Costco vs. Amazon Subscribe and Save

Johnny was recently looking into using Amazon's Subscribe and Save, which I understand saves you 15% and gives you free shipping as long as you order five things per month.  We wanted to see if big things like diapers and formula that I usually shlep out of Costco would be cheaper and more convenient this way.  Lucky for you, I crunched all the numbers.

Costco Size 5 Diapers vs. Amazon's Huggies Size 5

$0.24 per diaper vs. $0.25 per diaper

Costco Size 3 Diapers vs. Amazon's Huggies Size 3

$0.18 per diaper vs. $0.19 per diaper

Costco Size 1/2 Diapers vs. Amazon's Huggies Size 1

$0.14 per diaper vs. $0.19 per diaper

Costco Wipes (900 count) vs. Amazon's Huggies (864 count)

$0.03 per wipe vs. $0.02 per wipe

*I like the Costco wipes, so I think I'm willing to pay the extra penny for each one...anyone a big proponent of Huggies?

Now when Johnny was looking around the Costco website, he found something that I was not aware of, Costco will ship diapers and wipes for free!  This is huge because by the time I buy all of my diapers, there is no room left in the cart.  My twins take up a lot of room too.

I'm gunning for Costco here because the prices, for the most part, are better, and you don't have to commit to buying a certain amount each month; there's also random coupons that give you a pretty good discount on the diapers and wipes.  However, we have a free membership at Costco through Johnny's work, so if you had to factor in the $50 a year vs. a free membership at Amazon, that might make things different for you.  Costco also does not have it's formula available online.  It's definitely the cheapest around, but you have to go to the store to get it.

**Special thanks to Sarah Rose who went to Costco and took pictures of diaper prices for me!

Aldi?

I'll be the first one to admit that I'm a bit of a snob; the problem is that I am also frugal cheap.  Now that I am in charge of a household, I'm looking here and there for ways to save money on things that I have to buy every week...like groceries.

Before Lila was born, I decided to figure out where to buy the cheapest groceries.  I compared Wal-Mart, Target, and Trader Joe's.  If you haven't checked out the results of The Great Grocery Experiment, click on over here.  Because of those findings, I pretty much primarily stick with Trader Joe's for all of my food purchases.  Sometimes, though, I still find myself spending more money than I want to on groceries each week. So a little while ago, with much prodding from Johnny, I decided to go to Aldi.  

Aldi has a little bit of a stigma here (and by "here" I mean in my brain) as being cheap, low quality, etc. etc.  But this is my second week of doing the majority of my grocery shopping at Aldi, and I have been pleasantly surprised.  The store is definitely bare bones with few name brands and fluctuating produce quality, but I have gotten some great deals on some great things.

I'm not going to do the Great Grocery comparison with this one because Lila only lasts so long in one location, but here are a few suggestions I have for shopping at Aldi:

1. Buy their meat.  I would say that I save 30-50% buying meat there.  I did some "research" online, and it seems that their meat is the same quality as local grocery stores, so nothing to fear.

2. Chocolate!  People rave about their chocolate because it's apparently a German owned company.  So go all out...it's only a few quarter after all.

3. I would normally say, "Buy their milk!" because it used to be $1.99, but now it's up to just under $3.  That is still cheaper than most places, so I will say, "Buy their milk" with no exclamation point.

4. Carbs...cereal, crackers, bread, sugar (unless you're a Costco bulk buyer like myself), go for it at Aldi.  

Besides those suggestions, make sure that you bring your own bags and a quarter for the shopping cart.  You have to put a quarter in the shopping cart to use it...they say it keeps the parking lot cleaner because people don't want to leave their quarter in the cart, so they put it back.  I will agree; I ALWAYS get my quarter back.

The Great Grocery Experiment

Something that I have been wondering about for a long time is where to get the cheapest, best groceries.  When we were living in Philadelphia, grocery stores were small and expensive, so I primarily stuck with Trader Joe's.  But now that we're living in an area where we have access to multiple grocery stores, I decided to conduct an experiment.  

Johnny helped me create a spreadsheet of all the grocery items that I would normally have in my kitchen, and I went to Trader Joe's, Wal-Mart, and Target and wrote down the prices of all the items.  I did my best to keep the quality of the items the same across the board and documented not just the cheapest item but the items I would actually purchase.

The short story of what I found was that surprisingly, there wasn't much difference between Trader Joe's, Target, and Wal-Mart, but there were certain things that stood out.  Here are a few of those major things that I found interesting, and if you are interested in getting more information, the spreadsheet is available here: Groceries

1. The best place to get cooking supplies is Wal-Mart.  Things like bulk flour and bulk sugar should definitely be purchased there; though, Trader Joe's has the cheapest chocolate chips (Who knew?).
2. Super Wal-Mart also has a large, high quality meat selection with prices that beat out Trader Joe's and Target.
3. Produce should NOT be purchased at Wal-Mart.  I have a tie between Trader Joe's and Target, but I like to think that Trader Joe's has better produce than a huge box store like Target.
4. Ginger and most other spices were the best variety, quality, and price at Target.
5. Nuts are the cheapest at Trader Joe's, which is really good to know for the holidays.
6. Everything else generally tied.  Prepared foods, frozen foods, dairy, and others are either evenly divided across the board or have very little difference in price between the three stores.

I really thought that Wal-Mart would win out, but I am personally thankful that it didn't.  I find that Target and Trader Joe's tend to be happier, cleaner shopping experiences.  So except for a few things, don't let Wal-Mart fool you that their prices are the best, and don't feel guilty for shopping elsewhere because you're probably not spending much more.