Do you want a free trial membership to shop at BJ’s Wholesale? BJ’s is offering a free 60-day pass for new members if activated by July 7th, 2009 (click on link and print out the coupon).
Why try out wholesale shopping?
Because it can save you money! You have to know what you want and only buy what you need so if you are a careful shopper you can definitely save by shopping somewhere like BJ’s.
Little known fact: I wear Calvin Klein jeans. No, I’m not a label hound or anything and I don’t usually spend a lot for clothes. But at BJ’s I’ve been able to get CK jeans for about $25 a pair and they fit great! One of my favorite pairs of dress pants also came from BJ’s.
Usually we shop there to buy things like diapers, baby wipes, and some food shopping. Every now and then though we see a great bargain that we needed anyway. I bought my wireless computer router there much cheaper than what it was selling for in retail stores.
But you have to be careful.
You can easily get caught up in the prices of things and the variety of items they have. If you are a shopper/spender by nature you can easily defeat the purpose of shopping there to save. This is a place that also has deals on cars, vacations, go carts, and trampolines. Not exactly low price items even with a discount!
And sometimes buying in bulk isn’t worth it either. I’ve already had some situations where my eyes were too big and I bought bulk items that ended up going to waste. Make sure you will actually use what you buy.
Still, BJ’s has saved us a bunch, especially with kids in the house (juice, deli items, frozen food, clothes, diapers, toys, etc…).
If you have been wanting to check out BJ’s for yourself but didn’t want to commit to a yearly membership then a 60-day trial is a great place to start. Check to see if there’s a location near you.
This is starting to sound too much like an ad. Sorry ’bout that. I just think a 60-day pass is a cool deal (this isn’t an affiliate and I don’t get any consideration if you use the pass by the way).
Have you shopped at a wholesale store before (BJ’s, Costco, Sam’s)? Any tips on shopping?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I am a big Sam’s fan (that’s the only wholesale club store we have in my fair city…I’ve never been to a BJ’s or Costco but I’m sure they are fabulous as well). It is so great to stock up on stuff we always use and not have to make a monthly trip to Target for toilet paper and similar products. I buy mostly paper products and non-perishable food items at Sam’s since it is just my husband and me. But I have also gotten good deals on meat; for example, once I bought a 4-lb. package of stew meat on special and when I got home I divided the package into 4 1-lb. bags and froze for later use. Always check out their seasonal section; yes, it’s mainly a ploy to try to get you to buy things you “need” like a trampoline, but last summer we needed to buy a large cooler and the one we bought at Sam’s was significantly cheaper than a comparable cooler at Target.
All in all, as long as you don’t get sucked in by the large quantities and low prices and convince yourself you really “need” that 1o-lb. bag of candy, Sam’s can be a great place to stock up on items that you use every day!
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@ Hannah – Who says you don’t need a 1 lb bag of candy?!? We discovered that BJ’s has a full deli where the meats and cheeses are priced what supermarkets would have as sales. And then they have stuff on sale too! You’re right about the seasonal stuff too. During the holidays BJ’s has a great selection of toys for the kids at much better prices too.
Isn’t BJs the one that accepts coupons, too? We’re planning on waiting until school gets out for the summer and using our pass then. I love that you get to choose when the 60 days start!
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@ JC – They do accept coupons plus they have their own coupons they send out. You can pick when the trial starts? That’s really nice.
My wife and I let our membership to BJ’s expire last year and use the free trial passes instead of paying the $45 (or whatever it is now) membership fee.
I agree with your points that sometimes you can spend more than you should at those places.
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@ PFIncome – That’s pretty cool if they let you do that. We get the membership. It’s well worth it for us.
FFB – At first I felt bad about doing it, but we got over it. Some of their prices our outrageous, but other products like diapers and baby products are well worth it.
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Hey, if a full year membership doesn’t work for you then more power to you for using trial memberships.
You definitely still need to know your prices. Most of their stuff is prices well but I’ve found some items I could do better on at a Target or the local supermarket.
Is it possible to get another trial membership if you have already had one? My husband and I have each had one, and now I am recruiting other family members to get one, so I can use it. If I could just get another myself, that would be awesome!
I don’t know Stacey but you could give it a try! You never know.