How much do you usually spend at Costco?

[ahrimie]

Here's what we bought: formula, frosted flakes, kid yogurt smoothies, mini-wheats, beer for DH, tp, yogurt, mixed fruit, 3 different types of cookies, corn, choc. cake for DH's bday, vfusion juice, cheerios, huge fall plant basket, grapes, toy, infant tylenol, bananas, flowers for house showing, bbq chicken pizza, hummus, hot dogs (I love them), egg white quiche, chicken meatballs, milk, meats. What should I avoid buying there in the future? These are all things we normally get except for the toy, the quiche, the meatballs, the garden basket (for showing as well).

I think the first time you shop at Costco is when you spend the most. That's how it was for us anyway. We had to get the bulk toilet paper, plates, cups, etc. And though I was used to buying it for cheaper, I was also buying it more often.

I'd say we go about every 2 months, give or a take a couple of weeks, and spend anywhere from 150-250 dollars.

[tiapam]

The milk at Costco is always pretty cheap, I think it was $1.60 for skim last week. That was at the one in Niles. Just curious, what did you pay for the milk and which Costco?

[alien_host]

I always swore that I couldn't leave Costco/BJs without spending at least $100, but that was when I only went 2 times a month. Now I'm there about once a week to pick up milk and produce. I've actully just gone in for milk and a rotisserie chicken and that's about $7 but I usually end up picking up other odds and ends that tend to add up.

[arivecchi]

The milk at Costco is always pretty cheap, I think it was $1.60 for skim last week. That was at the one in Niles. Just curious, what did you pay for the milk and which Costco?

I went to the one on Clybourn in Lincoln Park. Paid $1.73 for 2% milk.

[Laurel]

$150-300 a month. Then we spend a lot less on our weekly grocery run.

[lcarlson90]

DH and I always laugh because we can never get out of Costco without spending at least $100. We actually don't buy a lot of our groceries there. We buy mainly paper goods, medicine, shampoo, diapers etc. We also buy a lot of pj's for the kids.

[cestkaren]

Usually we spend $200/month and go every other week, but there are some months where it is more. Love the egg white quiche (quick, easy dinner), other regular items are bread, tortilla chips, lunch meat, rotisserie chicken, boneless skinless chicken breasts, special k, cheerios, beer. We stock up on paper towels, toilet paper, olive oil, fiber 1 bars. We always check out the books, but I think we are done buying DS books as there is no more room on his bookshelf. We also check out clothes, but now we are stocked up from the JBF sale.

[kijip]

For food? A couple hundred dollars every 2 and 1/2 months or so. We mostly get things like olive oil, pantry filler items, oatmeal, my husband's dry cereal addiction, maple syrup, vanilla, protein bars, stuff from the cold sections and sometimes cheese. In theory I could save money by going there more regularly for Odwalla juice, Silver Hills bread, plain whole milk yogurt etc but it's kind of out of the way for stuff we use up each week and there is a lot of unneeded temptation there for random non-food items. So I pay a little more and get those things close to home at our co-op. I do a fair bit of present shopping there and I don't count that in the above amount. Things like Mario Kart for my husband, kitchen gadgetry for my dad and books/toys for my nieces etc. And the iTunes cards and Restaurant cards.