I'm Not a Costco Member, But I Just Took Advantage of These Great Deals

If you aren't a Costco member, chances are good that you assume the deals the warehouse club offers won't be available to you. But that's not necessarily true in every situation. In fact, I'm not a Costco member, but I was recently able to take advantage of a few great bargains that will benefit my personal finances over the long run.

Here's how I managed to land some awesome Costco deals without paying the membership fee to join the club.

Anyone can take advantage of these Costco bargains

You have to be a member (or have a Costco Shop Card) to browse the warehouse, but anyone can shop Costco's website. Costco.com sells discounted gift cards that you can use at other merchants. (You can also find discounted gift cards in stores, if you happen to be a member.)

Fortunately, there are plenty of online bargains to be had. In my case, I purchased gift cards to Landry's restaurants, since the multi-brand card can be used at several places we eat at frequently (including T-Rex and Joe's Crab Shack). And the gift cards I bought were just one of many deals available that could help you cut your credit card bills.

Costco also offers discounted gift cards for:

• Children's entertainment venues, like Chuck E. Cheese
• Dozens of restaurants, including IHOP, Papa John's, and Morton's Steakhouse
• Flights through Southwest Airlines
• Season passes to theme parks, like Universal Studios Hollywood

There's a whole host of other categories as well. The great thing is, you absolutely do not need to be a member to buy any of these bargain-price cards online. You do pay 5% more if you aren't a club member -- but if you're buying a gift card at a substantial discount already, you're still saving a lot even with the 5% added onto your bill.

In my case, for example, the Landry's restaurant gift cards I bought were priced at $79.99 for $100 worth of gift cards. So I paid an extra 5%, and my total costs came to $83.99. I'll still get $16.01 in free food. That isn't bad for just taking a few seconds and signing into a website to make a gift card purchase that was delivered directly to my email.

Be sure to check out the Costco gift card deals regularly

Costo's gift card deals are awesome if you happen to be a regular customer of any of the stores, restaurants, airlines, or other places that have cards available -- or if you want to try out any of these places. There is absolutely no reason not to buy a gift card at a lower price and save money on your other purchases -- as long as you are 100% confident that you are going to use it and not forget about it.

After scoring my good deal, I know I'll be checking in at Costco.com at least once a week to see what other gift cards are on offer. You may want to do the same -- especially since you don't have to be a member to be able to save at places you'd be spending money anyway.