Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Budget Torpedoed by TP

So I have been looking to score a deal on toilet paper lately.  It's been in the back of my mind that our stockpile of tp was getting to a point where I needed to be keeping an eye out for a great deal.
I have a love/hate relationship with TP.....hate to waste good money on something I am throwing away so I get it as cheaply as I can and when I find a deal I definitely buy A LOT! ;-)

So last week at Walmart I happened upon some clearance paper towels--
1 x Scott towels(6 double rolls)for $2.50
2 x Viva towels(6 double rolls)for $3.00
$9.01 with tax OOP.
I'm not a fan of paper towels but Hubs won't stop using them so I buy. 8-(
But I was glad to find them as Dixie Belle isn't quite fully house trained yet and with 2 dogs now, there are times we NEED paper towels! ;-)
A nice score but it's not TP....

I hit Ocean State Job Lot on Monday during their Annual 20% off Sale and picked up a few food items.........

2 x pasta
4 x spices
2 x baby clams
2 x specialty coffee for Ex-CB
All this came to $12.78 after 20% off.
It's all good since I was still fitting into my $400 food budget for September.

But then I went over to the paper goods aisle.....as Scooby-Doo would say, "Rut Roh!".......


These mega-packs of Marcal tp were $7.19 after 20% discount.
Marcal is a brand I don't see around much any more, not since they released their eco-friendly/recycled "Small Steps" paper goods back in 2009. I think the last time I saw/bought a Marcal item was in 2014?
I got a ton of Marcal back in 2009 using deals and Qs(heck I even ran a guessing game/contest to see how many rolls of it I had).  Longtime readers will remember this photo of my storage unit filled with paper products from back in the day.....


I had bought 474 rolls of Small Steps tp back then and we just used up our last pack of it late last year. 8-)))

Even though the package at OSJL didn't have a sq. footage break down on it, I know the brand and that it's economical as far as tp goes so I picked up two of those 16 roll packs.

Then Weis(PMITA)Markets had the huge packs of Scott tp on a Fantastic Friday deal for $7.  I went into the store for the Friday Freebie(they were out already!)and 1 jar of Ragu and left with the Ragu and 2 packs of Scott tp.  I had 2 Qs that doubled to $1 each so my huge packs cost me $6 +.36¢ tax each OOP.

I went into this week with no grocery budget left for September but happened to hear about tp clearances at Weis were going on.

So would you NOT check out the tp deals since you are at your budget limit or would you say "the heck with the budget!" and go have a look-see?

What do you think Ol' Sluggy did? ;-)

Yep, you guessed it..........

Seeing as I had the money to stock up on tp even outside of my grocery budget and the space in the garage, I went for it.
My September spending suffered a hit for it, but we are now awash in tp.


The Scott tp packs on the bottom left of the photo were from Friday.

On Monday I got 3 packs of Cottonelle TP, 2 packs of Viva towels and 10 packs(Hubs had already taken 1 of these to use so there's only 9 in the photo!lol) of Charmin Essentials(the "cheap" Charmin-except at half off it WAS actually cheap! lol).  They also had Northern brand for 50% off but the others were a better deal with the square footage comparison so I didn't get any of that brand.
I also had both IPQ and digital Qs to use for this or that.
All totaled I spent $33.80 with sales tax at Weis for 180 double rolls of tp and 12 double rolls of paper towels.

Add that to the 168 rolls I had left in my stockpile and we will be good for quite awhile.  Not as epic as my Marcal stash from 2009 but it will get us through a year or maybe two....or maybe not(have you seen how much tp Ex-CB goes through??!). ;-)

My stockpile(other than toiletries/HBA)is looking fine when it comes to dish soap, laundry detergent, cleaning products, paper towels, soup, condiments, pasta, rice, spices, tomato products, canned chicken, chiles, mushrooms, tuna, peanut butter, oatmeal, cold cereals, some canned veggies and of course, tp. 8-)))

What good prices have you taken advantage of lately to build your stockpile?

Queen of the TP Sluggy

14 comments:

  1. Every time I go to stock up on TP my hubby just rolls his eyes. I look at him and ask if he is going to quit using it in the future?!! My sister-in-law has run out of TP so many times during family get-togethers that I usually take a couple of rolls along with my contribution of food :) I hate to spend money on TP but I REALLY hate to have to pay full price!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well done - unless you are 6 feet under you will always need toilet paper so absolutely no sense in not stocking up when it is on sale :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wish I could take a class on your frugality.

    This reminds me of my DH and how he goes through papertowels, too! In fact he uses way too much of everything. Just huge blod of toothpaste, giant glob of shampoo, heck, he even uses a bar of soap in the shower MUCH quicker than I do. I must be doing it wrong...think not. I finally put a tiny scoop in the laundry detergent for the rare occasion he starts a load. What is this about?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A lot of men are this way from experience. They hate shopping of any kind so they leave it to someone else to handle that chore. Since they aren't buying it and paying attention to what things like this cost they have no compunction to not use a gazillion sheets of tp, half a bottle of 'poo for 1 cleaning session, etc.
      I'd have him do the shopping for this stuff and after he says, "Man! Have you seen the price of XXX?", I'd tell him that's why I hate that you use so much of it at a time. Might get him thinking.....

      Delete
    2. My son is also a too-much-user of stuff. We go through a roll of TP a day (my grandson lives with us). My son will pull off three feet of it to wipe his allergy eyes. He's one of those who think if a little of something is good, a lot must be super good. This even includes salad dressing and syrup. Drives me crazy.

      Delete
  4. I buy toilet paper according to which brand does not fuzz off and irritate me. That brand is Northern with the purple band across the front--Ultra Plush. For abut ten years, I used wash cloths instead of tp and my tender bits loved not being irritated. But, with two years of unrelenting diarrhea feom metformin, I was forced back to tp and then chose Northern.

    I managed to find coupons, peelies, and specials and stockpiled enough for two years. Tommy was sort of aghast.

    NOW, no specials or anything. I did find a peelie, but the checker forgot to use it. Now, I have to fix that. Part of the problem is that Tommy just wants to get what I came for and cannot understand looking around in the store....grrr.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am trying to eat down my stock pile.

    ReplyDelete
  6. There is something very satisfying to have a stock pile of toilet paper! Cheers! to you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pretty sure I have more than a year’s worth of laundry soap. Yet another glitch at Kroger resulted in 5 free bottles of Tide. It was part of a buy 5 sale and I had digital coupons but the cashier removed them. Tide is flagged like alcohol here and always causes a problem.

    Jen G.

    ReplyDelete
  8. One thing I'm picky about is TP. I like Charmin Ultra Soft and Great Northern Quilted Plush (or something like that). Of course I'm really happy to get either on sale and strive to do that.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Maybe it is just me not checking the right places, but we don't seem to EVER get the amazing deals you get. Do you think living in Nor Cal has something to do with it? We don't have any great stores like Weis or Aldi - we don't even have any stores the will double coupons!

    Sue L.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I buy the 12 pack of Fiora TP and they also have towel paper - normally priced around $4.99. Every 4 months or so, it goes on sale for $2.99 with store card - limit 6. I stock up accordingly. Sometimes I can find a coupon making it a better deal - one time, I was able to get a free movie ticket. In your situation, I would have told myself I was using my WAM, and then reimbursing myself the next month so my budget would be lower - but I'd have the TP at a better price.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love it! Such a great looking stockpile.

    ReplyDelete

Hey there! Thanks for leaving a comment.
All Anonymous commentors will be deleted.
Please include your name in your comment, or choose the 'Name' option and put your name or whatever you call yourself, in the box. Thank you.

Though I moderate it's partly to keep trolls at bay but also partly so that I read every comment. I don't often respond to comments so if you need me to answer you please write me at my email addy posted on my "About Me" page, linked on the side bar.