Costco takes Visa!

Holy Cow!!! Costco takes Visa. I feel like I could stop right there and everyone would understand exactly what that means! My life is changed! In general, it’s changed for the better, but financially, Costco taking Visa definitely falls into the negative category.

Before Costco took Visa, I kept to a very strict budget there because I never had a Discover or AMEX credit card that I could use there.  I always kept track of my running total and at checkout, my estimate was never off by more than $1-2 from the actual total. I either had to have the cash money in my hand or enough money in my checking account to cover my purchases.  Not anymore.  I saw the effects of this almost right away! On the first trip I made to Costco after they started accepting Visa credit cards, I spent $370. That is considerably higher than my normal spending of around $150 per trip.  Admittedly, I did buy a few Christmas presents, (two ammunition holders for my husband, totaling $40, and a packable down vest for myself (it’s going in my stocking) for $17), but the fact remains that I did not track my spending at all on that trip. I bought whatever I wanted.

I have since needed to go back to Costco a couple of times and spent more money. This is far above my normal $250 bi-weekly grocery budget.  In the past, I would have made do, but because Costco now takes Visa, I just went and spent willy-nilly. Costco taking Visa will not be good for my budget.

On an average, I spend $300-400 a month at Costco. The one bonus to them accepting Visa now, is that I will earn rewards for all those points.  But this is a case of because I’m charging it, I will spend more, which is something every study on it supports: you spend more money when you are paying by credit than you do when paying by cash. And as awesome as the points are, I know the points I earn will in no way make up for the overages on my budget. Discipline will be key when shopping at Costco from now on. Not gonna lie, self-discipline has always been in short supply over here!

With the kids back in school, I need to go to Costco and pick up after school snacks for them. I’ll be heading there this weekend and I hope I can keep the total down and only buy things on my list or at least only buy things we really need. The kitchen remodel is not really helping the food budget either.  I am always in the market for easy/quick meals these days and Costco has lots of those too!

In all honesty, after everything I’ve felt and everything I’ve written, I can’t decide if I’m happy or sad that Costco now accepts Visa. The jury is still out. One thing I do know is that unless I’m very, very careful and very, very diligent Costco taking Visa will not help me meet my financial goals!