Vince should teach classes on bargain shopping. I honestly have never seen anything like it. Vince so rarely pays full price for anything. I hardly ever buy anything other than fabric or yarn because he can get so much better deals than I get and he loves doing it. I wrote here about a $1,300 dishwasher that he got for less than $500. Sometimes I almost feel sorry for the retailer by the time Vince makes his final deal! We’re going to need another freezer (two actually) so I mentioned to Vince last night that he should be on the lookout for a bargain for a freezer. We’re in no rush for it but when we find a deal, we’ll buy two. The only problem is that I want big upright freezers that are manual defrost and most stores don’t even stock manual defrost freezers so finding a “scratch and dent” model or even a closeout model may not be easy. If anyone can find it . . Vince can do it!
On almost every item I buy, I have a price point . . a price at which I will buy mega amounts of an item. When cake mixes are $1 or less, I stock up. (Right now at Kroger!). Do I use many cake mixes? No. About the only time I use them are as the base of other recipes. This is one of my favorite cakes to make and it starts with a mix. Sometimes when you just want something sweet but aren’t willing to bake something from scratch, a cake mix is so easy and for $1, the price can’t be beat. I think most of the name brand mixes were about $2.25 or more per box so getting those for $1 is a bargain. When I put the mix in a half gallon jar and vacuum seal it, it’s good for 5 or more years . . so obviously the “use by date” doesn’t make a whole lot of difference to me . . when the item has been stored properly.
Back to the recent toilet paper purchase . . there are some brands of toilet paper that I will not buy . . I wouldn’t even bring home if they were giving them away. Once I bought a name brand that I thought was good toilet paper and I stocked up . . a lot! No one else would use it and I was stuck using it for about 2 years. Every time I would think I had used the last roll, I would uncover another case of it. Now, I’m real picky about the brand of toilet paper that I buy.
A reader left a comment about a blog post, including a spreadsheet that Happy Money Saver had done about the cost/value of toilet paper. Use the word “spreadsheet” and I’m happy! I love spreadsheets. There’s interesting info on her spreadsheet and it’s worth looking at but it doesn’t tell the entire story. If you really want to find bargains, here’s a bit of advice from the wife of the bargain hunter:
- Know your price points. On things you use ever day, whether it’s green beans, coffee, Dr. Pepper, toilet paper . . you should know exactly what you feel is a good deal and what you feel is too much. Any time I find name brand green beans or most any canned veggie for 50¢/can, I’m bringing home a truck load!
- Know how much spare cash you have available to spend. If you find toilet paper on sale for $24/case and that’s a good deal and you buy 10 cases but now you don’t have the money to pay the electricity bill, you really made a bad decision financially. If you’re putting a good deal on a credit card and paying interest, you’ve made a bad decision financially.
- Know how much storage space you have. If the toilet paper is going to have to sit out under a tree in the rain with the ants and rats because there’s no more room in the house, you just wasted some cash.
This is the bargain Vince found on toilet paper.
If you go to this item now, it’s $44.19, plus $7.48 shipping. This item is #81 on the Happy Money Saver’s spreadsheet. You will see that one year ago, the regular price per double roll at Wal-Mart was 62¢/roll. The deal Vince found was $22.74 with Subscribe and Save. There was also a $1 off coupon and if you used MasterCard, you saved an additional 10% which made the cost just a tad over 40¢ per double roll or, 20¢ per single roll. (My price point on toilet paper used to be 25¢ per single roll but lately, I’ve been pretty happy to find it for 27¢/roll so you know how happy I am to find it for 20¢/roll.
But, if you do a little research, you will find that Wal-Mart has the same toilet paper for about 50¢ per double roll, along with free shipping. But, there are some out there who will pay way more just to keep from shopping at Wal-Mart, which I’ll never understand but . . to each his own. Target also has it but they don’t have it available online and don’t show their price and we don’t have a target.
Call me crazy if you wish but we keep at least 500 rolls of toilet paper on hand, and currently because of recent sales, there’s plenty more here. I have some of it stacked floor to ceiling in a closet and it isn’t easy for me to get to those cases so I keep several cases within easy reach.
Toilet paper, paper towels, napkins . . we’re well stocked!
It’s a rare occasion that I buy anything unless it’s on sale. By keeping a good stock of items that were purchased when they were on sale, I never need to buy most things unless they’re on sale.
Who would have thought I could have written this much about buying toilet paper? 
this is interesting to me because i do much the same thing, but to a much lesser degree. not because i don’t have the space, but because a have a ”need’ point as well as a price point. why do you buy the same things every time there;’s a sale? there are always sales near me. btw, i won’t shop at walmart for humane reasons, but as you point out there are better prices to be found other places. you and vince are so funny. you don’t eat ll that much so you may never have to shop again. (maybe apples for you-know-who) LOL!!
Love the TP post. Reminds me of my grocery list started this morning … TP< PT< DP….
I'm definitely heading to your house if there's ever a shortage of TP!! xo
I always have a VERY large supply of toilet paper on hand.
I just can’t see shopping for things that I know I will always use and that won’t spoil.
No matter the sale, there are only two brands of toilet paper I will ever purchase…they could be giving some of that stuff away for free and I wouldn’t take it.
when the shelves are empty of TP….i’m coming to shop at your place. you’ll share a bit’….won’t you?
Have you thought of using cloth napkins instead of paper ones? I made some easily, and they don’t generate much more laundry than I already have – I just throw them in the wash with everything else. It saves a lot of money at the grocery store when I skip buying paper towel and paper napkins. Plus it is much more elegant at the dinner table!
The Happy Money Saver buys TP after checking the price per square foot. I do the same. It doesn’t matter if there are 12 rolls or 24 or 48 rolls in the package. I calculate what the TP costs per square foot for each package and will buy the one that costs the least. The package with the most rolls is not aways a bargain! I do the same when buying paper towels.
Speaking of bargains, you might want to check out the Kindle Daily Deal. Today’s book is about a woman and her KNITTING!
$1.99
( just for today)
I am so envious of you! I wish I were as on top of my shopping as you are! I’m getting better just hanging around you. You may have to take me under your wing and teach me more. Thanks for the info!
Do I see fabric bolts under the TP, or is that just my imagination? I was in a Sears Outlet here in Houston (Spring area) about three months ago, and at that time, they had a lot of manual defrost freezers. Another customer told me to go online to Sears outlet and I could check the inventory. They had some new surplus stock then.. Worth checking, especially if you are coming to the Quilt Festival and bringing Vince along.
No, it’s really more about writing about how to purchase smartly. =) I notice the toilet paper is on top of fabric. =) I hate Wal-mart with a passion. I almost never shop there (just go in to use MoneyGram! and occasionally buy something if I have to be there anyway), but I go to Target and Aldi’s a lot, and watch for sales at Kroger and Ingles and Food City – and usually find everything eventually. =)
Some people avoid Walmart for humane reasons and the fact that Walmart has forced so many small town businesses to close.
I do some of the same things you do, but don’t have a huge stockpile. I cannot see havig money tied up in things that won’t be used for a long time, when I know there will very likely be another sale before my current supply is used. If you think about your supply of batting, you said you have enough for 130 quilts, which would be almost eleven years worth if you make one quilt a month. Even if you double that and make two quilts a month, that is still over five years worth.If each of the 20 rolls cost $100 on average, that is $2000 worth of batting. That’s a lot of moeny to have tied up in something that takes a good deal of space to store, space that costs money to maintain and possibly could be put to better use. Suppose some new kind of batting comes out and you are stuck using up the old stuff for several more years. Oh well, Vince is having fun, that is worth something too.
I LOVE Target but living in the boonies now makes my closest one an hour away… I strongly dislike WalMart but I do grudgingly shop there for staples because it’s 15 minutes away, has low prices and it’s my only local option for most household items. And, the only thing it closed down when it came in was a despicable Pamida! I shop our other two grocery stores for deli/baked goods and produce.
I wish I had more storage space Judy but I fill up what I do have and tp is one of the things high on my list. It won’t go bad and I don’t want to be without it ever! blessings, marlene
I’d like the skinny on the upcoming freezer purchase. I’m in the market also.
Judy,
Your blog is always so informative and helpful. I would like to know why a manual defrost freezer is better than an automatic defrost freezer. You have helped me so much in organizing supplies!
Back when we replaced our top-freezer/refrigerator with a bigger side-x-side with a few bells & whistles, and after comparing cubic freezer space, we discovered the reality that not all cubic freezer space is the same and couldn’t fit near as much in that new side freezer as we could the upper freezer portion. All that to say, we then decided to get a stand-alone freezer to put in the garage. Being just 3 of us, I thought just a small chest type would be good, so off to Costco for their little inexpensive model. I’m happy with it for the most part, but if I were to do it over, or when this one bites the dust, I would get an upright where it’s a whole lot easier to be able to find stuff! Would like to here, from your perspective, the pros/cons as to manual vs automatic defrost. I can see some reasons, but wonder what sells you on one vs the other.
“Some people avoid Walmart for humane reasons and the fact that Walmart has forced so many small town businesses to close.”
-Linda Enneking
am i allowed to say that walmart has been in the papers lately for their shabby treatment of american workers, not to mention third world country workers. also, if you look closely at their food prices, many are higher than supermarket prices. you’re right that you have to know your own price point, but i think the price point should be based on price-per-unit., as Sandy has said. i don’t know if stores everywhere have to do this, but in the stares where i live, stores must show the price per unit so shoppers know what they’re choosing. even the store brands aren’t always the best buys, especially with brand-name sales.
does everyone use the coupons that come on the flyers from supermarkets? especially toward the holidays, you can save up your purchase amounts in dollars spent to get a free ham or turkey at shoprite in new jersey. anywhere else?
no matter how much or how little money you have, no one likes to waste any of it. this has turned into a really interesting discussion.
Tell Vince I just I just bought myself 2 cases of toliet paper, thanks to him! I am sure my UPS man is going to love me, come Wednesday!
I’m still waiting for Vince to find me a Singer 301 at his usual bargain basement price!
Who would have ever thought to check Amazon for TP prices??? Love it!