Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Costco Effect

Costco is cheaper than retail, for limited selection and wholesale quantities. I like cheap, I'm not that brand loyal, and I don't mind buying stuff in quantity, since I'll use it.

So when I found myself looking sadly at the not-my-brand gel deodorant at Costco, I had to laugh at myself. Not brand loyal? I guess it creeps up on me. I went to Target to buy a single-pack version of the same product to try out. At the same time, I figured I'd record the date I started using it to keep track of how long a singleton would last me. It works just as well as "my" brand, so when I noticed that I had about a fifth of the package left, I picked up the four-pack at Costco. And five-pack of Glide dental floss. Can't have too much dental floss, and I was down to using floss-picks from CVS.

When I got home, I remembered my date-first-used note, and checked on it. Three-and-a-half months ago. So I just bought over a year's worth of deodorant. As I stashed it and my new mega-pack of floss, I noticed the unopened mega-pack of floss already residing in my cupboard.

Damn. It must have been hidden by the 59 rolls of Costco toilet paper.

8 comments:

  1. How much was the Glide megapack? I am totally interested in buying it off of you (glide is way-super spendy at the regular grocery store).

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  2. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even check. I'd figure it out today.

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  3. LOL.

    To this day, as a married, working, independent adult, I am known to take a roll or two of toilet paper from my mom's storage room (not closet, room). I can't help myself when I walk in and see three or four bags of Kirkland brand toilet paper - that's gotta be over a hundred rolls. If there is ever a toilet-paper-maker strike and we have to start buying toilet paper on the black market, my mom is going to make a lot of money. :-)

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  4. journeygal: 3 or 4 of the megapacks of Kirkland tp? I might miss a pack of glide, but I definitely know if I have an unopened pack of toilet paper. I think I use about a mega-pack a year. Damn, now you've got me wondering about that.

    Tracking my TP usage would be ... just a little too anal.

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  5. journeygal, did your mom grow up in the Soviet Union? :P

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  6. Ahhh...not the Soviet Union, but she grew up with poor parents who lived through the depression. You know how old people that were children during the 1920s hang on to EVERYTHING? Well, my mom doesn't do that with anything except for toilet paper.

    I will have to ask her if she had a traumatic experience involving running out of toilet paper that led her to take such great precautions against running out.

    I hate running out of deodorant, and I'm a self-admitting deodorant-junkie (because once a day is just never enough, especially during the summer!), so I think having several four-packs is fine, John H. Keep one at work, one in your car, one in your gym bag, and one in the bathroom where it belongs. That way you are always safe, and the second four-pack backs up the first four.

    No like-mother-like-daughter jokes, ok? ;-)

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  7. journeygal: I'm pro-deodorant, but have never used multiple applications a day. And I'll sweat at the drop of a hat. I did switch to a micro-fiber "moisture-wicking" undershirt, similar to (or the same as) the athletic "base layer" that a hiker might wear. $10 at Walmart. Target has something similar for a few dollars more, and has a better selection for women.

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  8. you people are hysterical! FWIW, when my Dad married my Mom, his one request was that she always have TP stocked up. I wish, before he'd died, that I'd had the chance to ask him about his TP anxiety--I'm guessing he had something traumatic happen as a child.

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