It Pays To Always Comparison Shop

Taking the time to comparison shop always pays off even on the smaller items. We all know to comparison shop on the large items like cars, homes, major appliances, home repairs, insurances, etc.

But just how many large items do you buy in a year’s time? Most likely not that many. The smaller things can sink a budget since we buy so many that they add up over a year’s time. You see it in your yearly grocery shopping. If you just throw whatever you want into your cart at the grocery store without any preparation, you can spend thousands more than necessary. But if you take the time to meal plan, keep a price book, keep an inventory of your stockpile,  cut coupons, and keep an eye on sales and rock bottom prices, you spend hundreds of dollars less per year. The same is true when we purchase HBA items, over the counter meds, and cleaning products, etc.

We always take the time to comparison shop on everything we buy. So last week when our salt and pepper grinders (pictured above) bit the dust on almost the same day, we started the search for some new ones. Sure we could have just used cheap salt and pepper shakers like I have near my stove or grinders filled with salt and pepper from the store which I would have had to buy over and over again. But Hubby is very particular and likes grinders and I don’t like buying things over and over again so I asked him to do a search for his favorite. Then I did the comparison shopping online.

He sent this link of blue grinders at HSN and this link at QVC. Those told me that these Kalorik gravity grinders were the ones he wanted. As you can see the HSN set was $38.24 plus $ 5.50 for shipping and the QVC set was $ 37.99 plus $ 5.50 for shipping. Then of course we would have 8% sales tax to pay but we would pay that no matter where we purchased them. I also hated the blue color which would not have looked well in my breakfast/dining room. But I figured I could look for other colors. HSN only had the blue but QVC had gold and red also for the same prices. I decided I liked the gold. 

I ruled out HSN because
they did not have the gold color. If I went through my Ebates account
and purchased at QVC, I would get 1% back or $ .38 which would bring the
price down to $ 37.61 plus $ 5.50 shipping.     

I checked Walmart.com and they were $ 32.79 and free shipping or pick up. Then I checked Amazon and the gold that I wanted was $ 7.00 less than their red and blue. The gold was $ 27.39. I have a Prime membership so 2 day shipping was free for us. 

So I ordered at Amazon which was $ 15.72 less than QVC with shipping and $ 5.40 less than Walmart. I had a $5.00 Amazon gift certificate and $ 8.66 in reward points sitting in my Amazon account which I used. So my final price out of pocket was $ 13.73 plus tax.

Making these comparisons only took a few minutes and it was worth getting the cheapest price at Amazon and saving $ 5.40 over Walmart’s price. Using my reward rebate money and the free gift certificate saved me another $ 13.66 out of pocket. It was a win- win all the way!


Do I compare and do the math on every purchase? You bet I do. It is so worth it and it adds up to big bucks in a year’s time.

Changing the subject, I hope you all had a great weekend. We did. Instead of my family coming for breakfast yesterday, they came for lunch and to watch the Bills football game which was very disappointing. But spending time with family is just the best.

Knowing that West was here, I baked some brownies for dessert. He loved them and ate quite a few.

My son helped us put all of the patio furniture and the grill in our shed. We have had some major wind the past few days which caused things to blow around. Hubby also brought the snowblower from the shed to the garage so that it is at the ready to use when need be. 

My son carried a box( 11 bottles of 750ml) of Jordan’s Irish Cream SF syrup downstairs to my basement pantry for me. I buy it in bulk to get free shipping and this time I also got a free bottle.  We love this syrup in our coffee. I think we are now set for the winter. He also brought 3- 40 lb. bags of salt pellets down to our water softener and filled it up.

I made a quick trip to Top’s. I never had a chance to take a picture but I can tell you that it was a great stock up trip. I purchased 18 eggs, 1 pkg. of Dixie Plates(great for holiday desserts), 8 boxes of General Mills cereal, 3 boxes of Scottie Tissues, 4 boxes of Nature Valley Granola bars, 4 bags of Luden SF Cough Drops, 1 box of Idaho Steakhouse Potatoes(free Catalina), 1 gallon of milk, 3 Wholly Guacamole(1 Free Coupon), 2 Suave Body Wash, 2 lbs. of yellow onions, 1 bunch of celery, 1 bag of baby carrots, 2 pkgs. of Thomas English muffins, 3 Tic Tacs, and 1- 8 ct. Arnold Sesame Rolls all for $ 39.84 after coupons. I got a $2.00 off my next shopping trip Catalina coupon from buying the cereal. That will probably be the only shopping I do this week.

I filled up the car with gasoline. Gas cost $ 2.979 at our gas station. Since I didn’t do much shopping over the past month, I had only earned $.10 off a gallon. But every little bit helps.