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Whatever you decide, you can't take it with you, so you have to find that balance between living and enjoying your life, and saving so that you can enjoy ALL of your life as long as possible.
I don't disagree. At the same time, I'm a product of an upbringing that needed to be exceptionally thrifty in order to have food on the table every night (and sometimes, there was none). I'm financially secure now, and as you say I can't take it with me - but more consumption doesn't make me happy. I'd rather fund another college scholarship for academically gifted students from low income households rather than replace my 15 year old beat up SUV with a Bentayga or Cullinan. But that's just me.
I wasn't clear. These people ARE buying large quantities... at grocery prices. And could easily save 25% or more by buying bulk instead.
The other thing I hate about Costco is those "variety packs". Sure they may have 30 packs of soup or whatever that are cheaper per unit, but a lot of times there's at least one flavor in the pack that I don't like (which ends up being 5 or 6 cans/packages).
I know this doesn't apply to everything, but a lot of bulk stuff at Costco is like that.
The other thing I hate about Costco is those "variety packs". Sure they may have 30 packs of soup or whatever that are cheaper per unit, but a lot of times there's at least one flavor in the pack that I don't like (which ends up being 5 or 6 cans/packages).
I know this doesn't apply to everything, but a lot of bulk stuff at Costco is like that.
I resisted the Costco membership for the longest time, but now I can't imagine giving mine up until the kids are gone.
I buy the following:
whole wheat bread (2 pack)
tortillas (2 pack)
Cheerios (2 pack)
strawberries
blueberries
avocados (sometimes)
huge bag of mixed "power greens"
Kirkland brand coffee
box of 3 bags of goldfish crackers (NOT individual packets)
toothpaste
allergy medication (once a year!)
frozen fruit
cinnamon
olive oil
nuts
chocolate chips
pine nuts
vanilla
oatmeal
boullion
tuna fish
Whatever you decide, you can't take it with you, so you have to find that balance between living and enjoying your life, and saving so that you can enjoy ALL of your life as long as possible.
True, but whatever I can't take with me I can give to my kids....
I find when I approach my personal finance goals from this perspective I tend to be more disciplined and successful.
There is no company that immediately comes to mind in the retail sector that has done a better job advertising "what a great deal we are!" than CostCo. I've known enough people who are members that I was able to look into this directly, and my mom used to be so we shopped there often, but *at worst* as you can see from this thread, people think, "Well you get a great deal, if you just buy in massive bulk!" Eh, no, you don't. SOMETIMES, I'm sure you do, but I went item by item even like toothpaste and various supplies and compared 5-10 common household items and every single one of them, ALL of them, were cheaper on Amazon than they were at CostCo! That was even buying in bulk. It's fantastic marketing they've gotten everyone to believe this myth, but it's just that -- a myth -- it isn't rooted in reality or a factual comparison of prices. I wouldn't pay for a membership AND overpay for items. Amazon has ruined their business model. I have no clue if they're cheaper than Safeway or other grocery stores, because I don't compare supplies to grocery store prices. I don't buy my supplies at the grocery store except for toilet paper and paper towels, otherwise I buy them on Amazon because it's free shipping, I get 5% back, and it's usually the cheapest option.
I'm sure if I was extremely eagle-eyed, I could find a number of items that are actually the cheapest at CostCo, but then I'm still on the hook for the membership fee and having to look item by item to see if there's really anything that's a good deal at all. For 2 people, it doesn't make any sense, I don't need 5 tubes of toothpaste that expire in 8 months. I can't use that lol.
As for food, we don't buy food in the way that CostCo sells it, so while it may make sense for a family making large bulk meals, it doesn't make sense for the way we'd be buying our food so I didn't bother to compare prices on food -- which is probably the best savings at CostCo -- so I'm not trying to be unfair to the store, but they have an image going of absolutely everything being the cheapest there, which is just flat out not true. None of their supplies are well priced compared to Amazon and the hassle of leaving my house having to go buy them.
There is no company that immediately comes to mind in the retail sector that has done a better job advertising "what a great deal we are!" than CostCo. I've known enough people who are members that I was able to look into this directly, and my mom used to be so we shopped there often, but *at worst* as you can see from this thread, people think, "Well you get a great deal, if you just buy in massive bulk!" Eh, no, you don't. SOMETIMES, I'm sure you do, but I went item by item even like toothpaste and various supplies and compared 5-10 common household items and every single one of them, ALL of them, were cheaper on Amazon than they were at CostCo! That was even buying in bulk. It's fantastic marketing they've gotten everyone to believe this myth, but it's just that -- a myth -- it isn't rooted in reality or a factual comparison of prices. I wouldn't pay for a membership AND overpay for items. Amazon has ruined their business model. I have no clue if they're cheaper than Safeway or other grocery stores, because I don't compare supplies to grocery store prices. I don't buy my supplies at the grocery store except for toilet paper and paper towels, otherwise I buy them on Amazon because it's free shipping, I get 5% back, and it's usually the cheapest option.
I'm sure if I was extremely eagle-eyed, I could find a number of items that are actually the cheapest at CostCo, but then I'm still on the hook for the membership fee and having to look item by item to see if there's really anything that's a good deal at all. For 2 people, it doesn't make any sense, I don't need 5 tubes of toothpaste that expire in 8 months. I can't use that lol.
As for food, we don't buy food in the way that CostCo sells it, so while it may make sense for a family making large bulk meals, it doesn't make sense for the way we'd be buying our food so I didn't bother to compare prices on food -- which is probably the best savings at CostCo -- so I'm not trying to be unfair to the store, but they have an image going of absolutely everything being the cheapest there, which is just flat out not true. None of their supplies are well priced compared to Amazon and the hassle of leaving my house having to go buy them.
I place a high premium on the time savings of going to Costco as well. I have a supply of everything at home and so it streamlines the grocery store shopping. I don’t want to have to order things individually every time on Amazon and have a horde (well another horde) of boxes from Amazon. It’s not worth it (to me) to be absolutely eagle eyed on the lowest price by spending time shopping around. Costco is low enough that it still is better than the regular store for almost everything I’ve looked at.
The savings are very obvious to us on items like nuts, eggs, and household products.
Also, the savings on gas, the executive 2% membership cashback, and credit card rewards.
I don't disagree. At the same time, I'm a product of an upbringing that needed to be exceptionally thrifty in order to have food on the table every night (and sometimes, there was none). I'm financially secure now, and as you say I can't take it with me - but more consumption doesn't make me happy. I'd rather fund another college scholarship for academically gifted students from low income households rather than replace my 15 year old beat up SUV with a Bentayga or Cullinan. But that's just me.
That's fine - but you're still spending rather than saving. Just wanted to point that out. You're just spending it on something other than a vehicle, something that brings you joy to spend that money on.
True, but whatever I can't take with me I can give to my kids....
I find when I approach my personal finance goals from this perspective I tend to be more disciplined and successful.
I want to leave something to my kids as well - that's the goal and so far so good. My point though was that there is a balance to be found and no, we can't take it with us but we can live life to the fullest while we're here, and that usually involves spending SOME money.
In our case, we want to travel as long as we can enjoy it. So while we have a home that's "below our income level" (though very comfortable and certainly as much home as either of us wants), we also love to travel and travel well - we don't enjoy scrimping when we're on vacation. For instance, we just went to Winslow AZ to stand on the corner and we each bought three t-shirts/sweatshirts and none of them were on sale. We also stayed in a very comfortable hotel. We ate out at a nice restaurant every night, and each had two drinks too. One night I had three drinks. But I don't normally do those things, and we had saved up the money for that trip (it was actually to Sedona), so we paid cash for everything.
That's what I mean - we spend about $6000 a year on vacations. That's $180,000 in 30 years. Divided by our five kids, that's $36,000 "out of their pockets" each. (That's not adjusted for market fluctuations of course, just simplifying it for simplicity's sake). Personally I prefer to enjoy our vacations together every year for 30 years rather than give that money to our kids one day. They'll get an inheritance. And we'll get our travel in too.
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