The Perks of a Costco Membership - Part 2

I'm continuing my mini-series on Hawaii. If you missed the first part, you can read it here.

Now you might be thinking, what is the significance of Costco in Hawaii? Honestly, and generally speaking, nothing. However, in our specific case, it was huge.

Costco was our first stop in Maui after landing and getting our rental car. To our surprise (and glee), Costco and the airport are practically neighbors! We found a parking spot and our first stop was the food court.

Everything is infamously more expensive in Hawaii, but the food court prices at Costco are the same!

After grabbing our first meal in Maui, we proceeded to do some shopping at Costco to prep for our week long trip: a case of water (which we completely finished by the time we left!), a 5 lb bag of Cuties, and a pineapple. We weren't sure if Hawaii Costco was going to sell beef jerky at higher prices so we bought two bags in Plano and brought them over. Turns out the ones in Hawaii were slightly cheaper I think. Oh well, we didn't know. 

After buying pineapple in Hawaii, I don't think I can ever buy another pineapple elsewhere anymore. I had talked with one of my student's mom before we left and she had told me to beware of the fruit stands in Hawaii who try to rip you off. Her mother had taken a trip to Hawaii and paid $10 for a pineapple. When asked if it was any better than the pineapple in the continental U.S., she said it wasn't that different! I knew this going in and was prepared to forego my Hawaiian pineapple until I came across them at Costco: $2.50 for the most golden, ripe pineapple I've ever seen in my life.

Look at that golden color evenly distributed across the pineapple. I didn't even have to be picky - the ones in the pile all look like this! They're quite large, too. Probably twice the size of the ones I see in our local grocery stores.

In addition to being convenient to prep for a week in Hawaii with some 15+ miles of hiking across two days, our Costco membership saved us about $20 dollars. How did we do this? Costco gas.

We rented a car for the entire time were in Maui and did some preplanning. In my notes, I estimated that we were going to be driving 500 miles total. Assuming that our rental car had an 18 gallon tank and we'd get an average of 25 mpg, we would be using approximately a tank and a half of gas. Using $3.50 as the average gas price in Maui, we were projected to spend about $100 on gas for the week. I hope all my math teachers out there are proud of me for remembering how to apply my simple algebra skills into real life. :D 

It turned out that we drove about 580 miles for the week. We also did not average 25 mpg for the first 3-4 days because driving the Road to Hana only allows you to go a maximum of about 30 mph in certain places because of the tight hairpin turns. The majority of the road I think we were driving between 20-25. Luckily, we had a Costco membership, and gas was only $2.67! That's nearly a dollar savings per gallon compared to every single other gas station on the island. Our rental car ended up having an 18.5 tank capacity so that was a great estimate on my part. In the end, we spent less than $60.00 on gas for the entire week driving around the island. Huge savings for our entire trip!

I'm very thankful that we had our Costco membership for this trip. It was totally coincidental because we had no idea a year ago when we signed up for one that it would save us this much money. I also didn't think that Costco would be so conveniently located on the island to where driving by it is pretty easy when getting around. 

I will say this: the lines for gas are no better. Have patience. Lots of it.

Next time: Why I'm Glad This Trip Wasn't Our Honeymoon

Hawaii - Part 1

I want to share my trip with you all because it was a wonderful trip and truly amazing, but it's going to be mostly writing and less pictures. I am however working on putting together a physical scrapbook of our trip, so once I get that finished (hopefully soon!), please come see us and we'd love to show you our pictures. :) It's my first scrapbook in a while so I'm excited to get back into crafting.

Part 1: Pre Hawaii.

We never intended on visiting Hawaii. It actually came about as a spur-of-the-moment decision that was kind of last minute. It actually started with Iceland. We saw our friends going, and all of their pictures looked amazing - the nature, scenery, landscape, all of it. So we had tucked away somewhere in the back of our minds this idea of going to Iceland for our "big trip" we would eventually take.

Time passed. I stopped working full-time. Life got busy with other things, and we sort of forgot to look into it and plan this trip. Fast forward to February of 2017. I was on Groupon Getaways one morning browsing their trips and I came across a Costa Rica trip for $0 departing from Dallas. I freaked out, texted Jonathan, realized the dates were super soon (like two weeks out), and then saw that his passport was expiring in one month and there was no way we would get his passport renewed and back in time for the trip. They don't let you book international flights unless your passport is good for six months post return I believe. So by the time we quarreled via text message about how his passport was expiring and I couldn't book a free trip for us, the deal was gone and I was irritated about his passport.

Within the week we had his passport renewal application filled out and mailed (with my help...). However, we had pretty much given up hope on going to Iceland because we wouldn't get it back in time for a trip in March and tickets were going to be much more expensive when summer rolled around. At this point it was just getting it renewed so this wouldn't happen again for the next 10 years.

March was key. I'd been pinpointing this month since last year. Why did it have to be so specific? Because I was going to be working 75% of the weekends in February and 75% of the weekends in April, and May airfare is the equivalent of summer prices. So if we were going to make this "big trip" happen on a somewhat reasonable budget, we had to go during that specific window.

A couple days after that missed Costa Rica trip, I was notified of cheap tickets to Hawaii. Neither of us had been before, and Hawaii was exotic enough to be a "big trip" but still within the U.S. so it did not require a passport to travel. We entertained the idea of going to Hawaii and looked up some places we'd want to hit up. Well, in the time it took us to be indecisive about going, the cheap tickets sold out. So we were back at square one. However, I got the email again a few days later saying there were cheap tickets to Hawaii, this time only to the island of Maui.

We looked up destinations we'd want to hit up and booked the trip on a whim. I think I was more panicked than excited after booking the trip because I realized how expensive this trip was going to be. Cheap plane tickets was one thing. Cheap housing was another...and almost nonexistent. We ended up booking two Airbnbs for our stay, one closer to the hiking and nature, one closer to the harbor for touristy things. I wasn't sure how to feel about the Airbnbs, but it was our cheapest option so it was happening whether I liked it or not.

The entire time leading up to this trip felt surreal. People would ask me if I was excited about my trip, and I'd kind of feel very nonchalant about it. Like it was the next event that was simply just happening. Finally, the morning came where we were going to the airport to leave for Hawaii. We left Dallas, had our layover in LA, and then finally landed in Maui. That's when things started getting real. We got our rental car, drove to Costco to stock up on a few grocery items and grab a quick dinner, and then drove to our first Airbnb. As we drove down their highway at a mere 35 mph, I looked up and saw stars in the sky and the dark outline of the mountain in the distance. It was happening.

Next time: The Perks of a Costco Membership

Friday Afternoon DIY

The majority of my students had spring break this week, but I still taught every day except today. I woke up and started my day as usual: did some things around the house, practiced some piano, got organized, and ate lunch. Seeing as I had the entire afternoon open and I hadn't left the house for "fun" in almost two whole days, I was itching to go somewhere.

This was something I didn't quite anticipate feeling nearly as much as I have felt in these last months since quitting my full-time job to work from home. (And I probably would not feel the same way if there were piles and piles of things to do around the house.) But I was dying to just get out and go somewhere, usually shopping - grocery, music books, clothes, miscellaneous errands - they're all the same to me. I just wanted to get out.

So after finishing all my "work" for the day, I allowed myself to indulge in a new craft endeavor I wanted to experiment with. I made a list of the places I was going to go and the items I needed. I had planned on stopping by Joann's, Hobby Lobby, and then Michael's for three different items. I usually try to consolidate as much as possible, but when these stores limit you to one coupon per transaction per person per day, it's worth going to three separate stores to use three separate coupons when they're all within the same street block of each other. I'm not going to reveal what items I was purchasing so the next few paragraphs are going to sound very vague, but I'm doing that on purpose.

I got to Joann's and looked for item #1. They didn't have it. Online it said they had three in stock. Clearly the stock was not there and the website not updated. Big sigh. I ended up buying item #3 intended for Michael's because it was on sale and a better price than Michael's. I got back into my car, drove down the street about 2 minutes to Hobby Lobby. Instead of buying item #2 intended for Hobby Lobby, I ended up using my coupon to buy item #1.

Once again, I got back into my car, crossed the street, and went to Michael's. Of course, I was supposed to get item #3 at Michael's, but I had already purchased it. So instead, I looked for item #2, intended for Hobby Lobby, which I couldn't buy because I had already used my coupon and wasn't going to spend more on it than I had to. Well, turns out Michael's doesn't carry item #2, and the most similar item they did carry was almost 3x the price at Hobby Lobby. I was not pleased and left without completing my trifecta of craft supplies.

I debated going back to Hobby Lobby again and just seeing if they'd let me use a coupon again to buy item #2. After all, I had left the store, drove to a different location, and then returned. However, as much as I think the people at Hobby Lobby would have let me use the coupon anyway, I turned the other way and went home.

Having arrived home without the three necessary items to complete my craft, I couldn't make any progress on that at all. So instead, I decided to start (and finish!) another craft. I had seen a piece of wall decor at Hobby Lobby as I walked in done in this style which refreshed my memory of having wanted to try it myself. After grabbing my things, but before checking out, I stopped by and inspected it a bit just to see how it was made. Mentally, I created a step-by-step instruction list on how I would go about doing it.

Since I came home missing one item for my originally intended craft, I switched gears and worked on this other DIY project inspired by the one I saw at Hobby Lobby. I had all the necessary materials since they were leftovers from previous projects.

Materials:

- one piece of MDF board or wood board cut to desired size - we had leftovers from building some shelves a year ago.
- nails - they don't have to be extremely long, but they should be nails and not screws. I used some finishing nails we picked up at a garage sale for cheap. I think the whole box was 25 cents.
- paint - we had paint Jonathan picked up one day after work which I've used for previous art projects.
- string of various colors (multiple strands of thread or a skinny yarn work well) - these were leftovers from my giant cross-stitch.
- hammer
- scissors
- pen or pencil
- scrap paper

Steps:

1. Paint your MDF board or wood to desired color. Let paint dry and add additional coats as necessary following the instructions on the can.**
2. Using a piece of scrap paper, sketch out your desired shape and then cut out with scissors.
3. Place the paper on top of your wood or MDF board in the position you want.
4. Carefully using the hammer, put nails in around the paper to create the outline of your shape. Nails should be spaced about a 1/2 inch apart. They can be closer or further apart depending on your discretion. (You can wear gloves and safety glasses if desired, but I didn't because this was very tame compared to other projects we've done. I would recommend the gloves if you're a neat freak because the nails do tend to wear off their coating onto your fingers so if you don't want black/grey fingers after, wear gloves.)
5. Remove the scrap paper after you're done placing nails around the outline. 
6. Take string of various colors and wrap around the nails, tying knots to secure once you've placed it the way you want. This is actually the most time consuming step. It took me about 20 minutes to put the nails in and then about an hour to tie all the string on the way I wanted. 

**Note: I had my MDF board pre-painted from another previous project so I didn't have to wait for paint to dry. Obviously if you start from scratch, it'll probably be a 2-3 day  project because you'll have to wait for the paint. 

I did a very simple heart design and chose to lay out my string in a rainbow fashion going from the warmer colors into the cooler colors. I arranged it like this partly because these are the colors I had and so I was limited with what was leftover from my cross-stitch. 

So there you have it. My Friday afternoon (back up plan) DIY project. :) I see these all the time being sold at stores for decor for $10-$30 dollars depending on what it is. It's really not that hard and depending on what you have on hand, the cost could be little to nothing.

Final cost : $0. Gotta love leftovers :)