I'm Considering Joining Costco for These 2 Reasons

Here I go again, eating crow on the internet. After deciding that a Costco membership isn't in the cards for me, and writing about it, I'm currently reconsidering. My life is set to change in a major way in 2024, which means joining Costco might make more sense than I originally thought. Here's why I'm thinking about a Costco membership after all.

1. I'll have more storage space soon

After more than two years of dreaming, planning, paying off debt, and saving for a down payment, I'm finally buying a house in 2024. I don't have a tremendous amount of storage space in my current rental, so it hasn't been very Costco-friendly to live here -- after all, Costco is best known as a purveyor of bulk food and household supplies.

Since I have a household of one human and three cats, it's unlikely that I'll be taking advantage of Costco's deals on fresh produce and dairy products even after I move into a house. However, I am planning to get a second refrigerator or possibly a chest freezer for my basement, which opens the door to deals on frozen food from Costco.

That basement will also offer me more space to store bulk non-perishable items, like toilet paper, paper towels, and laundry detergent. Not only does bulk-buying save time, but it can save you money too. Speaking of laundry detergent, when I checked prices for Tide Pods at both Costco and my local grocery store, I found that the price per pod at Costco is significantly less -- $0.29 vs. $0.43. Wow!

2. I'm really curious about Costco Travel

I've written about my colleagues' experiences with Costco Travel, and everything I've learned about it suggests that the travel packages offered might be worth the price of a membership to access.

Traditionally, I haven't had a lot of money available in my budget for travel, and as such, tended to be more of a road tripper. But looking at the available Costco packages for destinations such as Greece and Fiji has me dreaming of saving up the cash and letting someone else handle all the planning for me. If the money I save on a Costco vacation adds up to more than $60 (and this seems likely), a membership will have paid for itself.

One potential problem

My two big reasons for contemplating a Costco membership are pretty compelling, but one big hurdle remains. I don't live especially close to a Costco location -- my closest one is about 50 miles away. This means I can't just run over there whenever I want, there would have to be some degree of planning involved. As such, I don't expect to visit Costco often, and would likely target a trip every other month or so.

The city with the closest Costco is also home to other stores I like to visit when I can, like Trader Joe's. And some of my favorite restaurants are there, too. So I can plan my Costco run around that, and make a day of it. The trick will be getting to Costco at the optimum time to avoid the bulk of the crowds, because that will truly be the worst part of shopping Costco for me.

Thankfully, joining Costco isn't a financial risk for me -- or indeed, for anyone. A basic membership costs just $60 per year, and if I absorb that credit card hit and it turns out not to be worth it for me, I can lean on Costco's exemplary return policy. Costco will cancel and refund a membership fee at any time if you're not satisfied. With a policy like that, I feel better about contemplating a Costco membership later this year. Is joining Costco right for you? Consider exploring all it has to offer to make that call.