Never eat anything you can't lift.

The title of this piece is a quote from Miss Piggy of the Muppets. It came to mind after I made a trip to Costco this past weekend with my wife and daughter. Going through the food section, I continue to be amazed by the size of many of the items that are for sale. Six pounds of ground beef, three pounds of coffee, a gallon of salsa, two hundred garbage bags, seventy-two batteries, thirty dinner rolls in a bag, two pounds of trail mix, five pounds of hot dogs, and the list goes on. I was thinking that if I lived alone, a lot of this stuff would go bad before I finished it. For large families or smaller families with a lot of storage space, it can be economical to buy in bulk, but I also think that we often end up buying much more than we need.
Before I go shopping, I make a list of the things I need so I make sure I don't forget anything. Making a list before you go to Costco is a futile gesture, though, especially if you are accompanied by my wife and daughter. My daughter is home from college for a week and will be returning to Pennsylvania this weekend to do a 3-month internship, living in a rented cottage. As my wife and daughter went through the aisles, they amazingly found so many items that "would be nice to have at the cottage". Soon my original list of 12 items grew to 40+, and the cart was overflowing. While we defintely got some useful items, some of it was definitely "Impulse Shopping". I don't have to file for bankruptcy, but I definitely spent more than I intended. As I told the clerk at the checkout counter, coming in here was like being offered crack. It's a good thing I only go there 2 or 3 times/year.
I love my wife and daughter, and don't begrudge them for the things they picked out, but I'm also sure we would not have bought nearly as much if we had shopped anywhere else. Costco has a great business plan, though, with free samples everywhere, lots of fresh products, and a huge variety. They definitely know how to weaken ones' defenses, but I have no one but myself to blame.
Fortunately, it will be a long time before there will be any need to go back, so I have plenty of time to prepare myself and, when I walk through the door, to remember Miss Piggy's sage advice.