It’s coming down to the final deadline. I’m running out of time and need to decide ….
Kids are at college so buying in bulk is less important but I love Costco. My membership expired in May, but I’m down to three rolls of toilet paper, LoL
Do I renew Costco and continue to buy in bulk at the potential of wasting money, or do I give up on Costco and buy all supplies from the grocery?
Buy a washlet (bidet). Your toilet paper usage will plummet, and your general day to day comfort and cleanliness will soar.
But also yes, renew your Costco! We’re a household of two and we still lean pretty heavily on our membership.
I actually have one in a box, and I believe it was from Costco! However I went too fancy. It has all the bells and whistles, but needs a place to plug in.
There’s no outlet anywhere useful and figuring out how to add one behind the toilet without puncturing any pipes is way beyond my confidence level
My $0.02 worth: It’s a toss up and depends on how much you buy and what other retailers are charging (shocking I know!)
My best reason to go there is for the pharmacy (several meds that insurance doesn’t cover [still prescription, just not “on my plan”]) are cheaper than the competition in my area. I would say food and electronics are generally a good price there consistently vs having to wait for a sale at another retailer.
Fuel for me isn’t normally cheaper there than other places I go. YMMV.
Fuel for me isn’t normally cheaper there than other places I go. YMMV
I’m golden for that part. While my costco doesn’t have fuel, now I drive an EV and there’s free charging at work
- Buy a year’s worth of toilet paper.
- Let it expire this year, renew next year.
So the real problem is that when it expired in May I only had half a year of supply? I’ll have to do better next time
Your calculations must have been off. Not sure if it’ll apply for you, so make adjustments as needed for next time, but here’s my calculation:
You need to calculate avg number of sheets per poop, piss, and misc sessions, per person in household; calculate number of each session per person per day; use a bell curve to accomodate for the event of possibly having a run of messy runs (since that should be the largest use factor of TP unless you use TP as tissues for colds as well), and then voila - take the results for the average individual day use, multiply by 365.25, and you should be able to successfully calculate your TP needs for the entire year.
Expressed in python for no reason other than I’m trying to learn Python and decided to use this as practice:
Person1 = str(input("Name of Person 1: “))
Person1PoopAvgPerSession = float(input(f”{Person1}'s average number of TP sheets used per poop session: “)
Person1PeeAvgPerSession = float(input(f”{Person1}'s average number of TP sheets used per pee session: “)
Person1MiscAvgPerSession = float(input(f”{Person1}'s average number of TP sheets used per misc session: ") #In case there’s another use case not addressed previously #Make variables for each person in household - There’s probably a good method for using input() to capture the number of people in the household, asking for their names, and then use a while loop to create a dictionary for each person, but I haven’t done that yet and I’ll need to test that out, so for now - manual creation of variables. Make variables for guests, if expected to have any for the year - I don’t so didn’t include this - Can probably ask if expecting guests this year, and then use if else statement based on the boolean that returns.
Person1PoopsPerDay = float(input("How many times do you poop per day on average? "))
Person1PeesPerDay = float(input("How many times do you pee per day on average? "))
Person1MiscPerDay = float(input("How many times per day do you use toilet paper for misc. uses? "))Person1PerDayUsage = ((Person1PoopAvgPerSession * Person1PoopsPerDay * 1.2) + (Person1PeeAvgPerSession * Person1PeesPerDay) + (Person1MiscAvgPerSession * Person1MiscPerDay)) #Using 1.2 to accomodate for bell curve, not really sure how else to do this.
Person1PerYearUsage = int(Person1PerDayUsage * 365)
print(f"{Person1}'s Annual TP usage: ", Person1PerYearUsage)Back to packing for my trip.
Nice, and I have solid data for part of that
“ per person in household” == 1
My parents still have their Costco membership even though it’s just the two of them. Mom buys meat and vacuum deals what she doesn’t use immediately, and bulk paper goods store forever. They still go to a smaller grocery store for things they don’t need in bulk
I never did the vacuum seal thing but it seems like a great idea.
I probably waste money buying chicken in blister packs so I can freeze convenient portions (pre-frozen are not individually packaged so get freezer burned sooner)
There’s only two of us and we still get our moneys worth. We don’t buy much perishable that we can’t freeze. I don’t think we waste much
Another vote for probably still worth it. My spouse and I go there for paper goods, laundry detergent, dishwasher soap, noodle bowls and dog treats, along with some nuts and office supplies, still more than covers the cost of the membership. Also, I always get the $1.50 hot dog and drink, you just can’t beat that.
I only have a Costco membership in the years that I know I will use it for things I ALREADY intended to buy and can save money on the Costco version. Other than that, if you track your spending, Costco costs most people more money. They buy bigger quantities which leads to more waste. They buy expensive brands when there are other options in other stores. If you have a business or a big family, Costco can make sense, however you have to be a very disciplined shopper to actually see the benefit.
Correct. Almost everyone in the comments here saying that the costco membership is worth it on a financial basis is deluding themselves. Unless you are buying for some kind of organization or you have a Mormon-sized family, CostCo is costing you money - that’s how they make money.
The reality is, what CostCo actually sells is a Premium Experience. You walk in the door, and you don’t have the experience of feeling bad about buying store-brand junk food that is far cheaper than name brand, because costco only stocks name brand (Or Kirkland, which is comparable). The shopping carts are enourmous, and you get a thrill when you purchase 20lbs of organic, grass-fed steak like it is a normal thing. A nice old lady offers you a free sample of something. You get to treat yourself to a slice of pizza or a hot dog on the way out. And most importantly… everyone else also paid for a CostCo card for the right to be in the store. Ie, the biggest benefit to CostCo is that you don’t have to be in the presence of poor people.
Costco costs most people more money.
Admittedly I’ve treated it more as a “convenience” for years. I can probably save more money if I travel to more stores and keep track of sales. However last time I checked, Costco was consistently better than regular price and I don’t have to goto as many stores.
They buy bigger quantities which leads to more waste.
I expect the opposite. Buying in bulk is an investment so I almost always know I’ll finish it. The larger quantities reduce packaging and reduce trips to more stores
They buy expensive brands
Guilty, but they actually line up well with brands and models I tend to get anyway. Given those brands and models, the prices are generally pretty good. But yes you can get lower end brands, lower end models elsewhere
I especially see clothes this way. When they have something, it’s usually a good price for that brand. Of course since they never carry the tall sizes I need, I only care before Christmas
Get yourself a vacuum sealer for foods you can repack and freeze (ie: meat), and get items you need smaller quantities of at a local grocery store. Costco’s pharmacy has a very low filling fee, and the optical department has great prices. And, of course, you can get paper products.
I live in a 2 person household and use whichever is most sensible for what we need. In this economy, value for our money is important.
Where I am paper goods are so expensive at the grocery store that they alone almost pay for the full price of membership over the year (and maybe they even do now, I haven’t calculated in a few years). Its gas prices are also usually $0.60/gal less than nearby places (and it’s on one of my regular routes) so in my case it’s a no-brainer.
I’ve always heard about gas being a huge deal but they never had it at my Costco, and now I drive an electric vehicle
Step 1: renew membership
Step 2: Buy a bidet
Best of both worlds brother. Plus whatever holes you have will thank you.
A wise person once said “Will it make you happy? If so, then do it.”
Not sure if it was Lincoln, I’ll have to check into that
I love my Costco trips too. While we should be careful about capitalisms hold on us, there is a value to happiness.
You could definitely spend money on more frivolous things.
I had a membership a while back when I was buying electronics, i.e. a laptop and computer. They had a full-money-back no-questions-asked return policy (up to I think a month, used to be longer but people abused it.) Selection wasn’t that great, but it was good enough for me. Dunno if it’s still like that.
I’ve done that historically but I don’t have any big purchases planned.
- Their electronics selection is limited but matches well with the level of brands I tend to get. They usually had good prices for those brands and models
- you can find similar items for lower prices elsewhere if you front care about brand or features
- I do usually find something there for Christmas gifts as well
And most importantly it’s my only known local source for kewpie mayo
Costco gives one year additional warranty on top of manufacturers warranty, I have received in my life, three completely new laptops as a result of this. Manufacturer gives one year warranty, credit card gives another year warranty, Costco gives a third year warranty, nothing is sweeter than parts not being available at year 2.5, and you get a massive upgrade.
I live with 2 fur babies and find it worth it. TP isn’t going bad, meats and milk can be frozen, 2 dozen eggs last weeks in the fridge, plus I can donate to the food box.
