Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Oh How I Love Costco

If you can't tell, I just got back from a Costco run with Will. Despite him dropping an entire berry smoothie on my foot and making my legs & feet a thoroughly sticky mess, I walked out a happy camper with my household purchases on a budget. Here are some of my favorite things:


I know that you have a plethora of juice in your house. To refrain from going broke from buying juice every other day, I do two things:
Tip #1: Buy giant bottles of apple juice at Costco for $6.59, and make them last as long as humanly possible. Once in a while they have coupons in their mailers for either Treetop or Mott’s. I stock up when these dance their way into my mailbox. If a Costco run isn’t on the agenda in the near future and we are bone dry, then I hit either Target or the grocery store. Thankfully it’s usually an item that is on sale fairly often. I stock up when it’s 3 for $3 or whatever at the grocery store or Target.
Tip #2: Dilute Dilute Dilute! I think it drives Hubby crazy that I don’t give Will full power apple juice, but it means that the juice lasts a lot longer in our house… which means I am buying less… which means that’s one less thing to have to keep adding to my grocery lists every day. Which means Momma is HAPPY! I usually do ¼ juice with ¾ water. If I’m trying to get Will to drink more water, I add a splash of apple juice to a cup of water.

Dried Blueberries - $7.99
Next time you’re at the grocery store or Target, take a look at the cost of dried fruit, especially blueberries. Expensive! Hubby pointed this pack of dried blueberries last time we were at Costco and I was floored by the amount for the price. Utterly amazing! I throw these in some oatmeal for Will, or just give them to him as a snack, or even sprinkle on a waffle. He loves them. If I leave the pantry open, he’ll go and get the bag himself and snack on them…the little thief! Ha Ha!

Pillsbury Grands - $6.79
This is my most recent discovery! I like to make these for breakfast once a week or so. It’s a nice Sunday morning treat for us. I keep a close watch on these at the grocery store and haven’t bought them in a while because they haven’t been on sale. $4.99 for 1 can is pretty expensive… I usually have a coupon for them, but it’s at most $0.75 off TWO cans. Again, a tad expensive. This box has 3 cans of the cinnamon rolls in it! And it costs less than what I would’ve paid for two of the cans at the grocery store with a coupon! Hallelujah!

Split Top Wheat Bread – 2 loaves for $3.99
It’s tasty. It’s cheap. And the loaves are huge! I throw 1 in the freezer and we have 1 out ready to go. I can usually get a loaf of bread on sale at the grocery store for $1, but it’s less than ¾ the size of this one and isn't as tasty.

Easy to wander the aisles and aisles of bargains at Costco. I know my cart can get quickly overrun with non-necessities that put me over my budget. Here's what I do:
- Walk in with a list, and STICK to your list. That's all you need, so that's all you need to get.
- Before you walk in, set a budget. Be realistic using your list as a guideline, and give yourself some wiggle room. I spend less than $100 most of the time. If you need to, go get cash for the amount you want to spend and leave your cards at home.
- Keep a running tally. This is my newest trick and it works like a charm. Thanks to cell phones, everyone has a calculator on hand. With every item that goes in your cart, add it to your total on your calculator so you know where you're at. You'll be amazed at how quickly the non-necessities are weeded out of your basket.
- Pull over before entering the check out line and take once last look at your cart's contents. Make sure little hands didn't throw something extra in you don't know about, and that you didn't do the same...

Here are some great tips that were on The Nate Berkus show not too long ago.

              

Here are some other tips from that show on shopping at warehouses. My favorite was about the codes on the price tags. If it ends in $0.97, it's been marked down. If the tag as a * in the corner, means it won't be restocked, so if you want it, you better get it now!

On a somewhat related note, The Nate Berkus Show is Lani & I's latest obsession. He's a little goofy with his Nate-isms (I love it! Don't you love it?! I love it!), but it's everything we love all rolled into one show! Fabulous home design tips and tricks, organizing how to's, shopping on a budget, clothing tips and trends, and tons more!

Anyways...

Will loves Costco too because of the samples! Today, I think we "walked by" the pizza lady 3 times because he kept asking "mmmmmmmooore? Mama, mmmmooore?". He even tried the orange chicken and teriyaki chicken samples "mmmmmmm"-ing at every bite. I can't dilly dally by any means, but I do get a little more time to cruise and look around because he's entertained by all of the things and people to look at, and has a mouth full of food.

1 comment:

  1. I am so bad at Costco. I go in with good intentions and walk out with so much stuff that was not on my list! Yes, I always go over budget, but they do have some great prices on food for the family!

    ReplyDelete

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