I read an article in which a psychologist was involved, and purportedly numerous studies made, on the buying habit of "shopping club" members. According to the article, you almost never save money by being a member.
It's not that you don't save money, or even that the money you save doesn't equal or exceed the membership. It's that you absolutely, positively, buy things you don't need and wouldn't buy otherwise but for the fact that you are a member and internally justify the purchase to yourself.
So it took a bit of convincing to have me join Costco. I was a regular member of Sam's for years, and decided I wasn't using it properly, and stopped, and didn't miss it.
The impetus was a "slick deal" on something we had been looking for that was about $75 cheaper at Costco than other places. With membership $55, it "made money" right off the bat, or so we believed.
So far I have bought a chest freezer we had been looking for, gasoline, propane tanks for a grill, milk, eggs, medicine, apple cider vinegar, car fresheners I regularly buy at Walmart (my son plays soccer and I transport him and a buddy occasionally--car NEEDS febreze air fresheners after they get in with their gear), 100 feet of power cords that I needed for an electric lawnmower ($28 for the two-pack; $29 for the exact same one at Amazon--for 50 feet), 33 gallon trash bags (I buy the 30 gallon version at Walmart; these were less than ½ price) and gasoline.
I'm confident that I have beaten the system so far. Whether that continues or not, I don't know. We're not ones to stock up on 100 rolls of toilet paper, etc., but for staples, we like to have what we need when we need it.
What do you buy? Are you confident you are beating the system?
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