Cash or Debit
Friday, James and I were treated by our teammates to a date night, so we decided that our best option was to hit the mall in hopes of finding another pair of pants for James to wear to school. (It is tough for someone who has practically worn pajamas to work for the past 6 years to have to return to not even being able to wear blue jeans.) We felt like high school kids again, hitting the mall on a Friday night...except for the 9 month in tow. To keep it feeling like a date, we stopped at the ice cream shop and got a scoop to share, because they were so expensive ($5 for a single scoop!) The lady handed us the cone, and then we proceeded to pay with our credit card. Oops, they only take cash and debit cards...now by this time, we had already eaten half of the ice cream cone. Well thankfully I had my Wells Fargo debit card on me. Oops, that didn't work (2/3 of the ice cream gone.) So, we tried James' debit card. Oops, that didn't work either. (all of the ice cream eaten). James then proceeded to the nearest ATM to get some cash while I waited by the counter staring at the ice cream in the case that I wish I could have. Upon returning with no cash because the machine wouldn't process our American card, we began to ask what the next thing to do would be...do we leave our name and address, and return later to pay? Thankfully the owner/manager asked if we had any US dollars (which had been sitting in my purse for the last two weeks) and she told us that we could pay with that, but we wouldn't get the exchange rate. That was a relief to us and we left with $15 Canadian dollars in change. Lesson learned - always carry some amount of cash, even in a world where Master Card and Visa can buy you anything you want.
I had heard from people who had travelled in Canada that things were more expensive here than in the US, but I guess I didn't really think it could be that different, just miles away from where you, or any other American lives and shops. Well, we have come to find out that IT IS! The most noticeable way is in groceries. It is so high, that many people drive 40 miles back to the US to buy groceries. The gas prices are also much higher at 1.47$/Liter (or $5.55/gallon). So, we have decided to check out the local Costco, and try to drink less milk and eat less cheese. Sunday, we took the family to Costco to "join the club" and we ran into the same problem, they don't take credit cards, only cash or debit. So after spending about 20 minutes trying to figure out if we could even get a membership with only our Minnesota ID, we left without getting a thing because we had no cash. Thankfully the lady at the counter spoke English, and though she did try to talk me into the more expensive membership fee, she was very nice!
So this week, we were back at the overpriced grocery store. Maybe by the time the fridge is empty, we'll have this all figured out.
Here's a few of the prices we've found:
Whole Chicken - 12$
Large can of Folgers - 10.5$
Milk - cheapest bought in bags of 4 liters at Walmart - 6$
Cheese - store brand, sold in these funny long blocks - about 8-9$
I had heard from people who had travelled in Canada that things were more expensive here than in the US, but I guess I didn't really think it could be that different, just miles away from where you, or any other American lives and shops. Well, we have come to find out that IT IS! The most noticeable way is in groceries. It is so high, that many people drive 40 miles back to the US to buy groceries. The gas prices are also much higher at 1.47$/Liter (or $5.55/gallon). So, we have decided to check out the local Costco, and try to drink less milk and eat less cheese. Sunday, we took the family to Costco to "join the club" and we ran into the same problem, they don't take credit cards, only cash or debit. So after spending about 20 minutes trying to figure out if we could even get a membership with only our Minnesota ID, we left without getting a thing because we had no cash. Thankfully the lady at the counter spoke English, and though she did try to talk me into the more expensive membership fee, she was very nice!
So this week, we were back at the overpriced grocery store. Maybe by the time the fridge is empty, we'll have this all figured out.
Here's a few of the prices we've found:
Whole Chicken - 12$
Large can of Folgers - 10.5$
Milk - cheapest bought in bags of 4 liters at Walmart - 6$
Cheese - store brand, sold in these funny long blocks - about 8-9$
I recommend getting the more expensive membership at Costco. It really isn't more expensive - it's the one we have.
ReplyDeleteYou get 2% back on every purchase and if you get back more than the cost of membership you will get it in a check to spend at Costco at the end of the year.
If you don't cover the amount of your membership they will cover the difference in cost between the basic and more expensive membership. It's a win-win either way.
Email me if it makes no sense and I will try to explain better :) Betsy