A Trip to Costco

Author: Ashley

21 Jul

I’ve talked a lot about my love for Costco. I’ve really been making a go of it for the last few months and I’ve seen a huge drop in my weekly shopping. I went to Costco on Friday and spent $149.11 plus tax, but look at all the stuff I got! Please excuse the total dorkiness of organizing my Costco booty so I can take a picture of it. It was a big trip because I had a bunch of coupons. Here’s the breakdown of what I bought and how much I saved. The prices listed for Costco include the coupon and the prices listed for Walmart are what you would pay for the same amount of stuff as I bought at Costco. For example, at Walmart paper plates are $3.44 for 50, so it would cost $15.30 to get the Costco amount of 225.

Item	Costco	Walmart
Paper plates	12.49	15.3
Baby wipes	11.99	27.46
Dryer Sheets	6.49	9.35
Parmesean	7.99	9.84
Razors	21.98	32.64
Hot dogs	13.98	18.56
Milk	5.23	7.04
Strawberries	5.99	9.96
Diet Coke	6.99	8.64
Toilet Paper	15.99	18.75
Diapers	39.99	41.76
	149.11	199.3

So I saved $50.19 over Walmart on this trip alone! Crazy! I had $25.50 in coupons. Plus I get 2% back from my executive membership and another 1% from my American Express card, which isn’t figured into the total savings. I did notice that the strawberries were the same price per pound at Fresh and Easy as at Costco, so I don’t need to buy the whole 4 lbs at once if I don’t want to. Although my kids can burn though some strawberries, I’m tellin’ ya. They were almost gone on the first day. But I did use one pound to make my super awesome Strawberry cake.

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12 Responses for "A Trip to Costco"

JB July 21st, 2008 at 8:23 am 1
Are your comparisons for the same brand? So, if you buy generic, Kirkland = Great Value?
Ashley July 21st, 2008 at 10:12 am 2
To JB: Yeah, all comparisons were for the same brand, same everything as close as I could get it. I also used the biggest pack of the item that Walmart carried. The milk was the only thing that was Kirkland/ Great Value brand.
JB July 21st, 2008 at 1:52 pm 3
That’s interesting! Thanks for doing that comparison. As a new Costco member, the first few times I’ve been there I’ve felt like I’m spending way more than I would at Wal-Mart… but I have to realize that I’m getting a lot more product and (in theory) it should last me a lot longer. I’m having a hard time figuring out if I’m saving at all.
Livingalmostlarge July 21st, 2008 at 10:58 pm 4
I love, love, love costco. Cannot say enough about it except I bought my MATTRESS!
Festival of Frugality #135 - The Frugal All Over Edition | Antishay Ventenne July 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 am 5
[...] presents A Trip to Costco posted at Wide Open [...]
Kimberly July 22nd, 2008 at 10:53 am 6
I did a very similar comparison for my blog, AddictedToCostco.com, in April between Costco, Walmart, Randall’s (aka Safeway), and HEB (a big Texas chain). I compared 43 different items across the four stores, comparing like brands and sizes. It was amazing to me how much cheaper Costco was on quite a few items. Overall, Costco was cheaper on 35 of the 43 items! You can read all about it in my blog post which also has a link to the spreadsheet of prices.
http://addictedtocostco.com/2008/04/11/comparing-costco-prices-with-local-grocery-stores-part-1/
And that’s just one of the reasons that I love Costco so much!
Esther July 26th, 2008 at 9:14 pm 7
Thank you for this breakdown. It is nice to see that you really are saving money buying in bulk at CostCo, though it doesn’t quite feel that way sometimes when you see the total at the cash register! I also use the CostCo AmEx to get that extra 1% cash back.

BTW, not sure how many people know this: even a non-CostCo member can fuel up at CostCo’s gas stations (perhaps this varies by state). You just ask the attendant to dip their card into the card reader at the gas pump, and then you can pay with your own debit or credit card.
More Costco Pricing Comparisons July 29th, 2008 at 12:06 pm 8
[...] was recently reading a post on Wide Open Wallet where the author compares prices for Costco and Walmart. She found out basically the same thing [...]
Paige September 11th, 2008 at 3:01 pm 9
I stopped shopping with Cosco a few months ago. I found that the lot sizes forced me to buy a lot more than I really needed.

So while it would have appeared that I was ’saving’ money, in reality my cash outflow became more than needed. I have since been convinced that for me shopping at Kroger has been much better than going to Cosco.
Chris October 17th, 2008 at 8:05 am 10
There’s a secondary benefit to shopping at Costco. If you have the storage space and an extra freezer (and many people do not), you can really stock up on nonperishables and cut down on the number of shopping trips you have to make. Less gas, fewer opportunities for impulse shopping, etc. That leaves perishables, but a local farmer’s market might be enough if you don’t need to get toilet paper and canned soup and such.

The downside is that the semi-annual or quarterly stocking trip will give you sticker shock.
michelle October 29th, 2008 at 2:08 am 11
Costco takes coupons? I just renewed my membership after a haitus - love it, sorry I took a break. But coupons? How does this work when they sell in such large quantities?

Thanks!
Sarah December 31st, 2008 at 2:31 pm 12
@michelle

I think the coupons that the author is referring to are the coupon books that Costco mails to its members periodically. Usually there is a coupon for Bounty paper towels and toilet paper (I think Charmin brand).