My new, experimental Costco purchasing strategy

Over the last few years, I've become a pretty organized shopper.  I routinely follow the frugal principle of avoiding shopping for things when I need them; instead, I buy those same things when they are on sale, and I have a coupon or promo code.  Besides saving money, it also gives me the piece of mind that stuff that we routinely need is usually already at home, and it's eliminated most panic buying.

So how did I become a completely disorganized Costco shopper?

I buy certain items at Costco all the time. These are things that we use constantly and go through steadily, like extra virgin olive oil, tissues, toilet paper, bar soap, frozen salmon and trout, canned tuna, aluminum foil, etc.  I used to have other items on this list, like shampoo, dog food and cereal, but I've found that because those items have so many coupons and freebies available, I do much better buying them in regular stores then I do at Costco.  And then there are items that are on my regular Costco list that I supplement occasionally with sales and coupons, but still buy regularly at Costco, like paper towels and plasticware, because our need for these items outpaces the regularity of the deals that I can find.

Costco does not accept manufacturer's coupons but they do accept store coupons, which they mail on a monthly bases to each of their members.  Here's what I've been doing:  I get the coupons, I clip the ones I think I'll need, I go to Costco and say to myself, "I already have a huge 16 roll package of paper towels in the garage (that I bought without a coupon) and I don't need to buy another one just because I have a $4.50 coupon.  We don't need two 16 roll paper towel packages sitting in the garage."

And then, two weeks later, we run out of paper towels and I run over to Costco and buy them.  Without a coupon.

I'm trying to work through the psychological aspects of why I have fallen into this routine when I'm so careful about my other shopping. I think that because Costco bulk prices are so heavily discounted to begin with, I have justified in my mind that using coupons for Costco products that we need is unnecessary. But since when is that true?  Costco coupons are not insubstantial; most are in the $2-$6 range.  So why would I not be conscientious about using them?

The second issue that I have is the bulk/space problem.  We do have space in our garage, kitchen and basement for stockpiling, but it's limited. Our house is on the small side and our stuff is on the large side.  So honestly, I would rather not have 32 rolls of paper towels sitting in our garage. 

I think the trick to getting organized about your Costco bulk shopping is timing it so that you get close to running out of paper towels close to the time that Costco sends you the coupon for it.  After all, the coupons that arrive monthly are mostly different from the previous months...Costco cycles them.  So I might start out this organizational experiment with a few extra rolls on the garage shelf, but eventually, our needs will be in close sync with the coupon cycles.  At least in theory.

So here's my new strategy.  I'm going to make a list of all our Costco regular and semi-regular purchases in a Google spreadsheet.  Then I'm going to buy the items that are on that list tomorrow with the coupons that arrived today in the mail, regardless of whether or not we need them now. I'm going to try to hold off on the items we need for which I don't have coupons until next month.  I'll track my purchases in the spreadsheet, date, price and coupon.  And I'll see how long it takes me to sync up our supply needs with the coupon cycle.

What this will mean is that we will have to make do without hot cups for a while (totally do-able in the summer...and for my morning coffeee, I can use regular dishes) and that we will have 32 boxes of tissues sitting on the shelf for a while.  But that's ok.  It's an experiment in organization and timing, and I know it won't be perfect.  There are also items for which Costco never prints coupons (like frozen trout) and I will keep buying those as needed.  Truth is, frozen fish is an item that you probably don't want to stockpile anyway.

How do you organize your Costco purchases?  Or do you?

Pin It