When it comes to Christmas and Birthday gifts we’ve received some strange ones over the years. We still laugh at the years when gardening tools and wheelbarrows were my favourites followed by gift vouchers to the big green shed (B’unnings Australia’s largest hardware and gardening chain) so as one of the givers politely said ‘I could buy my own s….’ This was after I mentioned if anyone was passing stables I wouldn’t mind a trailer load of manure as a gift.
The kids have banded together and gifted stage show tickets and overnight hotel accomodation as well as Best Restaurant vouchers and Gold Class cinema tickets which have all been very well received. A couple of years ago i opened a package that had a IOU in with along the words – ‘when the time is right’. It meant that we’d be given a lot of Euros to use on our Mediterranean holiday – to be purchased and gifted when the exchange rate was right 🙂
Some theatre tickets for the Neil Diamond concert here in Melbourne this coming October (birthday treat for both of us) got a big tick of approval last Christmas as did a certificate for Afternoon Tea and a tour of the garden out at Coombe Cottage near Coldstream. Coombe Cottage used to be the home of Dame Nelly Melba and the family have just opened the gardens to the public.
Then there was this ‘sensible but fun’ gift was given to us recently from one family:
I’m no stranger to frequenting cash and carry type warehouses and buying in bulk but from what I’d read and been told about shopping at this brand new chain that had just opened a few warehouses here in Australia was….this is a different game altogether…… Starting with the trolley. A giant sized trolley that I could barely see over let along drive steer. (Quick photo from the web of someone else whose face is blurred but you get the picture.)
First of all we had to have our photo taken – it is on our membership card which is flashed shown when you walk into the barn and handed over when you go to pay. That was an unknown so there was a lot of hair fluffing going on while The Golfer had his taken. Once that was done we were off and running – well we couldn’t actually run because I was lagging behind trying to drive the chariot in a straight line 🙂
Did we need an enormous curved tv – no – thats a shame because there seemed to be truck loads of them there all at what seemed like rock bottom prices. Good if you have the room because they are supersize ones – as is just about everything we saw. This first visit was more of a look see – I have to say I was a bit dissapointed as things (food products) didn’t seem that much (if at all ) cheaper than my usual place. We did end up using the trolley but not filled to the brim like some I saw – one person even had two on the go with a rather bedraggled looking ‘husband/partner’ pushing the other with two children penned inside it!
I think it’s a bit like when Aldi opened and there was all that hype and shoppers having to get used to different brands because I saw an awful lot of imported goods on the pallets. I noticed the customers I saw were mainly what I would call middle aged to younger people, lots of families and not many older shoppers. In fact in I began to feel like Granny Grey, certainly not out of my depth but a bit out of touch.
There were trolleys loaded with so much food and stuff that even tho’ (as I said earlier) I’ve always bought bulk/ tried to save on cost whenever I could especially as our family grew older and wanted to eat us out of house and home…..
…..I began to wonder what on earth was I doing there contemplating buying up this big when there was only the two of us now?? The other shoppers certainly seemed to be wanting it all and us wanting/needing nothing.
Anyway there was a lot of note taking going on so I can do a bit of price/weight comparison next time I’m in my local and even if we don’t take full advantage there is always someone else I know who will.
And another thing I thought of was even if we don’t actually buy a lot during the year we could always pop in and use the wharehouse as a keep fit centre – I’m sure it’s big enough to get in a couple of kms just walking round and round he displays LOL
As we were leaving The Golfer asked me if I’d enjoyed the Co’stco experience.
My answer: Well it was fun…..I think 🙂
Still Waters 
We have a Costco in Moncton where our RV is for the summer. I love looking around but my husband doesn’t want a membership because we don’t use processed food and things we use are a good buy when on sale. At our age we have everything we need and people like gift cards for gifts because today everyone likes their own taste but it is a good place if your looking for wedding gifts or have lots of money to shop. I am rather frugal. Have to be. People with large families I think may benefit more but I have found it is hard to get out of there without spending at least $100.00 for just detergent, necessities etc. My experience only. Your right you get a good workout walking. Love their different books! Here it costs $55.00 a years membership.
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I don’t know what the cost here is Germaine because we were gifted it. The Golfer mentioned a price being on the desk when we ‘booked in’ but I was too busy with other things to take much notice. Will investigate books next time we go
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Warehouse shopping is a big thing in the US. I personally do not shop their because I found we were buying things we really did not need. Now that we are retired and living in our RV, we certainly do not need the giant extra large family size package of butt wipes. First of all there are only two of us, secondly, we would need a tag along storage trailer to carry the excess.
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Giant size wasn’t on my shopping list either Jerry but it was interesting to see who was interested. I imagine storage would be a problem with living in an RV – have seen double decker trailers containing a car and boat over here so whats wrong with towing a little storage shed as well lol
Of course you could always use under the bed – oh maybe not, that’s where Carol has all her fabric 🙂
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We shop at Costco twice a month and love it. For one thing, I like buying a 2 lb bag of large frozen shrimp, raw and peeled. There’s frozen salmon, also. These two items are more expensive at a retail store.
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I noticed Salmon there as well – that’s something I will investigate next time. So much wasn’t much cheaper than our usual supermarket except it came in larger packets
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In the UK we don’t really have warehouse shopping so much,we have discount stores which I do love. I love getting gift cards for store I like and I treat myself to something I have on my wish list. Dawn x
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I did visit a really large supermarket with The Golfer’s sister last time we were over Dawn and that seemed to be huge. Much larger than any of ours. Yes she is into the discount shops as well – she does mentions going ‘here’ for that and ‘here’ for something else.
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I don’t think it would be a place for me to shop, even though I don’t mind Aldi. Do let us know how the price comparison goes.
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Not something you’d buy everyday Andrew but Milo definitely worked out cheaper per 100grms than even when on special at S/way or Coles.
Will do more checking and recording next time we are there
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A Costco has (relatively) recently opened here. And interestingly one of its biggest impacts has been driving the price of petrol down. Significantly.
I have almost total sales resistance (nurseries and book shops excepted) so probably won’t be signing up. Himself might.
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I did read somewhere they sell petrol as well – haven’t heard of any service stations in our area yet. I wouldn’t be bothered joining if we had to pay EC – you know what they say about ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’ well I’m not looking lol
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Interesting to hear about Cosco. Even Woollies and Coles trolleys are hard to handle, I think you may need to go to the gym first to develop the muscles for that huge, monster of a trolley, especially when it is full. Definitely not for me though. I prefer to buy small and fresh, and my storage is very minimal. But I can see it would maybe be good for large families. I think the dairy owners buy in there, then add their mark-up to sell back to their customers
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They did have a fresh fruit and veg dept PP – didn’t look there tho. The egg fridge was enormous and seemed to be trays only. Seems their meat is good so maybe just maybe I’ll look at that properly next time.
I don’t have a storage problem – more a ‘will it all get consumed within use by time’ or will it end up not being a bargain at all.
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Oh yes the dreaded use by date!!!
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I love Costco, it is very popular here in the Toronto area of Canada where I live.
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Mr FF is a huge Costco fan, a shop he actually likes. When we lived in the country it was great to stock up on toilet rolls, washing powder etc but now we just don’t have the storage and can easily walk out for provisions. I’m sure you will get to like Costco, in the UK certainly the stock is good quality and generally well priced especially when they have offers. We also used to get lots of tasting samples, you could lunch in Costco for free.
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I have a little list of things I always buy at Costco: raisins and nuts (yes we buy them by the kilo), coffee, olive oil, rice, and soap!
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I’m with you on Costco. We used it years ago(one near us here in the heart of the city), but these days I look for smaller packages. Every now and then David brings home a ‘super pack’ of chicken or something and I divide it up and freeze it in our very small freezer.
Time for thinking about ‘small’ in our world.
PS are your kids crying? I looked at them and thought at least three were unhappy. My sister always began crying when Dad got his camera out. Especially if he posed us before a scary stature, as was his wont.
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Hi Cathy, you’ve had some good thinking behind the gifts you received.
I liked reading about your costco experience. Haven’t been there ourselves… but, yes, as you say, it’d be great for families with lots of mouths to feed.
Had a chuckle at the size of the trolleys and your comment about it being like a gym.
Anyway, something different and, with the membership paid for, all you have to do is roll up. Cheers now :D)
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I love Costco. I get the best most affordable wine of anywhere 🙂
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