We caved

We debated and debated. Visited and tried it out. Almost talked ourselves into it, then talked ourselves out.

But in the end, our desire for supposed great deals, fun shopping trips and cool things we wouldn't normally buy won out.

And just one week after we made a promise to live more frugally. Ohh, what happened?

Well, Costco happened.

We are now the proud owners of Costco Wholesale Executive Member cards.Not just GoldStar members or business members, but Executive Members.

It all started when we moved to St. Charles and drive past the pretty Costco building every day on our way to work. Then Kody's parents came home and we took a splurge shopping trip with their membership. What topped it off, though, was the convincing lady that stopped by Kody's vet clinic last week offering what was obviously a deal we could not pass up. So, we caved.

So, while our executive membership may have cost a bit more, Kody likes to remind me that we get 2% back on almost all Costco purchases. He tells me this means at the end of the year we'll get $50 back, whether we spend that amount of money at Costco or not. Additionally, we got a $20 gift card to Costco, a coupon booklet, 50 free 4x6 photos and a super-duper Costco cookbook, which actually has quite a few good recipes. (If all of you "regular" members got all of those things with your cheap "regular" membership, please just don't tell me.)

Well, we were quite excited about our new membership, so we took a trip to the store last Wednesday to try it out. Here's a few of the things that we came home with:

Amazing pita chips that I could eat all day long. We already threw away the box, so I'm not sure the name of them. Hope we'll be able to find them again!

Beef steak strips and teriyaki chicken for some quick meals after work when we don't really want to cook. Necessary? Definitely not. Handy and really nice? Definitely yes. Frugal? Ehhh, I won't answer that.

Of course, a six pound bag of gummy bears. Which will probably only last until the end of this weekend.
And lastly, 32 cans of Coca-Cola goodness.

We also bought some steaks which will probably still be around next summer seeing as snow has hit the Midwest a little early this year. Goodbye grilling, hello hot tub and fires in the fireplace.

Also with the membership, we got a coupon booklet, which I love! So we have our eyes on a few things for next month. Yes, our next trip will probably have to be next month. Our $200/month grocery budget can't handle weekly $75 Costco trips for food we don't need. :-) We're hoping for some French onion soup and potstickers, which Kody loves, and Olay moisturizer and Brita filters, which I can't seem to find good deals on anywhere. And yes, all of those items come with coupons!

Will we probably spend more money than we should? Yes. Will we save much money? I say probably not. Will we have a lot of fun buying really fun things? Definitely.