Friday, July 17, 2009

Quick Takes Friday: Fun Little Money Saving Hacks

I got one of those foaming dish detergent pumps recently (very cheap after coupon, natch) and really liked how well it worked. I was running out and wondered if I could dilute regular dish soap and get the same effect. As a matter of fact, I could, and so can you. Put three tablespoons of liquid dish soap in the foaming pump, then fill to the line with water. Swish gently to combine. This tip works equally well with those foaming hand soap pumps too.
To figure out if you are paying too much for your toilet paper, remember this little tip, thanks to Diane at http://dianehopkins.blogspot.com/2009/06/tp.html, by way of Gayle at www.thegrocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com. According to Diane, toilet paper should cost no more than .01 per square foot. Instead of doing the strenuous mathematical equations, simply look at the number of total square footage on the front of the package, then move the decimal place 2 places to the left. If you are paying more than that dollar amount, you are paying too much for your toilet paper.
A lovely example: Cottonelle 12 pack of single rolls were "on sale" for $3.99 at my local store. However, the square footage total for the entire package was 215.5 square feet. Thus, if you move the decimal point two places to the left, you should be paying $2.15 for that package of toilet paper to reach the golden number of .01 per square foot. Thus, the "sale" price is not a good deal at all – but combined with a $1 doubled coupon, the price is $1.99, which is under that target number.
The broader the spread between the number you are paying and the square footage calculation, the better the deal you are getting. In other words, you have gotten a respectable deal if you paid $11.00 for a package of toilet paper with a total of 1155 square feet; but if you got it for $5.00, it was a screaming deal and you should stock up – and by the way, where did you get it?

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