this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

With the beginning of a new year, people are perhaps looking for new ways to save money.  One such way could be by joining a warehouse club, such as Costco or Sam's Club.  There are varying opinions as to whether or not these clubs can actually save money.  Though we are lucky enough to get our Costco membership for free through my father's business, I imagine that even if we factored in the cost of a membership, it would still be a good deal for us.

Here are some things we are able to save on:

Cheese: I've been buying the five pound bags of shredded cheese at Costco forever, I keep it in the freezer, so there's no worrying about it spoiling too quickly. The cost comes to between $2 and $3 a pound, depending on the current market price for cheese apparently.  This is half of what I'd pay for cheese at the grocery store.

Pancake Mix: A ten pound bag of just-add-water pancake mix costs around $5.  It makes lots of pancakes, and we eat lots of pancakes (we go through one of these in about a month's time).  A few years ago, we priced it out and decided this was cheaper than making them from scratch.  Since then, the price of milk and flour has risen much more than the price of this mix, so I figure we're still good.

Bread: You have to buy  two loaves at once, but considering the fact that if the four of  us all eat a sandwich, one loaf is nearly gone, we can easily go through two loaves.  The two loaf pack costs about  $1 more than buying just one loaf at the grocery store.

Dish and Landry Detergent and Dryer Sheets:  The Costco brand costs exactly the same as our local grocery store's brand, but since I can get twice as much at Costco, (and I like it more!) I prefer to buy it there.  The same thing goes for the laundry detergent I use.  During my last Costco trip, I decided to try out the Costco brand (a great deal, price-wise), I haven't started using it though.  The dryer sheets are a great deal as well.

Plastic Wrap:  I purchased a two pack of plastic wrap (1500 sq. feet total) at Costco about two year ago and have not had to purchase plastic wrap since.

Liquid Soap Refills: About the same as you'd pay at Target, you just get a whole lot more.

Those are the items I regularly purchase at Costco.  I occasionally purchase other things depending on our needs (purchasing lunch meat there was a great bargain when lots of family came to visit!), but I'm always careful to do a price comparison.  I also seem to be very focused in my shopping and rarely let other things that aren't on my list tempt me!

What about you?  Do warehouse clubs save you money?