Waste Money At Costco?

Do you waste money at Costco or other warehouses such as BJ’s and Sam’s?

Do they truly offer the best deals?  Or are you just wasting your money…

The answer might be both!

Costco has many wonderful products at great prices.  We’re a fan!  We dedicated a whole section to review and recommended products at Costco Warehouses that we have personally tried.

Costco has a frenzied and loyal following and it is not difficult to see why – they often have the best deals.

Shopping at Costco is a no-brainer, as the price per unit/pound/volume is often unbeatable.

We Are Price Sensitive

We are very price sensitive and want the best deals.

We get excited when there is a $2.50 instant manufacturer’s rebate and we stock up on the item.

We do a quick math and determine that it is the best deal to purchase a set of 8 toothpastes because they come down to only $1.50 each and that is awesome!

Or that the case of 16 organic apples is a wonderful deal (and it is) because it comes down to only 70 cents each!

We Do Waste Money

Unfortunately, when we purchase in bulk (and most of the products sold at Costco are indeed in bulk), we are often dealing with an abundance of the products and items we purchase.

This leads to waste.

We do not tend to conserve what we have an abundance of.  It’s human nature.

We do waste money at Costco.

And We Are Numb to Waste

We don’t usually bat an eyelash when we throw away some broccoli from a jumbo bag of broccoli that went bad.

Or the bunch of bananas that went bad.

Or that we have been liberally using shampoo because we are pumping it from a large pump and there is plenty more left.

Or using a few extra Q-tips every day because we just bought a 3-packet container that is full of them and it will last a long time.

It all adds up to waste.  If you only had a little bit of it, perhaps you would have conserved more.  Perhaps you would have used less because you didn’t need to use that much!  Or you didn’t have to throw away so many!

Conservatism is the best coupon you can use.

The best approach is to purchase what you really need, save money by buying in bulk, not waste anything that you purchase, and have a habit to conserve what you use.  Don’t think, oh I have so many left.  Think, I will treasure everything that is left and only use when I need to.

What You Can Do!

Fresh produce

• Make sure you are able to finish everything before they go bad
  • Refrigerate any items that might take you a bit longer to finish
• “Reach” for a product with a longer expiration date
  • You can easily find a box of fruits or a bag of salad with a longer expiration date by reaching for the bottom or the back of the pellets
• If you don’t need that many, don’t buy that many
  • Visit your local supermarket for a more reasonable quantity
  • You might not need a 10-lb bag of onions for the next few weeks
• Try not to purchase a fresh produce product if you haven’t tried it before
  • You might risk dumping everything if you don’t like it
  • Visit your local supermarket for a smaller quantity so you can decide if you like it
• Offer to share it with a friend or neighbor
  • You can even split the costs with them!
• Freeze them
  • You can freeze certain fresh produce item for later use
    • Fresh vegetables and fruits such as broccoli and berries can be easily frozen and used at a later time

Household goods/nonperishables/toiletries

• Make sure you really need the product
• Evaluate if the volume of the product makes sense to you
  • If you are coughing from a cold but you don’t get sick very often, maybe you don’t need two giant bags of cough drops taped together sold at a great price
• Store the product away and only use it when you really need it
• Do not use liberally thinking you still have a lot left
• Offer to share it with a friend or neighbor
  • You can even split the costs with them!

Last but not least…

Do you waste money at Costco?  What are you stories about wasting bulk item purchases?

Do you agree?  Do you have tactics to ensure that you are not wasting money by buying too much of a great deal?

Leave a comment below!  🙂