Vince is the bargain shopper in the family. I mostly want to get what I need and be done. Our choices here are pretty much Aldi or Walmart and I’ve always been comfortable that either of those places have fair prices. After the Baltimore port incident, there’s been some talk that sugar may be in short supply and/or go up in price. I don’t need any sugar but was looking at the prices at Aldi, Sam’s and Walmart.
Aldi’s sugar is $3.45 for 4 pounds which is the same as $8.63 for 10 pounds.
Walmart’s sugar is $8.17 for 10 pounds.
Sam’s sugar is $7.28 for 10 pounds.
Walmart is about .50 less than Aldi and Sam’s is about $1 less than Walmart. One 10 pound bag of sugar isn’t going to make or break most of us but when I buy sugar, I usually buy 5 – 8 bags at a time and that’s enough to last quite a while. The savings do add up and I’m going to do better checking prices.
Another thing that really surprised me – kitchen trash bags.
Walmart has these bags – 80 for $17.38, or 21.7 cents each.
Sam’s has them on sale – 150 bags for $16.98 or 11 cents each. That’s a huge savings over 21.7 cents each at Walmart.
While I didn’t look at every box of trash bags that Walmart has, I did see that the Great Value unscented bags are 17 cents each if you buy a box of 80 – still less to get the Glad Force Flex scented.
As times get tough, we have to shop smarter.
Sibyl says
I have always done that, comparing prices from one store to another. Yes there is drastic difference in prices and stores. People keep saying that Aldi is less expensive, I have yet to see that. I have about 3 grocery stores to choose from, and thankfully with pricing on the internet that helps for comparison pricing. I also include Amazon in my pricing, quite often their prices beat any of the others. I was looking for navy beans the other day, seemed that all of the grocery stores were out of them, or if you want them shipped wanted as much as $5-6 a pound, well Amazon had them for around $2.50 drastic difference, so I will order from them. I always compare and will always try to get the best price, even on sewing fabric and notions. I have some go to places I can get fabric for about half the price as other places. It might be “last years” designs, but I have fabric aging in my sewing room so last year is fine with me. I have never been one that just goes in blindly to a store and pick up stuff I want/need without looking at the price. It is a possibility, I might not need it if it is too pricey. But that is me.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
At one time, Aldi was less but hardly anything is less than Walmart now. That’s crazy. Our Walmart has them for $1.86 per pound. I canned baked beans the other day and had to restock my supply of navy beans. I used to have a little mental list of prices of things I use often but with things going up so quickly, but now, I’m checking Walmart, Sams and Aldi online before adding anything to my cart. There are things, like the grapes I mentioned, that I will buy on occasion but, for the most part, I’m looking for the least expensive alternative.
Speaking of that, yesterday at Aldi Vince picked up a prime rib. He said “This one is small.” It might have been enough for us to get two meals out of it. I looked at the price. It was over $90. I told Vince . . those may be on sale after Easter but I’d rather not pay that price. They did have corned beef packages on sale yesterday and we bought a few of those for the freezer.
Jean in PA says
I moved a few years ago to another side of our small city and began to shop at a store closer to my new place. I have found it necessary for my stress levels to shop in one store where I can get all I want, get some perks, have a big selection and sometimes I do pay a higher price. I do try to take advantage of sales, but for now, ease of getting what I need is taking priority over cost.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
With us being retired and Vince loving to shop, if we can go to a few stores every 10 days or so, that’s a great improvement. Walmart and Aldi are almost walking distance from each other so it’s no trouble for us to go to both when we’re out but if I had to drive across town, I’d definitely re-think my shopping plans. I do enjoy comparing prices. Sam’s is completely on the other side of Joplin from us so I’m happy to pay $8 delivery fee once a month or so for the things they have that are lower in price. Something like the trash bags, I will order four boxes and that’s enough for probably a couple of years and makes the delivery fee worth the cost.
Arrowhead Gramma says
I have a close friend who works for Maersk shipping company and they had containers on the cargo ship that hit the bridge. He told me that the containers on the ship came to the US from Columbia and a good part of the containers contained coffee beans. So another to watch will be coffee prices in the days ahead. JMHO
judy.blog@gmail.com says
i thought the ship was leaving with goods to take other places. I don’t drink coffee at all and Vince has almost stopped drinking it so that’s one thing off our list but for those who NEED it, I hope they see your note.
Pat Anderson says
When we lived in the Netherlands, we didn’t have sugar for a few months one time (yes, the Dutch had sugar but not fine like American sugar and also way more expensive, of course). I wouldn’t worry about most things being in short supply, but we do use a lot of sugar (baking– even though I shouldn’t)! I hope the port opens quickly for the sake of everyone impacted by this horrible accident.
Cody says
We are like all of you, we check the Sam’s/aldi/walmart/local grocery prices all the time.
We have a route that we take, but if I had to go out of my way to go to either of them, then my gas price wouldn’t be worth the price difference.
I was at work one day, when one of my co workers said these garbage bags are going clearance…I think it was something like $4. For the scented 13 gal garbage bags…I forget the count now…well we had just bought the 120 count from Sam’s, but I still got 2 boxes of the other…I think we will be good for a couple of years at least if not longer. I don’t know how families can afford it anymore, I’m glad that I taught my children how to can/preserve/buy in bulk etc. a long time ago.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
That’s how I feel. I know we’ll use them and if we don’t, Chad will. I doubt we’ll see them any cheaper. We rarely go to Sam’s (though we did last week) because it’s in the middle of one of the busiest areas of Joplin and clear on the other side of town from us but we can get delivery for $8. I told Vince it’s worth it because we can go to Sam’s for a few things and we come home with the car jam packed full so getting just what we truly need . . $8 is a small price to pay.
Cody says
I know that I am ranting now…lol..but the worst thing to watch is the packaging getting smaller and the prices getting higher..ugh…
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I agree! Who would ever have thought we would be dealing with this and again, no one cares.
Lorella says
I have a “Plus” Sam’s Club membership. I can’t remember how much more it costs in addition to the regular yearly membership fee. But—one of the perks for the Plus membership is that you get free shipping or delivery from Sam’s with no minimum purchase. Sam’s is only about 10 miles from where I Iive, but as I’ve gotten older, I’m happy to pay for the fancier membership so that I don’t have to drive there and also don’t have to load/unload the items. Also—-with the Plus membership, you get 2% cash back on your purchases. The cashback just accumulates in your account, and you can then apply it to future purchases. I’m not sure if the Plus membership ends up saving me money or not, but now that I’m old 🙂 , I’m willing to pay a little more for convenience. 🙂
judy.blog@gmail.com says
We have the Plus membership. At least here, it does offer free shipping but delivery is $8 instead of $12. We do get free curbside pickup which is normally $4. It definitely saves us because I keep a list of things I use like canned tuna or toilet paper or paper towels and when I need to re-stock, I order and have those delivered. They take up so much room in the car when we go shopping that it’s easier to have them delivered. And, like I said, we go in there to buy 2 things and come out with 20 things so ordering online definitely saves us.
montanaclarks says
I’m thankful I have the storage room for items bought in bulk! I do the majority of my grocery shopping at Walmart and Costco, occasionally ordering something from Amazon but we cancelled our Prime so will have to see how that works out.