Treasure Hunt

Shopping has never been one of my favorite things.  In fact it easily makes my top ten list of "Things I Hate But Must Do."  It's right up there with picking up dog poop. 

I have learned to limit trips to the grocery store to about three every two weeks.  I buy clothes maybe twice a year and will not need shoes for the rest of my life.  In this regard, Ralph Nader is a personal hero.  It is a little known fact that he once bought ten or twelve pairs of combat boots and has worn them everyday for years.  That's right - to press conferences, the opera and to testify before congress.  I am proud of the fact I have five pair of sturdy workboots, four pair of them still new in the box, stacked in the corner of my closet.  My feet will probably wear out long before my boots and I intend to bequeth the ones that are left after my passing to the next Consumer Crusader.  Hope he wears a size 9 1/2 D.  Most of the other stuff we need is purchased online and delivered to our front door.  It's our personal contribution to help make the planet green.  The UPS truck was going to come within a block of our door anyway so it may as well drop something here too.  Save the whales!  Or maybe that's the wrong slogan???  At my age I get them mixed up.

When I do need to visit a store I go with a list in hand.  I also try to anticipate my needs for the next two or three months and attempt to cram all my shopping for that period into the one horrible shopping day no matter how many different stores I have to enter to buy the stuff on my list.  I enjoy being in a good mood and nothing will take that mood from me faster than a trip down any aisle in any store so I keep these days to a minimum..  Have I mentioned I hate to shop?  There is, however, one brighty shinning exception to everything I just said.  That execption is COSTCO! 

What it is that makes Costco different is hard to define.  Maybe it's the wide aisles, or it might be the thrill of dodging the forklifts that travel those aisles.  It could be the fantastic snacks offered at every other corner or the mile high stacks of paper goods.  Certainly not having to choose from twenty-eight different brand names of the same product enters the equation.  All you really need is the best of whatever it is you're buying and I never have understood why there are so many different brands of, say, soy sauce in a regular grocery store. Is it a plot to make you pay more for less of something?  I always try to figure out if 18 ounces of something that sells for $3.14 is a better buy than 1.4 litres of the same thing at $4.32.  Ya know, it just makes a right brained guy wanna scream.

The conclusion I have reached as to why I personally enjoy Costco so much is that it is a treasure hunt!  If you get out of the grocery aisles and look at the other stuff it's amazing what you can find.  And if you come back tomorrow it might be gone, never to be replaced.  Someone else took it home.  Today was Costco day and we found a sofa/lounger/bed kinda thingy that will fit our new office.  We took our treasure home with us and boy are we happy pirates!