Everyone that has lived in a first world country has heard of Costco. A large warehouse shopping experience that will set you back hundreds of dollars buying bulk items that you never really knew you needed!
I shop there every two to three months spending an average of $200- $300 per visit.
It’s not the sort of place you pop in for a pint of milk and a loaf of bread. Nothing is sold in that small quantity there. Often that loaf of bread will turn into a full size mattress and the milk ,well, you probably bought a cow. Hence the hundreds of dollars per visit. I do believe they even sell the proverbial kitchen sink!
After my bulk shopping experience , as I was putting away my treasures I started thinking about how there should be Costco tips about shopping there.
So here go my ideas.

1. Try not to take all of 4 your kids…and definitely not your husband. Mine adds a 100 pack of socks each time we go. That’s about 600 Pairs of socks per year!
2. Eat something before you go in. The samples stations are not a buffet. Some people are actually there to shop.
3. Make a list, and tear it up.
4. Same for the budget, double it.
5. Consider how much freezer space you have and whether or not your mother in law has space and hers for those extra purchases.
6. Calculate just how many toilet rolls and paper towel rolls will actually fit in the trunk of your car.
7. Always put your photo order or ink cartridges order in before you start shopping and most importantly ,remember to pick them up at the end of your shopping.
8. Have your husband drop you off before he gets in the congested lane of traffic for fuel. You could have half your shopping done by the time he comes into the store.
9. Wear a fleece, those walk-in freezers are cold.
10. Buy the thick porkchops and cut them in half when you get home, wrap in cling film and aluminum foil, and freeze 4 to a portion.
11. Remember that many more things that we buy can be put in the freezer. For example; butter and cheese.
12. Carefully select your checkout cashier. This could mean the difference between five minutes, or 15 minutes and a dozen broken eggs!
13. Put your groceries into the insulated bags that you remembered to bring with you, not left in the trunk of your car.
14. Pick up those photos that you forgot about handing in when you got there.
15. Put your shopping into your car and come back to buy that slice of pizza or hotdog. That way you don’t have to worry about anybody stealing your $300 worth of groceries as you search for more napkins.
16. Drive home quickly, you don’t have any money left.

One suggestion I’d love to make to Costco executives is a new label suggesting ways of creating portions out of your huge packets that you are lugging home. For example, I know that 2 of their jumbo muffins fit neatly into a quart bag for freezing. There must be thousands of shoppers who could use that shortcut and extra time when they get home without trial and error and wasting storage bags??
Wait, what’s that? Costco sells jumbo packs of storage bags so I needn’t worry. Oh well then , point taken.