[quote=poorgradstudent]
There definitely is a strategy to proper CostCo shopping. I’m not sure if you’re married with kids; Buying a house with a garage, getting married and having a child who now eats a decent amount of food definitely made CostCo more “worth it” for me.

There are things like Toilet Paper and Paper Towels where there are cost savings as long as you have a place to store them, with the bonus of running out of TP less than you might otherwise!

Obviously my family of 3 goes through eggs and milk a lot faster than I did as a single guy. Their organic food prices are quite good, and with three of us in the house we always go through a full bag of apples, bananas or organges.

The downside is it’s very hard to buy 100% of your grocery needs at CostCo. Some things you just don’t want or need in bulk.[/quote]

This is all quite true. For many people, there can be that one item that makes membership worth it. Could be coffee, jeans, whatever. For my family, it’s the Nature’s Domain dog food. Huge bags of grain-free food at a far lower cost than a comparable retail product.

Also, from my experience, their produce is actually a terrible deal. We almost always find better prices (and at smaller quantities, obviously) at Northgate Market, to give one example.

I’m mildly annoyed at the upcoming credit card switch, mostly due to another credit hard pull just to switch from the Amex->whatever they come up with. I suppose I’ll still do it as long as the 2% executive member cashback transfers somewhat seamlessly.