Know the Comparison Prices!

Today I bought toilet paper.  For those individuals who know me, I know you are laughing right now!  Okay, so I like stockpiling toilet paper!  Hey, at least I have a lot of it, and I am a definite source of entertainment for my friends because of it!  LOL!!

I digress.  :-)  In the past, I would have just driven to Sam's Club and purchased the 36 roll packages of the stuff. That is not always the best way to go, especially if you have a coupon.  I buy Scott bath tissue because I have a septic tank, and that particular kind of toilet paper is septic tank friendly.  With that said, the 36 roll package of Scott bath tissue is currently $21.98 at Sam's, which is $ 0.61 a roll.  At Rite Aid, the price this week for a 12 roll package is $7.99, which amounts to $ 0.66 a roll.  Stopping there, it looks like Sam's has the better price.  By using a manufacturer's $1.00 coupon (which you can find on the Internet), the Rite Aid price drops to $6.99 for those 12 rolls, which makes it $0.58 a roll, a savings of $0.03 cents a roll.  However, by also using a $1.00 Rite Aid Video Value coupon for the Scott bath tissue, the price now goes down to $5.99 for the 12 rolls, making the price per roll about $0.50!  If you want to get down to square feet, the Sam's Club price for 3772.8 square feet is $0.0058/square foot, and the Rite Aid price after the two coupons have been deducted amounts to $0.0047/square foot!  To make the Rite Aid deal even sweeter, the $7.99 price counts toward this week's special of buy $30 dollars of specified products and get back $10 UP, which is the Rite Aid cash equivalent certificate that prints out on the register receipt.

For those who are wondering about the video value coupons, these are coupons that are available on Rite Aid's website.  You watch a video, and after it is over, you have a a very limited time span to key in the given code in order to claim the coupon associated with the video.  If you watch all of the videos in a given series, you get a bonus coupon.

This Week's Purchases (Week of April 10, 2011)

Today, I completed my shopping at CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens.  Below is the complete list of the things that I ended up with.  I thought about separating the items according to store, but decided against it since in the whole scheme of things, it only matters that I saved money.  In front of each item is the quantity that I purchased of that particular item.

1 - Gatorade G-Fit Series

4 - Finish Gelpacs (20 count box)

2 - Finish Jet Dry

2 - Lysol Neutra Air Sanitizing Spray

4 - Air Wick Freshmatic  Ultra Automatic Spray Refill

2 - Wet and Wild Lipstick

2 - Garnier Nutrisse Nourishing Color Creme Hair Color

2 - Garnier Fructis Style Body Boost Volumizing Gel

2 - Old Spice Body Wash

1 - L'oreal Vive Pro Shampoo

1 - L'oreal Vive Pro Conditioner

1 - Essence of Beauty Antibacterial Hand Sanitizer

1 - Visine Original (with bonus of 30% more)

3 - Betty Crocker Cornbread and Muffin Mix

6 - Nestle Butterfinger Eggs

1 - Russell Stover Caramel Egg

The total cost of these items were $94.65 (without sales tax), but I did not pay that much.  Based on rebates, coupons, store rewards cards, and cash-equivalent register certificates, I ended up paying only $28.95 (without sales tax).  That is a savings of 69%!  Granted, it is a far cry from the individuals on the Extreme Couponing show, but I am very happy with the savings that I managed to snag this week.  The one thing that I really need to emphasize is that the 69% savings is based on the sale prices of the items.  If I looked at the regular price, the savings would be so very much greater!

One of the other great things about this week's haul is that I am going to put the two containers of Old Spice Body Wash (which ended up being free) into the donate box that will soon go to the local organization that assists area senior citizens.  Always be generous!