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.
Some weeks, it works out perfect to roll Register Rewards, other weeks - not so much. Even when the Register Reward deals aren't so great, you can still save a ton of money at Walgreens.
I purchased Kellogg's cereal at Shop 'n Save and received a surprise $4 Catalina coupon, and the best part was the coupon included all the details of the offer. I'm so glad to share a Catalina deal with "official information" and not just a good guess.
My "best buys" are: items for $1 or less, meat for $2 or less a pound, and a few other items that are at rock bottom prices. When I keep my shopping list to these items, I can bring home a ton of groceries for very little money.
Here is what I see as the best "cherry picking" items at the other grocery stores in town. I don't include all the match-ups, but only items you might want to pick up, if one of these stores is convenient to your location.
Pillsbury Grands! Biscuits are triggering (2) Catalina coupons this week! 
Remember when shopping at Target: You can use a manufacturer and Target store coupon on the same product.
February 7, 2010
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