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Comparing Prices

For the past year or so, I’ve noticed that some things will be less at Walmart, and some things will be less at Amazon. We have Walmart+ which offers free two or three day shipping. Several times I’ve ordered things I thought were going to arrive in two or three days, only to have someone knock on the door in a few hours delivering them from the store. Most of the time, I order stuff I’m not in a hurry for and don’t want to pay the tip to have the items delivered. I don’t mind paying a tip but free shipping is . . free!

There were several things I’ve ordered recently and been astonished at the price differences. Sam’s Club is almost always less than Walmart but Sam’s doesn’t have everything we need. We also have free shipping with Sam’s. The closest Costco is Springfield, which is about 65 miles away, but I’ll about do anything to keep from going to Springfield. Vince keeps saying we should get a membership and we could at least order from them but I think we’re getting pretty much everything we need now . . without another membership fee to pay.

Here are a couple of examples of crazy price differences we’ve seen recently. I think Seville offers free shipping where we get it from Sam’s and Walmart because we pay an annual fee for free shipping.

Baker’s Rack:

This is a Seville baker’s rack. There are several models but these prices are all for the same model.

Sam’s Club – $79.98
Wayfair – $152
Seville – $110

30″ 5 Tier Shelf Unit:

This is also Seville and these are all the same model.

Sam’s Club – $55
Seville – $65
Amazon – $79

Baking Soda:

Last night I needed to order baking soda which I use in making laundry detergent and my washing machine demands to be cleaned ever so often. Instead of using the expensive tablets and having to keep something else on hand, I use vinegar and baking soda. One quart of vinegar and 1 cup of baking soda does the trick. So, I always keep plenty of baking soda on hand.

If you’re only using baking soda one teaspoon at a time, you probably don’t need 15 pounds of baking soda. I use one cup in each batch of laundry detergent so between laundry detergent and cleaning the washer, we go through a 15 pound bag of baking soda at least once a year.

Sam’s Club – 52 cents/pound in the 15 pound bag
Walmart – They do have a one pound box for 72 cents/pound but it was only pickup or delivery. I didn’t need $35 worth of stuff for delivery and it wasn’t available for shipping. They have a third party selling a 15 pound bag for a bit over $1 per pound.

The difference in buying the one pound box vs. the 15 pound bag is only $3 but I ordered three bags so that would have been $9, plus driving to Walmart, going in, getting exposed, driving home.

I don’t always check prices. On groceries, Vince wants to go to Aldi for everything. I’m happy to do the online/delivery at Walmart. I can do online/curbside at Aldi but they don’t always have nearly everything I need when I’m shopping once every two or three weeks, where Walmart usually goes.

Up until recently, I planned my menu and then shopped for groceries. These days, I’m looking a prices, then planning what will be on the menu this week.

As prices go up and our buying power diminishes, it’s a good idea to check and compare prices, especially when buying bigger items.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Check into the Executive membership at Costco. My experience is that if you don’t spend enough to cover the cost of the membership, they will refund the difference to you at the end of the year. Hope I’m explaining it to you correctly. For me, there is no downside.

    • It isn’t close to us and we don’t go to Springfield, where the closest warehouse is located. With Sams, Walmart and Amazon, there just isn’t anything we need that we can’t get there.

  2. In Australia, tipping a delivery person is unheard of. Definitely wouldn’t tip the person who delivered our food order at 1.30 a.m. this morning and left it in front of the garage door. Never had a food delivery left anywhere but the front door. Also it was raining this morning, luckily nothing got wet.

    • It’s added to our bill at Walmart and on most of the delivery services here. We can decline it but then I hear it’s hard to get a delivery person to take the job. I’m happy to tip them but for things I can order and get free shipping, why would I?

      • good to hear that the delivery person actually gets the tip when it is added to the order. Not that we use delivery people much, but most of the time we are hearing that if you add tips to the order, the delivery person does not get them. Rather than follow up on an individual case, we just tip in cash

        • At one time WM had a blurb that the delivery people got 100% and I asked a driver and he said yes. I haven’t checked in a while so I suppose it could have changed.

  3. I use vinegar instead of fabric softener. My machine says to use 1 cup of bleach and hot water to clean the machine. I don’t have to think about it because it has a “cleaning” button and it tells me I need to clean it.

    • Mine tells me when to clean it to but a cup of bleach, along with bathroom cleaners that contain bleach is not good for our septic tank. Maytag recommends the Affresh tablets for cleaning my washer but they’re $2 – $3 each, depending on how many I buy at once, and something else I have to keep on hand.

  4. What do you clean your dishwasher with? Also off the subject, how do you prepare lobster tail?

    • I’m probably a horrible person but I rarely use anything in my dishwasher. It’s stainless inside so bleach isn’t good to use; vinegar isn’t great for the gaskets. I actually use a toilet brush (that’s never touched a toilet!). I will spray hot soapy water inside the dishwasher and scrub it with that brush, then spray clean water to rinse everything away. I clean the filter after every load but I don’t use the dishwasher often. I probably don’t use it more than two or three times a month. I cook with cast iron and when it’s just a pile of silverware and a couple of plates, it takes forever to get a load. Vince drinks out of glasses. I drink out of a Yeti type (but Walmart brand) tall cup and I wash it at night and again in the morning. I use a straw so I just don’t feel like it gets that dirty, so we only have the glasses Vince messes up during the day.

      If we have company and I have serving bowls and extra plates and salad bowls, yes, I use the dishwasher.

      Lobster tails . . I don’t get them enough to even say how I would cook them. I can’t tell you the last time we had fresh ones. We would sometimes get frozen tails when Aldi had them but it’s probably been four years or more.

      There was a place we used to order live lobster and have them delivered overnight. They came in a Graniteware looking bucket with directions of how to add liquid (water/beer, etc.) and steam them. Now you have me wanting lobster! 🙂

  5. I cook lobster in the Instant Pot, electric pressure cooker:
    Put a cooking rack in the pot, and set the lobster on top of the rack. Pressure cook for 3 minutes with a Quick Release: Lock the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 3 minutes (use “Manual” or Pressure Cook mode on the Instant Pot). Quick release the pressure.

  6. Hi, on comparing prices, it is more common in our age group where the years at school ! Mental arithmetic was taught so when I’m in our supermarket (very rare these days) I check say a tin of beans compared to a pack of 4 0 r 6. Its amazing how often its cheaper to buy the 4 pack. I often see younger folk pick up the six not realising 2 packs of 4 is cheaper! and they would get 2 extra. I get so annoyed when certain products have saver on them and a few seconds using the old brain make it obvious they are NOT. Sellers tactics are only going to get worse as prices climb. So a belated thanks to the nuns who drilled into me my times tables at 5!

    • Another instance of don’t always believe what you see and what you hear! Think for yourself and do your own research even if the “research” is only using the calculator on the phone to see how much each item is per ounce. We seem to have lost the ability to think for ourselves and we believe everything we see and hear.

  7. Prices for everything are awful! I stopped at Safeway in Sierra Vista yesterday to get items Walmart didn’t have on my pickup order (neither did Safeway!), and came out with two small bags which could have fit in one–$25! We are talking a bottle of rice vinegar, Famous Dave’s pickles, three pack of Altoids and it was $25! Do you feel your membership to Walmart is worth it although I doubt Walmart is going to deliver way out where we live.

    • I do feel it’s worth it. I’ll do a blog post about it because it’s a long story. 🙂

  8. always check prices, and teach your kids too! my adult daughter has always been a stickler for comparison shopping as i was, and now my grandkids are following the tradition.
    Judy … baking soda?? i’ve been making “your” laundry soap for years and never put baking soda. did i miss something? i remember so much emphasis on using washing soda, not baking soda, as a differentiation that perhaps i missed it? we are also on septic and have to be careful of products.

      • I haven’t been using baking soda in my mix and the ratio of washing soda to borax is one to one. I’ll have to try the different formula the next time I make it. BTW I use a microplane to grate the Fels Naptha soap. It is finer and dissolves easier

        • I use the Maxam chopper and it will grate it pretty small. I leave it as powder and don’t make it into a liquid. Do you make yours into a liquid or leave it as powder?

  9. I’ve almost always comparison shopped and checked the prices by unit/oz/or whatever in what I buy. My husband on the other hand doesn’t. It used to irk me when he’d go to the store for me and buy whatever and not check what was the best deal…lol He used to think his time was more valuable…which could be true. Thinking that will change once he retires. 🙂

    • My story about how impressed I was with husbands comparison shopping – was when he went home for his mom’s funeral and went to the grocery store with his dad. He was SHOCKED and HORRIFIED that his dad just bought brand name everything rather than look at the item, the ingredients, and the price! Taught that boy well, I did! LOL

      • You did! I can’t believe anyone buys name brands on most items, especially with today’s prices.

  10. My husband often shows me ridiculous price comparisons WITHIN Amazon (the bane of multiple sellers, I guess). Things will come in singles or different multiples, and sometimes a four-pack will cost more than a six pack, or some such ridiculousness. He’ll ask why anybody would pay more for less?! That doesn’t take any more math than knowing numbers.

    • Some people just buy the first one that pops up I guess. Maybe they don’t even realize there are different sellers. I’ve seen things from the same seller fluctuate depending on the traffic for that item.

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