How to shop at Costco without losing your whole afternoon

• Keep 34 IKEA blue bags in your trunk so checkout, loading, and unloading become 12 fast trips

• Make a Costco-shaped list in store order so you walk one clean loop with zero backtracking

• With two people, park the cart in low-traffic spots and send a runner for easy grab-and-go items

Costco is not just a store, its more of a lifestyle choice. If youre like most, you dont just run in real quick to Costco. You enter the maze, sample the tiny quiche, forget the paper towels along the way, and end up walking 3 extra miles.

But it doesnt actually have to eat your entire afternoon. With a tiny bit of prep (and one very famous blue bag), you can turn Costco from a time suck into a 20-minute surgical strike.

Here are four big time savers that actually work.

1. The IKEA blue bag trick

The brown boxes by the registers are somewhat handy in theory, but in real life theyre:

• Awkward to carry
• Weirdly crumbly
• Terrible for hauling stuff into your house

Enter the unsung hero of efficient Costco runs: the 99-cent giant blue IKEA bag.

How it saves you a bunch of time:

At checkout: Instead of letting the cashier stick all your stuff back in the cart, and hope they don't smashthe produce or breakthe eggs, put a couple blue IKEA bags right on the conveyor belt. That way they can quickly group your stuff by whats cold andwhats breakable, and put it all straight inyour bags.

In the parking lot: Youre not standing there trying to wedge a random banana box into your trunk. Grab the handles, swing the bag in, and youre done.

At home: One or two trips from your car to your kitchen. Maybe three if you really went for it. Youre not doing six sad little trips with armfuls of loose stuff.

Keep 3 or 4 blue bags in your trunk permanently and you'll love how quickly youmove through the checkout to pantry phase of your Costco haul.

Pro tip: Instead of having Costco employees put stuff in your blue bags, consider doing it yourself when you get back to your car. That way you can separate the bags by where stuff goes in your house. One for the pantry, one for the freezer, one for the garage, and one for the bathroom. Then when you get home, youcan take the bags right to where theygoand unload them quickly.

2. Make a Costco-Shaped shopping list (so you never double back)

The #1 way Costco steals your time is not with the long lines at checkout or the crowded parking lots. Its with the backtracking.

You get all the way to the frozen foods, then remember you need batteries. Which areon the exact opposite side of the store, past ten carts blocking the aisle and three sample stations handing out dumplings.

The fix is stupid simple:

Write your Costco list in the rough order you move through thewarehouse.

Not a random list. But rather a Costco-shaped list. You dont need a perfect map. You just need the basic zones so youll naturally throw stuff in your cart as you walk through the store with ZERO backtracking.

For example, here are the zones at my local Costco (in order of how I typically walk the store):

1. Entrance / electronics
2. Seasonal / clothes
3. House / kitchen / tools
4. Drinks / alcohol
5. Produce / cold room
6. Bakery / bread
7. Meat / dairy / deli
8. Household / pet food / toilet paper
9. Frozen foods
10. Coffee, snacks, cereal, pantry
11. Pharmacy / health / beauty
12. Checkout

When you build your list, drop each item under the right section, in order of how you typically walk around the warehouse.

Examples include:

• Milk, eggs, shredded cheese under Dairy
• Chips, granola bars, coffee under Middle aisles
• Paper towels, trash bags, detergent under Household

Im a big fan of making my Costco list the old-fashioned way and writing it on paper. But you could also use your Notes app on your phone. Just be sure to group it by zone as thats where the time-saving magic lives.

The Result: You walk the store in one clean loop and get out quickly, not like a dazed tourist who got separated from their group.

3. Divide and conquer: The 2-person power move

If youre shopping with a partner, spouse, teenager, or unsuspecting friend who made the mistake of saying Ill come with you, you have unlocked one of the biggest Costco time savers of all.

The rule: One of you drives the cart, the other person runs the missions.

Heres how you should set it up:

1. Split the list by grab and go versus comparison stuff.

Runner items: these are your obvious, fast choices (milk, eggs, bread, bananas, rotisserie chicken, case of water, paper towels).

Cart driver items: products you want to compare, choose the brand/size on, or physically inspect (think things like meat, snacks, vitamins, clothing, electronics).

2.Start together in produce or household aisle.

Once you get your bearings, the runner peels off with a mini list of go get these 6 slam dunk items.

3. Keep the cart in wide, low-traffic areas.

The cart driver parks at the end of an aisle while they grab their stuff. The runner then swoops in and drops things into the cart as they find them.

4. Meet back up and head to the checkout.

Youve basically done two laps of the store at the same time.

Instead of wandering aisle by aisle together debating every item, youre using your extra person as an actual time-saving asset, not a second opinion on stuff that doesnt matter.

4. Shop like a Costco employee: off-peak + reverse loop

Costco has two kinds of trips:

• The ones where you are trapped behind a slow-moving sample crowd in every aisle.
• And the ones where you feel like you somehow got the place to yourself.

While youcant control what your next trip will look like,you can cheat the system a little by acting like someone who works there.

Pick the right window to go

The fastest Costco runs usually happen:

• Weekdays, late morning or early afternoon.
• Weeknights after the dinner rush starts.
• The first hour after opening (if you can swing it).

If you only ever go Saturday at 11am, youre volunteering for chaos.

Do the reverse loop

Most people walk in, grab a cart, and immediately turn right because thats where the shiny TVs and clothes are.

That side of the store can get jammed with humans early and quickly.

So, give this a try instead:

1. Walk straight through the front chaos and start in the back near meat, dairy, and frozen.
2. Grab all your heavy and cold stuff while the rest of the store is still stuck admiring the 85-inch TVs.
3. Work your way forward through all the snacks and pantry items, then finish in the seasonal aisles on your way to checkout.

Youre basically like a salmon swimming upstream in a good way. While everyone else is clogging the front and middle aisles, youre clearing the back of the store and getting out quick.

Pair that with your Costco-shaped list and youre suddenly done. Like how did that only take 20 minutes done.

How to shop at Costco without losing your whole afternoon

• Keep 34 IKEA blue bags in your trunk so checkout, loading, and unloading become 12 fast trips

• Make a Costco-shaped list in store order so you walk one clean loop with zero backtracking

• With two people, park the cart in low-traffic spots and send a runner for easy grab-and-go items

Costco is not just a store, its more of a lifestyle choice. If youre like most, you dont just run in real quick to Costco. You enter the maze, sample the tiny quiche, forget the paper towels along the way, and end up walking 3 extra miles.

But it doesnt actually have to eat your entire afternoon. With a tiny bit of prep (and one very famous blue bag), you can turn Costco from a time suck into a 20-minute surgical strike.

Here are four big time savers that actually work.

1. The IKEA blue bag trick

The brown boxes by the registers are somewhat handy in theory, but in real life theyre:

• Awkward to carry
• Weirdly crumbly
• Terrible for hauling stuff into your house

Enter the unsung hero of efficient Costco runs: the 99-cent giant blue IKEA bag.

How it saves you a bunch of time:

At checkout: Instead of letting the cashier stick all your stuff back in the cart, and hope they don't smashthe produce or breakthe eggs, put a couple blue IKEA bags right on the conveyor belt. That way they can quickly group your stuff by whats cold andwhats breakable, and put it all straight inyour bags.

In the parking lot: Youre not standing there trying to wedge a random banana box into your trunk. Grab the handles, swing the bag in, and youre done.

At home: One or two trip from your car to your kitchen. Maybe three if you really went for it. Youre not doing six sad little trips with armfuls of loose stuff.

Keep 3 or 4 blue bags in your trunk permanently and you'll love how quickly youmove through the checkout to pantry phase of your Costco haul.

Pro tip: Instead of having Costco employees put stuff in your blue bags, consider doing it yourself when you get back to your car. That way you can separate the bags by where stuff goes in your house. One for the pantry, one for the freezer, one for the garage, and one for the bathroom. Then when you get home, youcan take the bags right to where theygoand unload them quickly.

2. Make a Costco-Shaped shopping list (so you never double back)

The #1 way Costco steals your time is not with the long lines at checkout or the crowded parking lots. Its with the backtracking.

You get all the way to the frozen foods, then remember you need batteries. Which areon the exact opposite side of the store, past ten carts blocking the aisle and three sample stations handing out dumplings.

The fix is stupid simple:

Write your Costco list in the rough order you move through thewarehouse.

Not a random list. But rather a Costco-shaped list. You dont need a perfect map. You just need the basic zones so youll naturally throw stuff in your cart as you walk through the store with ZERO backtracking.

For example, here are the zones at my local Costco (in order of how I typically walk the store):

1. Entrance / electronics
2. Seasonal / clothes
3. House / kitchen / tools
4. Drinks / alcohol
5. Produce / cold room
6. Bakery / bread
7. Meat / dairy / deli
8. Household / pet food / toilet paper
9. Frozen foods
10. Coffee, snacks, cereal, pantry
11. Pharmacy / health / beauty
12. Checkout

When you build your list, drop each item under the right section, in order of how you typically walk around the warehouse.

Examples include:

• Milk, eggs, shredded cheese under Dairy
• Chips, granola bars, coffee under Middle aisles
• Paper towels, trash bags, detergent under Household

Im a big fan of making my Costco list the old-fashioned way and writing it on paper. But you could also use your Notes app on your phone. Just be sure to group it by zone as thats where the time-saving magic lives.

The Result: You walk the store in one clean loop and get out quickly, not like a dazed tourist who got separated from their group.

3. Divide and conquer: The 2-person power move

If youre shopping with a partner, spouse, teenager, or unsuspecting friend who made the mistake of saying Ill come with you, you have unlocked one of the biggest Costco time savers of all.

The rule: One of you drives the cart, the other person runs the missions.

Heres how you should set it up:

1. Split the list by grab and go versus comparison stuff.

Runner items: these are your obvious, fast choices (milk, eggs, bread, bananas, rotisserie chicken, case of water, paper towels).

Cart driver items: products you want to compare, choose the brand/size on, or physically inspect (think things like meat, snacks, vitamins, clothing, electronics).

2.Start together in produce or household aisle.

Once you get your bearings, the runner peels off with a mini list of go get these 6 slam dunk items.

3. Keep the cart in wide, low-traffic areas.

The cart driver parks at the end of an aisle while they grab their stuff. The runner then swoops in and drops things into the cart as they find them.

4. Meet back up and head to the checkout.

Youve basically done two laps of the store at the same time.

Instead of wandering aisle by aisle together debating every item, youre using your extra person as an actual time-saving asset, not a second opinion on stuff that doesnt matter.

4. Shop like a Costco employee: off-peak + reverse loop

Costco has two kinds of trips:

• The ones where you are trapped behind a slow-moving sample crowd in every aisle.
• And the ones where you feel like you somehow got the place to yourself.

While youcant control what your next trip will look like,you can cheat the system a little by acting like someone who works there.

Pick the right window to go

The fastest Costco runs usually happen:

• Weekdays, late morning or early afternoon.
• Weeknights after the dinner rush starts.
• The first hour after opening (if you can swing it).

If you only ever go Saturday at 11am, youre volunteering for chaos.

Do the reverse loop

Most people walk in, grab a cart, and immediately turn right because thats where the shiny TVs and clothes are.

That side of the store can get jammed with humans early and quickly.

So, give this a try instead:

1. Walk straight through the front chaos and start in the back near meat, dairy, and frozen.
2. Grab all your heavy and cold stuff while the rest of the store is still stuck admiring the 85-inch TVs.
3. Work your way forward through all the snacks and pantry items, then finish in the seasonal aisles on your way to checkout.

Youre basically like a salmon swimming upstream in a good way. While everyone else is clogging the front and middle aisles, youre clearing the back of the store and getting out quick.

Pair that with your Costco-shaped list and youre suddenly done. Like how did that only take 20 minutes done.

New trend report shows workers are rethinking careers, pushing back on office mandates, and demanding more flexibility

• Flexibility now outranks pay for most workers, with 85% valuing remote options more than salary and nearly 70% willing to take a pay cut to work remotely.

• RTO mandates are clashing with worker preferences, as 98% of professionals say they want remote or hybrid arrangements a gap employers risk ignoring.

• Emerging trends like soft retirement show how companies may rely on flexible, low-commitment roles to retain senior talent and bridge workforce gaps heading into 2026.

If youve been wondering whether the remote-work conversation is cooling off, FlexJobs new Remote Work Trends Report for 2026 makes one thing clear: not even close.

In fact, the appetite for flexibility is only getting stronger and its reshaping how Americans think about their jobs, careers, and even their well-being.

According to the report, 85% of people now rank remote work above salary when weighing job offers. Many are even willing to change careers entirely to find more balance, with nearly 7 in 10 saying theyve made or seriously considered a field switch in the past year.

The tensions dont stop there. Gen Z workers report feeling overwhelmed and unsure about their career paths, working parents are burning out without enough flexibility, and widespread return-to-office mandates are creating a noticeable divide between employers and employees. Altogether, the findings paint a picture of a workforce thats exhausted, ambitious, and more than ready for a different kind of workday.

ConsumerAffairs interviewed Keith Spencer, Career Expert at FlexJobs, to learn more about what workplace trends are shaping up to be in the new year.

Challenges to RTO mandates

Many companies are enforcing return-to-office (RTO) mandates. However, these findings from FlexJobs highlight that this may not be the best choice.

Spencer explained that 98% of working professionals prefer either fully remote or hybrid arrangements, highlighting a clear shift away from traditional in-person work.

These changing preferences present a major opportunity for employers, he said. Those who embrace flexibility can attract and retain top talent, while those who ignore it risk losing valuable members of their teams.

Flexibility is a priority

Considering nearly 70% of workers would accept a lower salary to work remotely, the findings from this report highlight the importance of flexibility for todays workers.

Its difficult to put a price on flexibility, especially for younger workers who may feel stuck or anxious about their place in the workforce, or for working parents who rely on it as a key part of their support system, Spencer said.

Remote, hybrid, and flexible work arrangements can reduce stress and boost overall mental well-being by promoting a healthier work-life balance, often delivering more value than increased compensation. On top of that, working remotely can save employees a significant amount of money, which helps explain why many are even willing to accept a pay cut for the benefits it provides.

Soft retirement

Looking ahead to 2026, Spencer believes soft retirement is a trend to watch in the employment space.

By offering flexible, low-commitment positions that combine in-person and virtual work, companies can retain senior experts longer, preserve decades of institutional knowledge, and help transfer skills to younger employees, bridging critical talent gaps in specialized roles, he said.

This approach also supports the financial stability of retirees, many of whom are looking for ways to supplement their fixed retirement income.

A retail expert shares smart strategies for snagging meaningful gifts before shipping cutoffs hit

• Rushed shopping leads to overspending Convenience fees, impulse buys, and skipped price checks can quickly blow your budget.

• Real deals are still available Retailers keep strong promotions on toys, beauty, winter apparel, and home gifts throughout December.

• A simple plan goes a long way Compare prices, stack savings, and use digital gifts or same-day pickup to stay in control, even at the last minute.

The final countdown to the holidays is officially on and if youre still hunting for gifts, youre far from alone.

Shipping deadlines are coming up fast, stores are getting crowded, and the pressure to grab something (anything!) can make it easy to overspend.

However, last-minute shopping doesnt have to mean blowing your budget or settling for gifts that miss the mark.

ConsumerAffairs interviewed RetailMeNots Retail Insights Expert, Stephanie Carls to learn how consumers can stretch their dollars, avoid common last-minute traps, and still pick up thoughtful presents right up until the final hours of the season.

Avoid spending traps

While time may be running out, that doesnt mean youre out of options. Carls encourages last-minute shoppers not to count themselves out just yet.

When people feel rushed, they stop comparing prices and click the first thing with a fast-shipping badge, she said. Thats when overspending wins. Rush fees, convenience charges, and impulse add-ons stack up quickly, and shoppers dont realize how much theyre paying for the feeling of I just need this done.

Last-minute shopping isnt the issue. Its when people stop shopping and start settling.

Last-minute deals still exist

Not only should you not give up on the possibility of finding thoughtful gifts this year, but Carls is emphasizing that you can still find deals, too.

Retailers know procrastinators shop in massive numbers, so they keep real deals on the table, she said. Some of the strongest categories right now are toys, beauty and fragrances, winter apparel, and home or tool gifts.

These tend to carry solid promotions all the way through December, including discounts that echo earlier holiday pricing. December used to just be a time to shop after Black Friday, now its where the sleeper savings show up!

Your plan shouldnt change

Though it may feel like you have no time left, Carls encourages shoppers to have the same game plan going into last-minute shopping as you would at the beginning of the holiday shopping season.

Last-minute shopping doesnt have to feel out of control, Carls said. You just need a plan even a loose one. Compare prices, stack your savings, and dont assume the best deals are behind you, because retailers know shoppers arent finished yet.

Digital gifts, curbside pickup, and same-day options mean procrastinators have more backup plans than ever. At this point, the last-minute scramble isnt a crisis. Its a holiday tradition.

Officials set higher bar for additional cuts

Fed cuts rates for third straight meeting, lowers benchmark to three-year low
Rare three-way split underscores internal debate over inflation vs. jobs
Officials signal higher bar for any further reductions

Federal Reserve officials lowered interest rates for the third consecutive meeting on Wednesday, but signaled theyre in no hurry to cut further as divisions widen inside the central bank over what poses the bigger threat stubborn inflation or a weakening job market.

The policy committee voted 93 to approve a quarter-point reduction in the benchmark federal-funds rate, bringing it to a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, its lowest level in three years. It marked the first time since 2018 that three officials dissented on a single rate decision, highlighting the challenge of navigating an economy showing mixed signals.

The action should make home mortgages a bit more affordable. Home affordability has been improving latelyas home prices dip in some markets and mortgage rates continue to fall closer to the 6% level. Freddie Mac reported its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey showedthe 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.19% last week.

Mortgage rates decreased for the second straight week as we emerged from the Thanksgiving holiday, said Sam Khater, Freddie Macs chief economist. Compared to this time last year, mortgage rates are half a percent lower, creating a more favorable environment for homebuyers and homeowners.

Three dissenters highlight conflicting priorities

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid argued the rate cut wasnt justified, pointing to stalled progress on inflation. Fed governor Stephen Miran, however, wanted a more aggressive move, favoring a half-point reduction to guard more forcefully against a slowdown in hiring.

The unusually split vote underscored a broader debate within the central bank: whether to keep pressure on inflation that has stopped easing or move more decisively to support a labor market showing early signs of cooling.

Officials set higher bar for additional cuts

Wednesdays move was designed to insure against a sharper-than-expected drop in employment growth. But officials made clear that further reductions arent guaranteed. Their postmeeting statement said the extent and timing of future cuts would depend on how the economic outlook evolves language reminiscent of the Feds pivot to the sidelines after a round of cuts last year.

With inflation no longer improving and hiring softening only gradually, policymakers suggested they need clearer evidence of labor-market deterioration before taking rates lower again.

Outlook: cautious path ahead

The Feds calibrated message signals a central bank attempting to balance two risks at once: cutting too little and allowing a jobs downturn to accelerate, or cutting too much and allowing inflation pressures to reignite. For now, officials appear content to pause and watch incoming data, even as internal disagreements make the next steps less predictable.