Ah, Costco. Home of the bulk purchase. 

Have you ever rolled your eyes slightly at the fact that Costco literally has the word “Cost” right in their name? It feels like you’re going to get hosed as soon as you walk in the door. 

And you wouldn’t be wrong. Good luck walking out of there spending less than a few hundred bucks, am I right?

Costco’s most famous for bulk purchasing (offering killer deals if you buy lots of a product at once). In theory, this sounds great. 

It’s not all roses – if you’re not careful, you could waste huge amounts of money. 

But, with a bit of thoughtful research, you can make sure that you’re getting the best bang for your buck at Costco – and not throwing your money down the drain. 

If you’ve been under my umbrella for a while, you might have seen me do something similar with purchasing from the dollar store recently – so let’s get right into it. 

Food: What’s key here is that you’re buying quantities of food that you’ll actually use before it goes bad. 

If you’re a family of one or two, it doesn’t make sense to stock up on giant bags of apples and carrots. You’ll be feeding the compost bin. Spices have a shelf-life, so huge quantities of pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder might taste terrible by the time you get to the end of it. Keep an eye out for sales at regular grocery stores, and you can find a more reasonable quantity at an even better discount. 

Frozen foods can be great to stock up on if you have space for it in your freezer. Same goes for non-perishables like your favorite canned goods – buy them and stock up your pantry.

Note: Rotisserie chicken (it’s cheap and delicious!) is $4.99 and sold at a loss on purpose because it brings people to the store where they inevitably buy other products. 

Household items: The Kirkland brand toilet paper and paper towels are a great buy if you have the storage space for it. 

Pharmacy: in a 2018 Consumer Reports survey, Costco came in as one of the least expensive places to buy non-prescription medication. You can get very reasonable prices on over-the-counter items, too. 

Gift cards: These are sold at Costco at a discount. Have at it; sometimes they’re 25% cheaper than the value of the card!

Auto: Take advantage of their prices for tires and gas – they’re often highly competitive. As always, though – do your research first. 

Keeping tabs on where the best prices are is just smart money management – even if you’ve got lots of it.  

If you’d like to get my eyes on your finances to help you maximize your money, reach out by calling 513-563-PLAN (7526) or just book 15 minutes in my calendar here.