How Much You'd Need To Spend At Sam's Club To Make A Plus Membership Worth It

If you're a Sam's Club prospective or basic member who's eyeing those extra Plus membership perks and wondering if the extra cost is worth it for you, you're not alone. One of the most annoying things about shopping at Sam's Club is doing the math to figure that out. Fortunately, it's easy to find out without wasting any of your hard-earned cash because the math is really simple.

The Plus membership gives you 2% cash back (called Sam's Cash). You can get up to $500 cash back on purchases of Sam's Club's house brand (Member's Mark) goods. How much Sam's Cash you make depends on the actual amount you spent, excluding taxes. Sam's Cash shows up in your account, and you can use it to pay for purchases at Sam's Club, in-store or online, or even put it toward the cost of your membership.

As of this writing, the first year's Plus membership only costs $60. After that introductory rate, it moves up to $110 per year. To get your money back the first year, you need to spend $3,000 (3,000 x 2% = 60) on Member's Mark merchandise. That averages out to $250 per month. The trial rate is a relatively low-risk way to find out how much you're likely to spend at Sam's Club each year. From then on, you need to spend $5,500 per year on store-brand products to make back your $110 Plus membership fee (5,500 x 2% = 110). That comes out to about $459 per month. Given the sheer number of amazing deals Sam's has on store-brand goods you use every day, that's really easy to do. 

When you take into account everything you can buy at Sam's Club, you realize just how easy it is to spend enough that your Sam's Cash pays for your Plus membership. Of all the tips for shopping at Sam's Club, this one's probably the most important. But it's also the easiest. 

You see, Sam's Club isn't just some bulk-buy specialty store. It's a legitimate superstore where you can do a lot of your household shopping, including groceries, paper products, pet food, and household staples. And that can easily add up to a monthly cost of nearly $500 or more. 

It wouldn't at all be unusual for someone shopping for a family of four (or even two in some cases) to hit that goal with just basics every month. Think of all the groceries you already typically buy in a month, with staples like milk ($9.48), eggs ($9.28), peanut butter ($7.78), coffee pods ($19.98), orange juice ($7.34), bottled water ($3.98), breakfast bars ($11.98), protein shakes ($21.98), and snack packs ($18.48); proteins such as chicken breast ($16.39), ground beef ($32.06), deli ham ($7.47), deli turkey ($9.57), and maybe a couple of pot roasts ($96.56); frozen vegetables ($20.94) and frozen pizzas ($25.96); lunch and pantry items like tomato sauce ($9.68), hummus ($4.48), naan ($5.78), croissants ($5.46), cheese ($8.87), salad kits ($11.28), and potato chips ($5.96); plus household essentials, including toilet paper ($24.76), paper towels ($20.93), dishwasher pods ($12.98), and pet food ($26.98).

At today's Sam's Club prices, just this simple grocery list already has you over $459. And those are just examples. There are loads more Member's Mark-brand groceries to choose from, including baking products, condiments, and boxed and frozen foods. Not to mention the goods in non-food sections for health and personal care products, automotive, clothing, and home goods. But even if you don't get all the way there with cash back, there are plenty of opportunities for savings and earning Sam's Cash to make it worth it.

There are plenty of other Sam's Club perks that can help pay for your Plus membership. Sam's Club offers fuel at a 5-cents-per-gallon discount. That's a relatively decent savings. For example, if you buy 10 gallons per week, you save 50 cents per week, or $26 per year. Show your Plus membership card at the pharmacy to get hundreds of generic prescriptions for under $10 (10 of the most common are free!), no insurance needed. And you can save even more at the optical counter. Sam's Club's 40%-off deal on a second pair of frames could save you around $200 if you spend over $300, as many people do (per VSP). Those perks are available to all Sam's Club members, but they still help pay for the Plus membership.

Some handy (and profitable) benefits only Plus members get are half off tire and battery installations for your vehicle. It costs $20 per tire for the installation on top of the cost of your tires. That's a total of $80, but Plus members get it for $40 as long as you buy installation for all four tires. Another option is the Sam's Club Mastercard, which gives you Sam's Cash back on gas, dining, Sam's Club purchases, and even buys at other stores. 

Each of these perks chips away at the $459 per month you need to spend to get your Sam's Plus membership to pay for itself, even before you consider the direct savings of buying in bulk.