Some people like to buy designer handbags, some like cars or real estate, some are into fashion, the list goes on. Generally speaking, I like things that make my life easier, and if I can save money or there is another advantage then that’s even better. Here enters my obsession with Costco.
Anytime I am talking to someone about Costco they always have the same questions and the conversation is similar. What do you buy there? Some things are the same price elsewhere, why would you buy it there where you have to pay for a membership fee plus what you purchase instead of simply buying it from a regular grocery store? I could never shop there, it’s always so busy!
Here are specifics on why I love Costco so much, why it’s worth the membership fee, and a list of some items that we always have on-hand.
Cash back, baby!!
We have an Executive-level membership, which is more costly than the Gold Star membership (by double), but it comes with a 2% cash back benefit (up to a certain amount) on a yearly basis. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you spend $6,500 per year at Costco then the membership pays for itself. But $6,500 sounds like a lot of money, right? That’s $541 and some change each month! Absolutely. However, qualifying Costco purchases include those made in the warehouse, Costco online, the Costco gas station, and Costco Travel. The cash back payment comes in the mail once a year and you do not have to take any additional steps to receive it. Just shop like normal and then free, effortless money arrives in your mailbox! The only catch is that the cash back must be spent at Costco.
Driving a mid-size SUV and a truck puts us at the gas station about once every other week. That comes out to roughly $200 per month in gas alone, ~$2,400 annually which comes out to $48 in cash back. See how quickly a dent is made in the $6,500 figure?
Costco Travel has some of the best deals that I’ve ever seen for travel — we took a trip to Italy in 2018 and the accommodations were amazing and the price was unbeatable. I could do an entire post on Costco Travel alone. Each $1,000 spent on travel through Costco earns you $20 back. This includes rental cars, hotels, cruises, or packages. If you’re already planning a trip, why not do it through Costco (who has the best negotiated prices already) and earn cash back simultaneously?
Costco has a number of products available on their website that are not in the warehouse, these purchases also count towards annual cash back. My most recent online purchase obsessions have been an oversized wagon and a folding chair with a built-in canopy (hello, sports parents!). I popped a battery-operated fan on the chair canopy and I was [almost] comfortable in the Texas heat!
Don’t sleep on the Executive membership at Costco, the cash back adds up quickly and as of recently, the warehouse is open an hour earlier for Executive members only. It makes running through the warehouse on a Saturday much less chaotic.
Things we buy on the regular:
- Produce – strawberries, raspberries, grapes, apples, carrots, bagged salad
- Meat – grass fed ground beef, organic chicken breasts, rotisserie chicken, salmon, steaks, low-sodium bacon
- Dairy – milk, half and half, eggs, grass fed butter
- Water bottles of every size and variety – a case of 40-16.9 oz. Kirkland water bottles is around $2.50, my husband also loves the Alkaline water
- Sparkling water
- Liquid IV
- Kombucha
- Coffee
- Paper goods – toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, paper plates
- Baby essentials – diapers, wipes, formula
- Household essentials – laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, vinegar, Scrub Daddy sponges
- Snacks – Kirkland pink salt wavy potato chips, single serve hummus cups, smashed avocado cups, pretzel crisps, peanut butter, peanut butter powder, cereal, apple sauce and pureed fruit pouches, Cheez Its, fruit snacks, protein bars, protein shakes (Fairlife chocolate)
- Frozen section – pizza (gluten-free and gluten pizza, varying brands have all been good), Goolsby’s breakfast sausage patties, hamburger patties (the Wagyu are *chefs kiss*), chicken nuggets (GF and regular), french fries, sweet potato fries, vegetable medleys
- Spices – salt and pepper grinders, black truffle seasoning
- Kirkland brand medicine – Allertec (Zyrtec), Allerclear (Claritin), Allerflo nasal spray (Flonase), Aller-flex (Allegra)
- Toiletries – shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razors, toothpaste, mouthwash
Buying in bulk can be tricky because it’s less expensive per unit, but if it goes unused and goes bad, then it’s a waste. Costco shopping for meal prep has been incredible. I usually take a couple of days every few months and go on a cooking spree to meal prep. Having two busy kids makes for quick evenings and less time cooking means more time riding bikes outside, baseball practice, playing games or just snuggling on the couch.
Other reasons why I love Costco:
- Costco Cafe
- Pro tip shopping with LO’s: visit the Costco Cafe first for a hot dog and park them in the cart to enjoy their lunch while you get to shop in peace.
- Takeaway pizza for parties – at about $10 per pie, you won’t find a better price for the amount of pizza and you can even order and pay days ahead of time. This has been helpful when we have asked someone else to pick things up for us or needed to get several pizzas at once.
- Soft serve is a guilty pleasure post-shopping trip.
- Samples – need I say more?
- Birthday cakes
- Chocolate cake with cheesecake filling is *chefs kiss* – it’s not an option on the paperwork but you can write it in and they’ll do it!
- Pro tip: purchase a plain birthday cake and decorate it yourself for a custom cake on a budget and without the hassle of doing the hard part yourself.
- Bakery desserts – the tuxedo cake is my personal favorite, but I’ve never had a bad dessert that came from the Costco bakery
- Kirkland brand OTC medication pays for the membership in our household. As someone who takes allergy medication daily, switching to the Kirkland brand has been an enormous cost saving. Zyrtec from the grocery store costs about $20 for a 30 count bottle, which amounts to around $240 per year whereas the Kirkland brand equivalent, Allertec, is $12-$15 for 365 tablets. There is no way to coupon your way to make the math work to make more sense purchasing the name brand.
- Seasonal products – this spring we purchased a new set of patio furniture and a Blackstone which were used constantly all summer.
- Price adjustments – on several occasions, I have noticed a cheaper price for something I purchased recently and have visited the Customer Service desk and they will refund the difference for items that have dropped in price. You don’t need your receipt or the item purchased to get the adjustment.
- Easy returns
- Email notifications for recalled products
- Costco App
- Soft copy of membership card
- Indicates which items are available in the warehouse vs online only. Often times purchasing items in-warehouse is cheaper but requires a trip to the store.
- Additional hours for Executive-level membership – this is especially helpful on the weekend to beat the crowd at 9:00AM
- Car buying program
Kind of scary how easy it is to get to $6,500 in spending at one store in a year, but using the membership to it’s full potential gets there in a hurry. Since swapping out to the Executive membership several years ago, the cash back has paid for the membership every year.
There are so many other benefits to a Costco membership that are not listed in this post, but these are what my family loves and uses all the time. Happy shopping!
