I went to Sam's Club today. It is a lot like the Eastcoast version of Costco. I have a regular membership and crunched some numbers after my trip. I discovered that more than half of the things I buy can be found there at lower prices (price per unit). However, the rest of it was sold for higher than some of my other stores. If I shop at one or the other I am really not saving money. It doesn't matter which I would go to. However, if I get the 60% of cheaper items at sames and the rest at cheaper alternatives I can save money. Shopping at multiple stores seems to be the ticked to saving money.
This is true, you can also see this benefit if you only buy sale items at your local grocery stores and rake in the savings. Sam's Club always confused me on this, but its all Wal-Mart so they're just doing what they can to get your money out of your pocket and into theirs. Its been ages since I've returned to Sam's, seeing that you really have to buy bulk to save, and we are generally lucky to be able to afford one week of groceries at a time.
I have a Sam's Club in my area, but have never visited the store. Where I live, there is a membership fee that you have to pay. I'm not sure if that's true for all locations? I do agree that shopping in various stores is the key to saving money. I go to three different stores when I shop: Aldi's, Save a Lot, and Martins. They are all close to one another, so it's not like I'm going way out of the way. I just look for the best deals.
I love shopping at Sams Club. However whenever I shop at Sams Club I usually try to get everything I need in bulk, because if I don't I will probably no longer be shopping there.
There was a article I read one time that said stores like Sam's Club can actually be more expensive. The problem is that they already created this notion that they are cheaper then regular stores. The problem with that is that some things will be cheaper while others are marked up. If you aren't careful then you will end up paying more then what you expect. I would rather advocate couponing as you know that you will get savings on what you buy.
