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Thursday, June 9, 2022

Shopping and Gas the First Week of June: Toilet Paper Inflation, Ack!

I didn't shop for food this week, but I did put in an order for bathroom tissue. I'm sure you've noticed the price on even this necessity is going up and up. What I used to buy at Walmart for $9.02 just 2 years ago is now selling for $11.24. That's a shocking 25% increase in price! So I began hunting around for a better deal on TP. I found shipping-only Kroger brand (I was buying Great Value brand) priced at $10.79, when price adjusted for the same amount as in the Walmart package. I ordered the limit and added 2 more items that I could get through Fred Meyer for less than my other stores, so I could get free shipping. So my inflation rate on the bathroom tissue will be 19%. It's sad that I'm considering this "good."

In our one-car household, we share the cost of gas by alternating who fills the tank. Because my daughters drive more than my husband and I combined, we've divided up the responsibility by three (daughter 1, daughter 2, husband/I combined). Just 2 years ago, our agreed upon amount was $30 per turn. A year ago August, we increased that to $40 per turn. Just this week, we upped that amount to $50 per turn. Mind you, this does NOT fill the tank. 2 years ago, $50 would overflow our car's fuel tank. We now get about 2/3 of a tank. It was a daughter's turn to pay for gas. Gas is zooming toward $6 a gallon in my area. It's $5.79 at the 7-11 in my town and $5.89 at the Chevron and Shell! Costco has been my benchmark for cheap gas (although we don't have membership so don't buy our gas there). This week, Costco's lowest octane unleaded is $5.19/gallon, up 30 cents/gallon in the last 2 weeks. To allow for the inflation on gas, we are trying to drive less, but also cutting back in other areas of spending. Interesting -- gas is cheaper inside the Seattle city limits than it is here, about 20 miles north, and then cheaper if I drive another 20 miles north of us.

8 comments:

  1. It's amazing how much toilet paper costs these days. There is so much variation in the quality, I find it hard to compare prices unless it is the exact same kind. We do have a Costco member ship, so we usually buy our toilet paper there. They have a sale 2x/year and I hope it's time for another one because we will need to replenish our supply soon.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Live and Learn,
      I did a little cost and use comparison several years ago, where I tried 3 different TP brands/styles, 1 week each, to see how much we went through in a week, then calculated on cost for those rolls to see which one cost us least for our use. Of course, it did mean that the most plush TP was not the most cost effective, and I went with cost. I hope Costco has their sale very soon for you.

      Delete
  2. Ouch on that gas price. Ours is $4.69, but I saw that it was 10 cents more at one chain, so the other one will go up today I suppose. That's a huge cost difference at costco. It wouldn't take long to pay the $60 membership. Our costco isn't cheaper than the big convenience store chain.
    As for tp, I was buying the costco stuff but quit because it's so thick and I worry about the septic. I'm back to chasing sales. The last time I bought it was at safeway but the rolls are so small, so I don't think it was a deal at all. I miss the costco stuff. $17 for 30 huge rolls.

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    Replies
    1. Good luck finding your next deal on TP, Diane.

      Delete
  3. I don't remember what I last paid for toilet paper. Like L&L, I find it hard to compare. I buy the more expensive stuff because I find that we use the higher quality variety less quickly .... and I greatly prefer the softer paper. :)

    Gas rose this week to over $5 a gallon. It's around $5.19 here. I happened to time it right and gassed the car up when it was $4.99. Later in the afternoon the price rose 20 cents per gallon. It seems like I rarely time things well, so this was a win for me.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kris,
      Isn't that such a great feeling when you've bought something just before the price increase? It feels like such a win! I'm so glad for you on the gas purchase.

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  4. Gas has steadily creeped to a penny over $5/gallon on our last fill on Monday. We have really stocked up on toilet paper from over 5 years ago when I did the Walgreens coupon/cash back deals almost weekly. I bought Walgreens brand toilet paper whenever I needed to boost the total purchase over a certain threshold. We have found a way to use two types of toilet paper, using only 3 squares. One thick sandwiched between two thin Scott brand type 1000 sheets per roll. Walgreens has their equivalent of the thin type for 50c per roll, as we'll as a stronger thick type. I recall that my buy price for the thick was. 01 per square feet. I could do the math using the specs on the wrapper.. Based on our average usage, even being home bound since we're retired, our annual tp expenditure is less than $50 per year for two people. Judging how little our stack has gone down in 5 years, I think we have enough for 10 more years. I know it is not quite funny but we often joke about which would run out first, our supply of 'x' or number of years left.

    Have a nice evening,
    Laura

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Laura,
      Up until a year ago, we were at $108 for a year for 4 adults on bathroom tissue. This next year it will be much higher sadly. I'm glad for you that you're well-stocked to get through the next decade!
      You know, it really surprises me that your gas is actually cheaper per gallon than mine in WA state. I would have thought yours would be much, much more expensive because you're on an island (limitations for the population size), and stuff has to be tanker-shipped further to you. It disturbed me when I heard some stations in my state were prepping their gas pumps and signs for $10/gallon or more.
      Have a lovely rest of your day!

      Delete

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