When our town finally got a Costco warehouse a few years ago, everyone went nuts. We didn't understand the hype – we already had a Sam's Club, after all.

We have never seriously considered a Costco or Sam's Club membership for various reasons. Lack of storage space, small family, etc. But I am trying to make some changes to my health and diet, and part of those changes calls for consuming quite a bit of whey protein powder.

The brand of protein powder I use – “Levels” – was recommended by relatives who have had to make similar changes to their diets. We all share the same genetic predisposition for high LDL cholesterol. None of us ate a double cheeseburger every day, but our bodies still can't seem to maintain healthy LDL cholesterol levels without extra help.

Protein is “all the rage” these days, and protein supplements are expensive. The protein powder I'm using is half the cost per unit at Costco compared to Walmart or Amazon. Of course, at Costco, you buy a lot more of it at a time. But at the rate I'm consuming it, it makes sense.

The cost savings of the protein powder alone justified the Costco membership, but my wife and I have found several other products our family uses regularly that are much less expensive there than elsewhere.

We opted for the “Executive” membership at $130/yr rather than the “Gold” membership at $65/yr for a couple reasons. First, you get 2% cash back on your Costco purchases. If we spend an average of at least $271 a month there, which we expect we will (like I said, protein powder is expensive), we'll make up the difference in the membership cost. If we spend more, we'll get even more cash back.

There are also a few extra perks with the Executive membership like early shopping hours and extra value on their Auto Program and Travel packages (a trip to Europe has long been on our bucket lists, so who knows?).

And if we don't hit that $271/month average spending mark, they'll downgrade us to a Gold membership and refund us the difference in membership cost. So we figured it was worth a try.

With the cost of, well, everything only going up, we hope the Costco membership will help us save a little more. And if it really doesn't, we don't have to keep it.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 177) #economy #shopping #money