Thursday, October 15, 2009

The benefits of price comparison

One way I'm trying to save money is by shopping around and doing price comparisons. I'm putting together a price book that includes all products purchased on a regular basis and which grocery store has the lowest price. By doing this, I can tell when a sale is actually a good price and when I need to stock up.

Walmart recently stopped carrying my preferred yeast, Red Star's Active Dry Yeast. Walmart charged $6.49 or so for a 4-ounce jar. When I found out that Walmart stopped carrying my yeast, I looked at several grocery stores and found that Frys was the only one that carried that particular jar of yeast and they were charging $7.99 for 4 ounces. Ouch.

Enter Amazon. However people feel about large corporations driving the little guy out of business, Amazon can usually beat any price. When you're trying to get out of debt, the savings is vital. I should have looked for yeast on Amazon a long time ago because they have a terrific price.



The jar on the left is my normal jar of yeast. The bag on the right was ordered from Amazon.

Jar: 4 ounces, $7.99 + tax
Bag: 32 ounces, $14.88 + shipping (if applicable)

The bag from Amazon is a terrific deal. To buy 32 ounces worth of jars, I would be spending $63.92, instead of $14.88 to buy a bag online. Because we were also ordering hubby's birthday present, shipping was free and we saved $49.04. I would consider that worth ordering online and waiting for the shipment. I just refilled my jar and tossed the rest of the bag into the freezer for later.

7 comments:

Michelle said...

Hi -
I really liked your blog.
Please stop by our homeschool blog sometime.

- Michelle (a homeschool mom of 6 )

Not the Waltons said...

Hello Cassandra, I can't agree with you more about the value of comparing prices AND going online when the price is simply better!! Living in an area where it seems some products are non-existent, going online OR to the city 1.5 hours away has proved beneficial ;o) I had to do this exact thing for pastry flour a couple years ago, I bought a whole case, prices and such I can not remember at this time. Do you do alot of baking? That bag is going to last a while! :o)

Happy shopping!

Cassandra said...

Mona, I do quite a bit of baking when I have all the supplies. haha. Hubby and I love homemade bread and I try to bake three loaves a week. I'm trying to make more and more from scratch. Thankfully the yeast will stay fresh in the freezer!

h2ovapor said...

I like Amazon too. Especially when your items qualify for free super-saver shipping! I buy my favorite milk substitute (Better Than Milk Soy Original) from them & never pay shipping.

Cassandra said...

Alilia, I hadn't thought of looking for fake milk on Amazon. I don't like paying for shipping so we usually wait until we have at least $25 worth before we order.

Bonnie Rick said...

If you have a Costco nearby it's even cheaper - I've been getting it for several years now and I want to say it's around $4-5 - not sure if it's that size or half that size though.

DanniellaAnn said...

I never thought of shopping for food there! crazy. You have so much to teach! P.S. those big bags of yeast are amazing! I have one and it's probably a little old, but I keep it in the fridge and have been using it for 2 years...