We joined Costco today!

[Shwa Girl]

we signed up for a yr to try it out. signed up again for glasses for DH as savings paid for the membership. we go there for specific things, gigantic jar of olives, pickles, the multigrain buns are very good too. you can find good deals on good quality socks, tshirts. the savings on gas swung us to sign up again too. i still price check when i go there though.

The gas line up at the Ajax store is really long. Plus there are some gas stations in Oshawa and Whitby that do mini price wars. No line up.

Bought some Adidas running shoes there after Christmas. The price was as good as the outlets in the US. Really comfortable to work out in.

[scbpooh]

Seasonal stuff is the BEST!!!!! LOVE the Halloween and Christmas stuff the most! I always buy at least 1 new thing at Christmas yearly. I cant resist!

[tink42]

I was thinking of cancelling my membership last year as our children have left the nest so we don't use the larger sizes as often. I ended up keeping it and this year it paid off. We bought a new car at Ford and got $1000 off! Obviously a good return on the cost of the membership.

[schwarzie]

I just got back from Costco! I had to buy coffee for the office - last year I cancelled our coffee service and bought a super fancy expensive machine that grinds the beans for each cup etc., but our coffee costs went from $.37 a cup to $.13 a cup (I am a bit of a nerd that I track that stuff) - and of course I went shopping.... I had absolutely no plan to get anything for myself at all, was going to pick up dog food for a co-worker, and some chicken pot pies for another co-worker. Well. They have their winter clothes out. So I got two really nice cardigan sweaters (I am always cold at work in the winter and like to layer) for $24.99 each, a DKNY sweater for $22.99 (both the lady in line behind me and the cashier asked me where they were), a light weight white cardigan for $15.49 (my other white summer cardigan, again for the office is filthy and no amount of bleach seems to help), a pair of DKNY jeans for $24.99, a long wrap cardigan for $23.99 and a pair of really nice dress pants on clearance for $9.97. Seems like overkill, but like someone pointed out, you have to buy it when you are there, otherwise it may be gone when you go back. I can return everything if I don't want it, even 6 months from now if I choose. They also had some beautiful coats there, but on my last trip I bought a GORGEOUS leather jacket that has a zip in liner, and will never go out of style for $95.

As for glasses and contact lenses, I always buy my glasses there, and usually my contacts too. My glasses usually run me around $250 or so, but those are only single vision and not progressives. However, I administer our vision plan at work and from the receipts I see, no one has paid over $325 for a pair of "all in" glasses. I did try Clearly Contacts once, but I don't like that you can't try the frames on, and when I received my glasses, they didn't look good. As well, if you have any issues at all, you can just go back to Costco and they will fix it.

As an added bonus, Costco just got dog poop bags!!! I was buying mine at the Loonie Store, but the Costco ones are lavender scented and say they will dissolve in 18 months as they are biodegradable. 375 bags and cheaper than the loonie store!

[avoncallingu]

WoW! Thanks to everyone for all this wonderful info! I think I unleashed the Costco lovers - which is great! I am also thankful for the people who have less attractive things to say - it helps you to set your parameters!

[breeka]

I'm a Costco member as well i buy all my meat there i buy the big parts and then cut my own steaks and roasts its cheaper that way for me. I love it

[roxybabe39]

I personally love Costco!

I got my membership while still living in the same house as my parents. As long as they keep renewing, my membership is still in tact! I don't buy a whole lot of food items there but I usually buy:
croutons
some spices
kitty cat litter (only one I like to use - and cheapest!)
hottog + drink on the way out (a MUST)
.. a lot of food items go on sale really cheap with there instore coupons (especially sauces!)

I personally buy a lot of there "taxable" stuff. LOVE there towel sheets, and other goodies. We bought a really nice and sturdy TV stack for 99.99 (other ones were complete garbage for higher cost), snap on shelf, gun safe, computer chair I'm sitting on and the list goes on!

I usually try and search everything before I go so I can compare the prices and make sure I get the best deals! On things you can't get coupons for it's usually better!

[Shwa Girl]

I was thinking of cancelling my membership last year as our children have left the nest so we don't use the larger sizes as often. I ended up keeping it and this year it paid off. We bought a new car at Ford and got $1000 off! Obviously a good return on the cost of the membership.

I heard about the car deal, but did not know of anyone who did it.
Congrats on your new car and the $1000 off.

Best we got on a new car was a $500 gas card.
You did way better because you can buy twice as much gas as we got. LOL.

[tink42]

I heard about the car deal, but did not know of anyone who did it.
Congrats on your new car and the $1000 off.

Best we got on a new car was a $500 gas card.
You did way better because you can bey twice as much gas as we got. LOL.

Thanks - I hadn't even remembered about this when we bought the car. The dealer was doing the paperwork and asked me if I was a Costco member and voila! - $1000 off!!!!

[Abby5]

Went today..
bought cheese stringers
Lunch meat
Sour cream
Liberty fruit on the bottom yogurt
Burger buns

There is always something....

[schwarzie]

I'm a Costco member as well i buy all my meat there i buy the big parts and then cut my own steaks and roasts its cheaper that way for me. I love it

Yes! I buy the beef tenderloin and cut my own steaks from it. Save a ton of money and the quality is fantastic.

Another great Costo bonus! They extend the warranty on electronics by an extra year! They also now have a very reasonable extended warranty that you can purchase that adds on to the warranty in place. I bought a new TV there a few months ago for just under $1000. I got the two year Costco warranty and also paid the $60 for the three year extended warranty, which kicks in when my original warranty expires. So... I have a five year warranty for $60, and because of the size of the TV, they will come to my home to fix it if something goes wrong! I know there are many debates on extended warranty, and I don't generally buy it. But I also realize that typically a problem will arise right after the warranty ends so I decided for $20/year I was willing to pay for peace of mind should something happen.

[VeeVee]

I love costco! There seasonal stuff is great, books, meats, organic spinach is cheap!

[2jk19]

I really like Costco but you REALLY have to know your prices to decide what is truly a good deal. Since they don't take coupons (other than their own which are usually decent values off), you may be able to get the product cheaper elsewhere with coupons and whatnot. What is nice though, is if you look closely on their sales tags, you will see what the cost per unit or 100g or whatnot is - helps to calculate on certain items!

[2jk19]

I really like Costco but you REALLY have to know your prices to decide what is truly a good deal. Since they don't take coupons (other than their own which are usually decent values off), you may be able to get the product cheaper elsewhere with coupons and whatnot. What is nice though, is if you look closely on their sales tags, you will see what the cost per unit or 100g or whatnot is - helps to calculate on certain items!

[avoncallingu]

Thanks for all your information!