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All Things Costco

Wabisake

後輩
16 Oct 2013
6
1
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Hi all,

Thought I'd start a thread dedicated to Costco: deals, prices, not-so-good-a-deal, etc.

Super deal I found a month ago: 20YO Speyside single malt for only 4458 yen--very good.


But I'm trying to figure out whether Costco's toilet paper is worth the price (compared to a J-brand). Here's my math:

Kirkland 30 roll pack: 1998 yen (total sq. m: 148)--13.5 yen per sq. m

Nepia double ply (which seems to me to be about the same quality) 12 pack: 298 yen (25m, width: 114mm, total sq. m: 34.2)--8.7 yen per sq. m.

Seems like Costco cost me an extra 708 yen over the J-brand (and the quality and softness seems about the same.)

Did I figure this out right? I've saved a bundle at Costco so far, but I just can't assume everything will be cheaper there.
 
Oatmeal.

Regular price almost 400 yen for 300 gm (0.75 pounds).
Costco price about 1000 yen for a 10-pound bag.
 
I have not been to Costco in a while. My wife just went. She got a blanket called "Ultimate Sherpa Throw" for about 1,800 yen. It is very, very nice. Its meant to be a lap blanket but its big enough that my wife and son sleep with it. Its all polyester, but you would swear its woolen to look at it. Its very warm and it looks and feels very nice.

I have a plastic shed from Lifetime bought at Costco for 100,000 yen. On one hand it was easy to put together, on the other it was a bear. Thing is I built it straight on the ground (original plan was to put it on a wood pad raised up by blocks, but due to the location and the root system of the tree next to it, I gave up on that idea. ) For it not being leveled out during construction I had a hard time getting the pieces to come together (I did this by myself). So the only problems were all my own fault really. But there in the shade of the tree, its fairly cool in summer. With a heater, its toasty in winter. (the walls and roof are two sheets of plastic with about an inch of air between, and its pretty good insulation really). I built my own shelf from wood and put down waferboard sheets to cover the floor inside. I ran an extension cord from the house into it, and so its very useful. Lots of things stored in there, especially my tools, and I do lots of work in there rain, shine or dead of winter. I am very satisfied with this shed and am considering buying another to serve as a classroom for private students.

I have to recommend against buying Kirkland olive oil. It is thin and runny and not to my taste at all. I won't even put it on my hair as it gets sticky. Last time I used any of that huge bottle I bought, it was as a lotion on my poor dry feet. That is seriously all I think of it.

Big packs of Kirkland batteries are a good deal I think.

Surprisingly I have had no complaints about any tools I bought at Costco, but they are manual tools only, no electric or pneumonic tools. Tool boxes have also been good. But, of course, brands vary, and so does what Costco has in stock.

Other than that, I cannot tell you what is a good deal. My original reason for shopping at Costco was not to save money but to get lots of food from outside of Japan, considering the nuke disaster. I even bought a large freezer (locally) specifically to fill with Costco goods. Money was not the object.

But I can tell you that the canned pineapples, peaches and even chicken I got was all good. The fancy shaped pastas were good. The walnuts and almonds were good, although it gave me a headache trying to find the ones with less or no salt. The tubs of pretzels were good, although I recommend scrapping the salt off which is no fun at all. (These damned food companies seem to want to kill us with salt!)

Got enough Bounty paper towels to last another year probably and they are good. Got enough Q-tips to last a lifetime and I may only be exaggerating slightly. Fair quality. America just does not do Q-tips like Japan, but, perfect Q-tips are hardly worth the price unless you are going surgical with them.

Campbell's soup is of course Campbell's soup. Good stuff. Still have plenty of cream of mushroom and corn pottage and I need to get the wife on to using them. She seems too proud to serve from a can, but I still want less Japanese stuff because I do not trust Japan to do food safe anymore.

That is all for now.
 
"America just does not do Q-tips like Japan,"

American Q-tips are different from Japanese ones because Asian ear wax is different. No kidding. Earwax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am well aware of the flaky earwax of most East Asians, however, I have no idea what that would have to do with Q-tip quality. What I was revering to is the fact that American Q-tips tend to have strands sticking out of them, like a head of messed up hair. Japanese Q-tips are neat with no strands, just a smooth cotton ball at the top. Its the only difference I have noticed. I would think the less neat Q-tip would be better for getting out the flaky earwax, but the usual recommendation I hear is to never use Q-tips to remove earwax. Hard to imagine that any company would make them with earwax in mind, since most health care professionals say to not do it.

I sometimes use Q-tips to get wads of gunk out of my eyes during the allergy season. The Japanese Q-tips are a bit nicer for that, as there are no loose strands poking around.
 
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