Reader Question - How Much To Pay For Toilet Paper?

I got an email recently from a reader who wanted to know how I decide what is a good price on toilet paper.

Great question! I like to compare my toilet paper prices with Sam's Club, Costco or Amazon for a good reference. (Betcha didn't know Amazon had good prices on TP, huh?) Then I aim to beat their prices by at least half when I'm using coupons, and especially when shopping at Rite Aid for toilet paper, which would mean a price of around $0.25/double roll or less.

Here are the current prices of toilet paper at Sam's Club:

• Quilted Northern, 36 jumbo rolls - $18.78 ($0.52/roll)
• Charmin Ultra, 36 jumbo rolls - $18.56 ($0.52/roll)
• Store Brand, 36 jumbo rolls - $16.98 ($0.47/roll)

Here are the current prices of toilet paper at Amazon:

• Charmin Basic, 36 rolls - $24.27 ($0.67/roll)
• Cottonelle Aloe, 48 double rolls - $23.88 ($0.50/double roll)
• Cottonelle Ultra, 48 double rolls - $26.76 ($0.56/double roll)
  

Did you know you can save an additional 15% on all of these toilet papers if you do Amazon's Subscribe & Save option? That takes them down to $0.57/roll, $0.42/double roll and $0.47/double roll, respectively. They will ship you this product every XXX number of months (you choose) so you don't have to remember to reorder, and you can cancel at any time. Pretty sweet.

The other thing I love about Amazon is free delivery to your doorstep and no sales tax. You always need to remember to take sales tax into account!



Now I know there is some debate about double vs jumbo rolls, and some debate that you should calculate the square footage of your prospective toilet paper to calculate which deal is the best.

(Seriously? The square footage!? I'm just not that hardcore.)

Plus, everyone has their favorite brand of toilet paper that they're willing to pay just a smidgen more for. (Mine is Cottonelle.)

When you do find a good deal on toilet paper that hits your pricepoint (in my case, $0.25/double roll or less), you should definitely stock up and not wait until you're down to your last square. You can check out a few of my toilet-paper buying transactions HERE and HERE and HERE, to get an idea.

However, if I were down to my last square, I would probably buy a pack at Sam's or Costco since they are the lowest regular price around... then I would scold myself for dropping the ball, and try to get back on the horse with clipping coupons!

Does anyone else have any toilet-paper buying tips to add? What do you consider to be a good price?