Monday, September 1, 2008

Making Sure I'm Getting My Monies Worth

I've been kinda curious about Costco, so I wanted to start making sure the bulk purchases are paying off. At our last visit, I calculated how much I'm paying per unit (ounce, gallon, or quantity) to make sure it's all working out.

Here's what I've found so far. And sure, you can go cheaper by not buying some of this stuff, but since Pink's favorite snack is Cheezits and a Diet Coke, sometimes its just worth it.

Drinks
Diet Coke per can = $0.22
CranGrape per gallon = $3.40
Apple Juice per gallon = $3.38
Gallon of milk = $2.99

Crackers
Graham Crackers per box = $1.85
Cheezits per ounce = $0.13

Baby Requirements
Wipes per wipe = $0.02
Formula per ounce = $0.39
Diapers per diaper = $0.12

I'm thinking I might be able to do better for the juices and the graham crackers. The apple juice and graham crackers are name brand, so I'll probably get more nosey at the grocery store and see how they compare.

I know the gallon of milk is a steal, at one point it was a dollar cheaper than the grocery store. The Cheezits were 2 cents cheaper per ounce when compared to our Target trip.

The baby stuff, is all Costco/Kirkland brand. We've found that while they're the cheapest of the lot, the diapers hold vast quantity of 'surprises' overnight, the wipes don't irritate their skin, and the formula has all the goodies as the name brands and their tummy's can handle it. Plus, the diapers come in packs of 300, which means we only have to buy them roughly once a month.

After having a spreadsheet to crunch the numbers, I wrote these on a note card in my Hipster PDA. If I need to do some calculations on the fly, I pull out my cell phone and do the math.

And trust me, you should. Sometimes those slices of cheese look like their cheaper if you buy 24, but you'd be surprised when the 16 pack is cheaper than the 24 or the 'I'm having a cookout and half the county is invited' packs.

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