economy — Dallineation

We Finally Got a Costco Membership

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 16:48:38 +0000

I think we had a discounted membership through work when my wife and I were first married (over two decades ago) but we rarely, if ever used it and let it lapse. But last Saturday we got a Costco membership. The primary reason? Protein powder.

When our town finally got a Costco warehouse a few years ago, everyone went nuts. We didn't understand the hype – we already had a Sam's Club, after all.

We have never seriously considered a Costco or Sam's Club membership for various reasons. Lack of storage space, small family, etc. But I am trying to make some changes to my health and diet, and part of those changes calls for consuming quite a bit of whey protein powder.

The brand of protein powder I use – “Levels” – was recommended by relatives who have had to make similar changes to their diets. We all share the same genetic predisposition for high LDL cholesterol. None of us ate a double cheeseburger every day, but our bodies still can't seem to maintain healthy LDL cholesterol levels without extra help.

Protein is “all the rage” these days, and protein supplements are expensive. The protein powder I'm using is half the cost per unit at Costco compared to Walmart or Amazon. Of course, at Costco, you buy a lot more of it at a time. But at the rate I'm consuming it, it makes sense.

The cost savings of the protein powder alone justified the Costco membership, but my wife and I have found several other products our family uses regularly that are much less expensive there than elsewhere.

We opted for the “Executive” membership at $130/yr rather than the “Gold” membership at $65/yr for a couple reasons. First, you get 2% cash back on your Costco purchases. If we spend an average of at least $271 a month there, which we expect we will (like I said, protein powder is expensive), we'll make up the difference in the membership cost. If we spend more, we'll get even more cash back.

There are also a few extra perks with the Executive membership like early shopping hours and extra value on their Auto Program and Travel packages (a trip to Europe has long been on our bucket lists, so who knows?).

And if we don't hit that $271/month average spending mark, they'll downgrade us to a Gold membership and refund us the difference in membership cost. So we figured it was worth a try.

With the cost of, well, everything only going up, we hope the Costco membership will help us save a little more. And if it really doesn't, we don't have to keep it.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 177) #economy #shopping #money

The Rising Cost of a Great Clips Haircut

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 04:09:48 +0000

I got a haircut today at Great Clips. In my area, a standard haircut costs $21 before tip, but I had a $3-off coupon so it was $18 today. I usually tip $7 because that's the middle of the three suggested tip amounts. So today I paid $25 out the door.

I tried to find Great Clips haircut pricing info from 2019 but I guess that's hard to find, so I'm just going with my memory. And I believe for several years up until 2020, the cost was around $12 or $13 for a haircut. Let's just go with $13 to give the benefit of the doubt.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the price of everything seemed to surge in a very short period of time and prices really haven't come back down to pre-pandemic levels.

I seem to remember haircut prices jumping to $15, then $17, then $19, and now to $21. So basically, in the span of about 5 years, Great Clips haircut prices have increased almost 62%.

I'm not an economist, so I don't understand all the factors that go into the cost of a haircut. All I know is I get the same haircut now that I did back then and it takes the same amount of time.

I seriously doubt Great Clips employees have seen a 62% increase in pay during the same time period. Is it just the cost of doing business has increased so much? Utilities? The cost of leasing business space? The cost of supplies and equipment?

And haircuts are not the only things that have drastically increased in price over the past five years. Yet wages haven't increased proportionally. Something is wrong.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 111) #business #economy

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economy — Dallineation

We Finally Got a Costco Membership

The Rising Cost of a Great Clips Haircut

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