audreyh1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I was looking through our YTD expenses lately, and I noticed something interesting - our dining out budget had dropped quite a bit. We are eating out only about half as often compared to last year.
Now normally, when we don't eat out much, our grocery bill increases noticeably, but that hadn't happened either. In fact, it dropped slightly.
I realized that this was a "Costco Effect". Costco opened in Pharr TX in March of 2012. We had friends who were diehard Costco fans, so it didn't take long for us to "get with the program". It turns out, that because Costco sells larger quantities of the high-quality groceries (which means the prices are so attractive), we were staying home to eat up the "more food" we were buying. Yet because of the discounts, our grocery bill still was slightly lower. We were going to our regular grocery store half as often and not buying as much. We seem to be spending about $100 less a month on average on groceries.
DH and I are serious foodies. Some might even call us food snobs (fair enough). We've really been delighted at high quality of the produce, fruit, greens, seafood, meat etc., available and yet many a true bargain. It's hard to find a one pound box of organic salad greens for $3.99 most places. The fruit has been amazing.
We don't have a stringent food budget. We enjoy good food and wine, and so this is an area we are allowed to "splurge" for quality of life reasons . So, I have been quite surprised that our expenses have dropped so much. That is our personal "Costco Effect".
Now normally, when we don't eat out much, our grocery bill increases noticeably, but that hadn't happened either. In fact, it dropped slightly.
I realized that this was a "Costco Effect". Costco opened in Pharr TX in March of 2012. We had friends who were diehard Costco fans, so it didn't take long for us to "get with the program". It turns out, that because Costco sells larger quantities of the high-quality groceries (which means the prices are so attractive), we were staying home to eat up the "more food" we were buying. Yet because of the discounts, our grocery bill still was slightly lower. We were going to our regular grocery store half as often and not buying as much. We seem to be spending about $100 less a month on average on groceries.
DH and I are serious foodies. Some might even call us food snobs (fair enough). We've really been delighted at high quality of the produce, fruit, greens, seafood, meat etc., available and yet many a true bargain. It's hard to find a one pound box of organic salad greens for $3.99 most places. The fruit has been amazing.
We don't have a stringent food budget. We enjoy good food and wine, and so this is an area we are allowed to "splurge" for quality of life reasons . So, I have been quite surprised that our expenses have dropped so much. That is our personal "Costco Effect".