Costco

Costco can be your best friend and your worst enemy.  Just in case you have been living under a rock for the past seven years and don't know what I am talking about, Costco is just like Sam's Club.  And if you don't know what that is, then there is no help for you.  At all.  


We got our first membership to Costco back in Des Moines, IA.  When Costco opened its doors around 2005, people in Des Moines went crazy.  I wasn't sure what all the hub bub was about.  We had a membership to Sam's Club and thought that was perfectly fine.  But we got sucked into the trendiness that is the Costco and got a membership there too.  As far as I'm concerned the Costco pays for it's yearly membership with 1, yes that is one box of trash bags.  Before I had kids, one of those $14.99 boxes would last us an entire year.  Amazing.


Oh, Costco.  I miss the good old days.  The days when I didn't know or recognize the name Dave Ramsey.    The days when I didn't budget and really had no idea how much money we really had or how much we really spent.  The days, when I would go to the Costco with only toilet paper and laundry detergent on my list and walk out $400 poorer with a bunch of shit we didn't need.  Sigh.  


Now I take my kids to Costco for our $8 lunch which includes 2 pieces of cheese pizza, a hot dog, a soda, a cup of ice cream plenty big enough for the boys to split and a chocolate dipped ice cream bar.  As the boys eat their ice cream, I plop them in the double basket shopping cart and we meander through the giant warehouse to look at all the shit I don't need.  I actually don't even have a Costco membership anymore.  I ask my mom to go with us when I need toilet paper, detergent, trash bags, paper towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste and shaving cream.  Yep, that is all I buy from the Costco now.  


I am not quite ready to trust myself with a Costco membership. Too many old habits could come back to tempt me.  "Yes, Andrea, you definitely need that 64gb flash drive that is on sale for $50," my old brain would scream at me.  While my new brain would say, "64gb is a probably a touch excessive.  You probably only need an 8gb and that is only $10 at Walmart."  But I am definitely not ready for that kind of a test.


See.  Costco can be your worst enemy.


I actually saw this 85 year old couple today almost get into a knock out drag down fight over a toilet.  The cute little old lady was admiring a toilet, yes I said toilet.  Costco has everything.  Her crusty old husband says, 


"Ida, we don't need a toilet." 


 The lady, presumably Ida, replies, "But Carl, it is only $85."


"No, Ida.  We do not need a toilet,"  Carl snarls.


"Humph!"  Ida stalks away.


Let's just say, I would not want to be in the car for that ride back to the house.


Love and peace,


~Andrea