After much thinking, I picked up a J.A. Henckels International 10-piece Forged Knife Set at Costco. Again, with Costco, the online price is not necessarily cheaper. I purchased the knife set in store for $139.99 after an instant $30.00 rebate. Costco took $30.00 off the price at the register. No mail-in rebate forms or other hassles.

So far, I haven’t experienced the rust problem that others have complained about. Out of the box, the knives were extremely sharp. In fact, I got nicked on the finger by the 8″ chef’s knife while trying to slice through ham, which wasn’t an all-too-pleasant experience. Sharp! After another close call, I finally put away the chef’s knife. Something about it just didn’t agree with the way I was working in the kitchen.

Since then, I’ve turned to the 7″ hollow edge santoku knife, which just feels better in my hand. No more close calls.

So, what prompted the purchase? Well, Thanksgiving is around the corner again and memories of last year’s attempt to carve a turkey with a dull chef’s knife still haunt me. A few months ago, I purchased a sharpening steel, which restored some zing to the chef’s knife I was using. However, lately, I’ve noticed that the chef’s knife was getting a lot duller a lot faster. So, I was looking for a paring knife, which my existing set did not include. I was also missing a bread knife, though that was not such a big deal since I only occasionally buy unsliced bread. I was looking for a better chef’s knife and a carving knife for Thanksgiving. With so many needs, paying $139.99 for a second set didn’t seem too crazy, especially since my back-up choice, the Shun Classic 3-Piece Boxed Flat Set, was running for $249.95 on Amazon.

After a week of use, here’s the quick round-up. So far, the 3″ vegetable knife, 4″ paring/utility knife and the 5″ utility/serrated knife seem a bit much. Not sure I really need 3 small knives. The 7″ hollow edge santoku knife is golden. That’s my favorite knife out of the bunch so far. I’ll see how the 8″ carving knife performs tomorrow during Thanksgiving dinner. The 8″ chef’s knife has already made a few attempts at my fingers. Since I’m so comfortable using the santoku, I don’t know if the chef’s knife will ever come out of the block again. I haven’t used the 8″ bread knife yet. I already have a sharpening steel and kitchen shears, so those items are duplicative. Also, while the block offers extra slots, it is missing a wide slot for a cleaver, just in case I ever get the Shun 7-3/4-Inch Stainless Steel Chinese Chef’s Knife, which incidentally costs more than the Henckels set.

I already know that Costco has the best price on Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner. Who can beat $11.99 for a 1.25 gallon refill container and a 32 oz. spray bottle?

Lowe’s was selling a 128 oz. container of Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner for $15.98, or $0.125 per ounce. Lowe’s price is half way between the $.0236 per ounce price at OSH and the $0.062 per ounce price at Costco.

Comparison shopping within a store is pretty easy with a calculator in hand. However, unless you store all your prices in a spreadsheet, this task can be challenging because quantities for even standard goods may differ.

Case in point: Brita water filters. Costco sells a 10 pack, Target sells a 6 pack, and Wal-Mart sells a 4 pack. Wal-Mart sells a 4 pack of Brita filters for $19.44, or $4.86 per filter. The best price from my last price check was $4.199 per filter from Costco. However, Wal-Mart did edge out Target be a few cents per filter (i.e., $4.86 v. $4.948). However, I spotted a 5-pack of Brita Water Filters at walmart.com selling for $39.98, or $7.996 per filter! The lesson here is to not assume that the in-store and online prices are the same, or that online prices much be cheaper than within a bricks and mortar store.

A few weeks ago, OSH was selling an 8.7 oz. bottle of Shout Gel for $4.99. So, was this a “great value” as the sign proclaimed?

Target, which used to carry Shout Gel, did not have the product on its shelves. Instead, it stocked an 8.7 oz. bottle of Shout Advanced Gel for $2.64. Between the two, Target offered a greater value.

This exercise in tracking the cost of various products that I usually purchase has really focused my attention on consumer prices. I know that gas prices change daily, but what about the price of other consumer goods?

Since the last post on Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner, I noticed that the Costco had changed its price. Since the schools only teach about inflation (and not deflation), you may think that prices will only go up absent a sale or rebate. But, there I was looking at the sign and sure enough, Costco now sells Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner for $11.99 instead of $12.69. No sale. No instant rebate. Just a straightforward price cut. Wow!

I’ve been using Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner for a few years now. At first, I had a difficult time finding it at a local store that I frequent. The flooring stores were all out of the way with limited operating hours. When I found Bona at OSH, I was relieved. However, I really got excited when I found it at Costco.

So, OSH sells a bonus 36 oz. spray bottle of Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner for $8.49, which is $0.236 per ounce. Amazon currently sells a gallon refill of Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner for $23.99, which is $0.187 per ounce. If the product is sold by Amazon or fulfilled by Amazon, it may be a good deal since the purchase may qualify for free shipping or Amazon Prime. However, when I was looking a few years ago, I recall that a third party was selling the product on Amazon and the shipping costs were quite high. So, what does Costco offer?

For $12.69, you get a 32 oz. spray bottle of Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner, a 1.25 gallon refill, and a microfiber cloth. Assuming the microfiber cloth is of negligible value, the Costco price is $0.066 per ounce.

Sometimes, the Safeway Club Price is a good deal. Sometimes, it is not.

For the rest of this year, Safeway is selling a 6 lb. tube of OxiClean Stain Remover for $12.99. A dollar cheaper than OSH; however, the same price as the 15 lb. box at Costco.

Previously, I tracked the price of Oxi Clean at Costco and Target. I experienced some serious sticker shock when I spotted this tub of Oxi Clean at OSH.

$13.99! The same size that Target was selling for $8.49 on sale and $9.99 regularly. Compared to Target’s sale price, OSH is selling the same product for 64.78% more. $13.99 is a buck more than the sale price I paid for a 13 pound box of Oxi Clean from Costco.

Costco regularly sells a 15 lb box of Oxi-Clean for $16.99. Currently, Costco has an instant manufacturer’s rebate of $4.00, which drops the price down to $12.99. So, if the sales prices at traditional retail stores are almost as good as the regular prices at Costco, how good are Costco’s sales prices?

Mind you that this is not a mail-in rebate or one that requires a coupon in hand. The discount is automatically taken at the register. Since, 1 pound = 16 ounces, Costco sells Oxi-Clean at $0.071 per ounce (regular price) and $0.0541 per ounce (sale price).

Target sells a 6 pound tub of Oxi Clean for $8.49, marked as a temporary price cut. The regular price is $9.99. So, Target sells Oxi Clean at $0.104 per ounce (regular price) and $0.0884 per ounce (sale price). Currently, the OxiClean site has a $1.00 OxiClean coupon for any OxiClean powder (56 oz. or larger). Since 6 pounds = 96 ounces, the tub qualifies. So, at $7.49, the unit price is now $0.0780 per ounce, which isn’t even better than the Costco regular price. The killer deal is that the Costco sale price is over 30% the Target sales price + coupon! For the same amount of stain remover, 6 lbs. at the Target sales price with coupon is $7.49 and 6 lbs. at the Costco sales price is $5.19.

Granted, whether you are buying 6 lbs. or 15 lbs. of Oxi Clean, either size will last a long time. While you do save $2.20 per 6 lbs., saving a couple dollars a month isn’t the same as saving a couple dollars per week (or per day).