Month: March 2021

How to Shop Costco

Mr. ThreeYear and I fell in love with Costco when we lived in Atlanta. It was conveniently located, the prices were great, and you could occasionally find very good deals on cool items for your yard or your house. But in New Hampshire, the closest Costco was over an hour away. So, for eight years, when we lived in New Hampshire, I occasionally shopped BJ’s Wholesale Club (we could get a discount membership through Mr. ThreeYear’s work). But it really wasn’t the same.

Fast forward to December, 2019, when my good friend and fellow deal lover took me to the newly-opened Costco near our house. I bought a membership that day, loaded up my buggie, and several hundred dollars later, decided I needed some ground rules regarding how I shopped at Costco.

Only Shop with a List

First of all, if you are browsing in Costco, prepare to check out with a much-higher grocery bill than you planned. You will be tempted by the fourteen-pack of ready-to-eat Indian Chana Masala, the chocolate-covered almonds, or whatever your weakness is. Costco is a master at products that entice you to buy them when you weren’t planning on it. I think their products have some weird electronic signal that attracts you to them.

Instead, when you go into the store, have a list of what you’re planning to buy. It’s okay if your list is vague, like “Boys’ Pants”–sometimes you don’t know exactly what they have for sale–but have an idea, and a price range, of the items you’re looking for. Otherwise, you will buy things you don’t need.

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Our Half-Bath Makeover

I decided to budget a portion of our end-of-the-year bonus to updating our downstairs half-bathroom.

It was in terrible need of a refresh, since it had holes in the walls, mismatched paint, and dated fixtures. It was not a place I wanted to welcome guests when they came over.

Still, I knew the bones of the room were good, and it had a decent pedestal sink, so I felt pretty confident we could get by with a cosmetic makeover.

I’d always wanted to try peel and stick wallpaper, and I thought it would cover the holes in the sheetrock without me having to do much, so I decided to incorporate it into my budget.

Still, I wasn’t exactly sure how much everything was going to cost. I priced out a few fixtures online, a new light (the current one was a 90s monstrosity of painted-rust vines), and some wallpaper, and ended up with a budget of $650. I figured that would probably do it, but decided I could budget more later if I needed to.

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The No Spend Month: How’d We Do?

In January, we learned we had to replace our downstairs HVAC system to the tune of about $8,000. We decided, after that big spend, that a no-spend month was in order.

So we deemed February our no-spend month. We would not spend money in any category other than food, gas, and essential bills. The idea was to use the money we didn’t spend to replenish our savings after spending so much on the furnace.

How did we do?

Well, it felt like we did terrible. We didn’t take the no-spend month very seriously, especially towards the end of the month, and we broke a lot of our rules about spending.

Still, we managed to save quite a bit of money, so despite our mediocre performance, I’d still call the month a win. And I feel like we have some momentum to keep going in March, so we are going to keep saving.

Two wins: Junior ThreeYear decided to stop swimming with his expensive swim team and is now running track, which doesn’t have a monthly cost. We saved money in lawn care because it was February and no lawn care was needed.

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