Aussie Frugal Living

For me the main questions are: Do you have the space to store the stuff you get there, both pantry (toilet paper, soap, whatever), and fridge/freezer? Will you be consistently eating or using up the stuff so that it doesn't go to waste or overwhelm you? Do you live close enough and have the patience to deal with the store?

For me the answer was no. I could certainly make space, but that would mean being confronted with a pile of soap or whatever when I opened the cabinets, when I only needed a couple backups. And while I certainly find stuff to buy there, I don't go through it quickly enough to justify the time and effort of going to the store, and I'd probably just break even between savings and the membership money.

But I have a cousin with a large family who lives close and loves it, goes there regularly. Me and a couple of his friends worked out an arrangement where we pay for his membership, and he'll either add our stuff to his monthly shop, or we can tag along with him in-store. It keeps his expenses down (he pays less at the store, and he doesn't pay for his membership), and gets us our intermittent discounted items without the aggro, at a fair price.