WHY-Wednesday: Why I love Costco.

One day, 

when the kids are out of the house 

and I get to go back to work just for the fun of it...

I'm gonna go work me at Costco!

I love that place!

I could go there every day and walk their aisles all day long.

Chit-chat with their workers, 

(ask them all sorts of why questions :p),

study all their merchandise,

eat me some $2 combo sliced pizza with a 50 cent drink,

and sample all their goodies.

I would look through all their books,

glance through all their new seasonal inventory,

and pretend I won't get fat if I ate one of their giant muffins.

I'm like a kid in a candy store.

I think it's what a teenage girl feels when she steps into the mall,

or a woman inside of Target.

It's that.much.fun :)

Aside from the fact that Costco is a great company in itself

(11 Reasons To Love Costco That Have Nothing To Do With Shopping),

I love the fact that--

* I run into about half the people I know every time I go.  Now, this would normally be a nightmare for the average person, but not me.  My high school friends can attest to the fact that during my teenage years, if I was to step into a public place with them, they would have to severely warn me:  "Lauren, if you see somebody you know, you do not need to chase them down to say hello"  (yes, chase).

* I love the fact that they carry the *best* of everything.  They don't carry six different ketchup brands, or one hundred different TVs.  They only carry products which have been proven to provide the best customer satisfaction.  If they carry something, you can trust it is the best of its kind.

*  Their customer service is outstanding.  I had a pair of pants I purchased about two years ago after having Emma.  I had lost all my baby weight, but then kept on loosing even more weight.  None of my clothes fit, so I quickly purchased a pair of their pants.  I didn't really like them (they were too short on me), but they did the job until my weight plateaued.  A few months ago, as I was going through my closet, I decided I wanted to get rid of those pats.  So get this-- two years after I purchased them, and with no receipt, they gave me a full refund (in cash) on these already-worn pants.

*  What do they do with everything that is returned?  They try to resell it if able, but most of the time they donate it.  All produce is donated to a farm that picks it up at the end of every day, and a lot of the clothes (like my pair of pants) is donated to charities (I know this because I asked them).

*  Their employees are incredibly kind.  And not the I-have-to-be-friendly-to-you-because-it's-part-of-my-job kind of friendly, but they truly are.  I guess that's what happens when a company treats their workers so well... they are happy!  Mr. Jesse is my "Picture Friend"-- "Heeeey, Picture Friend" we say to each other (he spent hours helping me get our Christmas cards done last year) :)

*  They print good-quality pictures, and will give you multiple copies of it (even if you just purchased one) if you are not satisfied first time around.  For example, when purchasing Baby Byron's passport pictures, the first four they printed had a small defect in the background (I didn't think it was that big of a deal).  So they printed another four pictures without the defect, free of charge.  I walked away with eight perfectly good (in my opinion) passport pictures.

*  Despite purchasing in bulk, my grocery budget remains the same or maybe slightly higher.  Why is this a good thing?  Well, for a little more money, I am getting higher quality food (not all their meat is organic, but all is grass-fed), plus, I always have a full pantry.  Before, when I used to do all my shopping at a regular grocery store, I would only buy enough for one week at a time.  So what happened when the week ended and I ended up using all my week's supplies before being able to go back to the grocery store?  We would go out to eat!  So now, even when I have used up all my weekly planned meals, I always have meat and pantry staples, which make it very easy to whip up a dinner meal in no time.  All this to say, because of their bulk sales, we now hardly every *need* to go out to eat.

*  Their food court!  Need I say more?  A very large, high-quality pizza is only $10.  Our entire family can happily eat out for under $6.  Byron and I have been known to go out there on dates (*shame* I know).  Sometimes, when the grandparents graciously give us a night off, we don't care where we go out to eat, as long as we get to go out to eat and have some alone time.  We'll go out for dinner at Costco, then out for coffee at Starbucks.

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There are many more reasons why I love Costco, but will leave it at this for now.

If you are thinking about joining, but still are unsure, just know that you can join, and if you are not completely satisfied with it, they will give you a full membership refund at any point before the year ends.

Also, if and when you join, consider having a member-friend (like me!) go with you.  If you are referred by a friend, you will EACH receive $10 in store credit.