super moist. We also buy eggs, 15 dozen large eggs for around $20 and cheese. A 5 lb bag of shredded is the same price as a 5 lb block, bonus!
I just wanted to also add that we got two tempurpedic material mattresses that are twin sizes and still so comfy after 1 1/2 yrs! At the DUMP here in houston! I know they are hit and miss on prices-but we love these mattresses for the kids and they have held up sooo nicely! I would buy them again at the $99 price tag! They were super thick too!
Hey, don’t forget, when you go to Costco, look for the prices that end in .97… i.e. I got 3 cans of clams for $3.97 and many other things (LOVE these for winter, clam soups that I make). Sam’s is .01… such as $3.01 check it out! They are clearance prices.
We have also bought mattresses at Sam’s – I miss our membership really only for the peanut butter…I have a hard time finding Jiff on sale at the store (my husband is particular about his peanut butter), and we go through a lot of it! I usually ask my mom to buy some for us every few months, and then we pay her back!
Baby Carrots & Tomatoes (for salad) .. I eat a lot of these and they are consistently cheaper and better quality @ Costco — year round. It’s about the only 2 things I buy there since I started couponing.
I’ve just started going back to Sam’s. I don’t like shopping there because I can easily beat most of their prices by couponing, but most is not all, so I’ve gone back. At Sam’s I’ll buy the following if I haven’t found a better price elsewhere: cheese (regular price per lb. can’t be beaten, but doesn’t beat a good sale), milk, eggs, apples, bananas, romaine, carrots, Member’s Mark frozen chicken breasts, and snap peas (seasonal). So pretty much … a few dairy items, chicken, and produce.
I haven’t been to Sam’s in about a year, but I used to always buy olive oil there because it was so much cheaper per ounce. It’s about time for me to stock up again. Does anyone know of a place with better prices on olive oil? Thanks!!!
I buy bottled water and 5hour energy there
The one thing I go to Sam’s for is the dog food. We buy the 52lb bag of pedigree for our 2 great Danes. It is at a price we can afford and it is bought quit often.
We go at least once a month to Sams club for the bags of salad mix.It’s 3$ for a huge bag and 6$ for a gallon of ranch dressing. We also buy our cheese and butter,Yeast,sugar and bread flour there.Lately gas has been cheaper in our town than at Sams club. Milk is also cheaper at WalMart here. The nearest Sams is 45 minutes away from us but while we are there we go to Aldi for our produce.
We love the pizza dough balls at Sams. Friday night is pizza night and we can make any large pizza we want and not leave the house!
I was really into couponing until I got my Sam’s Club membership. Couponing is very time consuming and the items my family really like (baking items, Folgers Coffee, Jif Peanut Butter, Tyson products, etc..) are at Sam’s Club at a lower price than if I bought the same item at the local grocery store WITH a coupon. I no longer see the need to collect coupons on items that I don’t really want or need. My Sam’s Club membership paid for itself my very first trip there.
What part of the country are you in? I have never seen anywhere that Sam’s can beat the price on PB, Coffee or anything like that if you know how to use coupons.
We buy meat, chicken and some produce because the quality is so much better and cheaper than any store around here. No double coupon stores around here. I also like to get cooking oil, powdered sugar, and 2 lb of sausage rolls when needed.
I get my chopped salad packs at Sam’s, but its good to see there are a few other things. The chopped salad is priced to compare to food service, at about $1 per pound in large bags. You have to really use a lot of salad, but its about half to a fifth what it costs in grocery stores. Shelf life generally beats the grocery store variety by 2-3 days.
I just downloaded the rebate app Ibotta and you can get rebates back at SAMs as long as they don’t stipulate sizes!