Do you have a Sam's Club membership?

[wombatcat]

I've been notified that I can get one for $30 through my job. I remember that the last time I went there, it seemed like they had a lot of name-brand stuff and not too many true bargains. That was about 3-4 years ago.

I'm wondering if anything has changed? I mostly shop at WalMart right now, so I'm getting pretty low prices comparatively.

Would you recommend that I invest the $30?

I remember thinking that I was wasting my money because I wasn't ever going to save $30 by going there, I'd save more by shopping at WalMart and watching the sale flyers....

[Wildwood Flower]

I think you may be right. I gave up my membership card. There were some bargains, but lots of times I bought a whole lot of stuff on impulse.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Now that the kids are grown and gone, and we don't have to buy in bulk, there's really no need for us to have it. Hubby likes to buy motor oil, mixed nuts, and dehydrated fruit in bulk still, so we keep the membership.

[dreamweaver46]

We get tires for our cars with our Sam's membership, and it saves us quite a bit...I've also bought a deep freezer from Sam's, and I buy the packages of pillow cases (12 in a pack) to embroider for gifts. We also get our fuel there, and at the price of gas, well, the membership is worth it for my family.

[Arkansasfarmgal]

We do have a membership and it does save us money. We are a family of 5 and I buy most of our laundry detergent, fabric softerner, paper towels, and many grocery items there. I actually went shopping there today
My husband has his own business so we have the Business Member card. We get an extra discount at the pharmacy by having it which really helps out.
You do have to be careful and compare prices, sometimes they're really not cheaper and sometimes there even a little more expensive. But usually I do save money overall.
They do have a "store brand" called Members Mark. I think it is comparable to the Great Value brand that Wal-Mart carries. They only thing I remember trying that I didn't care for in that brand was the dishwasher tabs.

[fellini123]

There is only 2 of us but we do use Sams Club. For dog food/cat food, and we really like some of their products. They have the best fruit in our area. We only have Walmart and Food Lion their produce is carp!!
And we like to buy their big cut of meat and cut steaks etc out of it. So it is useful for us, not sure if it really saves us $$, but we like the products.
Alice

[Country Lady]

I'm watching this thread. Next month is time for us to renew our Sam's membership and we're trying to decide if it's worth it. It's just the two of us at home now. We buy their vitamins, fish oil, Balance bars, coffee, detergent, some meats, and some fruits and vegetables there. All this we can get at WalMart, so I'm not sure it's really worth the membership for us. The nearest Sam's is 35 miles away. However, we're in the area often because of medical appointment, etc. When we go, we usually take a cooler and ice to keep things cold.

[MariaAZ]

We have a Sam's Club membership and view it more as an entertainment expense than anything else. Like others have mentioned, I find we buy a lot of impulse items, and can find some really good deals, but with only two of us the bulk sizes aren't really all that convenient. I can find similar deals in nearby grocery stores (Sam's Club is about a 10 mile drive) but we DO have a lot of fun just wandering through the place.

[auctioneer]

We save enough on milk (compared to chain store generic) prices throughout the year. A gallon a week will more than pay the fee over the year. Sam's prices are a little lower than Wal-Mart on what comparable products they carry. A dollar here and a dollar there adds up over 52 weeks.

If you want to go in a check it out for yourself.....just tell the gatekeeper you're headed to the pharmacy if it has one. (No membership required. )

Who would have thought thirty years ago that a store could charge you to shop and get away with it?

[Elffriend]

Check to see if you can get a 1 day pass before deciding on membership. We don't have Sam's Club, but we used to have a BJ's membership and currently have Costco.

Before getting Costco, we visited the store and looked around. We went with a list of prices for items we typically buy and compared them to Costco's prices. Their flour, sugar, fresh fish and chicken are all much cheaper than at the local grocery store, but their beef was much more than the local butcher. Cans of tuna are .50 cheaper at Costco and we eat a lot of tuna, so we buy it there by the case. Over the last couple of months we have developed a list of things we buy only at Costco.

I think it all depends on what you buy.

[tyusclan]

We have one. There are still 9 of us here, so it's worth it to us.

There are only certain things we buy there every month that are real bargains. Their cheese is usually about a dollar a pound less than anywhere else we can get it. We go through about 25# of cheese a month, so just the cheese for one month just about pays our membership for a year.

You have to really check prices. There are some bargains there, but not everything is. If you're one who always buys name brands, you can save on a lot of things. If you use store brands on some things you can get a lot those cheaper than you can find it at Sam's.

[Scrounger]

There are only the two of us here. We save nearly the $30 every month when we go to Sam's - even over Wally. None of what we buy is the "compulsive" items, either. We have a list and that's all we buy. It has been WELL worth it for us. We just did a comparison shop at the first of February. Sam's came out WELL ahead of the others.

[THETOOLMAN]

I buy dog food there I save maybe 7 or 8 thousand dollars a year!.. they have excellant beef steaks.. But I eat 99% wild game ,so beef is a treat . At sams, figgure out what you need beforehand, go in, GET IT & GET OUT!

[via media]

The company I work for paid for half the fee so we were able to get ours for $15 - I couldn't turn it down.

It's just me and DH but I like to stock up on stuff for him when I travel so it works out. As others have said, some stuff is cheaper, some more expensive and some the same. You really have to watch.

/VM

[ginnie5]

we have one and it does save me $$. There are 8 of us though. I buy laundry detergent, toilet paper, paper towels, cheese, pepperoni, and a few other things there. they also have some awesome fresh salsa there that we love. Now some stuff is high but I go for mainly basics. Baking powder ends up being cheaper there and for awhile they had unbleached flour at a really good price.

[Trevilians]

We have a Sam's membership mainly for gas. It's usually 5 to 7 cents cheaper there than other places. I also buy sugar, flour, chocolate chips, nuts, and other "stock up" things there. We usually go twice a month.

[diane]

Even though it is just me now, I find I save money with my Sam's membership. I buy their Member'sMark generic Zantac for my acid reflux that saves me $15/month. I buy in bulk and repackage with my FoodSaver.

The closest one is 35 miles away, so I only go about 4 times a year with a list and try to be very careful about impulse buying.

[Danaus29]

CHEESE!!! A lot of variety and usually much cheaper than the grocery stores. The one down here has really lousy watered gas and is rarely cheaper than other nearby stations. But there are enough things I buy to make the membership worthwhile. Sugar, cocoa powder, bagged nuts, CHEESE, pumpkin pie, butter, etc are the things usually on my shopping list. The tires aren't all that cheap because everyone around here matches prices. They do have wonderful tire service people though. Same guys have been working in that tire shop for a couple years now. Batteries are cheaper though. Clothing and movies are cheaper sometimes. You just have to watch what you buy and comparison shop.

Get a day membership and check it out first. Then you will know if you want the membership or not.

[whiterock]

I used to have a card but not now, I do have friends with a card. I went yesterday with a friend and got some items that I feel I saved money on, had to ck the price book I brought with me to avoid some items that were the same price per unit or even higher. I got some items the same price , but was in need so didn't consider that overspending.

Other friends have Costco, went in there my first time Tues. night with them. I didn't buy anything, as I didn't have a price book to compare at the time, however, I did see a number of items that I believe would be worthwhile.
Ed

[Stormy_NY]

Wal Mart .....and Sams club are one in the same.