Costco Executive Membership Profitable This Year

Our Costco dividend check arrived this week. Woohoo, almost $114!

We get this dividend for being Costco Executive Members. The gist of executive membership is simple: we pay an extra $60 a year (on top of the $60 basic membership) and we earn 2% cash back every year for our purchases at Costco (not including their gasoline stations).



With this check for nearly $114 we earned back well more than our $60 investment. That's gratifying because last year our rebate was only $51— and I seriously considered canceling. I figured even though that $51 only reflected 9-10 months of rebates, our annualized rate would barely break even with the membership cost. But then in January this year we made a few bigger shopping runs at Costco and decided the executive membership would likely be worth it this year. Even so, $114 is more than we thought we'd earn.

I've always held doubts in my mind about the value of shopping at Costco. We're a small household, just two of us.... Is it really worth it to buy the larger sizes that most things at Costco come in? And to pay a membership for for doing so? That goes double when paying twice the price for executive membership. With this oversized rebate I have more confidence it's a smart decision.

I Bought an iPad for My Birthday!

My birthday is this week. I mentioned that a few days ago already. One thing I only hinted at there is that I rarely do anything special on my birthday anymore. I got out of the habit of birthday celebrations from my years in college and graduate school when my mid-December birthday fell not only in the run-up to Christmas but also during final exams week. On my birthday classmates were generally either studying for their last exam and didn't want to carve out time to celebrate with me, or had already finished their last exam and left town for winter break.

Well, just because I've gotten accustomed to not feeling love from others (other than my spouse of many years) doesn't mean I can't practice a little self-love. Monday night I bought myself an iPad!



I got the idea to treat myself to an iPad when we dropped by a Costco store on Sunday. Right next to the sale-priced 15" MacBook Air I envied were a few also-sale-priced iPad models. In particular I thought about the $250 iPad 9th generation model.

As we went out to dinner Monday evening I decided I'd drop by local Costco afterward and pick one up. I've never owned an iPad nor felt like it was a good value for me, but for $250 I decided it was worth a small splurge. Except once we were in the store I up-sold myself to the slightly pricier 10th generation iPad, for $350.



What's the difference between the 9th and 10th generation iPads? For one, the 10th gen is available in this beautiful blue color. 😅 The 9th gen only comes in silver or dark gray. Other than that, it has a one year newer processor (A14 chip vs. A13) and has a slightly larger screen (10.9" vs. 10.2') without being bigger overall. Oh, and it uses a USB-C plug instead of a proprietary Apple Lightning plug.

Like I said, this is my first iPad. I'll figure out over the coming days how to fit it into my routines.

Winter Solstice

Today, December 21, is the winter solstice. In the northern hemisphere it's the shortest day of the year. Various cultures have, for thousands of years, marked the date scientifically and attached cultural significance to it. Typically the meaning involves the height of chill and darkness and the start of warmth and light returning. I attach to it the simple practical fact that it means the days will start getting longer now. I hate it being dark in the morning, dark again at 5pm, and pitch black by 7pm.

At least here in Silicon Valley, at latitude 37.4° N, the shortest day still provides 9.5 hours of daylight. ...Well, 9.5 hours of potential daylight. In the winter the sky here is typically overcast. We actually had a lot of partly-sunny and mild weather through November up to mid-December, before it turned cooler and rainy this week. But even so, the 9.5 hours of daylight here is better than in, say, Helsinki, Finland at just past 60° N latitude, where the day lasts not quite 6 hours. And tomorrow night we're leaving for Sydney, Australia, where it's not even winter. In fact they just had their summer solstice with daylight stretching nearly 14.5 hours. I'm looking forward to a midwinter week of summer!