Costco

When you have a family as large as ours you definitely buy in bulk. Up until about 2 years ago the only warehouse in our area was Sam's Club and so we were pretty much out of luck in this regard. However, once the more politically correct Costco opened up relatively nearby all of this changed for us and we went to town loading up double wide carts and binging on free samples. The trick to this is figuring out what products you truly NEED and what you can live without. Trust me Costco sells a lot of "filler" and "fluff" that will not actually save you any money in the long run and will probably wind up being more of a headache for you than it's worth, since your husband will give you "the look" as he helps you unpack the back of your loaded mini van and makes rolly eyes and exasperated sighs at all the unnecessary bulkiness you have brought home with you. This happens to me when I can't help but bring home trays of croissants or large un-recyclable tubs of hummus and artichoke dip which loiter in the nether regions of our refrigerator until they start to smell funny or simply get elbowed out by foods we actually do eat. 

Now, while it is nice to buy in bulk, you will find that a lot of what they're selling isn't actually saving you too much money and you'd be better off clipping a coupon and waiting for a sale at Target. However, I don't have a lot of time, or let's face it energy, to do this. On the flip side, I also don't have the energy to buy a million rolls of toilet paper when it's just as cheap to buy smaller batches elsewhere. The whole key to my success as a warehouse member is narrowing in on the specific needs of my family and figuring out what the warehouse can do for us. Here are the ten items or so that we need, use, and can not get cheaper anywhere else.

*Kirkland Organic Soy Milk. 10 boxes for $12.99

*Huggies. Roughly .21 cents per diaper. We average $80 a month in this department.

*Ritz crackers, Graham crackers, Goldfish crackers

*Nature Valley granola bars

*Craisins

*Honey Nut Cheerios

*Tide Laundry Detergent. 

*Red peppers

*10 pound bag of carrots

*Box of baby greens

*Feta cheese (oddly enough this is the item where I get the biggest savings) 

*Butter

*Batteries

*Hershey's syrup

*Maraschino cherries 

*Pickles

*Strawberry jam

This is the list I take to Costco and I have gotten very good about trying to make sure that nothing else wanders into my cart along the way......Except maybe a frozen yogurt or a box of harmless Kudos bars. The real problem comes when we have to figure out where to keep everything once we get it back home!