I resisted getting a Costco membership for years – a decade to be exact.

Yes, I knew about the potential savings and the advantages of buying in bulk. My concern was that our family of three simply wouldn’t eat or otherwise consume enough to justify Costco’s jumbo quantities. I also worried about where we’d fit giant stashes of toilet paper and jugs of dish soap in our already cluttered house.

Above all, I knew Costco couldn’t possibly be our only grocery store. We’d still have to keep shopping somewhere else, which meant splitting my grocery list across two stores at least one weekend a month. The thought of that alone was exhausting.

Things have changed now. My kid is 10, wears size 14 clothes and eats as if he’s 16. We’ve purged a lot of toys and gear, which has improved storage around the house. And I am a little less tired on weekends.

So, I took the plunge and signed up for a Costco membership at the end of last year. Was it worth it?

Here’s what I’ve learned after seven months.

Did I save money?

Not much, actually. Our monthly spending on groceries and household essentials averages around $1,250. That’s roughly what it was in our pre-Costco era, when we did all of our shopping at one of Ontario’s main discount grocery chains. (There’s also the question of inflation, of course. But grocery inflation is up by roughly 1 per cent since January, and that’s too small an increase for me to confidently say whether Costco is helping us fight rising prices.)

We still shop at the regular grocery store for everything Costco doesn’t offer – from fresh herbs to the ability to buy a single lemon. It’s clear we’re simply spending at Costco what we’d otherwise spend at our old grocery store.

But we are absolutely getting more bang for our grocery bucks. Thanks to Costco, we’re now eating more seafood and higher-quality meat and produce. We treat ourselves to Italian prosciutto and Balzac’s Coffee beans. Shelled pistachios have entered the rotation of my kids’ after-dinner snacks (because what 10-year-old boy doesn’t need a whole other dinner after dinner?).

Nancy, our potcake rescue dog, recently added another reason to like Costco. I can buy a 20-pound bag of Kirkland puppy food − roughly a month’s supply − for around $35. For comparison, that’s less than what a six-pound bag of Purina Pro Plan puppy kibbles costs at PetSmart.

And did I mention I got a pair of prescription Ray-Ban sunglasses for $300? That’s $150 less than the suggested retail price.

Do I spend more time doing groceries now?

Surprisingly, it’s the opposite. I shop at Costco once a month. Admittedly, on that one weekend, I also have to pick up a few items at the grocery store close to home. This is the double grocery run I had dreaded, and it is a lot.

But what I hadn’t taken into account is that the one visit to Costco cuts down dramatically on the time my husband and I spend grocery shopping for the rest of the month. Overall, it’s been a time saver.

I’m keeping my Costco membership. But should I upgrade it from Gold Star?

Costco has two membership levels for individuals and families: Gold Star, which costs $65 a year, and Executive Gold Star, which costs $130 and comes with 2-per-cent cashback and a few other perks.

I signed up for the basic membership and on my second grocery run at Costco, a sales associate aggressively pitched upgrading to Executive. The argument for upgrading was that I had already spent enough in my first two months to suggest that the more expensive membership would pay for itself over the course of a year. I politely declined, in part because I wasn’t sure I would continue to consistently spend that much.

After seven months of shopping, I can say the sales associate was probably correct. An Executive membership would likely pay for itself if we keep up our spending for the whole year – but just barely. And that’s without accounting for a couple of weeks of vacation, when we don’t do groceries. For now, I’m sticking with Gold Star.