April 14, 2005~~7:07 p.m.
Buying in Bulk
I realized recently that I can pretty much define my life in terms of what I buy in bulk and how often. Let me start at the beginning of my single life: the college years. When I was in college and shared apartments with several other roommates, I really didn�t have to think about purchasing much of the household items one uses to clean, cook, etc. because, well, let�s face it, I didn�t really do either of those things. Actually, that isn�t completely true. I did have to purchase laundry detergent, but since I only did laundry once a week, and only three loads at that, purchasing the store sized bottle of detergent was sufficient. A bottle that size could easily last me an entire school quarter. If I recall, any other cleaning supplies were split evenly between the roommates and weren�t used up fast enough to warrant buying them in bulk. Heck, I didn�t even bother with coupons, even though it was the poorest time in my existence. I was lucky to use my Safeway rewards card to get a bargain. When I moved to go to law school, I lived with two career women who were a little more economical about things and had a system of shopping at Costco for household items and splitting the cost. I really had no say in how the house operated as I was the newbie, so I just went along with it. It worked out well even though I had to make the switch from �All� to �Tide.� Somehow I managed to come through that rough time relatively unscathed. Then I moved in with Maria. We were too poor to frequent Costco. Even though buying in bulk is economical, it�s still a shopping trip wherein you will inevitably spent $100 in one short hour. Neither of us ever had $100 just waiting to be spent, I can assure you. It is important to note here, that when I moved from San Jose to Sacramento, I took with me a few things from the house I shared with my career-women roommates. One of these things was a half-used bottle (bulk sized) of Dawn dishwashing liquid. Then I moved into my own apartment. Here, I actually started to go to Costco on a semi-regular basis. By semi-regular, I mean I went about once every two months for things for my apartment like laundry detergent, and that was mostly because I had space for the monster detergent bottle in my laundry room. Costco also came in handy when I was sending Omar care packages of candy and snacks in Iraq. But never did I have to buy dishwashing liquid. Why? Because I still hadn�t used up my trusty bottle of blue Dawn. That�s right folks. You might assume it was because I was dirty and unkempt, but most who know me know that is not nearly the case. The fact is, that I hardly cooked and when I did, there weren�t enough dishes to warrant doing them by hand every day. It was fine to let a few pans collect in the sink for a couple of days before I had to do the dishes. And then, I got married and had a baby. Do you know what happens when you get married and have a baby? Well, I�ll tell you. For one thing, you cook a lot more, especially if you are home all day with not much else to do. For another, your baby, it turns out, starts to accumulate things like sippy cups and toddler spoons which you simply cannot ignore for days on end. The bottle of blue Dawn that I had moved to three different apartments and had lasted me over two years was used up in only a few weeks. I have even gone through several bottles of bulk dishwashing liquid since! Not only that, but now, I buy four gallons of milk every two weeks, loaves upon loaves of bread, jars of peanut butter by the crate and don�t even get me started on the diapers. Who would have thought that those enormous blocks of cheese would be a staple in my Costco cart? One look at my daughter and you would know why. I seriously underestimated my husband�s appetite even up until a few weeks ago. It was almost as if I was in denial about how much meat he actually inhales from day to day. In fact, Costco is now my main source for grocery shopping. Is it any wonder I rarely eat tofu or soy milk anymore? There is no room in my refrigerator for soy milk next to the 4 gallons of regular milk I already have. Whereas before, I would do dishes by hand maybe twice a week, now it is not unusual to do them twice a day. There is much to be learned, however, about buying in bulk. For most things that one uses daily, it is a good, economical thing to do. But it is also easy to get suckered into buying the mega sized bottle of maple syrup because heck, you�re just sick of having to remember it at Safeway every so often. It turns out that that gargantuan box of Bisquick that I bought to go with the gallon of maple syrup wasn�t really necessary and only proved to take up valuable space in my pantry. How many pancakes did I think we would consume for heaven�s sake? I don�t even really like homemade pancakes. They are much better in almost any restaurant (especially Pancake Circus hoo-rah!) than when you make them at home. If I was smart, I would�ve purchased two loaves of French bread for French toast instead. That�s what I really prefer with my syrup. I think in another couple batches of pancakes, we will finally use up the Bisquick and NEVER AGAIN I say! I also have been lamenting the fact that I bought a gallon of Pine-Sol. Really. I mop often, but not THAT often. What was I thinking? A GALLON of Pine-Sol? Not only will it take me thirteen years to use it up, but I am bound to accidentally spill a large amount of it one of these days and can you imagine the hell that will be to clean up? Oh but I saved three dollars by getting the large size. Of course, the laundry loads of my life have increased significantly. Back in my heyday, a huge container of laundry detergent would last me MONTHS. Now, I am lucky if it lasts ONE month. I think it was a sad commentary to note that Costco finally caught on and is now selling their store brand of �All Free and Clear.� Now I can get it for $2 cheaper than before! Praise the Lord! What does this mean, my friends? Is it a bad thing that I am excited to discover that I don�t hate the smell of the generic fabric softener after all? Is it bad when I am thrilled to find Lysol wipes on sale? These questions will remain unanswered as I plod along through the wonders of motherhood, I am nearly certain. And with each new step I take, I will keep my trusty Costco card safely in my back pocket. ~~~~~
Confidential to Bubblefactory: I see you. Do you have no shame? Over a year later and still hoping I�ll make some unsavory comment you can be the first to leak? Oh but I have learned my lesson. You can stop monitoring now. Sigh.
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