BJ's Trip And $25 Gift Card GIVEAWAY!!!

Just recently, My Blog Spark offered to let me give BJ's Wholesale Club a try. BJ's and General Mills provided me with a $25 gift card, coupons, and a free 60-day trial membership. Plus, they gave me an extra $25 gift card to give away to a reader! I thought, why not?!

I've never been in BJ's (other than this time), so I wasn't really sure what to expect. The only experience I've had with wholesale clubs is when I was little and went with my mom from time to time (it was an all-day affair since it was quite a drive!).

Now that I am such a committed couponer and bargain hunter, I was interested in having this opportunity to check out just how much you can really save at BJ's in comparison to other grocery stores.

I did a lot of investigating on prices while I was there. To avoid being extremely wordy (as you know I always am), I will just give you a list of pros and cons.

Pros:

• Unlike other wholesale clubs, BJ's allows you to use coupons.
• Not only that, BJ's allows you to stack coupons. You are allowed to use one store coupon (found in coupon booklets that they give you in the store or mail to you) and one manufacturer coupon per item. There were signs in front of many of the items that stated this coupon policy very clearly.
• It gets even better, though! Since BJ's packages their items in bulk, you are allowed to use a coupon per individually wrapped item within a bulk purchase. For example, if you buy a package with 2 shampoos in it, you would be allowed to use (2) $1/1 coupons with that! If you buy a big box of 4 normal-sized cereal boxes, you can use 4 coupons! This is a really good thing, otherwise you would never be able to touch the prices that you can get by couponing at other grocery stores.
• Great for a big family, since you have to buy in bulk.
• Awesome if you are not a couponer or sale-shopper, don't have time for coupons, or just don't want to mess with coupons at all. The prices are 30% lower than retail value on the same items at other stores.
• One stop store for all your needs. They have everything - from electronics to food.
• Gas is really cheap!
• Good place to buy meats, due to lower prices.
• High quality produce (but a little bit pricier).
• Low cost membership, compared to other wholesale clubs.

Cons:

• If you are a couponer used to coupling sales with coupons, you can't come close to the prices you are used to. In my mind, I have target prices of what I'm willing to pay for just about every item. As I went around from item to item calculating prices, I couldn't believe how "expensive" they all were. Haha! I guess I'm just spoiled! So, even though it's 30% off of retail, it's still much higher than I'm willing to pay.
  
• Not a good choice for a small family, or just a married couple like us.
  
• Like I said, produce is pretty expensive.

Overall, I was pleased with my experience. I just don't think it would be worth it for us. I'm way too used to coming out of the grocery store paying $20 for over $100 worth of groceries. Like I said, I'm spoiled.

Since the prices (even with coupons) were more than I was willing to pay, I decided to utilize my gift card on items that I normally buy at Walmart for the cheapest price, or don't have coupons for. The picture above is what I ended up buying. I bought my 3 favorite spices: curry powder, chili powder, and cumin! I make a lot of Indian and foreign food, so I go through those tiny bottles of these spices like there's no tomorrow! As soon as I saw these, I was really excited. Also, biscotti with a hot cup of coffee is one of my favorite treats. Now, with coupons, you can get Nonni's Biscotti at Publix for next to free. However, for some reason, my region never gets the Biscotti coupons when they come out. It's always a regional coupon! So, I decided to go ahead and splurge on these, since I usually can't get that great of a price on them anyways.

After coming home, I realized a few things that I should have gotten instead. Fish would have been pretty inexpensive, and I've heard that yeast for bread machine baking is the cheapest you can find it at wholesale clubs. Oh well! Next time I'll plan a little better!

Okay, who wants a $25 gift card? Maybe you're already a member and would really love to have this gift card for your monthly shopping trips. Or, maybe you're like me and just want to see what it's all about! If so, you can go sign up for their 60-day FREE trial membership!

To Enter This Giveaway:

Mandatory Entry:

1. Leave a comment telling me how you'll use this gift card. Will you stock up on something specific? Will you try to save using their coupon policy? Do you enjoy shopping at BJ's, if you already do?

Extra Entries:

2. Become a fan of Frugal Fun and Fortune on Facebook. Leave a comment letting me know. (If already a fan, just say so in the comment).

3. Subscribe to Frugal Fun and Fortune's blog feeds through reader or e-mail. They are both on the right side of the page if you scroll down a bit. (If you're already a subscriber, just say so in the comment).

4. Grab my button, put it on your blog, and leave a comment with a link to your page so that I can verify it. (If you already have the button, just say so with a link).

5. Follow me on Twitter.

This giveaway will end on December 13th, Sunday night, at 10 pm. The winner will be announced Sunday night, so be on the lookout to see if you've won! Good Luck!!!

The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own, not influenced in any way by the offer I received through My Blog Spark.