Why I Love Costco

I found a new exciting product at Costco today that I just have to share...

About a year ago I learned that sulfates (SLS), which are bad, are present in all of our soapy products, i.e. hand soap, shampoo, body soap, body wash, laundry detergent, dishwashing soaps, etc.

So I decided to try SLS free shampoo. It was hard to find this item at general shopping stores. I believe they sell it for a pretty penny at Amazon, health food stores, etc. But, L'Oreal came out with SLS free that can be bought anywhere. It was pricey but worth a try. 

I have a very long dark hair and had to wash my hair daily to every other day. Head and Shoulder was the only shampoo that didn't irritate me. So, I had reservation switching products but I took a risk anyway. And, I'm glad that I did. I find that the SLS free shampoo is very gentle and keeps the moisture/oil in my hair. After I shampoo I treat my hair (not the scalp) with argan oil and let dry. 

And, I find that I don't have to shampoo as often. My hair no longer smells so fast or have that yucky oily residue. In fact, I don't remember having a yucky oily residue since I used the SLS free shampoo even with the argan oil treatment. On average, I shampoo about every 3 days now. I have gone about 4 days without washing my hair. And, the less I shampoo the less I would strip away the moisture from my hair.

I have not gone for a hair cut or trim in about a year. I treat my hair with curling iron/hair straightener almost every day and i still have not seen breakage/damage in my hair. In fact, I received compliments of how great my hair looks because of its shine and smoothness.

So with these findings, I became obsessed with SLS-free stuff that I decided to switch my hand soaps to SLS-free also. I love it because I don't have to use hand lotion as often. In fact, when I wash my hands outside of home I find that the hand soaps are too abrasive for me.

The only problem is that SLS-free stuff are so got-damn expensive and harder to find. A year ago i turned to Costco but was disappointed to find that their shampoo had SLS in it. And, tonight I just happened to look for the Kirkland shampoo again and pleasantly surprised that they now sell SLS and paraben free shampoo. It stated that their it is made with 100% natural ingredients and it only costs $10 for a 33.8 oz!! I used to pay this much for a 6 oz bottle. And, it smells soooo nice.

I'm so excited that I just wanted to tell the world about it. And, tomorrow morning I get to try the shampoo to find if it is as good as it smells and looks. 

I haven't updated my blog not because I was sick, too busy or lazy.

I have absolutely nothing going on in my life.  This is good. This is how I would like my life to be - a life with no drama.  I just want to live everyday life happy and positive.  And I would hope tomorrow will be just as same as today.  Life is good.  Anyway, I didn't have much to talk about.  That was all.

I plan to go to Costco next week.

Shopping wise? I cannot think of anything else to buy.  I would like to buy a lot of stuff, but they are all luxury items, and I don't have much money.

I still practice guitar.  I love my new guitar. It's been almost 1 year, and it's been a dream.  I still cannot believe I own a real Les Paul, not a fake one.

I am not a good player.  I am very bad, but it's a lot of fun practicing.  Sometimes when I play, I try to dance like a rock star? When I do that, I really mess up my play.  So, I have to sit tight and concentrate.

NBA season started.
I missed the last episode of "Desperate Housewives" - :(
I wonder what happened to Susan. 

I've been listening to Christmas music a lot.

I still eat very good.  I eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day (Mon - Fri).  I don't eat red meat during the weekdays.

Now I weight myself at 156lb in the morning. (Remember? I used to be 164lb last year).  I stopped running, but I will start running again.  I still can do 10 chin-ups easy.

We have a new employee at work.  This young dude is so incredibly handsome.  He looks like a Calvin Klein model.  I am not kidding.  He just came from Ukraine, so he even has this shy and humble personality with accent.  Girls will go crazy on him (and some guys).

I am not the cutest guy at work anymore.

Anyway...  really, not much going on.  But it's good.

I enjoy my coffee every morning.  I go to sleep with smile every night.  I love my bed. 

24 hours a day, my life is being pampered by (semi) luxury items, made it possible by Costco.  For that I am truly Thankful to Costco.  I cannot afford a lot of items if there was no Costco.  Or I'll have to look everywhere for special discount.  I don't have time for that.

Anyway, I'm here.  Nothing's going on... 

I'll keep in touch.

God bless everyone.  Please take care. 

Hello there!  I just got back from Costco.  Unfortunately my car broke down in the parking lot, but that is another story.  

Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Alan, and I am from Seattle.  The main two Costcos I shop at are the 4th Ave store (which is the original Costco, let me remind you!) and the Issaquah store.  I go about 3-4 times a month, for both business and pleasure.

I buy most everything at Costco... food, electronics, clothes, household items, etc.  I am single and in my 20's, so not really too much bulk stuff, I like Costco more for the deals on everyday items.  

So back to today.  I noticed that the air conditioner I bought for my condo is now on sale.  I purchased the unit a little less than a month ago for $50 more.  I was not going to bring the unit in, so I brought the receipt in.  Fortunately for me, the Returns man was most helpful; he checked my receipt and gave me $50 cash on the spot.  Love Costco!

Of course I immediately spent the $50 and then some the very same day... getting a couple of Wii games (I just bought the Wii at Costco on Monday:), as well as coupon items Dove soap, toilet paper, San Pellegrino Limonata (which by the way, I take credit for Costco stocking as I wrote them a letter about the need to carry it... they listened!) and a copy of Toy Story on BluRay ($8.50 and comes with a free ticket to Toy Story 3!).  

I'll try to remember to post photos in the future.  Glad to be blogging here.  I am a true Costco fan.   

When in doubt, buy Costco.

Check this out.  I bought 2.25lb Jarlsberg cheese at Costco.  After$2.50 coupon, the final price was $7.60

Then I went to xxxx supermarket and found the exact same cheese.  It was $7.53 for 0.58lb.

Do you see the power of Costco?  With same amount of money, I got 4 times more cheese.

2.25lb of cheese comes out to be $29.23 at the Supermarket.  But I only paid $7.60 at Costco.  This is ridiculous (in a good way).

Things like this remind me why I love Costco.
It's good to have Costco in my team.

Unit price $4.49/lb at Costco

Unit Price $12.99/lb at a Supermarket

When it doubt, buy it. Costco will not over-charge you.

Case in study: Food Wrap by Kirkland Signature - $8.99 (double pack)

At first glance, you might think $9 for 2 rolls of food wraps is not much of a bargain. But take a look at this.

If you are lucky, you can buy a roll of food wrap for $.99 (from a 99 Cents only store). This roll contains a 100 SQ. FT. of inferior quality plastic wrap.

With Kirkland Signature's Food Wrap (double pack), you get 1500 SQ. FT of high quality plastic wrap. That's 166 SQ. FT per a Dollar.

So, with same amount of money, you get 66% more of high quality product.

But, that's not all
Think about helping environment.
In order to get 1500 SQ. FT. of plastic wrap, you need to buy 15 of $.99 rolls. With Costco's double pack, you are saving raw material to package 13 rolls.

Everyone wins with Costco.

So, when in doubt? Buy it.

Happy shopping.

** One problem with Costco's plastic wrap is that it will take extremely long time for me to finish up 2 rolls of these. It took me 2 years to finish 100 SQ. FT. roll. So, mathematically, it will take me 30 years to finish these up. I will be in my 70's when I'm done with these. My plastic wrap can out live me. Haha..

I guess some people use a lot of plastic wrap. I don't. I always try to use containers with tops instead of putting a wrap over the food. I try not to use plastic wrap as much as possible. They cost money.

* Today's Costco shopping: 25th time this year, 3rd time this month 

I spent over 1 hour at Costco today.  I am an indecisive person.  When I have unexpected products in front of me, I need to spend plenty of time making decision. 

Food-wise, I bought same old stuff, except for the cheese and seasoning salt. I've been doing very good with money and diet.  So, I'm going to celebrate by cutting cheese.

I spent $196.48 today ($38.78 gas, $79.82 clothes, $77.88 food). 

How can I resist Costco?

5 Lounge shirts were under $5 each.  I had to fight my urge not to buy 10 of them.  I wear Kirkland's white undershirts when I go to sleep.  I thought it was time I graduate from them.  If I like these shirts, I should buy 5 more.  These are extremely cheap. They are very light and soft.  They feel very pleasing to my skin.  A lot of time, I find my undershirts too thick and warm.  But I hate to take them off and walk around topless.  These shirts fill the gap perfectly.

Adidas' sport shirt was $14.99.  I guess I could have spent same amount of money and bought 2 shirts of lesser quality.  But look at that shirt.  It's adorable. I love this shirt.  I've been doing very good with my workout schedule.  I lost 4 pounds since I started to run 3 months ago.

A pair of vacation shorts was $19.99.  I could have saved a few bucks by buying cheaper shorts from Target.  But these are Calvin Klein with a lot better quality.  It's definitely worth of paying a few extra bucks.

The yellow shirt goes with the vacation shorts - it's for the vacation. :)

Costco has good stuff.
Without Costco, I would buy cheaper quality clothes from elsewhere.  I don't mind buying cheaper quality clothes, but...

All in all, I spent almost same amount of money I would have spent at discount stores.  But I walked away with much better products.

This is a perfect example of "elevating my life-style with same amount of money"

I love Costco.

New Costco coupon book is out.
It's valid from January 5 - Jan 25, 2009.

But, there is a twist. 

This coupon book is recycle friendly.  It was printed on non-glossy paper.  Papers are not coated with plastic like any other fancy coupons.

This proves my point yet again.

Costco is saving money by using cheaper paper.  At the same time, these papers are recycle friendly.

Everybody wins - Costco is setting standard yet again.

Gas price is sky-rocketing as we all know. 

Sometimes we see some gas stations promoting $1.99 gas or free gas.  Then there are always people waiting hours for a tank of cheap gas.  Some people even sleep over-night on the line for free gas.  It's all good and cute if you have fun staying up all night.

But, let's really think about it. 

You have a full time job and you make x amount of money.  Let's say somebody offers you an opportunity to make some extra cash after work.  Your job is to sleep outside in your car in order to get a tank of cheap gas.  In return you will get paid $50.00.

Personally, I will not take that job.  Because the amount of money doesn't justify my work.  I don't want to disrupt my everyday life for $50.00.  Also I don't want to effect my job performance next day. 

Of course, some people may find $50.00 a lot of money.

This philosophy applies to Costco.

Some people go to 2-3 supermarkets in one day to save money.  Some people clip coupons and wait for the right time to receive double coupon discount.  Some people wait months for certain items to go on sale.

If you dedicate your life for saving extra money over Costco's price, you will save some money.  But, that bargain hunting process will consume your life. To me, that efforts is not justifiable. 

Costco allows me to free my personal time so I can focus my energy on important things.  To me, that's worth of a lot of money.