Our Guide to Shopping at Costco!

Hi guys! Happy Tuesday!  Long time, no see – summer is in full swing, and business is booming.  I feel like I am never in front of my computer anymore, and I’m starting to wonder if that will ever really change.  Well, I’m here today so let’s jump in.  A few weeks ago I talked about grocery shopping and asked you guys if you wanted to hear about our switch to being Costco shoppers.  The answer was a resounding YES, so here I am with a pots about all things Costco!

First things first, I just want to clarify that there is no partnership or sponsorship here.  This is just our family, paying for our membership, buying our groceries, and loving our experience.  Nothing more to it – although we do use our business membership for company things too – an added bonus!

For many years I’ve been jumping around to various grocery stores.  Despite many friends telling me I needed to join Costco, I was hesitant because it’s 20+ minutes from our house.  I like convenience!  So up until last fall I was doing most of our shopping at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.  I was spending a TON of money, and felt like I was at the grocery store every other day to “just grab a few things.”  When the New Year rolled around, we decided to overhaul our grocery budget and focus on drastically reducing what we were spending on food and household items.  Not to mention all the time wasted for short grocery ships, and threats made to small children for misbehaving in grocery stores and fighting over who gets to push the kid’s cart (WHY DO THESE EXIST?).

And so starting in January, we switched our shopping almost entirely over to Costco!  After six months of this, we have it down to a pretty good science, and we have cut our grocery spending by more than half of what we used to spend each month.  My goal is two make two Costco runs each month – one big and one smaller – and then very minimal supplementing from other stores for a few specific items (which I will get to at the end).

But just like any store, Costco has amazing marketing and if you aren’t careful or prepared, you can easily walk out of there spending way more than intended.  The “seasonal” section is always the one that gets me.  I walk in the door and immediately think, “are we even LIVING if we don’t have kayaks?”