Shortly after
Mr. W. and I started shopping together, he suggested that we purchase a BJ’s
membership. For those who aren’t
familiar with BJ’s, it is a members-only wholesale club much like Costco or
Sam’s Club.
At first, I doubted
that joining BJ’s would be worthwhile for us.
Sure, these memberships make sense (financially) for families with children: families that need to buy diapers, prepare
kids’ lunches, feed pets, and wash more loads of laundry than we do. But would it be worthwhile for our little
two-person family? I was skeptical that
we would experience a large enough savings to offset the $50 annual membership
fee that BJ’s charges. Since we try to
eat primarily local foods, I also wondered whether BJ’s would carry any of our
preferred brands. Furthermore, we have a compact apartment with
limited storage space. Clutter makes me irritable
so I generally try to avoid stockpiling out of fear that we’ll end up with unsightly
stacks of boxes. Lastly, would we end up
buying more than we needed, simply because the prices were lower than at retail
stores?
We signed up
for a BJ’s membership in January. I
recently did a price comparison for some of the items that we purchase on a
regular basis. I estimated our monthly
usage for these staples, and then calculated the non-sale price at our regular
grocery store versus BJ’s. It turns out
that we save approximately $32 per month by shopping at BJ’s. Even though we only buy a few items, the $50
annual membership paid for itself after only the second month. (Note: we also buy other items from BJ’s but
I haven’t estimated our usage of those items with enough accuracy to include
those calculations).
Is a
wholesale club membership right for you?
Here are some questions to help you make the determination:
·
How much is the membership fee?
For us, the membership fee
was $50. That’s not exorbitant, but we
certainly don’t want to throw $50 down the drain, either.
·
Does the club carry items that you
regularly purchase? If so, how much are
they discounted?
We were glad that the club
carries my favorite brand of yogurt (Fage).
Yogurt can be pricey and I eat quite a lot of it. If BJ’s hadn’t carried Fage, it might have
been a deal breaker. Yes, there are
other, cheaper brands of Greek yogurt, but Fage is my favorite by far. BJ’s also stocks one of our favorite brands
of turkey bacon, Applegate Naturals. The
BJ’s prices are approximately 40-45% less than at the grocery store. This is especially important since Fage and
Applegate Naturals rarely go on sale at the grocery store.
·
How conveniently located is the club?
Our wholesale club is a
15-mile round trip. By contrast, we have
five grocery stores within easy/reasonable walking distance of our apartment. However, the wholesale club is located in the
same shopping center as some other retailers that we like to visit regularly
(ie, Target, craft store, thrift store, Bed Bath & Beyond, Home Depot,
etc). We would probably drive to this shopping
center at least once a month anyway, even if we didn't have a BJ's membership, so we don’t consider BJ’s to be out of the
way.
·
Do you have the space to store bulk
items? Will you use perishable items before
they spoil?
Since we have limited
storage space, we try to restrict the amount that we buy in bulk. At a maximum, we only have 1-2 months’ worth
of staples on hand at any given time. When
we buy non-perishable household items (i.e., cleaning supplies, paper products,
etc), we usually store overflow in the trunks of our vehicles. Limiting the amount that we buy also helps us
to ensure that we use all perishable items by their expiration dates.
o Do
you plan to purchase any big ticket items in the near future?
These clubs often offer a fantastic
savings on big-ticket purchases like electronics, furniture, and automotive
items. My car needed two new tires this month
and we saved almost $100 by purchasing the tires from BJ’s rather than an
automotive store. The tire savings alone
made the annual membership worthwhile. I’ve
also heard that BJ’s offers heavily discounted travel packages. We haven’t looked into this, yet, but we’ll
definitely consider it in the future.
Do you have a
wholesale club membership? If so, has it
been worthwhile for you and your family?
