Costco is best known for bulk buying, but savings can be found on a wide variety of products.From the tire center to the gas pump to the snack bar, small savings of a few dollars here and there quickly add up to the $60 annual membership fee.Be careful to follow your budget at Costco. Just like at any other store, unplanned purchases can turn big savings into a big expense.You can use theCostco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi to earn 2% cash back on eligible in-store and online purchases.Costco is one of the biggest retailers in America. With a cultlike following, Costco fans flock to the giant warehouse stores to stock up on bulk items, clothing, groceries, gas, and many other goodies.If you like to shop in bulk, a Costco membership could pay for itself and more thanks to savings on many purchases you're already making. Here's a look at some of my favorite ways to save money when I head to my closest Costco store.GasBefore even walking in the door, I often pull into the line to fuel up my car at the Oxnard, California, location. While gas still costs us Californians a lot more than most people in the US, I usually get the lowest price around at Costco.According to GasBuddy, at the time of writing, the gas station closest to my house was charging $3.55 per gallon, though many area gas stations were charging about $3.65 to $3.75. At Costco, I would pay $3.25.That price would save me about $3 if I filled up my small Toyota Corolla gas tank. My family's minivan has a gas tank about twice the size of my Corolla's, so we would save $6 by filling up at Costco.If you have the Costco Anywhere Visa, you get 4% cash back on eligible gas purchases at Costco and elsewhere up to $7,000 per year (then 1% back).GroceriesEveryone has to eat, and cooking for yourself is usually much cheaper than going out. My family eats more and more as my kids get bigger, and Costco groceries are often very competitively priced compared with my local grocery stores.Bulk shopping isn't always cheaper, but it can be for many products. We also save big on kitchen staples like bread, milk, eggs, and produce. The biggest problem we run into is a lack of space in our fridge and freezer to hold everything after a Costco run. The way things are headed, an upcoming Costco shopping list could include an extra fridge or freezer for the garage.TiresAccording to Clark Howard's Clark.com, most people save about $70 to $80 on a set of tires by shopping at Costco. An offer on Michelin tires, including installation, could save you $110. That's nearly double the cost of a basic Costco membership saved in one purchase.Standard installation at Costco is $15 per tire. But there are often discounts on that too, including the Michelin deal mentioned above. When you get tires at Costco, they include lifetime rotation and balancing, flat repairs, and air when your pressure is low.Household essentialsToilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, and disposable household products are often a bargain at Costco compared with the grocery store. While you may bring home twice as many rolls of toilet paper in a pack, for example, you'll pay less per roll with the bulk price.According to a Business Insider comparison, Costco is even cheaper than Amazon most of the time. And that's not just every once in a while: Costco was the winner about 80% of the time, with an average 25.4% savings on household staples.You'll also save at least 20% on average on baby, beauty, toiletry, health, and pet items. Bayer Aspirin and Arm & Hammer liquid laundry detergent at Costco were more than 50% cheaper than on Amazon.PizzaMost people don't think of the Costco snack bar as a serious dining option, but it ranks as the 14th-biggest pizza chain in the US by the number of locations.Pizza costs $1.99 per slice, and those slices are generous in size. I can feed myself, my wife, and two girls a meal for less than $10. When we hosted a birthday party at our house last year, we picked up a stack of the $9.95 whole pizzas.With its $1.50 hot dog and drink combo, Costco sells more than 100 million hot dogs per year. That's four times more than all MLB stadiums combined sell per year.Costco is a great deal if you manage your purchases wellThe only downside of Costco is that I often buy more than what's on my list when I visit. Going in for a free tire rotation could lead to more than $100 in purchases that I wasn't planning on.But since most of them will go into my family's stomachs, and most purchases are a pretty good deal, it's still a savings compared with buying the same items elsewhere.As long as you don't let those unplanned purchases get out of control or bust your budget, Costco can save you a lot more than it costs.Earn 2% cash back on eligible Costco purchases: Click here to learn more about the Costco Anywhere Visa More personal finance coverage:4 reasons to open a high-yield savings account while interest rates are down It took less than 10 minutes to open a high-yield cash account with Wealthfront and earn more on my savingsHow to buy a house with no money down When to save money in high-yield savingsBest rewards credit cards7 reasons you may need life insurance, even if you think you don'tJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: People are still debating the pink or grey sneaker, 2 years after it went viral. 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