grocery shopping Archives

Is A Costco Membership Worth It When Living Alone?

June 15, 2020 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

I have been a member of Costco for approximately 10 years, and I love it! We typically recoup our membership cost within the first few months of our membership every year. We have a family of five that can easily go through the many bulk items we buy. However, if you’re single, is a Costco membership worth it when living alone? The answer is a resounding yes for most people. However, there is a small percentage who won’t benefit.

Is a Costco Membership Worth It When Living Alone?

A Costco membership isn’t always worth it when you’re single, but for many, there are enough advantages that having a membership is worth the $60 a year. Some of my favorite reasons why include:

Special Diet

If you have a special diet such as food intolerances or allergies or you prefer organic food, Costco is the place for you. Our family has both dairy and gluten intolerances, and I can’t beat the price for almond milk or gluten free pancake mix at Costco.

If you prefer organic food, you’ll definitely want to check out Costco. Over the years, Costco has added more and more organic selections. You can buy a 6 pack of organic Romaine lettuce for less than a 3 pack of the same at a traditional grocery store. Almost all of their organic fresh vegetable and fruit selections are markedly cheaper than a traditional grocery store. In addition, they have large bags of organic frozen fruits and vegetables that are much cheaper than their counterparts at a traditional grocery store.

Alcohol

Is a Costco Membership Worth It When Living Alone? — Photo by Jack Ward on Unsplash

If you love to entertain, Costco is the place for you. I don’t personally drink alcohol, so I don’t have exact prices on this. However, I’ve been told that you can buy wine and hard liquor at Costco at a much lower price than anywhere else. I know each time I go to Costco, I regularly see several customers who have their carts full of alcohol.

My husband does drink beer, and I can buy him a 24-pack of beer at Costco for just a few dollars more than a 12 pack costs at the grocery store. Over a year, the savings really add up!

Electronics

The only place we buy our laptops now is at Costco. Every laptop comes with a 2-year warranty—the first year from the manufacturer, the second year from Costco.

If you have a problem, simply call Costco’s concierge service, and they will assist. I have had issues with my laptops both in the first and second year of owning them. When it was during the first year and my laptop was still under manufacturer’s warranty, Costco acted as a bridge to help facilitate the interaction and repair, making for a seamless process.

During the second year, Costco does the repairs. I almost prefer if something needs to be repaired on my computer during the second year because Costco is so efficient! I always get my computer back quickly, and they do an excellent job keeping me updated on the repair process.

Gift Cards

Costco offers many gift cards at a significant discount.

If you love to dine out, you can get two $50 gift cards or four $25 gift cards to restaurants like Macaroni Grill, California Pizza Kitchen, and Smashburger, just to name a few of the many they offer. These $100 gift cards are available for just $74.99 to $79.99! You are immediately saving 20% or more.

In addition to restaurants, they also have gift cards for weight loss programs, the App store, and more. If you love video games, you’ll find significant discounts for XBOX, PlayStation and others.

These gift cards are great for presents, but they’re also great for you to use for your regular expenditures. If you spend just $300 a year dining out and always use your Costco bought gift cards, you will recoup your $60 membership fee right there!

Travel Benefits

Is a Costco Menbership Worth It When Living Alone? — Photo by Ross Parmly on Unsplash

Do you travel frequently? If so, you may find this yet another way you can quickly recoup the price of your $60 membership. Costco has many special package deals for travel.

While we haven’t yet used Costco for any package deals, we’ve used Costco to book our rental car whenever we travel. By doing this, we easily save at least 10% off the price of booking without our Costco card.

Gas

One of the best perks of being a Costco member is the gas prices. Whenever I’m near Costco, I fill up because gas is routinely 15 to 30 cents cheaper per gallon than anywhere else in town. When you’re filling up your vehicle multiple times per month, that discount can have a real impact.

However, the Costco stations don’t have window cleaner solutions and squeegees. (I wish they did!) Also, because most members know about the bargain gas price, don’t be surprised if you have to wait in line a few minutes before you can pump your gas.

When Having a Costco Membership Isn’t Worthwhile for Singles

As wonderful as Costco is, for some people who are single, a membership just isn’t worthwhile. My mom is one of those people. She doesn’t have a specialty diet, and she doesn’t care about eating organic food. She doesn’t drink alcohol, and she rarely travels. Instead of having a Costco membership, she just asks her friend who does have one to pick her up any items she’d like at Costco.

Another reason why it might not be worthwhile to have a Costco membership is if you’re a bargain shopper who likes to go to a variety of stores to get the lowest prices. While Costco can save many people a significant amount of money on groceries, generally, shopping at multiple stores for the lowest price will save even more.

Final Thoughts

Is a Costco membership worth it when living alone? For most singles, it is worthwhile. If you have a special diet, like to socialize and throw parties, or like to travel, getting a Costco membership will be a smart move. However, if you’re one of the few people who wouldn’t benefit from a membership, simply do what my mom does, and ask a friend with a membership to pick you up a few things.

How Not to Overspend When Stocking Up for a Home Quarantine

March 30, 2020 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

Even if you’re rational, it’s hard not to panic when you go to the grocery store and see empty shelves. You may wonder how not to overspend when stocking up for a home quarantine. That sense of panic can fuel you to spend more than you normally do on groceries because you feel a desperation to just.get.food. But calm down, take a deep breath, and realize there is enough food in the supply chain. You will have food, but perhaps not the food you want.

How Not to Overspend When Stocking Up for a Home Quarantine

Take these steps to keep your budget in line, even during times of crisis.

Do a Pantry and Freezer Inventory

Before you go to the grocery store, take the time to do a complete pantry and freezer inventory. You may be surprised what you find in the depths of your freezer. I had more meat than I thought I did. I even a found a homemade pie crust in a ball that we had made two years ago. You bet that we’re still going to use that.

Likewise, you may have more in your pantry than you think. Plus, taking all of the items out and inventorying them can help you feel less desperate. You DO have food in the house.

See what recipes you can create from what you have on hand. Likely you can come up with many meals than you thought. Don’t forget to use sites like Supercook, a site where you can put in the ingredients you have on hand, and the site produces recipes using those ingredients.

Be Flexible with Food Choices

When you do get to the grocery store or place your order for pick up, don’t be surprised if many of the items you want to buy are unavailable or limited. I’ve placed two orders for pick up now and both times the store couldn’t completely fulfill my order. For instance, the first trip, there were no eggs available. The second trip, we were allowed to buy two dozen—for our family of five.

How Not to Overspend When Preparing for a Home Quarantine — Photo by Semi O on Unsplash

Clearly we won’t be eating eggs for breakfast every day, and that’s okay. Instead, we’ve branched into other breakfast foods that we typically don’t eat like homemade muffins, oatmeal, and even sometimes leftover soup from the previous night’s dinner. Be willing to be as flexible as possible with what you eat and when during this time, and you will be able to keep your budget in check.

Allocate Money from Other Budget Categories

If you still have your regular income coming in and you find that you are overspending in your groceries category, one way you can resolve this is to take money from a different category. For instance, we overspent this month on groceries. I can’t shop many stores for the clearance items as I used to do, so our spending increased. However, we put $140 in our gas category every two weeks, and now, being self-quarantined, we don’t need that money. I simply funnel it to our groceries category.

Of course, if you’re currently unemployed, you’ll want to use as little money as possible for groceries so you’ll be able to meet your other financial responsibilities.

Final Thoughts

We’re living in strange times the likes of which our country hasn’t seen in over 100 years, not since the time of the Spanish Flu. However, rest assured that you can still get the groceries you need without seriously overspending. Just plan ahead with your purchases and be resigned to the fact that you won’t be able to eat the way you can when we’re not under quarantine.

Is There a Best Way to Meal Plan?

July 2, 2018 By MelissaB 1 Comment

The price of groceries just seems to keep going up, and up, and up. How much I’ve spent on groceries has nearly doubled in the last five years. True, my kids are older and hungrier, but in general, the price of groceries themselves has increased. In our household, groceries are our biggest monthly expense behind our mortgage.

If you’re like my family, you’re constantly looking for a way to cut your monthly grocery costs.

I’ve found that reducing grocery expenses largely comes down to making a plan and sticking to it. There are several ways to do this.

Make a Monthly Meal Plan

Best Way to Meal Plan — How do you meal plan?

Some people lower their grocery costs by making a monthly meal plan and shopping once a month. Of course, when I say shopping once a month, that doesn’t mean it’s the only time that they go to the store. Rather, they have one large shopping trip at the beginning of the month, and then they go to the store 1 to 3 more times during the month to get fresh produce and milk as needed.

This technique can save money mainly because you keep yourself out of the stores and avoid impulse buys by doing so. You’ve likely gone into the store to buy one or two items and found yourself walking out with a cartload of groceries. Those impulse buys, even if there a good deal, can destroy your budget. Those who shop once a month reduce their spending simply by reducing the number of times they allow themselves access to the grocery store and impulse buys.

Make a Menu Plan

Another technique is to make a weekly menu plan based on what you find on sale in the grocery store flyers. Between the items that you see on sale and the items that you already have in your house, you make a menu plan and shop for the loss leaders and whatever other items you need to make your meals.

Shop First

Still others go to their favorite store first and scout out the good, unadvertised deals. For instance, if pasta is on clearance, they may buy many bags of it and have several pasta meals that week. If they find a great deal on beef, they may make a stroganoff using the beef and pasta for one meal, and a spaghetti bolognese for another meal. These planners find the good sales and then make a menu plan. Once they get home, they rely on Pinterest, the internet and sites like MyFridgeFood to help them decide what to serve based on the great sales they found.

For years I have debated about which method works best and which one saves the most money. But, the bottom line is that you must choose the method that works best for you and your family. In this season of our family life, method two works best for us.

However, it doesn’t matter which method works best for your family. What really matters if you want to cut your grocery costs is that you have a plan and you utilize one of these three methods.

What is your favorite way to menu plan and save money? Do you prefer one of these methods or a different one?