I've had many readers ask if I keep a price book, or how do I know when an item is a good deal. I don't keep a price book - I'm not organized enough, although it would be a very good tool. I tend to keep a target "buy price" in my head.I will post a series of "buy prices" and hopefully everyone will join in on the discussion and leave their ideas in the comment section.
Toilet Paper - .20 single roll or equivalent
Size: Single roll, double roll, mega roll, big roll ... Every brand labels toilet paper different, but they usually give you the single roll equivalent. I don't worry about inches or feet; they're close enough for me to figure the price on their single roll equivalent.
Brands: I stick to Charmin or Cottonelle. I know the first rule of couponing is to give up brand loyalty, but when I bought cheap toilet paper, my kids accused me of buying toilet paper worse than the school's. So, if all I need to do to keep the family happy is buy Charmin or Cottonelle, I will.
Coupons: There is almost always a .25 Charmin coupon in the monthly P&G coupon insert. It sounds measly, but it's worth .50 at Dierbergs or Schnucks. I find Cottonell $1 coupons sometimes at the store in a either a coupon booklet or a blinkie. More often, they have a .50 coupon in an insert.
Where I buy:
Dierbergs - They periodically put smaller packages of Charmin on sale, and sometimes they offer it as their web-only coupon. Stack the Deirbergs web-only coupon and the manufacturer's coupon, and you can buy Charmin for less than .20 a single roll.
Shop 'n Save - I've picked up Cottonelle at Shop 'n Save for my "buy price" when it has been a participating product in a Catalina Coupon deal or on a really good sale.
Walgreens - When all else fails and I'm needing toilet paper, I spend my Register Rewards on toilet paper.
Target - I keep hoping to stack a Target coupon and a manufacturer coupon to get toilet paper at my "buy price", but it hasn't happened, yet.
Please join in on the discussion and leave a comment. Where have you found a great deal on toilet paper? Do you have a buy price? Are you brand loyal?
If you have an idea of what products I should write about in my Stock Up Price series, please email me at CouponSTL (at) gmail (dot) com. Please, let's see if we can keep the comment section on this post to a toilet paper discussion.
Posts
Nothing worse than getting bad toilet paper. I always wondered about the scott single rolls that wags sales. I like to get my toilet paper at wags. When I end up making money that week on an item I like to spend it on toilet paper. It is like getting free toilet paper. Almost every week they have some kind on sale.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way you do. TP is pretty much the one thing I won't budge on when it comes to brand. We've used Cottonelle for years and I definitely take advantage of the coupons. I used to find it at Wal~Mart at the cheapest price, but my sad Wal~Mart on the Rock Road no longer carries it.
ReplyDeleteI've recently become a fan of Dollar General because there is a nice one close to me. I found 6 pack Cottonelle there for just $3.00! They accept vendor coupons also! I did some comparison shopping at Schnucks and the same 6 pack was $5.19 there.
-Shannon
Again, TP, ugh. Now that I have the buy price in my head, I'll do the math and buy at that. I'll just take your word for it. My husband was a "Angel Soft" man, which I found funny. He is probably cheaper than me, but doesn't use coupons (unless I give them to him!). Kelly (enjoying the Cottonelle from the Catalina deal this fall:) )
ReplyDeleteLynda - I agree spendning RR on toilet paper is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteShannon - Are the 6-packs of Cottonell at DG single or double? Do they list the single roll equivalent?
Kelly - Angel Soft might of been the brand my kids had such a fit about. But I'm not sure. It helps me to compare with a target price. TP is one of the items that the price sticks in my head.
I read once that if you take the toal square footage on a pack of TP and move the decimal point to the left two spaces, that it the price you should pay for the TP. It's hard to find TP that cheap but it does happen even on name brand with a good sale! You'd be surprised how much you're getting ripped off sometimes! No pun intended!
ReplyDeleteWe stocked up on toilet paper back in October. Walgreens had Contonelle 4pks on clearance for 95 cents each and there were $1 off any and 50 cents of any printable coupons. So we cleaned out all of the walgreens around us in St Charles!
ReplyDeleteWe still have a stack of it in our garage now! I hate buying cheap TP so its always nice to find a good deal on the nice stuff!
I mostly buy Angel Soft 9 "big roll" packages for $4 at Wags minus coups and RRs. Occasionally I'll buy Charmin if it's around $4. I prefer regular size rolls because the larger ones are too heavy for my t.p. holder but its getting harder to find regular size rolls. Right now I'm using Marcal Small Steps but its kind of thin. I used to get 4 double rolls of White Cloud for $1 after coupon at Walmart but my Walmart no longer carries W.C.
ReplyDeleteI've recently bought Scott Extra Soft from WalMart. 12 pk double rolls (14 single) 352 sheets 492 sq ft. It was $5.97, but I had a dollar off coupon. This comes pretty close to the decimal place rule Kristen wrote about and the 20 cents per single roll rule. I have Members mark toilet paper from Sam's that says it is a double roll, but it only has 200 sheets compared to 352 on the Scott's. Haven't tried the Scott's yet.
ReplyDeleteI love Kristen's decimal rule. It is a much better way to compare sizes than taking the word or the manufacturer of what the equivalent single roll is. I might have to rethink my buy price.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for your responses.
I stock up on the White Cloud coupons at Walmart. They are $2 and the Q is for $1 off. So $.25 for a double roll. My family don't complain about TP. They go thru the stuff so fast they don't have time too. LOL
ReplyDeleteHi Tisha - Does you Walmart still carry White Cloud? CJ said here store didn't anymore.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Walmart shopper, but if I can get TP for that price I might have to make a trip. I might have to try another brand again and see if the kids complain.
I remember my dad complaining all the time that most of his paycheck went to toilet paper. lol Well we had 6 girls and then of course my mom so 7 females in the house no wonder.
ReplyDeleteIf I run out of TP and there are no sales I get it at Sam's. I'm assuming you don't shop there because of the membership fee?? Their store brand of TP is similar to charmin (a little thicker) and its everyday price is at the .20 mark. I'm a TP snob so there will not be any Scott sandpaper in my house either :)
ReplyDeleteMarcella
Hi Lynda - I think we go through enough TP at our house and I'm the only female. I can't image 7 females in one house.
ReplyDeleteHi Marcella - I haven't shopped at Sams since the kids were in diapers and they still had a location in the city. That was long before I even knew you could save a ton of money couponing. Thanks for the warning on Scott.
Jeri you have to go a super walmart for the white cloud.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tisha
ReplyDeleteI
Do you have a similar stock up price on paper towels?
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ReplyDeleteHi Jeri! It seems like this was going to be a series of posts about stock-up price, but this is the only one the label links to. Are their others? Or will there be?
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel - This is the only Stock Up price post for the time being. I really had hoped to post a series of them, but I never seem to get caught up on the weekly deals.
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