Costco

[Catlady711]

I decided not to get a membership today, though because the lines were HUGE!!!!! I mean, at least 10 people long in each line, and everyone had a cart full of stuff. I don't know if it's just that particular Costco, or all of them, but I will probably check out a different one in the the area tomorrow, and see if they are a little less busy. I don't want to save a little money but then have to wait 45 minutes to get through the line.

Don't necessarily be intimidated by long lines. At Sam's club today (which is a very busy day for them) the lines were like 7-10 ppl long, but they have many cashiers, and some have a hand held scanner, and while one person is ringing up someone, the one with the hand held scanner is scanning the cart of the person 3rd in line, keeps things moving very quickly! We only waited about 10 minutes to check out mine AND my mom's stuff. Plus Sam's club has a website like I mentioned above. Not sure if Costco has same benefits as a Sam's Club though.

[joycenalex]

catlady, will you come to the store with me, pretty please? you have skills!

[smokey the elder]

My area has BJ's Wholesale Clubs. They have a large variety of good stuff, very good meat, produce and heat and eat meals. Their house coffee brand is really good! My only nitpick is that they are understaffed, but they did recently put in self-checkout stations, which makes it better. Just don't go on a Friday after work before a snow storm!

[Catlady711]

catlady, will you come to the store with me, pretty please? you have skills!

ROFL

It's not skills so much as just plain legwork. It's not hard to get a price book going, it's just a pain taking the extra time writing all that stuff down. You can always figure out your unit costs at home if you're just getting your price book started and not actually comparing prices yet. Although I don't recommend taking any small impatient children OR husbands with you when doing this. Impatience ends up costing money with hasty purchases or costing you your sanity with someone who 'just wants to get out of here'.

I learned about the price book method from this website about frugal living. I don't by any means do all the frugal things mentioned in their website, I do many of them when I can. I balance things out between how much I'll save vs. the time/trouble it is to save a few pennies. If I can spare the time/trouble I'll do it. There are some tips they have that are outright ridiculous, but most tips are really helpful. You have to use your own judgment when evaluating them.

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