Is it worth buying in bulk?

Today I headed out to my local Costco for some groceries. I didn't have a list just went in and knew what I needed at the top of my head. Fruits..check...milk...check...tortillas...check...check, check and check. You're probably wondering well, what about the prices of these things you're getting? You're not going to compare? Costco brand vs name brand? Well would I when I come here all the time? The prices are all the same! WRONG! For some reason, today Costco had raised the prices of a few things I normally get there on any given day. For example, milk. A few weeks ago we had bought the 2 gallon box of milk for around $4.00 and some change. Today, it was $6.49 for the same 2 gallons. Say what!!!!!!! Yeah. That's expensive. That's about $3.25 a gallon. I needed it so I took it. I browsed around just to see what eles was expensive or what eles I knew I could get cheaper with coupons. Coffeemate! Yup. They had the coffeemate creamer, 3-pk for around $6.00+some change almost $7.00. Dang. This week at Walgreens, there was a deal on the coffeemate creamer, I grabbed 2 creamers along with 3 other items for $0.22 cents each with all my coupons and store savings. Yeah huge difference. Now if you think about it, $0.22 cents for the same product found at Costco for $6.00 bucks is something to think about. My point is, when buying in bulk, you want to double check what you're buying. You may think ok well $2.00 each for this 3-pack of coffeemate creamer isnt bad. Yes it is. If you can snatch the same item for less then skip the darn creamer and pay $0.22 cents! Another thing is that sometimes you may be lucky and snag a great deal at your local wholsale store. Like the flour tortillas I bought today. $2.79 for a 40-count. Whereas at your local grocery store a 40-count would probably cost you around $4-$5 dollars. Snag that deal off the shelf. Toilet paper is very popular. I would say Costco prices are about the same as any other store. Fruit and veggies are another most common bought. I bought a huuuggee watermelon for $5.99. Pick your size pick your color anyone you want for $5.99. Now thats a good deal. At my local grocery, the cheapest I've seen was 8lbs for 0.99. BUT what are the chances of grabbing a watermelon this big....

So the answer to this question is plain and simple, sometimes it is worth buying in bulk. If you take the time to really think about your stores prices then you can really get a deal. We cant use manufacture coupons at my Costco only the coupons they send out especially for Costco only. Compare prices, take your local grocery competitor ad and compare. That's how you'll see if its really worth buying in bulk.

Are Fresh & Easy mailer coupons worth it?

Many of us here in Southern California are very familiar with a grocery store called, Fresh & Easy. A better way to shop organic, healthy and brand products that have no artificial colors or flavors in them. Fresh & Easy rarely sends out high value mailer coupons. I usually get their coupons in their ads which are mailed out to every resident every Tuesday along with other store ads. Common coupon will be $3.00 off a $30.00 purchase. Not a very convincing way to get a customer to shop right? I think so. Why? Well because that can't even motivate me to go knowing theres a Fresh & Easy 3 lights down the street. BUT they do however send out high value coupon mailers about ehhh once in a big while, once every 4 to 5 months. For those of you who aren't familiar this is how the mailer looks like

$15.00 in coupons.

BUT when you spend a certain amount of groceries. Which isnt bad but I would still like to see the value go a little bit higher. Why? Well first off, they dont accept manufacture coupons. So how is anyone even saving at this store? That's where I get disappointed. $3.00 off a $30.00 purchase is not my ideal savings at all. Many of us are on the extream to save more than what we want to spend. We want to pay using coupons right? Not cash. We want to pay pennies now and days. Ok so I'm exaggerating lol but its true. Head out to your local Kroger store, get $50.00 worth of groceries and you pay $3.00 for everything with coupons. Now that's what I'm talking about. But when it comes down to F&E its so much harder for anyone to save. They have the $5.00 off $25.00 and $10.00 off $50.00. That's JCPenny discount right there. Macy's discount. Come on, change the 5 to a 10, the 10 to a 20. Then you'll get more attention. So the question here is, are F&E mailer coupons worth it? My answer is no and yes. Should be yes and no, but it's a no and yes for me. I put no in front of yes because I want to save more than $5.00. If you can't use manufacture coupons I want to see the value go up a bit at least. And yes because sometims when you run into F&E and you know you have that extra cash to use the $10.00 off $50.00 it becomes a worth while at the moment. And sometimes you can even find really good marked down items but if you wake up early enough to get them.