Money Mom Podcast
Welcome to The Money Mom Podcast—the ultimate guide for moms who want to take control of their finances, crush debt, and create a life of financial freedom and abundance. Hosted by Rachel Coons, a budgeting expert and mom of three, this podcast is your go-to resource for practical tips, mindset shifts, and empowering strategies to help you manage your money with confidence.
Whether you’re navigating grocery budgets, tackling debt, or dreaming of building wealth for your family, each episode offers bite-sized, actionable advice to make money management simple, stress-free, and even enjoyable. With relatable stories, expert insights, and a dose of mom-to-mom encouragement, you'll learn how to transform your finances—one small step at a time.
Tune in every week to discover how to save more, spend smarter, and feel empowered to create the financial life you deserve. Because when moms thrive financially, families flourish.
Money Mom Podcast
66: Should You Break Up with Costco? The Truth About Bulk Shopping & Your Grocery Budget
Is Costco secretly blowing your grocery budget?
In this episode of the Money Mom Podcast, I’m sharing my honest thoughts on Costco—and how I went from being obsessed with bulk shopping to rethinking my entire approach to grocery spending.
If you’ve ever walked into Costco for one thing and walked out $400 later, you’re not alone. I’ve been there. And today, I’m breaking down:
- Why Costco might be costing you more than it’s saving
- The real reason bulk buying isn’t always budget-friendly
- How food waste and impulse buys add up fast
- What to do if you love Costco but want to spend less
- My favorite alternatives that save time and money
Whether you’re a die-hard Costco fan or wondering why your grocery budget keeps creeping up, this episode will help you shop smarter—without the shame.
🎧 Let’s talk strategy, savings, and shopping with intention.
xoxo,
Rachel
Where to find me:
Instagram: @heyrachelcoons
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Hello and welcome to the Money Mom podcast. I'm your host, rachel Koons, coming at you from my bedroom slash office slash podcasting studio, and I decided to hit record on this podcast. I was literally doing something else and then this topic idea came into my head. I have talked about it so much recently it feels like I've talked about it more recently than normal and so I was like, oh my gosh, I have a meeting to record a podcast on this specific topic, so I'm just going to hit record and do it. And this is the topic of Costco and how to shop at Costco so that you don't kill your grocery budget and so that you can still shop at the store that you want to shop at, because I know so many people love Costco, and so that you can still shop at the store that you want to shop at, because I know so many people love Costco. And so when I get people asking questions about what do you think about Costco, what do you think about it when it comes to grocery budgeting and saving money on groceries, and my answer is always like well, I have a lot of thoughts about Costco. So this episode, I'm just going to drop all my thoughts, all of the things that I've experienced myself, what I've watched my members experience, and share them all with you. This is the podcast all about Costco.
Speaker 1:And let's just say I grew up I literally was born in Kirkland Washington. That was like that hospital that I was born at was in Kirkland Washington, which, if you know Costco the brand is the Kirkland brand. I was born down the street from the flagship store, so I have Costco in my blood. I grew up going to Costco with my mom would go there to purchase Costco, purchase food in bulk at Costco. We would always get a hot dog and drink when we went and like very, very fond memories of shopping at Costco with my mom. Then I went to college and again it was like so fun to go to Costco, get the yummy food in the food court and then grab whatever items I needed for my roommates and I or once we got married. So I've always had a Costco membership. Once I started having kids it was the same thing. We go to Costco because it's really fun. It was like a fun date night activity where we'd go get all of our groceries.
Speaker 1:But it wasn't until 2020 when I really started trying to save money on groceries and really was focusing on my grocery budget, that I started reevaluating my relationship with Costco and whether Costco was really helping me get closer to my goals and all of those things. Was it actually causing me to spend more money or was I actually saving money from Costco? And so what came down to was where I normally shopped at Walmart for our groceries. I would do grocery delivery from Walmart or grocery pickup from Walmart and then I would shop at Costco in between those trips or whenever I'd go get the bulk items that we needed and at the time wasn't really focused on saving money on groceries. That all changed in 2020. And when I started to price compare what I was purchasing at Costco to similar items at Walmart either the same item or drastically similar I was really shocked to see that price per ounce, most items were not cheaper at Costco. So I started to get curious and like oh, is Costco even saving me money? Because that's kind of their big it's been their big long-term marketing thing is like Costco saves you money because you get to buy everything in bulk.
Speaker 1:So then, a little bit after that, after I started to get curious, my friend who lives here in town was like do you have a Sam's Club membership. You should try Sam's Club, because Sam's Club has a lot of the same things that Costco does and everything is a little bit cheaper. So I was like, oh, I'll check out Costco or Sam's Club. So I actually went with her to Sam's Club to go check out the grocery store and I was amazed to see that a lot of the items that they sold at Costco they also sold at Sam's Club, but they also had smaller bulk items. So again, I have a family of four, four kids, and when I purchase things in big bulk, if they are perishable, a lot of times they would go bad before I could use them. And I see that a lot when people shop at Costco is they think they're saving money because first they're buying in bulk and they think things are cheaper at Costco. But in reality when you have food waste, you're not saving money when you have to purchase all these perishable items, all the produce items, in big amounts. And so I was like, whoa, sam's Club is quite a bit cheaper and on top of that, sam's Club also offers online ordering with either delivery or grocery pickup, which was a big draw for me to go to Walmart because they offer that as well, and so I was like. You know, I'm going to stop going to Costco for those big bulk items and I'm going to start shopping at Sam's Club, because they let me order online and it saves me so much time when I do that. And if you know my shop method, if you know the method that I teach from to help people save money on groceries, that was a big thing. That I needed in order to save money was to shop online, and what happened through this kind of transition that I had from leaving Costco to then shop more at local grocery stores and the smaller grocery stores that offered me online ordering, was that I saved so much money in the process. And I don't think it was actually Costco that was killing my budget, but there was a lot of reasons that when I would go to Costco, I would spend more money than I wanted to.
Speaker 1:Costco is so smart. They are so smart at how they market their store. They're so smart how they bring you in. They put out all the cute clothes in the front of the store. They make the rotisserie chicken in the back of the store, because a lot of people love the rotisserie chicken, so they have to go all the way to the back of the store and in doing so you are passing all of these other items that you want to try, like the new items that they get in that people are talking about. You throw that in the cart and then you're like, well, I might as well throw in this bag of chicken while I'm there, and you're just throwing these items into your cart and then you get up to the front with all these fun items and the necessary items that you have and you go to checkout and you end up spending $300, $400, $500 every single time you walk into Costco and this doesn't happen as much in normal grocery stores.
Speaker 1:There's something magical about Costco and every single person that I talk to that shops at Costco. This is the similar vein of like you can't get out of Costco with just one item in your cart. Like that never happens, right? I go to Costco for one item and then three other fun items end up in my cart, and these trips that you're taking to Costco you know, once a month, twice a month, multiple times a month are adding up. Once a month, twice a month, multiple times a month, are adding up, and they could be one of the reasons that you are massively blowing your grocery budget, and so what I tell our members inside Money Mom Club is that when you start really focusing on your grocery spending, it doesn't mean you have to cut out Costco.
Speaker 1:I am not here to tell you where to grocery shop. I'm not even here to say Costco is bad. Don't shop at Costco. I don't actually believe that. I think you can shop at Costco very strategically, but what I will say is that if you are someone who hasn't been tracking your groceries in the past and you're starting to become aware of what you're spending, just get really smart about what you're doing inside Costco and get really curious about how Costco is. Is it making you go over in your budget or are you being really smart about when you? When you shop there, you don't have to cut it out 100 percent, but if you are someone who really struggles with unintentional spending or grabbing things that you don't need but want or are curious about when you're there, be really careful, because Costco can be one of the reasons that people spend so much on groceries without really trying to. So you can shop at Costco, you can shop at Costco and stay on budget, and you can shop at Costco and blow your budget. So this whole episode is just saying hey, what are your goals, what do you want, and is Costco aligning with them? So what I tell our members inside Money Mom Club is if you are a Costco lover and you love shopping at Costco, great, keep it up, don't stop.
Speaker 1:But try to space out your Costco trips a little bit more. So you're only shopping once a month or twice a month and on the interims you are shopping at your local grocery store and price comparing the items right. So if you think you're getting a deal on flour at Costco because you can buy it in bulk price, compare to your local grocery store and see is it actually cheaper. And if it's not, then maybe transition some of those items that you purchase at Costco to your local grocery store and see is it actually cheaper. And if it's not, then maybe transition some of those items that you purchase at Costco to your local grocery store so you don't have to go to Costco every week, every two weeks or every three weeks. If you can space out those trips, you're going to save money.
Speaker 1:I found that when I cut out my grocery trips to Costco which I actually only shop there. I still have a membership. I probably only shop there every two to three months. When we want something specific from Costco, I'll go there and purchase all the things that I need or want to stock up on that I love. I love their frozen chicken breast. I don't like Sam's Club as much. I don't think it's as high as quality, so I like to get a bunch of frozen chicken. I also really love and I think I posted this on Instagram recently, but I really, really love their sour grapes, the Fruit Riot sour grapes, and they're the cheapest at Costco. So when I go, I'll stock up on those items. But other than that, most of the things that I want, I can order online at Walmart, at Sprouts, at Sam's Club, whatever it is. So you really, really truthfully, do not need to shop at Costco if you don't want to or if you feel like it's blowing your budget.
Speaker 1:I want to talk a little bit, though, about organic, because if you are someone who wants to eat organic produce and organic meats and things like that, costco is a really good option for that. Their produce tends to be higher quality and more organic options than, say, walmart would be. So if you're someone who likes organic. You may really like shopping at Costco, but do it smart. Don't let all of the other items that you want get in the way of spending more than you want to when you go to Costco. Also, same thing I said before price compare, because sometimes you think, oh, if I go to Costco I'm going to spend less money because I'm buying organic Price. Compare those items to Trader Joe's Price. Compare those items to Walmart, to Sprouts, to some of those other grocery stores that tend to be affordable and still offer those options. Same thing with gluten free, same thing with dairy free, all of those different options that you may need that have dietary restrictions.
Speaker 1:You might not actually be saving money at Costco and you can come at me if you have different thoughts or different experiences with it, but my experience working with thousands of members inside Money Mom Club, as well as my own, is I just don't think Costco is the end-all, be-all when it comes to grocery shopping and saving money. If your high priority is like I want to cut my grocery spending, try going without Costco. Just try it out. Just try it out for a week, try it out for a month, try it out for a couple months and see where you land, because I know for myself and a lot of our members they're like I'm going to just nix Costco for a little bit and see what happens. They end up saving a lot of money and they're able to implement the shop method so much easier without Costco. And then people maybe add it back in and do it smart and do it the way that I suggest and you'll find that you're just as happy and you don't actually need Costco as much.
Speaker 1:And this episode might make people churn and not love my answer, but truthfully, just be smart, know that Costco is really smart, but you're smarter. Don't let them checkmate. You Don't let them checkmate your wallet and your money and you can still have all the enjoyment. You can still have all the fun that it comes when you want to shop at Costco. But if Costco is your happy place, if it's like this is what I love to do can you maybe find a different happy place, maybe find something else that is less expensive that you can still enjoy? Go get yourself a massage, go get your nails done. You're probably going to save money by getting rid of Costco and doing something else that brings you happiness and joy and the same level of fulfillment. Costco should not be your happy place. So that's my thoughts.
Speaker 1:This is all like I'm not holding anything back. Like I said, I broke up with Costco a couple years ago and I haven't ever looked back. My bank account has never looked back and I really truthfully feel like we're getting the same quality and we're getting the same food for much cheaper than we would be if I was shopping at Costco. I'm not perfect. I'm not a perfect shopper. I know my weaknesses. I know that when I go into Costco, I'm going to spend more money than I had expected. Some people are amazing at that. I see people on social media where they're like I had $100 to spend at Costco today and I stayed in my budget. Props to you. Like, if you could do that, go ahead and do that. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:But for someone like me, it's like no, I know I'm going to get tempted by the cute half zip-up sweater in the front and I know I'm going to get tempted by the chocolate-covered almonds with coconut, you know, dipped in coconut. Like, yeah, I'm for sure going to buy those. If I see those, I'm going to buy them and I don't want to. I don't want to have to make that decision. I don't want to put myself in a position where I can slip up and spend more money than I want to. So those are my thoughts. I'd love to hear your opinion on this, and whether you drop Costco or not is not up to me, but I do love it when I hear people who are like wow, I'm amazed that I actually don't need Costco in my life and I'm saving so much money. So there you go. That's all I have for you. I will see you next week.
