by Jamie Kenney

Instagram

There are few beacons of suburbia that shine quite as brightly as Costco. With free samples and delicious treats as far as the eye can see, Costco Wholesale is a mecca of middle class grocery shoppers and with good reason. By buying in bulk, you can save on many staple products, like diapers, formula, PopTarts in a box the size of your torso.

And personally, ya girl has never met a Kirkland product she didn’t love.

But anyone who’s ever waltzed the aisles of the big box store can tell you that Costco has a “dark side.” Or, rather, we have a dark side once we walk through those doors. Impulse buys can quickly turn our money-saving intentions into a grocery bill in the triple or even quadruple digits. But Alli Powell, who runs the Instagram account Getting Grocery Girl has a simple hack that can spare your poor wallet at the store. Honestly, I’m inclined to listen to someone who claims to be able to feed a family of four on $150 a week. (In this economy?! This is surely witchcraft.)

Powell says the “No Cart Costco Haul” is a surefire way to keep yourself from loading up a massive cart with items you want but actually don’t need. It’s just as easy as it sounds: just say no to the cart. It automatically means you can only purchase what you can carry. Literally where was this very simple yet brilliant insight when I was there every couple weeks to “just buy diapers” and walked out with a new set of Pyrex, a bag of chips that could double as a sleeping bag, a new book, workout clothes, a palette of muffins, and five pounds of grated Parmesan?

“This is becoming my new favorite way to shop @costco,” she writes in the caption. “I get there a little before opening and try to use less crowded aisles to quickly navigate my way through the store. This trip took about 15 mins, partly because I couldn’t find the detergent! It’s got new packaging which is more environmentally friendly. We go through @gomacro bars so quickly, I just pick them up every time I’m here now, the salted caramel and chocolate chip flavor is my favorite!”

Elegant. Simple. Easy-to-replicate. I love this. Now to fight the feminine urge to make my whole family come along so I have more arms to carry a couple of those cute throw pillows…