Recession Me

Target sells a 30-count box of Refresh Plus single use vials for $6.99, or $0.233 per vial. Costco sells a 100-count box of Refresh Plus single use vials for $18.39, or $0.184 per vial. If you use a vial a day for an entire year, Costco will save you $17.89. That’s IF you use a vial a day.

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.

I read an interesting article on Time entitled Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin. The problem occurs when you “reward” yourself after a workout. All of a sudden, the calories that you had worked so hard to burn are quickly replenished by a treat or a sports drink.

The same rule applies when shopping at Costco. If you reward yourself for shopping at Costco, all of your hard-earned savings can quickly vanish. While you can save money by shopping at Costco, the total amount saved may only be several hundred dollars a year. And, if you pay $3.00 for a tasty cup of coffee or chai tea latte at the local coffee house a couple times a week, your savings at Costco have just vanished.

Pay attention to the quantity, not just the price. At first glance, I thought Costco was selling Kokuho Rice at a higher price than 99 Ranch. After all, a 20 lb. bag of rice doesn’t look too different from a 25 lb. bag of rice, especially when both bags are not next to each other.

So, Costco is selling a 25 lb. bag of Kokuho Rose Extra Fancy Rice for $20.99, or $0.840 per pound.

99 Ranch sells a 20 lb. bag of Kokuho Rose Extra Fancy Rice for $16.99, or $0.850. So, for 20 pounds of rice, 99 Ranch charges about 20 cents more for the entire bag of rice. Not a whole lot, but still more than Costco.

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.

If I am in a different store, Costco doesn’t make it easy for me to figure out whether I should buy right away or hold off until the weekly Costco run. While Costco does have a website, not all items sold in the warehouse appear on the website.

Absolutely horrible photo. Couldn’t get a close-up and the phone focused on the box instead. Anyways, the 16 pack of AA batteries sells for $8.49 and the 16 pack of AAA sells for $11.39. No way I could finish a 16 pack of AAA in one year. However, the pack I bought from OSH is good until 2015, which is six years away.

I needed some AAA batteries and picked up an 8 pack at OSH.

I really don’t have too many devices that require AAA batteries, so I wasn’t going to buy that jumbo pack from Costco, even though on a per battery basis, it would likely have been much cheaper. If I bought a 4 pack, the per battery price was $0.985. For the 8 pack, the per battery price was $0.795. Since Costco had trained me to buy in bulk, I took a look at the 16 pack price.

At OSH, the 16 pack of AAA batteries cost $0.81 per battery—slightly more than the 8 pack price! I don’t have a AAA battery comparison at a different store, but I do have a AA battery comparison at Target.

Target sells a 16 pack of AA batteries for $10.39. OSH sells the same for $12.95—24.64% more than the Target price.

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.

Pens. What can I say? I rarely need them, but when I do, none are around. At least, none that work. I have a ton of pens that are dried out, jammed or whatever.

With that in mind, I spotted this 40 unit case of Zebra Z-Grip Retractable Ball Point Pens in assorted colors at Costco. As you can see, most of the pens are black, with a few blue and red ones included. At $9.99, the unit price is $0.300 per pen.

Amazon sells a 12 count box of black pens for $5.39, or $0.449 per pen. The 24 count box in assorted colors goes for $13.08 or $0.545, but the color selection is much more attractive than Costco’s black, blue and red combination.

So, are the deals at Costco all about buying in bulk? I spotted this item at Amazon that made me laugh. Zebra 22210 Zebra Z-Grip Retractable Ballpoint Pen, Clear Barrel, Black Ink, Med, 1.0 mm, 96 – 12ct boxes for $527.04! So, 96 12-count boxes should yield 1,152 pens. If that isn’t buying in bulk, then I don’t know what is. Obviously, not exactly for home use, even for the most prolific of writers. The unit price? $0.458 per pen. So, even if you buy over 1,000 pens through Amazon, your unit price is still higher than the 40 pack through Costco.