So we took the plunge: the Lathrop household is now in possession of a Costco membership. The plan is to give it the grand experiment and see if we actually use it and save enough to make it worthwhile.

Frankly, the paperwork and actual application process was easy. Though our membership cards have a picture of each of us on the back. Why? I have no idea…Maybe to try to rival our driver’s license as a card in the wallet with a bad picture.

But then we wandered through the store and did some shopping.

Light bulbs. Some really nice looking strawberries. A package of 30 rolls of toilet paper (yes, I said 30. I expect that we won’t need to buy any more until May). A 12 pack of Kleenex. Some snacks for lunches for the kids.

It’s daunting, in a way: I’d see something and have to figure out if it was really a bargain for the quantity we were getting. Like the can of 100 dishwasher tablets. That turned out to be a huge bargain. And for a later trip: allergy meds for Jenni for the year, for $30 less than what I can get them at Walgreens.

So on the way home, I loosely figured we’d notched about $20 in savings–just under halfway to the cost of the membership. Add in our next trip to get Jenni’s meds, and well, all of my hesitancy will be proven unnecessary in the span of just a few weeks instead of a month.

The sticky wicket, though, remains figuring out where to store 30 rolls of toiled paper.

See you tomorrow.