3 Ridiculously Easy Ways to Spend Less Money at Costco

A big reason many people shop at Costco is to save money on household products and grocery purchases. And if you play your cards right at Costco, you might manage to save money consistently.

The problem with Costco, though, is that it's huge. Specifically, its inventory is huge. And when you're shopping at a warehouse-sized store that sells everything from dried fruit to winter coats to fun-looking kitchen gadgets, it can be easy to rack up a higher credit card tab than expected.

The good news, though, is that with a few tweaks, you can set yourself up to spend less money at Costco. And these strategies aren't particularly complicated. All you need to do is commit to sticking to them.

1. Read the coupon book before you head to the store

If you're a Costco member, you'll get a coupon book in the mail roughly once a month, which is generally the pace at which Costco rotates its sale items. If you can't seem to find your coupon book, worry not -- it's available online, too.

The simple act of reading through that coupon book could help you eke out more savings at Costco. You might, for example, notice that the laundry detergent you use is on sale for $5 off. You may not need detergent at the moment, but if you have space to store it, it pays to scoop it up while it's discounted.

Also, rest assured that you don't actually have to bring your coupon book with you to Costco to get those deals. You'll get those discounted prices automatically when you check out.

2. Keep certain aisles off limits

There are certain Costco aisles that might lend to impulse purchases. So if you know what those are for you, stay out of them. It's that simple. 

Let's say you tend to have a hard time saying no to fun-looking snacks, but you also know that your pantry is already loaded with them. In that case, don't go into the snack aisle -- not even for a quick glance. And if there's another item you need in that aisle, make a beeline for it and exit in short order.

If you don't trust yourself to stay out of certain aisles, bring an accountability buddy along on your Costco trips. Make it that person's job to reprimand you for going off-list. That person can be a trusted friend, a spouse, or even a child of yours if they're old enough to get in your face and try to enforce the rules.

3. Look at expiration dates

Since Costco prides itself on quality, you might assume that all of its food items have good expiration dates. But that's not always the case. 

You might visit the store on Nov. 10 and find milk with a sell-by date of Nov. 19 or Nov. 29. The latter is clearly the better buy. But if you don't pay attention, you might risk purchasing items you have to partially dump due to them going bad. 

Also keep in mind that it's not just perishable items you have to pay attention to. Foods like snacks and spices can go bad over time, too. And when you're buying them in bulk quantities, you run that risk even more.

If you don't see an expiration date you're happy with for a given item at Costco, flag down an employee and ask if there's more inventory available. They may be able to help you find a better expiration date. Plus, they might choose to pull items from the shelves whose expiration dates aren't so great, thereby sparing other customers the annoyance of buying things that go bad on them quickly.

Ideally, your Costco membership will result in a world of savings. And if you stick to these easy tips, you may find that you're able to spend even less.