Speaker 1: Episode four h two, Grocery Store versus Warehouse Club Savings Showdown.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live a life here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill. And for the last five months,
Speaker 1: I have been conducting a research project specifically for listeners
Speaker 1: of Frugal Friends, and I wanted to know is a
Speaker 1: warehouse club worth it over a grocery store in my
Speaker 1: own life, in my own.
Speaker 3: Circumstances, anecdotally, your experience, your own research for five months now, Yeah.
Speaker 1: You've been doing this quietly. I didn't know what was happening. Well,
Speaker 1: it was the spur of the moment thing in that
Speaker 1: I got a deal for a fifteen dollars Sam's Club membership, right,
Speaker 1: and you put me as your partner, yes, which is
Speaker 1: I wanted to and that inspired me to say, I
Speaker 1: wonder if this is a good deal.
Speaker 3: Well, it also allowed it to be a write off, correct,
Speaker 3: so that you and I could go get hot dogs.
Speaker 1: Correct also logistics, So this is that the episode culminating
Speaker 1: in all of that research and we asked you, guys,
Speaker 1: what do you think about warehouse clubs? And most of
Speaker 1: you is thirty six percent of you said I couldn't
Speaker 1: live without mine, And then just under that, maybe about
Speaker 1: thirty percent of the answers were like, yes, I have
Speaker 1: a warehouse club membership, but I'm not sure if it's
Speaker 1: helping or hurting my wallet. So I am very interested
Speaker 1: for all of you who answered this pole question to
Speaker 1: hear this episode and to hear the results I'm about
Speaker 1: to share.
Speaker 3: Send us an email two down, send an email over
Speaker 3: a review. That's just what we'll say about that. But first,
Speaker 3: this episode is brought to you by bulking up. Whether
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Speaker 1: H So, if you are interested in saving on your groceries.
Speaker 1: We have a ton of episodes for you. A couple
Speaker 1: of the recent ones we've done episode three ninety one
Speaker 1: Best Seasonal Grocery Sales and episode two ninety six Grocery
Speaker 1: Saving Strategies that will cut your bill in half with
Speaker 1: Gina Zacharia, a really really good interview that we did
Speaker 1: at a online summit that we replayed on the show.
Speaker 1: But I think it's time. I think it's time to
Speaker 1: share the results. We're going to do this while looking
Speaker 1: at what the internet has to say about. If you
Speaker 1: go to Google and ask am I going to save
Speaker 1: money by getting a warehouse club membership? Should I do it?
Speaker 1: These are the things you're gonna find, and we chose
Speaker 1: the ones that we liked the best. Some of the
Speaker 1: rejected ones were was an article that said you could
Speaker 1: save over one thousand dollars WHOA with a warehouse club membership?
Speaker 1: And was it sponsored? That's the thing. It felt sponsored
Speaker 1: to me. I don't think it was sponsored, but it
Speaker 1: was just wildly inaccurate to your experience, to my experience.
Speaker 1: I think it was definitely a higher cost of living
Speaker 1: area like New York or LA, but still the price,
Speaker 1: the price discrepancies or the price differences are not what
Speaker 1: I experienced. And we're going to talk about Sam's Club,
Speaker 1: which was the one I went to, but also cost
Speaker 1: go because that's the one most people go to and
Speaker 1: has the best reputation when it comes to warehouse clubs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and to not bury the lead, I think ultimately
Speaker 3: we will say and what these articles are saying is, yes,
Speaker 3: warehouse clubs can save you money, but they can also
Speaker 3: cost you more. So I think it depends on how
Speaker 3: prudent and judicious we are in shopping them. So this
Speaker 3: first article comes from AARP and asks the question is
Speaker 3: it cheaper shop at a warehouse club and kind of
Speaker 3: goes through some of the myths the things to watch
Speaker 3: out for, and then we'll take you through an article
Speaker 3: of some do's and don'ts, which I think will be
Speaker 3: really helpful because it could be right for some people
Speaker 3: and it could be very wrong for others. So I
Speaker 3: think finding where you're at in it and really refining
Speaker 3: the way that you shop anywhere. We have to be
Speaker 3: mindful whenever we shop, but also just not assume this
Speaker 3: is going to be the best deal for us, is
Speaker 3: what we're going to be saying.
Speaker 1: Even if you're a large family. I want to put
Speaker 1: that out there because we are a family of four.
Speaker 1: So that's why I specifically wanted to do this research.
Speaker 1: But so this article says, well, it asks will warehouse
Speaker 1: clubs save you money? And that's the myth and the
Speaker 1: fact is not exactly so they're saying it can. Prices
Speaker 1: on most products will be lower compared to the regular
Speaker 1: grocery store prices. When you are comparing price per ounce,
Speaker 1: that's going to be on a lot of things. But
Speaker 1: the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service and a
Speaker 1: Life purchases made at forty thousand households, fifty two markets
Speaker 1: at warehouse clubs, superstores, and dollar stores from two thousand
Speaker 1: and four to two thousand and six. On average, you'll
Speaker 1: save twelve percent on meat, eleven percent on dairy, and
Speaker 1: six percent on grain products. But that's an average and
Speaker 1: it doesn't take into account a couple important factors that
Speaker 1: can actually make warehouse clubs cost you more money in
Speaker 1: the long run.
Speaker 3: So we want to go through those factors. First, is
Speaker 3: where you shop, not just what story you're shopping at,
Speaker 3: but what location are you currently in can really dictate
Speaker 3: whether or not you're actually going to get a deal.
Speaker 3: So they give this example that in the Baltimore, Washington area,
Speaker 3: about ninety percent of products that they surveyed showed lower
Speaker 3: prices at the warehouse clubs than your typical grocery store,
Speaker 3: but in San Antonio only fifty five percent of products
Speaker 3: surveyed costs less than at a typical grocery store. And
Speaker 3: why so, citing that in areas such as San Antonio
Speaker 3: with more shopping options, grocery stores offer relatively low prices
Speaker 3: in order to compete, but in sprawling urban areas, the
Speaker 3: competition isn't there to drive down grocery store prices, so
Speaker 3: the savings at warehouse stores are greater. So this is
Speaker 3: a massive factor. I don't think I totally put this
Speaker 3: into perspective previously, but I have noticed again anecdotally in
Speaker 3: my own experience, that certain grocery stores, even locally, will
Speaker 3: have different prices, like the Walmart near you has better
Speaker 3: prices on butter than near me, and different products vice versa.
Speaker 3: Of course, that takes a really aware person who's going
Speaker 3: to a lot of different stores even know the different pricing.
Speaker 3: But I didn't even think about it on a larger
Speaker 3: scale that in cities it might make more sense, but
Speaker 3: in your more suburban areas it may not.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's so that has been my experience in
Speaker 1: a lot of things. A lot of things I was
Speaker 1: surprised about. It was actually cheaper ounce per ounce to
Speaker 1: shop at the grocery store, and I was blabberg acid
Speaker 1: Because I have there are four people in my families,
Speaker 1: I have no problem buying bulk, so that I shop
Speaker 1: less often. But as I was comparing, and I use
Speaker 1: the Walmart app, so that's typically I'll do a Walmart
Speaker 1: grocery pickup every Sunday or Monday. And then what I've
Speaker 1: been doing is going to Sam's Club once a month,
Speaker 1: and whenever I'm in Sam's Club, before I get something,
Speaker 1: I'll compare it to the price per ounce at Walmart
Speaker 1: a for the most comparable product, because it's not realistic
Speaker 1: all the time to do identical products like a product
Speaker 1: at Walmart is not available at Sam's Club, so I
Speaker 1: wouldn't even be able to buy buy the things. So
Speaker 1: what I found was that on some of the things
Speaker 1: I was buying most frequently, it was more especially the
Speaker 1: perishable items, better for me to shop at a grocery
Speaker 1: store for us, there's a grocery You cannot drive three
Speaker 1: minutes without passing a grocery store. Though there's every grocery
Speaker 1: store you can think of, and more coming like all
Speaker 1: these coming in every year, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, like
Speaker 1: they are all in addition to the ones that have
Speaker 1: already been here. So I think that is a huge
Speaker 1: factor in why a lot of the things that I
Speaker 1: wanted to buy didn't save me money at sam Club.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, really important to keep in mind. I don't
Speaker 3: know how you exactly would know that. I guess you could.
Speaker 1: Search your area for pricing, right, So what I would
Speaker 1: do is you can't always check the price on things
Speaker 1: like milk or eggs, Like I was trying to price
Speaker 1: compare to Costco, but I'm not a member there, so
Speaker 1: I couldn't see those. But you can compare things that
Speaker 1: are available for shipping. So I pulled up a price
Speaker 1: comparison on diapers. Then I'll go through a little later
Speaker 1: and I could see the price per each because those
Speaker 1: were available for shipping on Costco. But I'll just go
Speaker 1: through the Walmart app and pretend like I'll just add
Speaker 1: things to my cart and then compare the prices, you know,
Speaker 1: pull them up while I'm in Sam's Club to compare
Speaker 1: the price per ounce. And you can even do that
Speaker 1: if you're concerned about the prices being different at different
Speaker 1: grocery stores in your area. Walmart, at least I can
Speaker 1: put everything into my cart and look at it at
Speaker 1: the one closest to me, and then I can just
Speaker 1: quickly switch it to a different Walmart and then see
Speaker 1: if the price in my cart changed. So that's a
Speaker 1: quick way to see what the difference is in total
Speaker 1: price to see if it's worth driving to another Walmart. Yeah,
Speaker 1: most likely probably not. Yeah yeah maybe dollars yeah. So
Speaker 1: second that these this myth doesn't account for the forty
Speaker 1: to fifty dollars you have to pay just to walk
Speaker 1: into the door of a BJ's Costco or Sam's Club,
Speaker 1: And so you really do have to sit down and
Speaker 1: do the math. I think for these entry level like
Speaker 1: forty fifty bucks, I definitely made back my fifteen, Like
Speaker 1: I more than save fifteen dollars so far. For sure.
Speaker 3: That sometimes you can get deals and discounts on the memberships,
Speaker 3: that's worth stating.
Speaker 1: But when it jumps up to fifty, then you do
Speaker 1: have to do some thinking, some math these premium memberships though,
Speaker 1: so I just I didn't know this. I went to shop,
Speaker 1: I dropped off my kids at daycare and school, and
Speaker 1: then went to Sam's Club. They let me in the door.
Speaker 1: I shopping. I finish at nine to twenty, and they
Speaker 1: will not let me check out. I cannot check out
Speaker 1: because anything before ten am is for Sam's Club like
Speaker 1: premium members. I had no idea. No, so they made
Speaker 1: me up like upgrade in order to check out because
Speaker 1: they were gonna. I talked to several people and they're like,
Speaker 1: you either have to wait till ten or upgrade, but
Speaker 1: they're like it is, there is right, there is a
Speaker 1: money back guarantee, so I paid. I think it was
Speaker 1: pro rated for me. So I paid thirty five dollars
Speaker 1: so I could check out and then no, I think
Speaker 1: what it was. I probably would have stayed the forty minutes,
Speaker 1: but no, this was on spring break and I had
Speaker 1: KAI and I wasn't gonna wait forty minutes guy. So
Speaker 1: I paid the thirty five dollars, went back the next
Speaker 1: week and got a refund because I loved had to
Speaker 1: go back and I had to go back fund and
Speaker 1: I look at all of the features and they were
Speaker 1: just not worth the extra money is double the price
Speaker 1: often to get these premium like free shipping, free pickup,
Speaker 1: like all these quote unquote freebies. We're absolutely not worth
Speaker 1: it for me and my family. So that's another thing,
Speaker 1: Like I think maybe you could cut it with the minimum,
Speaker 1: but there's I just don't see how you can do
Speaker 1: it with the premium.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you might be able to get the deal
Speaker 3: for the first time sign up, but if you choose
Speaker 3: to keep it, then eventually you're going to be paying
Speaker 3: forty five fifty dollars to keep your membership, potentially more.
Speaker 3: And when you're only saving between five to twelve percent
Speaker 3: on your items, you really have to look at am
Speaker 3: I going to go there often enough where the five
Speaker 3: to twelve percent that I'm saving on my total bill
Speaker 3: is that equating to the fifty dollars that I've spent
Speaker 3: on the membership. And depending on how far away it
Speaker 3: is from you, I know for many people, well you're
Speaker 3: driving a further distance to get to these warehouse clubs,
Speaker 3: and so just your time investment, your mileage, how much
Speaker 3: it might end up costing you, they're all worth weighing
Speaker 3: out yeah.
Speaker 1: I know some of the people in our poll on
Speaker 1: the front letter said they split their membership fee with
Speaker 1: someone else, and so that makes it a little more palatable.
Speaker 1: So again, that's if you enjoy the experience of shopping
Speaker 1: at a warehouse club and you want to keep it,
Speaker 1: that's a thing to think about. Making the person you
Speaker 1: add to your account pay you half. That's just free load.
Speaker 1: Here's looking at me. Huh okay.
Speaker 3: So the third thing that we've got to keep an
Speaker 3: eye out for is that the clubs are luring you
Speaker 3: in with let's say, a great price on chicken or
Speaker 3: pork chops, but the entire store is designed in a
Speaker 3: way that's going to encourage you to spend and their massive.
Speaker 3: They are ware houses, so you're not just going in
Speaker 3: to grab yourself some pork chops and getting out of there,
Speaker 3: especially not out of there before ten without spending more money.
Speaker 3: But once you're there, there is this well, now I'm here,
Speaker 3: I've made it through the door, I showed my card.
Speaker 3: Now let me just browse, And there is no version
Speaker 3: of just browsing without getting something additional. Even for the
Speaker 3: best of us who are not huge impulse buyers. It's
Speaker 3: designed for that, So it is it really a great
Speaker 3: price on porkchops when you're spending impulsively on something that
Speaker 3: maybe you didn't even need, it wasn't on your list.
Speaker 1: I saw this. I've been directly victimized by this. It
Speaker 1: is like when you get in there with your big cart.
Speaker 1: The carts are bigger, so you don't feel like you're
Speaker 1: putting as much in right, So what you think is
Speaker 1: just like a few things is actually a lot if
Speaker 1: you had a normal sized cart, but you can fill
Speaker 1: it up and things are put around the store chaotically
Speaker 1: for a reason. Yeah, to get everything you need, you're
Speaker 1: going to go to so many different places. You have
Speaker 1: to pass by things they know you don't need in
Speaker 1: order to get to everything you need. And the samples,
Speaker 1: and there's always a sample.
Speaker 3: I do love samples, but I think that that is
Speaker 3: another ploy too. You're trying it, you like it, you
Speaker 3: want to buy it. This is just occurring to me too.
Speaker 3: This is not listened in the article, but I'm realizing
Speaker 3: for myself. The prices are high because you're getting a lot, right,
Speaker 3: You're buying in bulk, so you're seeing a lot of
Speaker 3: things at twenty two, twenty six thirteen eighteen, and I
Speaker 3: am just now realizing for myself when I see something
Speaker 3: below ten at a warehouse club, that.
Speaker 1: Feels like a good deal.
Speaker 3: Oh, this box of Taktos for nine eighty seven or
Speaker 3: this bag of berries for eleven twenty five. Yet it
Speaker 3: feels like a decent price because you've now been in
Speaker 3: this store seeing all these kind of higher ticket items.
Speaker 1: But then to realize, if.
Speaker 3: I were in a regular grocery store and I saw
Speaker 3: something listed for close to ten fifteen dollars, that's a
Speaker 3: lot of money and maybe I'll eat it all, maybe
Speaker 3: I'll get through all of it. But that's just a
Speaker 3: lot of money to drop all at once on one
Speaker 3: singular item that usually for me is not worth it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, anchoring, anchoring. You see all these high prices, so
Speaker 1: the low prices feel like a really good deal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because you've just seen so many high prices.
Speaker 3: Well, at the regular grocery store, things that are four
Speaker 3: and five dollars are like, nah, that's that's a little
Speaker 3: bit too high for me. But then at Sam's Club,
Speaker 3: it's okay, Well, nine ten is the good price because
Speaker 3: twenty is the high price.
Speaker 1: So so that is the first article. The second article
Speaker 1: is bulking Up pro tips for buying in bulk. So
Speaker 1: we know that some of you who love your Costco
Speaker 1: membership are not going to be deterred by our experience
Speaker 1: in not really saving that much at a warehouse store
Speaker 1: if you look at the price per ounds. So we
Speaker 1: want you to be a successful bulkshopper. Though, if you're
Speaker 1: going to keep your membership because you like it, then
Speaker 1: here are the dos and don'ts for buying in bulk. First,
Speaker 1: do buy things that won't go bad. So that's actually
Speaker 1: been my strategy going in. I only go in once
Speaker 1: a month, so everything I buy has to either be
Speaker 1: freezable or shelf stable, and so the only perishable things
Speaker 1: I will actually buy are things like fruit that I know,
Speaker 1: like my kids go through like bandits, bananas, mandarins, apples, crazy,
Speaker 1: So I'll do those. But everything else really is frozen
Speaker 1: or shelf stable. So do not if you can't, if
Speaker 1: your kids or you or your partner are not going
Speaker 1: through these perishable things like crazy, don't be tempted by them.
Speaker 1: Don't even walk by them, because I mean, these stores
Speaker 1: are are convincing you like as you walk through, like
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to get this perishable thing. But look
Speaker 1: at the sale, look at how you like.
Speaker 3: And I'm not going to get month from now, so
Speaker 3: you better get it now.
Speaker 1: It's a better deal than the grocery store. No, because
Speaker 1: it gon' go bad. You're not gonna eat at all.
Speaker 1: Don't clutter your home. The last thing you want is
Speaker 1: for your home to look like a warehouse. And so
Speaker 1: a lot of people that were saying they didn't they
Speaker 1: didn't buy in bulk, were because we don't have room
Speaker 1: to buy in bulk. We don't have room to store
Speaker 1: this stuff. For me, I have maxed out my freezer
Speaker 1: because of Sam's Club, Like I can't I probably can't
Speaker 1: buy any more frozen stuff because of Sam's Clubs. So
Speaker 1: and I'm not going to get a deep freezer, Like
Speaker 1: there's no reason I need a deep freezer. I don't hunt.
Speaker 1: Nobody around me hunts where I need to, like have
Speaker 1: room for an entire steer, you know, Like that's not
Speaker 1: I don't need a deep freezer. I just need to
Speaker 1: use what's in my freezer. And so yeah, and now
Speaker 1: I have space in a pantry for things, but I
Speaker 1: also don't want to clutter it, so just use buy
Speaker 1: what you think you'll use the next month, or if
Speaker 1: STU like toilet paper, trash bags like things you know
Speaker 1: you will use, you know quickly and you don't have
Speaker 1: to have multiple boxes.
Speaker 4: Of it.
Speaker 1: Next.
Speaker 3: Do make a plan. You've heard this one from us before.
Speaker 3: It's not just a warehouse shopping tip. It's an always tip,
Speaker 3: but especially when it comes to food. So if you're
Speaker 3: utilizing a warehouse club for your kind of once a
Speaker 3: month shopping and you're stocking up, make a plan. Consider
Speaker 3: what those meals are going to be before you make
Speaker 3: any purchases. Know whether or not you're going to be
Speaker 3: going on vacation.
Speaker 1: Will you actually use.
Speaker 3: All the stuff up and look for ingredients stuff you
Speaker 3: can buy that you can use in multiple different types
Speaker 3: of meals. I remember when you and I went at
Speaker 3: one point to Sam's Club gen you had price compared
Speaker 3: dice tomatoes.
Speaker 1: It's something that.
Speaker 3: You use a lot, and so knowing that this goes
Speaker 3: into a lot of the different soups and stews and
Speaker 3: whatnot that you make, it was advantageous for you to
Speaker 3: stock up on their bigger Kansa dice tomatoes.
Speaker 1: But that was because you had a plan. Yes, don't
Speaker 1: bulk shop every week.
Speaker 3: So while we don't want you to be spending more
Speaker 3: just because you only go once a month, Also, don't
Speaker 3: go every week. No one needs well, I guess unless
Speaker 3: you've got like twelve children. But most people do not
Speaker 3: need to be buying in bulk weekly. We're most likely
Speaker 3: not going through all of these items. So trying to
Speaker 3: limit bulk shopping too once maybe twice a month, depending
Speaker 3: on your situation, could be a great tip to decrease
Speaker 3: some of the impulse buies and help you make the
Speaker 3: most of your Warehouse Club shopping. So this is, shopping
Speaker 3: for fruits and vegetables that you need weekly at a
Speaker 3: smaller store or farmer's market is going to do you
Speaker 3: better than getting all of these things in bulk that
Speaker 3: aren't going to last for that long. You're probably not
Speaker 3: going to make it through all of that fresh produce.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you have a habit of impulse shopping when
Speaker 1: you go to the warehouse Club, the best thing you
Speaker 1: can do for yourself is go to the warehouse Club less.
Speaker 1: And I know we have this thing because we paid
Speaker 1: for the membership. We want to go more often and
Speaker 1: get our money's worth. But the opposite is true. The
Speaker 1: more you go, the more opportunity you have to spend
Speaker 1: on things you don't need. So go, make a plan
Speaker 1: and go once a month, Do not go more. Another
Speaker 1: thing they'll do is the gas. The gas at Sam's Club.
Speaker 1: I have been using that. I've been getting gas there
Speaker 1: and one of the things is like, oh, I'm already
Speaker 1: here getting gas. I'll hop in and just pick up
Speaker 1: this one thing. Don't do that either. The way to
Speaker 1: break bad habits is to make the queue invisible. So
Speaker 1: just don't step in. Don't do it. You are getting
Speaker 1: your money's worth better by only going once a month.
Speaker 1: Believe that. Believe that, believe it the next do and
Speaker 1: don't do. Keep track of what you have. So if
Speaker 1: you are shopping a warehouse club, then you now should
Speaker 1: be the proud owner of a very organized and easily
Speaker 1: viewable storage system, pantry, inventory list, stuff like that. Not
Speaker 1: everybody needs it, because if you don't have a pantry
Speaker 1: and you can just see everything you have right in
Speaker 1: front of you, you may not you don't need an
Speaker 1: organized some kind of pantry organization method or list, but
Speaker 1: if you are, this is the time to start at
Speaker 1: least the list. Start the list so that you know
Speaker 1: what you need. I planned before every every Sam's Club trip,
Speaker 1: and this is part fun. It's fun for me because
Speaker 1: I get a dough bamine hit just planning for a
Speaker 1: shopping trip. Right. The dopamine hit does not just come
Speaker 1: when you buy something. It comes with the anticipation of buying.
Speaker 1: So that's one of the great things about budgeting and
Speaker 1: planning is that you get that extra dopamine hit because
Speaker 1: you planned right. It's better than impulse buying. So but
Speaker 1: I'll plan like in bed at night, and I'll be
Speaker 1: comparing the prices Walmart to Sam's Club in bed, so
Speaker 1: I don't have to be comparing while I'm there and
Speaker 1: spending more time there because I already know, like what's cheaper.
Speaker 1: So keep track of what you have so that you
Speaker 1: can more easily plan ahead of time. Because don't assume
Speaker 1: buying in bulk is cheaper. And I think that's the
Speaker 1: main message of this episode. Not all bulk items actually
Speaker 1: save you money. Sometimes stores market products as bulk, but
Speaker 1: the price per unit or outs is not any cheaper
Speaker 1: at the buying standard quality. Sometimes there will not be
Speaker 1: a Member's mark or a Kirkland brand. They will only
Speaker 1: have a name brand of the thing where you could
Speaker 1: have gotten like a great value at Walmart. So sometimes
Speaker 1: it may be like more expensive to shop per ounce
Speaker 1: at the warehouse store. So it's a good idea to
Speaker 1: keep track of sales because they will do sales. We
Speaker 1: in writing our book, we are doing some research on
Speaker 1: the stores that have sales, and because we've all seen
Speaker 1: it that these stores will have quote unquote sales, but
Speaker 1: it's always on sale. Amazon's the worst at this because
Speaker 1: they're individual retailers, but like it's just always quote unquote
Speaker 1: on sale, but that's actually just the regular price. So
Speaker 1: Consumer Checkbook I think did a study at a bunch
Speaker 1: of major retailers over three weeks for key products and
Speaker 1: found that only two and they were testing Walmart, Target, Amazon,
Speaker 1: all the big boys. Only two stores did not have
Speaker 1: deceptive sales marketing. Two they say who they were, Yes,
Speaker 1: Apple was one of them, because they ran no sales,
Speaker 1: because they never say they ran no sales, so they
Speaker 1: don't ever give you the idea that they're running a sale.
Speaker 1: The only other store that did not run deceptive sales
Speaker 1: like their sales were legitimately sales was Costco. Whoa yeah,
Speaker 1: so all you Costco lovers you can rest assured that
Speaker 1: the sales there are actually sales, but research the sales.
Speaker 1: You can find the sales online. Their sales cycle is cyclical,
Speaker 1: so you'll be able to know when the thing you
Speaker 1: want is on sale there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh that's so good. Okay, last do and don't do.
Speaker 3: Buy only what you need and use. This one seems obvious,
Speaker 3: but it is worth mentioning because sometimes we can get
Speaker 3: caught up in buying something that we just think sounds
Speaker 3: cool or we'd like, and we think it's on sale
Speaker 3: or it's a deal, let me get it, and then
Speaker 3: you just end up with something enticed by a good price,
Speaker 3: but a large amount of something that you don't actually Yeah,
Speaker 3: I feel like with food, like you try it out
Speaker 3: and then it's like I don't like that brand of
Speaker 3: cliff bar, but now you've got one hundred and fifty
Speaker 3: two of those cliff bars.
Speaker 1: And what you're gonna do. Yeah, it's shelf stable, so
Speaker 1: it'll never go bad, but it'll never go away. I
Speaker 1: wanted you buy what's your thing. I bought protein drinks,
Speaker 1: like ready made protein drinks, but they were special edition
Speaker 1: chocolate mint and I know I like the chocolate, so
Speaker 1: I don't know why I bought chocolate. I do love
Speaker 1: min chocolate chip ice cream is my favorite ice cream.
Speaker 1: So I bought these thinking it would taste like that,
Speaker 1: and it didn't. It wasn't bad, but I just got
Speaker 1: tired of them very quickly, Like I didn't want to
Speaker 1: drink twenty six of them. Yeah, yeah, Actually Travis ended
Speaker 1: up drinking them. He does not like chocolate mint flavored things,
Speaker 1: but he drank them after working out, and I kept
Speaker 1: offering him. I was like, here's my just regular chocolate
Speaker 1: protein powder, like you can have this, but he was
Speaker 1: lazy and he didn't want to make a protein drink.
Speaker 1: These were just ready made in this That's why he drank.
Speaker 1: So they all got gone. That's good. But I also
Speaker 1: bought a big thing of OURX bars, knowing that our
Speaker 1: X bars are my last resort meal. I don't like
Speaker 1: them a lot, but they are like it's so protein
Speaker 1: bars are so hard, and so I know I'll have
Speaker 1: those forever. But that was a strategic move.
Speaker 3: Don't go bulk all at once if you're catching the
Speaker 3: vibes over here and you're like, oh, that was a
Speaker 3: good deal.
Speaker 5: Unless you're doing research for a potty don't go thinking
Speaker 5: that you got to do everything in bulk, especially because
Speaker 5: your home most likely cannot handle everything to be bulk.
Speaker 3: Like Jen said, you don't want it to look like
Speaker 3: a warehouse at your home, So start slowly. Only purchase
Speaker 3: the bulk items that you know you're going to use
Speaker 3: and that are actually a deal above and beyond what
Speaker 3: you could get at a regular grocery store. What makes
Speaker 3: sense for your family, your spending plan. Just be really mindful.
Speaker 1: Don't assume, I guess is the main thing. If you're
Speaker 1: starting to put bulk items in your guest room, your office,
Speaker 1: a spare closet, if it is overflowing outside of the
Speaker 1: kitchen area or where you normally store those items, to stop.
Speaker 1: It's time to sit a take a break.
Speaker 3: You know what it's time for now. It's a version
Speaker 3: of a break, But it's not us stopping, it's us
Speaker 3: continuing to go the vill of the week.
Speaker 6: That's right, It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 6: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 6: is Williams. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, Maybe your
Speaker 6: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 6: that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: Duck bills Buffalo bills. Bill Clon, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week.
Speaker 4: Hi Jen and Jel. This is Laurie from Central Florida.
Speaker 4: My bill of the week is my two American Express
Speaker 4: credit card bills. One year ago, my balance was twenty
Speaker 4: five twelve dollars. They were both at zero percent for
Speaker 4: twelve months. I'm happy to say I just made the
Speaker 4: last payment on both without a cruing interest at all.
Speaker 4: It does pay to have frugal friends and a new
Speaker 4: outlook on my money and spending or lack bearro Thanks
Speaker 4: for all you do, Lorie.
Speaker 1: Twenty five thousand dollars in credit card debt paid off. Congratulations,
Speaker 1: without accruing interest. That's fantastic. You well done. Beat the
Speaker 1: credit cards at their own game. I love that everyone again,
Speaker 1: like the man, don't transfer them to a zero percent interest.
Speaker 1: You won't pay them off? Girl? You did. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: beat them at their own game.
Speaker 3: And that's why I love saying that we can make
Speaker 3: our own decisions as long as they're informed decisions. I
Speaker 3: feel like this conversation about warehouse clubs is really similar
Speaker 3: to conversations about credit cards. Like it's not it's very gray. Yes,
Speaker 3: it can be really good for you. Or it might
Speaker 3: not be the best decision for you. Just eyes wide open,
Speaker 3: and that's what you did, and you used it to
Speaker 3: your favor and now you got that debt gone and
Speaker 3: well done girl.
Speaker 1: And in Central Florida shout out, Yes, I went to
Speaker 1: Central University of Central Florida.
Speaker 3: Hey, if you all listening, have a bill you want
Speaker 3: to share with us. If it's about paying off credit
Speaker 3: cards not accruing interest, If it's about a bill, you
Speaker 3: don't mind paying a bill you didn't have to pay.
Speaker 3: Your name is Bill, you know the drill Frugal Friends
Speaker 3: podcast dot com slash Bill. We're ready for it, and
Speaker 3: now it's time for the lightning round.
Speaker 1: All right, girl, this is where I'm gonna go. I'm
Speaker 1: dive in. You're gonna dive in because you've gotten going on.
Speaker 3: All right, Jen, all your research the last five months,
Speaker 3: which items do you prefer buying at a warehouse store
Speaker 3: compared to a grocery store and vice versa.
Speaker 1: All right, So, and granted I'm gonna say again, I
Speaker 1: live in an area where there is a lot of
Speaker 1: competition among grocery stores. This may not be the case,
Speaker 1: and you should do your own research. Don't assume that
Speaker 1: warehouse clubs are the best way to go because they
Speaker 1: were the best way to go for someone else. And
Speaker 1: don't assume just because the warehouse club works for you,
Speaker 1: it should work for everything. Do your own experiment, Do
Speaker 1: your own experience. So in my experience, the things that
Speaker 1: I have not and will not buy at the Sam's
Speaker 1: Club strawberries, I can get two pounds of strawberries at
Speaker 1: Walmart for a dollar less than I buy two pounds
Speaker 1: at Sam's Club. They are these same strawberries in season
Speaker 1: or out of season. It's always cheaper at the grocery store. Diapers,
Speaker 1: I buy the great value or the parent's choice. Yes,
Speaker 1: at Walmart I did, so this was actually something I
Speaker 1: was able to compare across Costco, Walmart, and Sam's Club. Granted,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the store brand for all these The
Speaker 1: quality of the store brand may differ across brands, right,
Speaker 1: But I am fine with the parents' choice from Walmart.
Speaker 1: My both my sons have used. That works for us
Speaker 1: may not work for you. But it is the least
Speaker 1: expensive diaper. So we're looking at our size one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty six, which is not even the biggest. The
Speaker 1: biggest is two hundred ten, but they don't carry that
Speaker 1: in the store. It's only one hundred and twenty six.
Speaker 1: It's like less than seventeen fifty. It's seventeen forty eight
Speaker 1: for one hundred and twenty six diapers. That's under fourteen
Speaker 1: cents of diaper. At my Sam's Club it is for
Speaker 1: the size three. It's forty bucks for two hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty four, so that's seven nineteen cents a diaper. So
Speaker 1: I'm saving fourteen fifteen, sixteen sent three cents a diaper
Speaker 1: by buying a Walmart and over a lifetime, that's significant pricing.
Speaker 1: So I don't buy diapers at Sam's Club. I'm looking
Speaker 1: at Kirkland. And while I didn't get to compare any
Speaker 1: other prices at Costco, I was able to compare this one.
Speaker 1: They're diapers. So two hundred and twenty two diapers in
Speaker 1: size three, which is the size we are in, which
Speaker 1: is less than the two hundred and thirty four at
Speaker 1: Sam's Club is forty five, So five dollars more expensive
Speaker 1: for the Kirkland brand for fewer diapers, and it doesn't
Speaker 1: is price per diapers twenty cents per diaper, so I'm
Speaker 1: not and I've heard Costco referred to as the Trader
Speaker 1: Joe's of warehouse clubs. So Sam's Club's obviously the Walmart
Speaker 1: of warehouse clubs, and then Kirklan and Costco is like
Speaker 1: the Trader Joe's, so a little bit of a price
Speaker 1: premium there, but yeah, that's what we're looking at for diapers.
Speaker 1: So diapers I still buy at Walmart. The same with eggs,
Speaker 1: like the egg verbiage is super confusing. They have cage free,
Speaker 1: they have organic cage free, they have pasture raised. I
Speaker 1: just buy them from Walmart because I know the ones
Speaker 1: I like they have, and they're cheaper than the ones
Speaker 1: at Sam's Club, which may be higher quality, but I
Speaker 1: don't need them to be higher quality, right, I don't
Speaker 1: need the best of the best. I get my brown
Speaker 1: cage free. They're not organic, but I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1: I get my snacks for my baby at the grocery
Speaker 1: store because members Mark doesn't have Maybe snacks, it's all
Speaker 1: the name brand Gerber stuff, and Walmart does. Walmart has
Speaker 1: really good parents' choice selections for snacks. Frozen broccoli is
Speaker 1: cheaper at Walmart than it is buying in bulk at
Speaker 1: Sam's Club.
Speaker 3: It's so weird, and obviously you've got to do some
Speaker 3: of these deep dives to know what is your best
Speaker 3: price pricing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then milk, like I was able to compare.
Speaker 1: I get organic Vitamin D milk, and at Sam's Club
Speaker 1: for three half gallons, it's like eleven something. At Walmart
Speaker 1: it is ten ninety four. Wow. Yeah, if I bought
Speaker 1: a full gallon and a half gallon huh yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: So what will you buy at Sam's Club? So the
Speaker 1: things I have been buying at Sam's Club, let me
Speaker 1: scroll down. Baby wipes, so those are less expensive because
Speaker 1: they don't have the big cases at the Walmart that
Speaker 1: I order from, So I'll buy the wipes. I buy
Speaker 1: Huggies pull ups because we use the name brand Huggies
Speaker 1: pull ups for kai okay, So they do sell those
Speaker 1: at Sam's Club. It is cheaper because it's the brand name.
Speaker 1: We're gonna buy the brand name. So I do get
Speaker 1: those at Sam's Club, and I save a pretty good amount,
Speaker 1: like enough to where I think Huggies alone has justified
Speaker 1: the membership because Huggies ain't cheap meat. I do buy
Speaker 1: all of my meat from Sam's Club. Now I like
Speaker 1: to get the organic, free range meats. And the crazy
Speaker 1: thing is that the ninety ten beef is cheaper than
Speaker 1: like the eighty five fifteen beef, even against Sam's Club. Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know why, but it's definitely cheaper than Walmart.
Speaker 1: So the meat also has made up for the cost.
Speaker 1: If you're a vegetarian or vegan, I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's right, Like, yeah, you get your bulk beyond burgers,
Speaker 1: but like I don't. I don't think they're that good.
Speaker 1: Those are not good. So yeah, I don't think you
Speaker 1: would get a lot of value from a Warehouse club.
Speaker 1: Bananas I will get because my kids go again, fruit apples, bananas, mandarins,
Speaker 1: the and then some of the specialty stuff you can
Speaker 1: only get at Sam's Clubs. So they have a Mediterranean
Speaker 1: kale salad that I am obsessed with. I get it
Speaker 1: every time. I'll get two pounds of it. I'll add
Speaker 1: shredded chicken to it, and I will eat that for
Speaker 1: lunch for a week. I love that salad. They have
Speaker 1: a better nut bar. I love that nut bar. No
Speaker 1: other bar compares. I'll buy fit crunch bars. So those
Speaker 1: are the protein bars that I'm loving now. And I'll
Speaker 1: get those in bulk because it's my two favorite flavors
Speaker 1: are in the bulk one. It's not like just the
Speaker 1: one I like and the one I deal with in
Speaker 1: the two best flavors in this one box. And then
Speaker 1: chicken corn on blue in bulk.
Speaker 3: Huh.
Speaker 1: It's something my kids like, yeah, and I like they always. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't go wrong with it. So once you find
Speaker 1: something your four year old likes, you just you buy it,
Speaker 1: keep buying it, keep going in bulk. It's all we're
Speaker 1: eating now. So that is my analysis. There are more
Speaker 1: things that I've tried that these are just the things
Speaker 1: that are most notable to me. Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, I mean it's really helpful, but I think it
Speaker 3: does show that it's not a definitely no or definitely
Speaker 3: yes yet again, And everyone's going to have their own
Speaker 3: version of this, probably like well, especially if location has
Speaker 3: to do with it, my Sam's Club or my Costco
Speaker 3: has better deals on this. I think the point is
Speaker 3: really doing some research and knowing that you are getting
Speaker 3: the better deal, and that that better deal is worth
Speaker 3: it to maybe make an extra trip or go out
Speaker 3: of your way, because sometimes for me, it's worth it
Speaker 3: to just one stop shop at a singular place, even
Speaker 3: if it means I'm spending fifty cents or a dollar
Speaker 3: more here and there, because I'm not wasting time, I'm
Speaker 3: not wasting gas. I'm just not wasting It's more efficient
Speaker 3: for me that way.
Speaker 1: And something I was thinking about when I was in
Speaker 1: the deli section of Sam's Club is something that may
Speaker 1: not a feature that may be underutilized with these memberships
Speaker 1: is that they have fantastic like ready to cook or
Speaker 1: ready to eat family meals, so not just like one
Speaker 1: or two servings, but multiple servings, which could be great
Speaker 1: if you're on vacation, or you're traveling, or it's a
Speaker 1: late you know there's going to be a late night
Speaker 1: where you're not going to want to cook. This could
Speaker 1: be really great option to avoid takeout and restaurants.
Speaker 3: Yes, that was going to be my answer. So I
Speaker 3: rarely go to a warehouse club. It can be fun
Speaker 3: for me to kind of see, you know, what's happened
Speaker 3: on the other side.
Speaker 1: Of the world.
Speaker 3: I get everything from the grocery store, but I do
Speaker 3: like warehouse clubs for what you're describing. Like recently, my
Speaker 3: in laws were in town and I was just recovering
Speaker 3: from not feeling well, and I wanted to provide dinner
Speaker 3: for everybody the night that they arrived, but I knew
Speaker 3: I wasn't going to feel well enough to cook. And
Speaker 3: they had amazing actually more as in the frozen section
Speaker 3: butter chicken, and they've got big packets and non bread
Speaker 3: and it was just a big meal for all of us,
Speaker 3: Whereas at the grocery store, frozen food frozen prepared foods
Speaker 3: usually only feed one to two people, so they've got
Speaker 3: a really nice selection there. I also really like warehouse clubs.
Speaker 3: Whenever we host a party, which we have been doing
Speaker 3: a lot in the past couple of years, we've got
Speaker 3: twenty thirty people coming over, then it's a great spot
Speaker 3: to get your big salsas kso big bags of chips,
Speaker 3: things of bread, like all feeding a large quantity, not
Speaker 3: just a big family, but a lot of people all
Speaker 3: at once. You can get the really good deals. But
Speaker 3: when else are you going to need fifty patties of burgers?
Speaker 1: Never only then your cholesterol will overcompensate. The savings on
Speaker 1: your warehouse club will be overshadowed by the money you
Speaker 1: will have to spend hovering from eating fifty burger patties.
Speaker 3: And I know that we were primarily talking here about
Speaker 3: grocery items, so food items, but I do think there's
Speaker 3: something to be said for warehouse clubs and they're non
Speaker 3: food items, like especially Costco. They vet all of their
Speaker 3: brands pretty well, they stand behind them. You can return
Speaker 3: things I think up until a year, possibly even beyond.
Speaker 3: They've got a really great return policy that I know
Speaker 3: people love. So I've gotten really great towels and bedding
Speaker 3: and storage bins from them, and recently even at Sam's Club,
Speaker 3: they will have really good deals on gift cards, like
Speaker 3: they'll sell discount gift cards.
Speaker 1: So we were one of the.
Speaker 3: Things I'm sure you've heard us talk about in the past.
Speaker 3: Eric and I really aren't doing a ton of travel
Speaker 3: this year or spending a lot of money all at
Speaker 3: once on renovations or big trips.
Speaker 1: We have not gotten paid a goal for the book yet.
Speaker 1: Please buy the book when it's available for free order.
Speaker 1: We need money, but we still wanted to do something funny.
Speaker 3: We went on a double date recently with friends and
Speaker 3: we've been really wanting to try top golf.
Speaker 1: It's expensive typically yeah, I've never done it, but on Tuesday.
Speaker 3: Nights they have half off, and we got one hundred
Speaker 3: dollars gift card for eighty dollars to Top Golf at
Speaker 3: Sam's Club, so forty bucks per couple. We were able
Speaker 3: to go and enjoy a few hours at Top Golf,
Speaker 3: which felt like, yeah, it's more than what a typical
Speaker 3: Tuesday night night cost me, but it's something local, fun
Speaker 3: to try, fun to do, and at a twenty percent
Speaker 3: discount that was pretty dope.
Speaker 1: That's fun. Yeah. Yeah, I have horrible hand eye coordinations,
Speaker 1: so there is no way I should anybody should put
Speaker 1: a golf stick in my hand. It's just unsafe.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but just not all their gift cards, Like some
Speaker 3: gift cards are only like two cents less. But sometimes
Speaker 3: you can find really good deals on gift cards. So
Speaker 3: if you already know this is the place I go,
Speaker 3: or oh I have been wanting to try out that restaurant,
Speaker 3: it can be a nice specialty thing to enjoy.
Speaker 1: A discount world gift cards sometimes. Yeah, like if you're
Speaker 1: planning a trip to Disney to get a gift card
Speaker 1: there first, you could save a little bit of money.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So thank you for listening. If you are a
Speaker 1: die hard warehouse club fan. I hope he gave you
Speaker 1: a little bulk food for thought, and if you were
Speaker 1: unsure if it was saving you money, then maybe some
Speaker 1: strategies you can use to compare prices and see if
Speaker 1: it's worth renewing your membership or maybe ways to take
Speaker 1: better advantage of the full membership. And if you love
Speaker 1: saving money, then you're definitely gonna be wanting to get
Speaker 1: the Friend Letter as well. Frugal Friends podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: And we love hearing your sweet feedback, your very nice
Speaker 1: emails that you reply, like this one from Tangy. Love
Speaker 1: love love this. Thank you for the excellent question, the
Speaker 1: answers struggles real, thank you for the awesome newsletters will share.
Speaker 1: Thank you Tangy.
Speaker 3: I wonder what email that was back to. But we
Speaker 3: do send out some questions within the friend Letter, like
Speaker 3: prompts to be thinking about it, especially over the weekend,
Speaker 3: for you to be able to really understand your perspective
Speaker 3: on money, your own money story, So we kind of
Speaker 3: provide some journal prompts sometimes probably something like that.
Speaker 1: Thanks Danny, So thank you for listening again Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com. If you want to get the front
Speaker 1: letter Freebies, Savings, hacks, things to think about to make
Speaker 1: sure you're optimizing where your money goes. See you next time.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. I mean, but
Speaker 1: hot dogs, Yeah, that is definitely a draw.
Speaker 3: But here's the thing. I'm pretty sure you can go
Speaker 3: into the food court without a membership. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 3: Eric and I. Whether or not we just didn't get
Speaker 3: caught or we were allowed, I don't quite remember. But
Speaker 3: I really thought that you could like go in the
Speaker 3: exit to the food court and take advantage of the food.
Speaker 1: Here's an unethical thing you shouldn't do. Oh, are we
Speaker 1: gonna get canceled?
Speaker 4: You?
Speaker 1: We're not gonna get canceled. But in my I when
Speaker 1: I was trying to check out and I couldn't. I
Speaker 1: had to pay thirty five dollars to check out, I
Speaker 1: was like, why did they let me in? Why was
Speaker 1: I allowed in?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 1: And They're like, they don't check to see what kind
Speaker 1: of membership you have, just that you have a membership.
Speaker 1: And I was like, so, why could have just screenshotted
Speaker 1: that picture from the app? Uh huh and just showed it.
Speaker 1: Nobody checks. They just look look to see that there's
Speaker 1: a bar code in a name.
Speaker 3: But I don't think you can check out and buy
Speaker 3: anything with you. You would not be able to check out,
Speaker 3: uh huh. But you could buy food without a membership.
Speaker 3: They don't check that food.
Speaker 1: You could walk in and like the cafe or whatever
Speaker 1: they call it. It's not quite a cafe. So if
Speaker 1: they give you trouble letting you in, then that is
Speaker 1: an option. Quick. Yeah, something unethical. You shouldn't do it.
Speaker 1: You shouldn't do that, but you should be able to
Speaker 1: buy a hot dog, your dollar fifty hot dog. Then
Speaker 1: know that and don't shot before ten a m at
Speaker 1: zamp Club