Well seeing as we have not been to Costco the past month or two, we decided we NEEDED to do another run, specifically to get diapers for our older son. Costco had a coupon this month for $5 off of a box of Kirkland diapers, and we had heard good things about them, so they were calling for us to return. Of course, it was all the new items that helped escalate to probably our largest bill there ever.

To begin with, we were there for the diapers, so let’s look at the breakdown. Our oldest son is currently in a size 5 diaper, and still several months away from when he will be ready to start potty training. The Kirkland size 5 diapers come in a box of 168. Normal price of the case is $37.99. With the coupon, they worked out to $32.99, or less than $0.20/diaper. For comparison sake, Target’s Up & Up brand of diapers is $20.99 for the club pack, which contains 108 size 5 diapers, which works out to just over $0.19/diaper. The Target comparison also does not include the occasional in-store coupon, which would sweeten the deal more. However, for the convenience of being able to get larger quantities of diapers, I am not going to complain about saving a fraction of a cent. In addition, we want to know if we like them or not for our newborn.

We also wanted to pick up the Kirkland baby wipes since they were also on coupon this month. Regular price was $18.99 minus $4.00 coupon, for a box of 900 wipes. When it comes to wipes, I am not going to even bother trying to compare to other brands because 1) we love the Kirkland brand wipes because they are moister than other brands, and 2) the price is usually comparable, even without the coupon because you get so many.

As we made our way through the store, we stocked up on our staples like Mott’s Applesauce, Ritz Crackers, and Kirkland dog food. I am on a trial run right now of the Kirkland premium dog food because I got tired of paying the super high prices for Nutro brand food. Ever since I got my Pug dog 7 years ago this past week, I have fed her Nutro. I was always happy paying a premium for better dog food without any fillers or animal by-products. However, over the years, I constantly had to keep switching flavors dependent on what was the better deal. It played havoc on both our dogs systems for some reason, even if I slowly broke them into the new flavor. It is amazing to me dog food manufacturers have not figured out how to change flavors of the dog food without messing up the dog’s digestive track. On top of the digestive issue, the price of Nutro products has continued to escalate every year; Nutro has gotten really stingy with handing out coupons to their loyal customers; and third I have heard stories about the declining quality of the product since Mars took them over several years ago. So I researched the Kirkland brand of dog food, and it met all of my initial ingredient scrutiny. On top of it, the price is GREAT! Nutro dog food routinely cost me anywhere from $35-50 dependent on whether I had Nutro and pet store coupons. Kirkland dog food cost $23.99 for the Mature dog formula, which is obviously a substantial savings. The true test has been how well our dogs have taken to the new food. So far for the past month or two they have done relatively well. I am hoping they are getting the same level of premium nutrition, but I guess there is no real way to prove that other than watching their weight, health, and energy level. I digress.

Other items that we just had to have this trip included Welch’s White Grape Cherry juice, Famous Amos ribs, pineapple bread (of course we had to buy two because that is how they are priced), an exotic assortment of dried mushrooms, Irish butter, and rice krispie treats (they were on coupon, and I just could not help myself). The majority of the items we purchased were because of coupons, which is my new store mantra when it comes to Costco. However, they inevitably get us every time by all their other glorious products, including new items all the time. If it was not for our chest freezer already being full, we would have done a lot more damage. As it is, we spent over $340, we think our most expensive trip ever. Ultimately though what escalated our bill was all the baby diapers, formula, and wipes, but I am going to think in my head that it was because my wife purchased a new outfit for our newborn.

On a related note, I am deeply intrigued by the show Extreme Couponing. My wife DVRed it the other day and we watched it this past weekend. On one hand, I was encouraged that people could get their food bill from $1,000 down to under $50 using coupons. However, at the same time, I consider those people hoarders. They would purchase 150 boxes of pasta or 60 bottles of hand soap just because they could get it free after coupon. They had entire rooms dedicated to their finds. I love using coupons and getting a great bargain as much as the next guy, but this really was extreme, and I realized maybe I do not want to fall into that category of “extreme.” The people on Extreme Couponing will never use all of their products in a reasonable amount of time when they continue to keep stacking new products on top of it. I started thinking if they got it for free or really cheap, it would be more beneficial to donate it to charity and take the write-off. What they buy has a shelf life. We enjoy stocking our shelves, but what we have enjoyed doing even more is using up everything and starting from scratch again. A deal is only a deal when 1) you can financially handle it and pay it off each month, and 2) if you need it and are going to use it all in a reasonable amount of time.