First let me begin about how my obsession with Costco started, you probably read in one of my posts about how one week we had about $26 dollars in the bank, you probably thought I as exaggerating. Nope, feeding six people in today's economy, I'm not sure how anyone is surviving. It's literally survival of the fittest out there! My husband and I had plans that weekend to go out to dinner, and we literally had to put the kabash on the date night and have a "Come to Jesus" moment about where the hell the money was going.
We recently had combined our bank accounts, I know your probably reading this and thinking what?? Well, up until recently we had seperate banks and seperate bank accounts. We would literally split the bills in half, and I would send him money for the mortgage I and the bills. I was the one that wanted it like this. I didn't want someone micromanaging my money and looking over my shoulder and seeing where I was spending every last penny. My hair, my nails, those late night take outs at work. We'd go out to dinner with the four kids, and we would split the bill-each handing the waitress our debit card and would get the strangest reactions. I could only imagine what they were thinking…are these two really out on a date with four kids? Is this guy so cheap he’s making his girlfriend or wife pay for half the meal?
It got to the point though where it got to be really annoying, so we thought it would be just easier to combine our money into one account, and try to make life easier. It took a couple of months for us to get the hang of it, because my husband would forget to tell me about his bills that needed to come out, and here I'm thinking "Yahoo, I have some extra money to play around with!". With a little reality check and some patience, and remember I said early on in this blog that tequila and marriage counselor are the saving grace to a successful marriage...we are slowly getting getting the hang of it.
So back to the week when we realized that we like most American's were living the dream, As Anna Delvey would say, "We poor." So we sat down and went through our bank statements and realized in one month we spent $1600 at the grocery store and I'm not sure what we got: gummies, ice cream, bread, and milk. Absolutely nothing substantial. I was disgusted. Honestly, everytime we go to the store, it ends up being a damn fight anyways, because my husband insists on doing the self-check out and for the life of me I don't know why he tortures himself with that machine. He literally will have a fight with it, except it doesn't talk back, and when you have a five year old and three year old helping and putting their hands on the scale, what should take five minutes to check out is definately an easy 30 minutes with an employee stationed right next to us. They said to us one time that maybe we shouldn’t go through the self-checkout with the littles helping, that it’s primarily geared towards adults. Oh really? I thought. That’s why the 50 year has an entire hissy fit and argument with the machine EACH TIME HE USES IT. Absolutely, I’m sure it’s user error, but if you don’t put your groceries on the scale just right, the light comes on and your sales associate will be right with you. Awesome.
I know that we aren't the only ones feeling the pressures of the economy, I was there just the other day to pick up deli meat and milk and someone made the comment that they were already up to $80 dollars had only gotten six items. Absolutely, disgusting. My ah-ha moment was when we had checked out one day and only bought maybe four or five things and the bill was $75, I specifically had coupons, and a $10.00 credit and it still came to this. I was staring at the receipt, and told my husband, "Oh no, there is something definitely wrong here, no way...". So I marched over to the counter and told them I was new at the mobile app and I think there was a mistake, I said I only bought a few things, there's no way it cost this much, she looked at me like I was crazy and said "M'am this is what it costs, there's no mistake." Well I'll be damned, guess what?This family has got to figure something else out and quick!
So I did what every mom does and searched the internet (Tik Tok) lol, and searched ways to feed six on a budget, and wouldn't you know "Costco" pops up on my screen. So I search about the membership and what "deals" they have out there. My husband is a Veteran, so they do offer a discount for the military, which I'm learning there's a lot more out there, you just need to search. That's it I thought, we're going to be a Costco family, and were now buying in bulk my loves. Believe it or not, my kids were thrilled that we were going to be now going to Costco, probably because there'd be food in the house...haha actually I'm not real sure what their obsession was prior to us going, but they insisted on going the first time.
The weekend came and my mother joined the kids and I, we packed up the suburban and off we went! We walked in and OMG, we were like kids in Candy land! Never have I seen more crescent rolls in a package, or more chicken in bulk, and the rice was literally right off the field! My kids literally ate their way around the store. We spent 3.5 hours in the store, and we didn't get through half of it! I couldn't believe all of the food, and we were hungry, big mistake! However, we loaded up on our meats, including chicken, steak, salmon, turkey meat, and hamburger. The fruit there is really good, nice and fresh. The paper goods, you can't go wrong. I spent a pretty penny, but we're still eating the meats that I had bought a while ago. So tip number 123456 get the Costco membership and stop going to the damn Grocery store, and save yourself a pretty penny.
Now, apparently the $1.50 hot dogs are the gold mine at Costco, so much so that people are making videos about these hot dogs. We have tried to have one of them, but I'm telling you everything time we check out there is such a long line that at the food bar that I can't bear the fact to wait in line any longer. However, not only are the Hot dogs a gold mine, but apparently Costco is now selling 1 oz Gold Bars as well? Yes, it's true apparently the warehouse has sold 100-200 million dollars of the gold bars worth in one month. Apparently, the company sells the gold bars for roughly 2% above the price of gold, which at the present time is a little more than $2350 per bar for those interested in purchasing a bar or two. You know, I was just there today, and I'm not sure what aisle they were selling these gold bars on, because they are definately not advertising this, but you've heard it here from Budget Bougie Mama, that this may be our investment to retirement...Costco Gold Bars!
However, in the meantime, while were still shopping at Costco and searching the aisles for the Gold Bars, make sure to pick up your $4.99 rotisseri chicken, which is a large bird for the price, guess we should expect nothing less. Now the reason why I say grab one of these is because there is so much you can do with chicken, and it's a good source of protein when you get home, and then a quick dinner for later.
Today, I used my Airfryer I purchased on Amazon and shredded up the chicken over jasmine rice, avocado, Mexican cheese, and sour cream. I made a burrito, popped it in the air fryer at 375 for 5 minutes, and voila. Nice and cripsy. If you don't have an airfryer, you are definately missing out. This is the best investment that we have made for our family, although the Costco Gold Bars are creeping up there. haha But in all seriousness, the Airfryer, is quick, easy, and I literally use it every night. If I'm using my stove, then I can use the airfryer to pop my vegetables in it's amazing how crispy they will get. I'll leave the link for the Airfryer that we have...I can not say enough about it! Oh we've also cooked Salmon in it, french fries, pizza, baked potatoes, I mean you name it you can do it! Best invention ever! I'll leave the receipe for Dinner below, I hope I gave you some insight of what's the latest at Costco, and it's not just the hot dogs that are apparently Hot of the Shelf!! Muah!
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