Sam's Club Review

We joined Sam's Club when our second child was born.  Prior to that, it seemed silly to spend money for the right to spend more money.  But with two kids of our own--plus I do child care and therefore feed and diaper several more kids--the savings are well worth the cost of membership.  Since I'm a child care provider and therefore a small business owner, we save $5 a year on the cost of membership ($35 a year instead of $40) and we can also shop earlier on most days, during Gold Key Hours.  So especially if you're a child care provider, I highly recommend it.

You need to be willing to buy in bulk and have a place to store it (our chest freezer is always full), but we have found that for certain things like diapers, some produce, canned fruits and vegetables, and frozen foods, it's considerably less expensive than the grocery store.  So we shop at both places most weeks and have seen a considerable savings in our grocery bills.

They don't accept coupons, which is an advantage and a drawback.  I don't spend any time clipping coupons, because I know I can buy the brand name at Sam's without a coupon or the store brand at the grocery store, and either will be cheaper than the coupon price at the grocery store.  But that means potential coupon savings go to waste.  And the lines can be pretty long, but that's the advantage to the Gold Key Hours; during those times, you can get in and out pretty quickly.

If your family is small or you don't have space to buy in bulk or you don't see the point in buying in large quantities, it's not worth the cost of membership.  But for us, a growing family with a day care business out of our home, it's been well worth the price--which is also deductible as a business expense.