I think I’ve mentioned before here that, in my opinion, my greatest strength as a mother is my tenacity. My stick-with-it-ness. I’m not naturally super-creative or compassionate or patient or fun when it comes to this whole mothering gig…although I have better days than others, of course, in all of those categories, and I am continually striving–by God’s power–to grow in grace.
But, give me a certain kind of challenge, and, by golly, I will pounce on it, punch it in the face, and take it prisoner (most of the time).
(Now, who wants me to babysit their kids?)
Which means that grocery-shopping with 6 children–while far from my favorite activity ever (walking on hot coals and poking my own eyeball with a plastic fork come to mind as more appealing options offhand)–is something that I do regularly and am not afraid of.
I will even wrangle unsuspecting checkers into taking pictures of me and my motley crew.
Theo–hiding out under the Ergobaby–was exactly one-month-old here. (Insert ALL the crying emojis as I realize just how fast time is flying). (Also, let it be known that we do NOT go to Sam’s Club for one gallon of milk plus a tin of peanuts for Nola to use as a seat; there was another stuffed-to-the-gills basket right behind me).
The thing is, though…give me the choice between A) dragging 6 small humans inside a giant store filled with food (most of which they want but can’t have–cue the 2-year-old meltdown parade) and B) having someone else grocery shop for me…
And I don’t have to think about it.
Not for one hot second.
All of my self-proclaimed tenacity and I-ain’t-skeered-of-grocery-shopping-with-six-kids bravado takes a flying leap out of the nearest window, and I’m all, “Where do I sign?”
*Sigh*
If only such a magical service existed.
Oh, but it does.
Say whaaaaat?
Did you know that you can go online at www.samsclub.com and click on “Services”>”Club pickup,” and then proceed to either use the “easy reorder” button (it tracks your purchases so that the items that you buy often are the first to pop up as options) or the “upload a list” button, and–BOOM–your grocery-shopping is done?
Once you select your items and choose the time you’d like them ready, some glorious little Sam’s Club grocery store fairy waves her silvery wand over the aisles, and–just like that–all of your grocery dreams comes true, packed neatly into a cart just waiting for you to pick it up.
Or something like that.
Regardless of whether fairies or gnomes or plain old Sam’s Club vest-wearing employees are responsible for the wonderfulness that occurs, occur it does. Which is all I care about.
Honestly, I’ve known this for a while now. But I’m a ridiculous creature of habit. So, I continued to haul all of my offspring up and down the aisles over and over for many months even once I had been gifted with this morsel of heavenly wisdom. Just because I plain forgot.
(Don’t be like me).
One day, a few weeks ago, as we were dumping our many, many items onto the belt, a Sam’s Club manager noticed my brood and said, “They’re really cute. But…you know we’ll shop for you, right?”
And, at first I was like, ????? And then, remembrance dawned, and I was like, “OOOOOOoooooh. YES!”
And then I gave her the biggest hug ever (no, I didn’t; but I thought about it).
So, there you have it. My Mama Life Hack this week is the wondrous knowledge that, if you have a Sam’s Club membership–you are now able to shop from the comfort of your own couch. At no extra charge. As Emperor Cuzco would say: “BOOM, baby!”
And, yes, I have actually done it now. And yes, it is just as easy and fantastic as it sounds.
Now, if only they would bring all the groceries out to me and swipe my card through the driver’s window of my van…
A girl can dream.
So, what about it? Did you know this magical service existed? Have you used it? Are there other such services at other stores that I’m unaware of? Do share.
Oh, and don’t forget to share your #mamalifehacks on social media using that handy hashtag. I’ve got several squirreled away to share with you soon, but I’m always on the lookout for more to feature!
Sounds great. Do you tip the person who brings it out?
We live out in the boonies- an hour from a Sam’s and 20 minutes from the closest grocery. I work from home and have 4 kids. I have discovered the amazing benefits of Amazon Prime Pantry and Subscribe and save. I’ve been using the subscribe and save for dog food, toilet paper and the like for a few months. It. is. the. best. (PS: we recycle all the cardboard).
I’ve read about this but was curious how exactly it works. So glad you posted this! We frequent Sams and I always get funny looks with my 4….cannot imagine the looks with 6!! Wondering about refrigerated items??? Do they shop for these too or just non-perishables?? You’re straight-up awesome!!
Meijer does this in Michigan, also. 🙂
It was nice when I had surgery on my ankle and calf and couldn’t walk nd during chemo when I was just flat too tired.
Our Safeway does this for a charge and I just learned our Walmart will do it for free (Phoenix area.) Thanks for the reminder. I have been meaning to give it a go. Like you a creature of habit with my 6 shopping buddies.
Oh my. We usually go as a family, so it’s not so bad with Hubby by my side, but what the what?!? This is awesome! Now we don’t have to go in unless we want to use the free samples as the kids’ lunch.
I did know that but like you forgot about it. Although I usually sneak out late one night for grocery shopping for my “alone” time. I’m wild like that. 😉
Sounds nice! But I’m assuming this service costs extra? If so, how much? (Maybe I missed reading about that in your post.)
That’s the best part. It’s not extra! Amazing, right?
Wow, that is a frugal mom’s dream come true!
Stop and Shop does this, and I use it frequently! They do bring the groceries to your car!!!!
I just saw another blog mention this week that Wal-Mart does this too, but only some locations. Right now, grocery shopping is my get out of the house alone time, but some day this might come in handy.
I found out about this from my previous job, shopping for youth ministry events. So nice!! I will say a few other pointers… Try to go early hours (if you can) or after lunch before work is out to avoid a customer service pick up line. And check your order as once in a while mistakes happen. But such a worthwhile and wonderful service!
At my SAMs they don’t allow you to order meat or bakery items in the service, so I would go in and pick those up then go get my ordered basket and pay for it all at once. Yay!