costco vr. couponning

[schwarzie]

My costco only has the crappy Huggies and Kirkland brand... I usually buy diapers at Zehrs or Superstore when they are on for $24.97 then use a $3 off coupon.
I ALWAYS buy wipes from Costco, $27.99 for 1120 wipes, but sometimes they are on sale, they last us exactly a month ( 2 bums to change). I love Costco for when things are on sale! I go once a week so I keep my eyes posted. Last week they had 24 gatorade for $13!! Hubby drinks tons of it so its waay cheaper than paying $5 for a 6pack

Oooh! I don't think we had the Gatorade out West. I love that stuff too.

[Crashette]

It all comes down to knowing your unit prices and quality. For example you can't compare Costco's AAA beef to RCSS AA beef. Air chilled vs water chilled chicken. Don't pay for the water weight ladies, I haven't actually seen much for meat costs posted on SC, or have a missed a section where it is hiding? Most of the signs in costco actually do the math for you ( lower left hand corner ) so you can see the per load cost of laundry soap. The other week they had fantastik on sale the regular price $9.89 for 3.8L + 946ml; bottle but they had $3.00 off for $6.89 making it $ 1.37 per 946ml ( or it gets you 5 of the 946ml bottles ) To further that the standard size of a Fantastik bottle is 650ml, so you would actually get 7.3 refills from that Costco jumbo size making it .94 a bottle. So it was a good deal. But at the regular costco price, I know with a Bogo or coupon we can do better shopping else where for fantastik. When mini wheats are on sale for $5.89 for that jumbo box, it's hard to beat the costco price. Just know your numbers ladies, take a photo of the costco price to compare later at home before you buy. I have saved a great deal using coupons, but have saved even more by taking advantage of sale prices and shopping smarter. Oh and hats off to everyone out there posting to help save money , sharing the knowledge is what gives us the power to be better shoppers.

[Marnie7]

Costco also has their own coupon handouts every week. You can see what they are for your region on the website costco.ca.

[wl_pro]

For me, Costco doesn't save me. It's too far a drive to get there, and I'd prefer to not pay to shop in a store. I let my membership go 1 yr ago. That is just my opinion.

[Goddess in this Household]

I love Costco! I have the executive membership, and my reward cheque this year was $387 - paid for my membership and then some!

I totally agree with Schwarzie - I shop for the quality. Their veggies are better quality than what you get at the Stupidstore, and I don't mind the large quantities. We eat a ton of fresh fruit and vegetables in this house, so they're always used up! Their cheeses are also less expensive, and I second the statement about the quality of their meat.

I wish the cash back program applied to the gas too!

[schwarzie]

I love Costco! I have the executive membership, and my reward cheque this year was $387 - paid for my membership and then some!

I totally agree with Schwarzie - I shop for the quality. Their veggies are better quality than what you get at the Stupidstore, and I don't mind the large quantities. We eat a ton of fresh fruit and vegetables in this house, so they're always used up! Their cheeses are also less expensive, and I second the statement about the quality of their meat.

I wish the cash back program applied to the gas too!

They also have the Harvest Farmer's double smoked sausage there, in packs of about 8. I think they are around $10. I checked at RCSS and they sell packs of 3 (and the sausages are smaller) for around $5. I bought a beef roast tenderloin there and took it home and did the slicing myself. Got 12 tenderloins out of it for a great price, and the meat is FANTASTIC.

They do mark things down there. My brother told me when the Rock&Republic jeans came in and they were $100 (still a really good deal for these designer jeans). I bought a pair. Then they brought them in again, and I didn't buy another. After that they were marked down to $60, and I told him to grab me a pair as they were not marked down here. He did, and the next week they were marked down again to $30. He hadn't mailed them to me yet so he took them back and got them for me for the $30!

You just have to know the secret of how to tell if an item has been marked down!

[couponmummy]

We got the membership originally for the eyeglasses.

We don't make big purchases so not much to buy since I could find groceries cheaper elsewhere.

I buy the big giant bag of Cape Cod chips, $4.xx, frozen strawberries, 9.99, and mangoes, 6.99 and make my own smoothie and bubble tea. When I hit the cash, I have like 3 items in my cart, lol. Wish there was an express check out line.

[MillieH]

My guy shops at Costco and I coupon.. I really like the frozen fruit from Costco for my smoothie every day and their filet mignon steaks.. he always shops enough that the membership pays for itself and we get about 250$ back at the end of the year on their amex.

I'm very new to couponing and get benefits from it that exceed the financial but even financially Im getting amazing deals.. we priced match some cola he brought him.. I would get 48 for the cost of his 30 BUT I would spend more time, which I have and he has lots less time and doesnt mind spending the money..

[MillieH]

We got the membership originally for the eyeglasses.

We don't make big purchases so not much to buy since I could find groceries cheaper elsewhere.

I buy the big giant bag of Cape Cod chips, $4.xx, frozen strawberries, 9.99, and mangoes, 6.99 and make my own smoothie and bubble tea. When I hit the cash, I have like 3 items in my cart, lol. Wish there was an express check out line.

nice!!! what goes into your bubble tea?

[couponmummy]

For those of you who don't know what bubble tea is, this is the new trend. If you are in a mall, see what people are drinking. They are fruit or milk based drinks with black balls at the bottom of their drink with a big straw. They are expensive. The powder fruit tea is approx $3 and the frozen fruit tea is approx $6. The black balls are called bubbles, made from tapioca. You can find these in the bubble tea section of an asian store, dried, called Bubble Tea Tapioca Pearl, approx 2.29. When you make a batch, use it same day, keep in same liquid or rinse in cold water, leave in liquid at room temperature, not in fridge up to 8 to 10 hours. You can freeze them but I haven't tried it. I like it fresh. The bubbles are like the consistency of gummy bears.
BTW, those big straws can be found at Loblaws, 50 for 1.09. Asian stores sells 50 for 1.99.

I use Nestea green tea powder or Nestea iced tea tetra pack, ice cubes, frozen mangoes or strawberries. Mix to smooth consistency, add more ice tea or fruits or ice cubes, depending on your taste. You have to experiment.

[dealbreakers]

DH and I have the executive membership.

I started couponing in mid June and have noticed we have only made one trip to Costco since, when typically we would make 2 trips a month.

There is no real answer to which is better- they all have their upsides and downsides, you just have to keep an eye out on the prices and monitor it yourself.

It's cheaper to coupon for most things (anything in cans, chips, etc), but it's cheaper at Costco for other items such a meat (and better quality IMO!), candy, and non-food related items. And as someone else mentioned, there are a lot of specialty items that they carry that aren't available at other stores.

My advice is not to cross Costco off your list. When you know you want to buy a new TV or computer witthin the next year, make sure you have a Costco membership- you'll get that 2% if you're an Executive, plus the awesome deal sae price! 1% isn't bad either.

Couponing can also still get you the 1-3% cash back. MBNA's Smart Cash credit card gives us 3% back on groceries and gas and 1% on everything else (you have to check the merchant code # the store is classified under). RCSS is classified as a grocery store, so even if we buy electronics there seldomly, we get 3% back on say a digital camera! Constrastly, Costco carries better quality ones at a good discount as well, 2% back with the Exec membership.

[dealbreakers]

We got the membership originally for the eyeglasses.

We don't make big purchases so not much to buy since I could find groceries cheaper elsewhere.

I buy the big giant bag of Cape Cod chips, $4.xx, frozen strawberries, 9.99, and mangoes, 6.99 and make my own smoothie and bubble tea. When I hit the cash, I have like 3 items in my cart, lol. Wish there was an express check out line.

Where are you from? I've never seen bubble tea pearls there (or are you jsut saying you buy the fruit at Costco FOR the bubble tea)?

[couponmummy]

I buy bubble tea pearls at an asian store.

The cheapest frozen fruits are at Costco. A 2.72 kg bag of strawberries is 9.99, and a 2 kg bag of mangoes is 6.99. The little ones at regular stores are approx $4 each.

When you suck the bubble through the straw, suck it slowly, DS sucked it too hard, hit the back of his throat, ended up swallowing it, cough, cough, lol.

[dealbreakers]

I buy bubble tea pearls at an asian store.

The cheapest frozen fruits are at Costco. A 2.72 kg bag of strawberries is 9.99, and a 2 kg bag of mangoes is 6.99. The little ones at regular stores are approx $4 each.

When you suck the bubble through the straw, suck it slowly, DS sucked it too hard, hit the back of his throat, ended up swallowing it, cough, cough, lol.

I agree, the frozen fruits are cheapest at Costco, but I hve noticed once or twice I got a pretty good deal at RCSS for the small bags. It's hard, because we have a tiny deep freeze for all of our Costco shopping (I usually store mostly beef, chicken and lamb in there) so we don't have too much room for a bag of berries, a bag of strawberries and a bag of mixed fruit.

Good tip re: the bubbles. Funny enough, I made them for the first time last night and I sucked on it too hard and it hit the back of my throat. First pearl I've ever swallowed...!

[Rick C]

Ok, here's the thing, first, pay X amount at costco and save almost nothing.

Why do I say nothing? I found most of the time their items were in bulk so if you are a big family that will use it. Yes it would certainly save you money.

However a family of four who does regular groceries? I'd rather coupon. We had purchased one year membership, 1st, the service at Costco (least ours) was never all that great, you got little in way of customer service and they had no interest in helping out.

You're not permitted coupons at costco? That would make it even a worse deal since not all their items are that great in merchandise in the first place.

Overall I'd rahter coupon least I can use those in many places and still not be bound to an added expense of 50-200$ memberships!